His One Powerful Mate (Rewriting)

Prologue - Edited

"One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life. That word is love." – Sophocles.

The night was strangely quiet and still. The snow was thick and covered the ground. A little girl, asleep in her bed, was awakened by the sound of a musical voice. A womans voice. She crept to her bedroom window and peered out.

On the second floor, the little girl could see her fathers wolf pack making the rounds, the snow clumping around their ears and furs made them blend in. She could see them with her acute sight, something that had formed just the year before. 

She was eight, a big girl. And she wanted to run among the wolves, even at night in the cold the call came to her powerfully. She sniffed the air but couldn't smell any danger. The voice coaxed her forward softly. She turned to her bed and grabbed her wool-lined robe and wolf-dog slippers her mother made her wear. 

She went back to the window to see if the path was clear. The pack had passed quickly; always on time. She could see their footprints disappearing in the thick snow. She followed the musical voice out into the woods behind her house. 

It was difficult for her to move through the snow. Her legs kept sinking deeper and deeper with every step. She would lift one leg and half of her body would sink into the snow. She hurried as the voice began to giggle at the her efforts. 

"Go to the dock," it said. 

The little girl quickly moved as fast as legs could carry her. She saw in the moonlight the dock that led to the now frozen lake. Her parents had warned her not to go into the lake when it was frozen over, since it was unsafe and the thick frozen parts were uneven. 

She would have to be careful and see what the voice wanted from her before she went back to bed. She looked down the long dock to the lake and took a small step to test the wood. She could feel the splinters pulling at her slippers, so she kicked them off behind her. She would get them later when the lady told her to go back to bed, as she knew she would.

She heard her name in the wind. 

Ava. 

She walked as close to the edge of the dock as she dared and looked up at the sky. The moon glowed hugely. The clearest and whitest moon she had ever seen. The stars twinkled in the sky and made her want to reach up and touch them. She put her arms down as the giggling of the woman turned into delighted laughter. 

"You were always so childish." The woman said. 

"I am a child." Ava answered. 

"Yes, you are." The woman tried to hold her smile but Ava saw that her lips faultered at the edges. 

"Are you okay, Goddess?" Ava asked. 

The Goddess looked shocked, but she should have expected this. The child was awfully sensitive to everything around her. 

"No. I'm afraid that I feel guilty, child. It doesn't concern you. Maybe sometime I will tell you why." 

Ava looked down into the water, but couldn't see the fish swimming underneath anymore. Her father said they were sleeping. 

"Go back to bed, Ava." 

"Why did you call me?" Ava asked. 

"To tell you that the life you are about to have won't be an easy one. You may blame me, hate me, or even curse me. But there was a choice to be made and I made it. But you may pay the ultimate price for all of it." Ava sighed. 

The Goddess only ever spoke in riddles. Why couldn't she say what she meant? 

The Goddess looked down at Ava and smiled warily before she started to fade back into the moon. As Ava turned to leave, she felt something push her hard downward and into the water, the thin ice cracking underneath her. Before she could even scream for help, she was being dragged through the icy water by black clawed hands into the depths below.