Filed to story: Wolf Crying Mate of the Alpha by Jazz Ford
Continuing to sway and dance, I hear my name numerous times, ‘Luna? Nina?’ I stop dancing and see Nadia, Maia, Flint, Josie, Ryker, Astrid and my parents staring at me in shock and disbelief.
‘What’s wrong with my daughter?’ My mother asks.
‘She appears to be under the influence of something?’ My father says with worry.
Nadia steels herself then looks around for someone, ‘Quinn! You need to stop hiding and come out this instance, young fairy!’
There is a rustle in the nearby bushes, and Quinn steps out with guilt on her face. Nadia leans down and takes the pouch with the remaining fairy dust inside from Quinn’s pocket.
‘What have I told you about using fairy dust? I told you to stop collecting it. What if Nina got hurt? She could have wandered off one of the cliffs over there,’ she growls.
‘Fairy Dust! Oh dear,’ Maia says and blushes at me.
I take Maia’s hands, twirl her around, and giggle, still under the effect of the fairy dust.
‘How long until she will no longer be affected by it?’ My mother asks Nadia.
‘Probably another hour,’ she replies.
‘We should probably return her to Moon Crest Castle until it wears off. She is meant to be boarding the ship for Emerald Island shortly, but Emerald Island will have to wait until the effect wears off,’ Maia says.
My parents help guide me to the star portal. Maia takes my hand, and we step through together. We appear behind the forge and almost fall over before Maia places my arm over her shoulder to help keep me upright.
‘This way, Nina.’ Maia frowns.
We receive plenty of stares in the courtyard from bystanders going about their day and from workers in their stations as they make swords and armour.
We enter the castle. Magnus and Alec bolt towards us in a flash and help grab hold of me. ‘What happened to her? Is she okay?’ Alec asks, concerned. They stand on either side of me, holding an arm each.
‘Have I ever told either of you how hot you both are?’ I say, swaying with a big smile on my face.
Damon, May, Sir Hugo and the others step into the foyer to see what is happening.
Maia laughs nervously, ‘So, we made a star portal and went to Wolfwell. One of the little fairy children thought it would be funny to put Maia under the effect of fairy dust,’ she explains.
Sir Hugo bursts into laughter, and Damon tries to hold his laugh. Maia glares at them to stop while everyone else looks at her with confusion. Sir Hugo clears his throat and struggles to compose his laugh. He holds his hands over his mouth. I walk over to the window, which has a plant box with flowers.
‘Hello,’ I say, waving to the flowers.
Everyone raises an eyebrow and stares silently at me, ‘How are you today? I am feeling great!’ I say, flinging my hands up in the air with great enthusiasm. ‘I’ll be sailing on a ship today. What will you be doing besides looking pretty and smelling nice?’ I ask them.
Sir Hugo bursts back into laughter again and receives glares from everyone. Magnus approaches me and places a hand on my shoulder.
‘Nina, why are you talking to the flowers?’ He asks.
‘The little fairy, Quinn, said that flowers like it when you talk to them and like to listen,’ I explain. This time Damon loses it and can’t hold his laughter any longer.
‘So, who is going to tell her?’ Sir Hugo asks, looking between Maia and Damon.
‘Tell her what?’ Alec asks, annoyed at the situation.
Sir Hugo approaches me with a grin, ‘Suppose you all being so new to Mysteria. There will be a lot you don’t know yet. So, I’m about to inform you of things you should all know for future reference. Never trust a fairy, no matter how old or young they are. No matter how sweet and kind they seem. They are mischievous creatures that like to get up to no good. They like to play tricks and tell tattle tails, such as encouraging you to talk to flowers, so you look like a fool to everyone when you do. It’s hogwash. I shall tell you how fairy dust is made, but I shall instead whisper it in your ear to avoid any more embarrassment on your behalf.’ He leans towards me, and my face pales as the words are whispered in my ear. With a horrified look on my face, I turn to Magnus, who, with super hearing, being a werewolf, has also heard the whisper. He looks just as mortified as I do.
‘I’m sure you will tell the rest of your crew in diligent due time when the embarrassment has worn off how it’s made.’ Sir Hugo smirks and walks away. Maia cannot make eye contact with me, and her cheeks flush even brighter.
‘How about I carry you upstairs to have a rest, Nina? At least until the um… fairy dust wears off?’ Magnus insists. I nod my head, keep my eyes downcast and let Magnus carry me upstairs to bed.
I’m relieved when Alec shuts the door behind us.
‘So, either of you going to tell me what fairy du-‘
‘No!’ Magnus and I both shout,
‘Maybe another time,’ I say more softly, ‘Like in a long time from now,’ I blush.
Alec stares at us for a moment, then nods his head, ‘When you are comfortable to discuss it, Nina, my love, I will be here to listen,’ he says.
I relax a little knowing we can move on to a different topic. Most of the effects have begun to disappear. I snuggle up to myself under the bed’s covers and fall asleep while Alec and Magnus sit in the armchairs to watch over me.
I gaze up to see two very handsome faces smiling at me as I wake.
‘Ready to board the ship?’ Magnus says.
I sit up with a newfound excitement shooting through me.
‘Yes!’ I say with much enthusiasm. I stand up on the bed, pull Magnus and Alec in, and hug them. Then, I peck them both on the cheek, jump off the bed, and sit at the dresser to comb my hair and neaten myself up before leaving.
Maia, Damon and Sir Hugo are already there as we approach the dock. Mne load the ship with crates of freshly gathered fruits and vegetables and mesh bags filled with flour, salt and rice.
‘We have loaded different seeds and seedlings to help you live off the Island. Oh, and I’ve had a few trunks of dresses, tunics and other bits and pieces placed on board for you,’ she beams.
‘Thank you, Queen Maia. Your kindness and hospitality had been more than we could ask for,’ I smile.
May, Kadva and the witches are on board and wave to us from the upper deck, and Reaper flies through the air and perched on the beam of the largest sail. The rest of our pack board the ship along with the vampires. I’m relieved to see no one is afraid of the vampires and treats them the same as everyone else.
Barrels of wine and rum are rolled onboard the ship as we hug people goodbye.
‘Stand by, make sail,’ the captain hollers. We quickly board the ship as the men release the dock lines and raise the anchor. We stand on the upper deck near the middle mast and wave goodbye to everyone waving us off. The seamen break into song, singing ballads about rum and women or sailing the seas. Alec and Magnus take turns dancing with me along to the songs. My hair falls out from my braid as I dance. I laugh with joy and happiness as my hair blows strongly in the wind. Alec twirls me around and lifts me into the air. Kadva and Lilac join us and dance as the others clap along and tap their feet. Two hours of sailing goes by quickly.
‘Land Ho! Anchor Aweigh,’ The captain shouts.
We all stop dancing and look out from the ship’s edge. The Island is vast. Big enough for a few villages and fields. Alec and Magnus both hold a hand of mine each. They gently squeeze my hand and look down at me with endearing gazes.
‘We’re home,’ they both say in unison.
I squeeze their hands back and smile between them as my eyes glisten from tears of joy.
The crew load the small boats with the trunks and crates filled with goods and begin rowing them to shore. The captain escorts us to a small boat with no items on board. We step in, sit wherever we can, and make room for May, Kadva and others. The crew on board lower our boat down into the water with ropes, and two other men begin rowing us to shore. More boats with our pack members are lowered onto the water and rowed to shore. Unable to help ourselves, all the witches and me give each other look and nod, ‘Skedaddle Dash,’ we all say and immediately blink, ending up on the sandy banks of the Island. We turn and wave to Magnus, Alec and Kadva, who don’t look impressed with us as they are still being rowed to shore. We chase each other through the sandy beach, kicking sand with our feet and rolling around, making sand angels. We see Alec, Magnus and Kadva are now on shore and stand there in line with arms crossed and smirks on their faces, watching us. Reaper flies around in large circles, scoping out the Island.
Alec holds his hand out. I approach and take his hand.
‘Let’s find somewhere to summon our castle,’ he hums. We spend an hour walking through trees until we find an area of mostly flat land. On the outskirts to the North is a huge cliff with a waterfall. The water flows along a river in a curved line that leads to a lake.
‘We could place it in front of the river by the waterfall. This way we will always have fresh water available and a lake to swim in. Alec and Magnus nod in agreement.
‘This is going to take all my energy to summon. I will need to rest afterwards,’ Alec cautions. Magnus and I nod.