Curse of the Moon Goddess

“I was going to see where I’m supposed to stay. I’m not sure which room I’m in.”

I could hear the angelic voice of Sage floating up the stairs as I led Lizzy and Adam to their rooms.

I heard Lukas chuckle as he replied, “Silly girl. You’ll be staying with me.”

My blood began to boil and I’m sure my eyes flashed a darker shade. I took deep breaths to calm myself.

She’s not your mate. She’s not your mate.

I kept repeating that line to myself over and over again to resist the urge to fly back down these stairs and strangle the life out of Lukas. I’m probably just mad because not moments ago I had announced no one would be going into anyone’s rooms. The truth was I was less afraid of what everyone else would be doing and more afraid of what I might do. I needed an excuse to stay away from my mate until I could reject her.

I winced. I felt horrible for not giving the girl a chance. But Sage’s presence flooded my being with memories and feelings of Aleina. The way Aleina talked, laughed, cried, smiled, yelled, kissed... Sage’s presence flooded my being with those sensations. Though some of her details have faded into a blurry fantasy, the vivid image of how it all came about still remained vibrant within my memory.

“Jake, get over here! I can see their sled coming up now.”

I moved my stubby eight-year-old legs as fast as they would carry me to my eldest brother Kent.

“Come on,” whisper yelled my second oldest brother Brent.

We had heard earlier in the morning that a couple of young girls from a neighboring pack would be coming through. Our parents requested we go to greet them with a strong emphasis to be nice. Something about one of them might be our future mate. Seriously, did adults have anything else to think about than us finding a mate? I’m eight years old! And Kent is eleven. Eleven and a half if you ask him.

Anyway, the point is, my brothers had this brilliant idea to ambush them with a good old-fashioned boy welcome. A cascade of snowballs.

When they first told me of their plan, I was more than a little excited. So excited, I almost didn’t keep our little adventure on the down low. But thankfully my brothers covered up my enthusiasm by telling our parents something that appeased their curiosity.

The three of us ducked behind a hill and began forming our mountain of ammo. There had to be enough to give them a proper welcome after all.

At last, we had created an acceptable amount of ammo. Then we waited. And waited. And waited. My fingers were becoming numb and I couldn’t feel my toes. Even my hardcore brothers started questioning the wisdom of our scheme. I started building mini snowmen, then pounding them into the snow.

“Bros, it’s too cold. I’m going home,” Brent announced.

“Me too,” Kent stated, standing and brushing the snow off his pants.

“Wait!” I cried, also jumping to my feet, “Don’t you remember what dad said? We should never back down from a fight.”

“This isn’t a fight,” Kent glared angrily at me, obviously allowing the cold to seep into his personality.

Unlucky for them I was as stubborn as they come, “Well, I’m not going to quit. Because I’m not a quitter. You can go home, but I’m staying.”

And with that, I sat roughly on the ground causing my whole body to shake from the impact. My backside would definitely be a bit bruised later.

“Go ahead and freeze then.”

Kent and Brent stormed off and headed back towards our home. My eight-year-old mind was too full of anger to imagine what they would tell our parents when they came home without me. All I knew was I was staying there till those stupid girls showed up.

And sure enough, they showed up. About five minutes later, I heard their sled coming my direction. I could hear two voices giggling. I slipped and wiggled my way into position. The anticipation and exciting warming my frozen body as the two forms came into throwing range. Without a second thought, I began catapulting them with snowballs.

My face broke into a devil grin as I took in the looks of three very surprised faces. I hid back behind the hill, preparing for my next round of attacks. Taking a deep breath, I ninja like rose to my feet, snowball in hand, and heard two words I hated coming from the mouth of two very angry werewolves.

“Jake Robertson.”

I turned my head to the source of the sound, instantly regretting my decision as I felt something cold and hard nailed me in the side of my face forcing me down the hill in the most uncool way possible.

“Uhm,” I groaned as I tried gathering my bearings.

As I stared up at the pale blue sky, I saw the brightest light fill my vision. At the end of that light was a gloved hand glistening with snow.

My body moved on its own accord to reach up and take hold of that hand. I was pulled up by a strong grip.

“Than…”

I stopped as I noticed the bright light’s source was a smiling girl around my age. She was an inch taller than me and had a bit of snow in her hair. She was backed by two taller versions of her. Most likely her sisters. Both were sporting far more snow than Aleina was.

“No problem. Thanks for the welcome. That was the most fun I’ve had in a while.”

Her smile was beautiful and mesmerizing. Her hair was long and a soft brown color. Most of it was covered by her big, fury rabbit hat. I hated her.

“I’m Aleina,” she said, moving our hands up and down.

Realizing that our hands were still intertwined, I immediately yanked my hand from her grasp.

“it’s not cool to blindside someone.”

“It’s not cool to ambush someone.”

I scowled knowing she was right.

“Jake Robertson,” my mother was really angry if she felt the need to say my full name again, “how could you do this to these innocent girls? I thought I raised you better.”

My scowl deepened at the mention of ‘innocent’ and the guilt trip. First off, there was nothing innocent about Aleina. Second off, it wasn’t my idea and there was no way I was going down with this ship alone.

“It was Brent and Kent’s idea. They were just too big of sissies to stay out in the cold and see it through,” I retaliated.

My father turned to my mother and muttered under his breath, “At least he had the guts to do it.”

This earned him a hard elbow in the gut. My scowl faded a bit knowing my dad was on my side. He was the alpha of our pack and knew what it meant to finish things.

“Hey,” my dad protested, “he learned his lesson. He fought an enemy whose strength was unknown, and he ended up on his back. By the way, nice shot Aleina.”

My dad shot the young girl a wink and she beamed even brighter. I really hate this girl.

From that day forward, we were sworn enemies. We always were fighting partners when she would insist on coming to train with us. At first, I always won, but then she started getting smarter. This made me work harder. I’d train at night while my family was asleep. I’d “practice” on bullies at school. I would even challenge my brothers. After six months, I beat Brent. A month later, I won against Kent. A year later, I was winning every fight.

Yet, no matter how hard I trained, I would always meet my match against Aleina. She’d win some, then I’d win some. I started training against my dad. At first, he would go easy on me. Until I unexpectedly beat him. After that, it was hardcore training. At the age of thirteen, I had my first win against my dad going all out. At sixteen, I was winning every single fight. Except against Aleina. She’d still win some and I’d still win some. I hated her. More than anyone else. Until we changed our fate.