Caleb's Luna

"I would see you in an hour" Jared said to her as he walked out of the house and stepped into the snow without any winter clothes or boots

This bothered Josie a lot because she knew that she was going to freeze to death if she ever tried to do that. She sighed as she dropped on the sofa with a cup of warm cocoa in her hand and a blanket to keep her warm for the night. Jared never spent the night at home, not after his parents were murdered in the war between the Northern Crescent wolves and the Southern Crescent wolves. Josie dropped the cup of cocoa and decided to read a book. The last thing she needed was a journey down memory lane. She decided to wait up for Jared but she knew that was pointless because he wasn't coming home, not until tomorrow. She had always wondered what he was up to during the night and one time, she tried to find out for herself but she ended up being attacked by a pack of wolves, unable to defend herself. All she could remember was being attacked and running the other way when she slipped and blacked out. The next morning, she was back in the comfort of her home and in the cosiness of her bed. Her brother said some people found her and brought her home. He was furious and warned her against following him out again. She dared not follow him not because she was scared of him or because she was willing to obey him but because she was helpless and weak. She knew that she couldn't protect herself if she ran into trouble and that bothered her a lot. She had been to different witches and they all told her the same thing that she was a wolf and she wasn't human but she was going to be nineteen in five months and she still had not transformed into a wolf yet. in some rare cases, some wolves never transform but at the same time, they never possess any of the abilities of a wolf but Josie was different. She could heal very fast, faster than the regular wolf. What she couldn't understand was why she wasn't transforming. Before her mom died, her mom told her that she was probably a late bloomer but that didn't make her feel any better. She was the ridicule of the town and most days, she just wanted to lay down and die but she knew that laying down to die was not part of her options, not after her parents were slaughtered along side their previous alpha while fighting for their lives.

She pulled up the blanket and for more warmth. She closed her eyes and tried to find some peace in the howling of the wolves that roamed the valley. She smiled and hoped that one day, she would be a part of them, running through the forest under the full moon, feeling the wind in her hair and the dirt on her feet. She had heard so many stories about the transformation experience and she just wanted to experience it herself. She felt a tear roll down her face and she wiped it off. She hadn't realized that she was crying. She sighed as she drifted away to sleep. She woke up to the wind blowing through her duvet. She opened her eyes immediately

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up" Jared said to her

"It is fine. I already got used to it. Still won't tell me where you are coming from?" She asked her brother

"Josie, I already told you that you should not bother about my whereabouts. I am fine and that is all that should matter" Jared said to her

"Well, that is not enough for me. It is dangerous out there once it is dark" she said back to him

"And I told you that I can take care of myself. Instead of spending all of your time worrying about me, do something for yourself. Go out, take a walk. Feel the sun and smile again" Jared said to her

"You know that I can't. I am the talk of the town. I am going to be nineteen in less that five months and I still can't get to the part of my life where I transform. Do you know what that means? I might never get a mate or go running as a wolf or even fight when it is time to fight. I don't know how much longer I can live like this really" she said to her brother

"I thought we were past this, Josie. Because you are not yet a wolf doesn't mean that you would never be and if you never transform, that doesn't mean that it is over for you! There is a life outside being a wolf. There is more to life than being a wolf. Josie, you can't keep yourself hidden and locked up because you can't transform as a wolf" her brother said to her

"Easy for you to say. You are not the one that needs to face everybody each time you go out. You are not the one that has no friends because everybody thinks that you're weird. You are not the talk of the entire town. You are not the one that is defenceless because you are incapable of protecting yourself. You are not the one that has never gone through the experience of transforming. Do you know how I feel when they talk about it in school? I feel left out and that is probably because I am" she said to her brother

"You shouldn't feel left out, Josie. Your race is not theirs and your destination or journey is no theirs either. You have a different path from everybody else and you need to understand that" he said to her

"I am done understanding everything. I have made up my mind on what to do about this" she said

"Josie, I am done visiting witches. It is not getting us anywhere. Every witch we have visited, they have all told us the same thing. They have told us that there is nothing wrong with you and I believe them so going to another witch that you think is more powerful than the last one is not going to change anything about your situation" she said to her

"So what would you rather have me do? Sit here and do nothing?" she asked him

"No! I want you to go out and live. Do what all your mates are doing. Go on dates, live your life. To an extent, I am responsible for you and your happiness matters to me so much. I need you to be the Josie that you were before our parents died. I need you to be full of life and happiness. I need you to glow and radiate with so much positive energy like you did before. What you are doing now is not called living" Jared said to her

"Take your own advice. Stop going out so late in the middle of the night, stop spending the nights outside. If you want the old me, be the old you!" she said to her brother

"Josie! You can't keep doing this. You can't keep attaching your happiness to my own happiness. You can't keep attaching your well being to mine. I am happy with the life that I lead. Why don't you see that?" he said to her

"Is this what you call happiness? Tell me because what you are doing is just trying to get yourself killed without having to do it with your hands. Mom wouldn't want this for you and you know this. You keep telling me to have friends, what happened to all the friends that you had? You are not the outcast, I am so why does it feel like we are both outcasts? What exactly is going on with you? You used to tell me everything. What happened to that?" Josie asked her brother as tears welled up in her eyes

She knew that not only did her parents die that day, her relationship with her brother also died with them but she knew that she couldn't blame him. To an extent, it was her fault. After she got the news of the death of her parents, she shut the world out. She shut out her friends in school, her classmates, her teachers, her neighbors and her brother, the one person that needed her the most. She was grieving and she couldn't handle the news of the death of her parents and she grieved their deaths the only way she knew how to. When she was done with her grieving, her brother was a different person entirely and she couldn't reach out to him, not like she did before. She knew that her brother still loved her no matter what but there was this distance between them and even though they stayed under the same roof, it was different and she knew this. She necer spoke about how she felt about the death of their parents and her brother never spoke about it either. They just moved on and started to act like they were fine, lying to themselves, hoping it would soon become their reality.

"Josie, you shouldn't be so worked up about me. I promise that we would get through this and I am not trying to get myself killed. I am just trying to get rid of the pain" he said to her

"It is almost a year now. When would you get over it?" Josie asked him

"You sound like you have gotten over it. Josie, one of the reasons I don't sleep at home is because you cry yourself to sleep every night and I know that you don't want me to know because you always have your face buried in your pillow so you don't wake me up but you keep forgetting that I am a wolf and I can hear the tiniest of sounds. You keep crying yourself to sleep so why are you talking about moving on?" Jared asked her

"I am not trying to get myself killed! I have accepted the fact that they are gone and they would want us to keep on living! It hurt sometimes, most times actually but you don't see me putting myself in harm's way!" Josie said to her brother

"I already told you that I am not trying to get myself killed! Joe, Can you stop saying that?" he said to her

"I can and I will when you stop moving about in the night. You know that it is not safe out there, especially at night. I don't care what Fred says about you, I don't care if he says that you are his best student. I don't care is he says that you would be an excellent soldier. You are my brother and you are the only family that I have left! No matter how good you are, you can't defend yourself against five Northern Crescent wolves and you know this! We are on the verge of another war. You don't need me to tell you this. You know that whatever peace we have right now is temporary! Yet you keep going out at night, coming home in the morning. I know you have scars already! I have seen your back. You got into a fight, didn't you?" Josie screamed at him, crying already

He looked at his sister and he could see that she was scared of losing him. She was scared of living alone. He walked up to her and hugged her. She hugged him back and cried. This was the first time since she decided to open up that she had some form of physical contact with her brother. He had always kept his distance until now. She didn't realize that she had fallen on her knees and he was right there with her. She soon fell asleep in her brother's arms. When she woke up, she was on her bed and her brother was right there with her. She looked at him through her sleepy eyes and he smiled at her

"It has been so long since I watched you sleep like that" he said to her

"Well, you are never home when I fall asleep" she said back to him

"I want to change that, Josie. I want to fix things. I want to be the person you know but I can't go back to being that person if you don't try to be the person that I know" he said to her

"Then we both work towards being better people" Josie said to him with a smile

"Speaking of being better people, I made breakfast. My cooking is still a little bit rusty but I can't let you skip breakfast again. You have been doing that a lot and it would soon start to tell on your health. Also, as much as we want to avoid the topic, we can't anymore. We have to talk about their deaths and get settled with the inheritance they left behind. You would be nineteen soon and I don't know what life has in store for us but whatever it is, I need you t o be fully prepared for whatever comes next. I am talking of training and self protection. You might not have access to your wolf side yet but that doesn't mean that you are defenceless" Jared said to her

"They wouldn't train me at the wolf academy" She said to him

"I would train you. I would teach you everything I know" he said to her

She soon fell asleep in her brother's arms. When she woke up, she was on her bed and her brother was right there with her. She looked at him through her sleepy eyes and he smiled at her

"It has been so long since I watched you sleep like that" he said to her

"Well, you are never home when I fall asleep" she said back to him

"I want to change that, Josie. I want to fix things. I want to be the person you know but I can't go back to being that person if you don't try to be the person that I know" he said to her

"Then we both work towards being better people" Josie said to him with a smile

"Speaking of being better people, I made breakfast. My cooking is still a little bit rusty but I can't let you skip breakfast again. You have been doing that a lot and it would soon start to tell on your health. Also, as much as we want to avoid the topic, we can't anymore. We have to talk about their