Celestial and the Alpha

Chapter 12: Some Years Ago

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Celeste's POV, some years ago

I take my moms hand, squeezing it nervously. She looks down at me, gently running a hand over my cheek. "Go on Celestial, go play," she encourages, gesturing towards the other children. Mom tries hard to show me love even though she's in pain. The loss of a mate is the worst pain imaginable, or so I've been told. Many of the pack women that remain now carry a sadness on their shoulders, a burden struck down by the universe to be without their other halves. In the first two weeks, three women died from heartbreak. It was terrifying to see their lifeless bodies as we buried them deep beneath the ground. We did our best to hold a passing over ceremony, both then and after the initial attack. To give guidance to all the souls who joined the Moon Goddess from our pack-family.

Another nudge on my shoulder encourages me to take a step forward.

A few of the kids look at me, some offering small smiles while some kept blank faces. A lot of these kids also lost their fathers, some lost everything. I look over at the twins, Addison and Madeline, who haven't smiled or talked since the attack. They were at a friend's house the night of the attack and escaped with them. Neither of their Dads returned. I give them a small smile. They don't return it.

"Celeste!" I breathe a sigh of relief at the voice of my savior. Christopher is a few years older than me and we grew up practically side by side. Our Dads were friends which made us friends by default. I've been grateful for his friendship over the years. "You wanna play!?" I look up at him where he's lodged himself between two fallen trees, giving him some height in his leisurely position. I nod several times in response. He hops down from his spot between the logs. "Great! We were just about to start a game of tag. Randy is it! Cause he lost last time!" Randy sticks his tongue out at Christopher who laughs. "Is everyone ready?" Several kids turn to run. "Count to ten Randy!" Randy begins counting and Christopher grabs my hand. He pulls me as fast as I can to dodge between trees, encouraging me to climb one of the sturdy branches.

"Its tag, Christopher! Not hide and seek!" I whine, knowing my tree climbing skills aren't great.

"Yea but it's easier if you hide first!" He gives me an encouraging push towards the tree. I grumble and take a step up, slowly but surely climbing. I can hear Randy counting '7' as Christopher comes up behind me. He motions to be quiet and settles down against the branch as the number '10' is called out before Randy breaks into a sprint.

Christopher and I merely watch as several kids run out from behind trees not terribly far from where Randy started. Randy tags the arm of Jessica, a tall redhead who's very athletic. She was on most of our packs junior sports teams! Jessica looks around before tagging someone else. This goes on for awhile, Christopher laughing at our clever spot in the opposite direction, before Clara turns to look in our direction! Oh no! She must have heard us! Christopher notices and jumps down from the tree, Clara is only several feet away. Christopher looks up at me, "jump!" I shake my head, the view looking far too scary. He looks at Clara , back at me, and back at Clara before deciding to book it in a different direction. He laughs as he takes off, "Sorry Celeste!!"

"Christopher!!!" I whine, "No fair!" Clara comes up to where I'm at in the tree, jumping up to tag my arm. The little push plus the bad angle I was at while looking to Christopher's retreating form leads me to fall from the tree. I left out a loud "oomf!" and my sight goes blurry. I groan, pushing myself up from the ground. I look around, blinking for clarity. Christopher is paused not twenty feet away, watching while Clara laughs at my hurt self.

~

"Christopher!" I look around for the brooding teen. It's his turn to go scouting and mom asked me to fetch him. I've struggled to make friends over the years but Christopher is the closest friend I have. Even if we have drifted a bit these last few of years. . .