By moonlight's shadow

Chapter 34

Lukas could not say anything to Charlie as he knew that Charlie could not see the spirit of Luna hovering there a few feet away from him smirking at Lukas.

“Are you alright Alpha?” asked Charlie as Lukas came out of the bathroom splashing water on his face and patting some on his head. His head felt enormously heavy like lead and he could see that there were dark patches underneath his eyes, showing signs of getting no rest and worrying endlessly.

“I am not going to lie to you Charlie. I don’t feel alright. I am feeling drained and sick and this is going to take a toll on my health.  Am telling you, I am willing to give up everything I have within myself but I cannot allow this weakness harming the bond of the pack in any way,” said Lukas as his eyes fell on the glass of juice kept on the table and then he took it up and drained in a single go.

“I do understand your feelings Alpha, but if you don’t take care of your health then who is going to be responsible for that? Have you eaten something wrong which might have caused something or a reaction like this? For you are not a woman, or else I would have known that these are the symptoms of having a cub pretty soon,” said Charlie, with a good natured smile and Lukas glared at him. But then both of them started laughing out loud.

“You are only wasting your time Lukas, until you start taking control of this power it is going to eat you out whole and you will be nothing but the husk of the man you are now. Stop wasting your time on useless banter with this Hulk and come and start training with me,” said Luna as Lukas could not do anything but glare at her. Because anything he would be saying was only going to prove to his Beta that his not only his health was failing but he was losing his mind as well.

“I think, Alpha, you should take some rest. You need your strength for the weekly market that is gonna happen at the end of this week. And I shall ask the Healer to visit you once in the afternoon so that she can check on you and discern what is ailing you so badly,” said Charlie as Lukas could only nod at him. He knew that his Beta meant well for him but that did not reduce his anxiety under any circumstances.

As Charlie was going out of the house he suddenly turned back and looked at the place was Luna was hovering. He looked at empty space and air but then he touched the back of his neck and said,” Alpha Lukas, I think you have some kind of spirit hanging around here who is trying to cause you bodily harm..”

Lukas looked up at him in genuine shock and then said with a tepid smile,” Charlie, which century are we exactly living in? As far as I recall, it is the twenty-first. We might still believe in the old and traditional ways of life but that does not mean that we are going to be blind. There is no spirit and there is no haunting at all, you go and ask the Healer to come and see me when she has finished her morning rituals. Alright?”

Charlie nodded with a grim face and said,” Alpha, you might consider that I am a bumble-head but these things are there even if you believe it or not. Since you don’t believe it is not going to be of much consequence if I place a protection charm around your house, would it?”

Lukas looked at Luna immediately who nodded saying yes and her expression made it clear that she did not have anny problem with the protection charm or something of that sort.

“If that is what makes you feel comfortable Charlie, then you can do that as long as it does not include lavender since Rhea is allergic to them and don’t make any fixtures or permanent changes to the construction of my house. And you are good to go,” said Lukas, with a slight smile as Charlie nodded again. The time the look on his face was that of satisfaction.

“Good to hear that Alpha, I am going to go and see the Healer and then I am going to place the protection spell and charm on the house and this property so that no one will be able to harm our Alpha. After all, your health is my prime and utmost concern, it is my responsibility as well Alpha. You don’t worry, I am going to take care of everything,” said Charlie as he went away with a spring in his step.

Lukas sighed out loud at the reaction of Charlie and then poured another glass of juice for himself.

“That one believes in you and your existence. He truly considers that it is essential for you to be there so that he can be a worthy Beta to you and your pack. You are younger than him, then how come you inspire that much respect from that Hulk I have no idea,” said Luna with her brows raised at him.

“It is not the matter of age in the case of wolves, it is ultimately the strength of character and the power to lead the pack and to protect them from anything and everything. I did not get this respect without fighting my challenges which were thrown at me a few years earlier. The wolves are territorial creatures and strangely enough they take care of their pack but they also prey upon the weak which is something pretty disgusting but it is in the genes and I could do nothing to change that. It is seen mostly among the cubs of the pack, that is the reason Rhea had been picked upon so much. There are some things I detest thoroughly and I have worked in order to uproot from the pack. I have tried to improve the economic situation of the pack on a whole so that they can live better. I did not get this respect in a single day, I had to earn it Aunt Luna!!” said Lukas, as if stating a matter of fact.

“You are a positive creature in your being Lukas. But the powers which are running through your veins are not that positive, so it might let you think that all the power and control is in your hands but you should never forget that you are a mere pawn in a much larger game. You have the power but you have a huge responsibility attached to it as well, after all it has been possible for the first time in the history of the supernatural kind that a wolf shifter has the power of Necromancy,” said Luna as she passed through the trap door of the basement without any problem.

Lukas’s eyes widened like golf balls as he saw something before his eyes which was visible only in the movies that too with special effects.

“Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to come down for your training? God, how daft can you be?” asked Luna as she was standing in the middle of the trap door with half of her body above the door and half below the closed door.

“What you are doing is only spooking me out of mind and I don’t think it is going to have any positive effect at all. You need to stop doing this. Why can’t you travel normally? I mean I do understand that it is easier for you but you need to think about me as well,” said Lukas as he drained the glass of juice and then kept the rest of the juice in the refrigerator and the glass in the sink as he came forward towards the trap door of the basement.

Luna looked at him and then she visibly rolled her eyes at him and then said,” You are the son of one of the legendary Dark Sister who sold her soul to the Devil in order to gain powers of death and life and you are being such a wuss. Seriously I should have known that you were an absolute p***y!!!”

“I am a wuss? And I am being a p***y?” asked Lukas, stone shocked as Luna did not bother to glance at him again and then she went down to the basement.

Lukas growled as he opened the trap door to the basement and then dropped inside with a jump and changed mid-air into a wolf. Then he growled at the spirit of Luna who looked at him unfazed.

“You are not just an animal but you are most definitely a beautiful one. You look better than a dog and have more powers but you seem to forget the sole fact that I am not going to be hampered in any way since I don’t physically exist,” said Luna as Lukas lunged at her and snapped his jaws at her but all he encountered was empty space and cold air.

The sweet smell of decaying plant matter and rain mingled with the cool and gentle breeze, which swayed the upper branches of century-old oaks. It was here, on one of these very streets that I found myself standing about, taking in the fresh air. If we went back a minute, I wouldn’t be here. Actually, I would be nowhere and nobody in this universe. I came from another earth, a world unconnected from this one, but so close you might just touch it with the front of your nose. My name is Lukas. I came for some sightseeing and to observe how other-worlders occupy themselves on a beautiful spring day. People don’t practice magic here, but it certainly was in the air, copious and lingering in the petrichor and decaying leaves. Magicians at home are always trying to glean more power and wisdom from the magic we have already tamed and stifled for the last ten-thousand years. After centuries of overuse, our resources are running dry.

Lukas could not breathe at all. The scene played in his mind where every single thing was burning and there was nothing left in the entire universe apart from death and decay. He had changed automatically into his human form and he was lying in fetal position curled up in the cold stone floor of the damp basement as Luna hovered near him.

“I already told you that you were not ready for something like that. Why do you need to behave so impulsively? You have to control your anger and stave it off or it is going to be the end of your life and your powers,” said Luna as she sat down beside him. Lukas had never felt anything so dark like that. It was utterly desolate and empty but then it was not void but it was disgusting. He instinctively knew that it was the future. The humans were killing the world gradually and they were all going to die along with it if he did not finish his quests and true, he needed to be more rational than impulsive. After all he was the Alpha and as per the mermaid had said, his mate was going to be the Queen.

Might be she was the one who would take them to a new world.

The very thought gleamed in his mind like a sliver of hope which soon bloomed into a rafflesia and Lukas sat up.