Kieran POV
Inching my way closer to Celeste, I am careful not to startle her. During a werewolf's first shift, they can be volatile and hard to handle. Especially if they had to under go the shift alone.
"Hey," I say as I step between Celeste and Francesca's body.
Celeste growls loudly at me as I block her from her kill. It is like she doesn't recognize me. When I refuse to step to the side, Celeste stomps her front paws into the sand and prepares to fight me.
"I am not going to fight you, Celeste," I say gently. "You are my mate."
Cocking her head to the side, Celeste sits on her hind legs and whines. Carefully, I reach out and run my fingers through her fur. She leans her head into my touch, and her back leg twitches as I scratch behind her ear.
She pants loudly as the tingles from the mate bond spread between us.
"Can you give control back to Mae?" I ask her. Celeste whines and jerks her head away from my touch. "I will take that as a no."
Celeste huffs loudly and begins to walk around me. She turns her body on Francesca's body and kicks sand on her.
"Are you saving her for later?" I chuckle.
Celeste turns toward me and bares her teeth in my direction. I can't help but laugh at her, but I raise my hands in defeat.
Reaching out through the mind link, I look for Mae. 'Mae,' I whisper. 'Can you take control of your body?'
Soft sobs come through the mind link. 'I killed her,' she says again.
I bend down and meet Celeste's gaze. I take her large head into my hands and look into her icy blue eyes. "You are protecting her, aren't you?"
Celeste blinks slowly as if to say yes.
Rocking back on my heels, I groan in frustration. If Celeste is protecting Mae from what she has done, there is no telling how long she will be in wolf form. If Mae cannot get past what happened here tonight it is possible she may never shift back.
Celeste's voice breaks through the mind link. It is loud and harsh. 'I can only stay in this form on the full moon. I will have to shift back in the morning.'
'Why can you only shift on the full moon?' I ask curiously.
'It is a curse put on silver wolves by the Moon Goddess,' she replies. 'We are endowed with a gift, but in return we can only shift on the first night of the full moon.'
'You have a gift?' I ask her curiously.
'I do,' she replies. 'But what it is, I do not know yet.'
'I don't understand,' I reply. 'Both my mother and my sister have gifts from the Moon Goddess and they are not plagued by this curse.'
'Perhaps that is a better question for Narah and Nyx,' Celeste replies.
I am reminded of a tale that Oliver told me during one of his many ramblings. He told me that there is a faction of werewolves who are reincarnated after every death, and they take the memories of their past lives with them. At some point in the distant past, they displeased the Moon Goddess and were forced to live for eternity in different bodies and with different mates. It makes me wonder if Celeste is one of those wolves.
'How old are you?' I ask Celeste.
'That is a tale for another day,' she replies sleepily.
I glance into the sky and notice that it changing to a beautiful shade of orange and pink. The moon is hanging low in the sky. Celeste will have to shift back soon.
She walks away from the water and curls up on the sand next to the dune. Her fluffy tail curls around her body, and she closes her eyes. She slowly drifts off to sleep.
Once her breathing evens out, the shift begins to take place. I place her head on my lap and stroke her head gently. I whisper encouraging words to her as she shifts.
As Mae becomes more in control of her body, she screams out in pain.
"Just relax," I whisper to her. "It will be over in a few minutes."
But Mae doesn't relax. Her teeth grind together and she trashes in pain. I try to hold her still but she is incredibly strong. Much stronger than I expected her to be.
The fur disappears from her body, and Mae is lying naked in my arms. She is shivering in the cool morning air. The shock of her first shift and kill are still fresh in her mind.
She looks into my eyes and tries to smile. "You came for me," she says quietly.
"Of course, I came for you," I tell her. "You are my mate. But it didn't appear that you needed my help."
She turns her head in my lap and looks toward the waves. Francesca's body is being washed out to sea by the incoming tide. It can hardly be seen any longer.
"I did that," she whimpers. "I tried to stop her, but I was not able to control her."
"You didn't do that," I tell her. "Celeste did."
"But we are one and the same," Mae cries. "Her actions are mine."
"Not always," I try to explain. "Sometimes, our wolves have a mind of their own. We need to get you back to the North Pack, so you can speak with Narah."
"My mother?" She asks as she wipes the tears from her eyes. "Why her?"
"I think she has answers to questions that I can't possibly answer for you," I tell her. "I have a few questions for her myself."
"My father is still in the beach house," she informs me. I can hear both the pain and the anger in her voice. "He can't be left. He is dangerous. He wants to eradicate all werewolves."
"Then I guess we better go round him up," I tell her.