THE LUNA CHOOSING GAME - Season 7 Episode 11

I decided to make my presence more obvious and walked closer to Elva, Nicholas in his wolf form, Night, and Silver. Nicholas shifted back into his human form now, sitting in the grass.

“Piper,” he said, smiling slightly, a wolfish grin. He was proud of his wolf form.

“Hi, Mommy!” Elva said. “Nick-lass was showing me his wolf!*

*I saw,” I said as I knelt beside her in the grass. “What do you think?”

“So big!” She stretched her arms wide.

“He’s an Alpha,” I explained. “Their wolves tend to be bigger than others.”

*So I can protect my pack,” Nicholas added, looking at me. His previous words echoed in my head. He wanted to protect Elva and I so that I wouldn’t need to sacrifice to keep her safe. The reminder warmed me from the inside out, and helped wash away some of my earlier worry.

“Mommy,” Elva tumed toward me. “Can I see Miracle?”

I hadn’t shifted in a while. Though I often felt Miracle pushing against my thoughts, and she had given me her strength in my times of fear and strife, I had not allowed her free in some time.

This was for many reasons. Not the least of which was that I was scared I might lose myself again. The call of the wild was strong for me in human form. In wolf form, it was nearly overwhelming. I had made a vow not to disappear again. I didn’t want to break that vow.

Miracle had stopped pushing me to. We shared the drive to protect and stay with Elva.

“I don’t know…” I said now.

“You haven’t run off lately,” Nicholas said.

*Miracle has been more reserved,” I admitted. But I was still nervous. I knew full well how tempting it could be to just give myself over to natural instincts, especially when things were so stressful.

Not much was more stressful than a looming war.

But with Elva’s doe eyes on full blast, I felt myself quickly succumbing to her wishes.

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“Night, Silver, and I will be here with you,” Nicholas said. “If you start to lose control, we can and will intervene.” “Okay,” I said.

That reassurance gave me confidence, and I called to Miracle in my mind. She too was hesitant. Though she didn’t speak, I could feel her emotions. She didn’t want to disappoint Elva any more than I did, nor did she want to abandon her.

“We’ll be okay,” I assured Miracle.

I felt her calm acceptance as she stepped forward in my mind. Just like that, I gave myself over to my wolf.

One moment I was kneeling in the grass fully human, but in the length of a blink, I was sitting there as a full wolf instead.

My wolf had no near the mass and strength as Nicholas’s, but Elva still looked at me with wide-eyed awe.

I leaned forward and licked at Elva’s cheek. She giggled as she pressed her fingers into my fur. Nicholas smiled softly, watching us.

The other wolves, who I only now noticed had begun to tense at the mention of my shift, now relaxed again.

The pack is whole, they whispered to each other in contentment.

Peace. Pack. Family. These were things I felt here in the grass with this small group. Safe.

“We are home,” Miracle said in my mind.

I began to agree but then I paused.

In the back of my mind, I heard something else…

…Piper…

Was someone calling my name?

I turned my head, but no, the voice was not from anywhere around me. Instead, I could feel it coursing through my thoughts. Whatever was calling for me was doing so from inside my own mind.

*Miracle?” I asked in my thoughts. “Do you hear that?”

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“I do,” she replied.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I don’t know…” She seemed as confused as I was. There should be no one else in our head but just us two.

*Piper?” Nicholas asked. He placed his hand gently on my furry shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

Quickly, I shifted back into my human form. In this shape, my confusion must have been even easier to read. Nicholas inched closer to me.

“What happened?” he asked.

I listened, but the strange voice was gone now.

“I heard something, but… it’s impossible,” I said.

Nicholas brows pinched together as he looked at me with concern.

I didn’t mean to worry him, especially when it regarded something I couldn’t explain even if I wanted to.

I gave him a small smile. “It’s nothing.”

His growing frown told me he didn’t believe me.

That evening, I received a summons from Julian, requesting my presence in one of the sitting rooms. When I entered, my eyes went wide, taking in the space.

The couch had been shoved to the side to make room for a few desks and a massive cork board covered in pictures and maps.

Julian was pointed at something on the map, speaking with Veronica and Tiffany before him.

He glanced at me and then called me over, “Piper. Come here.”

I did as he instructed. One of the maps on the cork board was of the entire kingdom. Some areas had been

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circled. Others, crossed out.

“What is all this?” I asked.

Tiffany beamed at me. “Welcome to the task force!”

*Task force?”

Tiffany nodded. “We’re helping Julian locate the missing bear princess.”

I glanced at Julian, who nodded.

“It’s a big job,” he said. “Important, too. Definitely one of those all hands on deck situations. I have people in the

field investigating our leads. What I need are more researchers. It’s been so long, the only way to track this princess down might be through old rumors.”

I didn’t know how much I could help really. I had only just recently learned about the story of the lost bear princess. But I could read through old letters and documents well enough. I assumed that would be the bulk of the work, judging from the piles and piles of paperwork towering on top of the desks.

“Whatever we can find will help. No clue is too small,” Julian said. “Even if it seems irrelevant.” He sighed. “I imagine coroner’s reports might be a good place to start. My running theory is that the rebels murdered the princess and then disposed of her body in our kingdom to frame us.”

*That’s not correct,” Veronica said flatly.

Everyone looked at her.

“I know the tales say differently,” Julian said. “But we need to keep an open mind.”

*I’m not refuting your theory on some baseless opinion,” Veronica clarified.

She walked over to where she had set her personal bag near one of the desks. She rummage through and removed what looked to be photocopies. From a distance, it appeared to be some kind of list. She handed it to Julian.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“I’ve already begun researching, before you asked me to,” Veronica explained. “I found a book filled with old

immigration reports in the library. If you look here…” She pointed to a spot on the page. “This shows that the princess was alive when she entered the country.”

Julian, looking at the list, was speechless. It took a long moment for him to recover. “They used the princess’s

real identity…”

“Why would they do that?” I asked.

Julian looked up from the list. “The people that took her wanted everyone to know she was here…