Something unusual happened.
It was the festival of the full moon, a three days event where offerings were made to the moon goddess for her benevolence.
Not everyone looked particularly forward to this event. For the Alpha of Wolfswood pack, it was an unnerving three days to search for his mate, the one that held the key to breaking his curse.
He had been mateless for as long as he could remember. Five mating seasons had passed since his maturity, and not for once had his nose caught the scent of the woman claimed to be his mate.
“I could be the only wolf without a mate,” he muttered, staring at his reflection. “Maybe that’s the moon goddess' way of telling me my curse could never be broken.”
His bosom friend, Klaus, who helped him dress, hissed dramatically enough to sound convincing.
“Nonsense,” he said. “Tonight, we’ll find your mate.”
But these words have been said for over five years and they had become a cliche. Alpha Kael was tired of searching for the woman who could take away the curse.
But if his curse affected him alone, he would have truly given up. But his curse was tied to the people - his people. While the curse remained, his people died. A deadly disease that turned them into stones in their sleep.
It always started from a pain in the head. And in three days, they’d become stone.
“You have to look for her,” he could hear his mum, the Luna say. “In her lies the freedom of our people.”
“Maybe we should be out there, hunting the witches who caused this in the first place,” he had barked at his mother that morning. The burden of the curse was depleting.
Tonight, he stared at his reflection, catching the grim expression on Klaus'face.
“Let’s do this.”
He stepped out. It was the third day of the full moon, and tonight was the mating ceremony. As he stepped into the crowd, he could feel the eyes on him. They dare not to say it or show it, but he knew they blamed him and cursed at him for every loved one that turned into stone.
But the curse in itself, was not his fault. It was the witch’s.
Klaus was right beside him, a steady anchor in the storm - a literal storm.
'How am I to know again?’ he asked.
Not that he didn’t know. He had gone through it over and over again. He had received lectured, taken notes on how to spot his mate. But right now, he needed a distraction. He needed something to stop his mind from racking with the thoughts of what animosity the crowd had against him.
“Smell,” Klaus responded. “That's the commonest. You could smell…”
“...wildflowers, roses, “
Kael often wondered what his mate would smell like. Or what smell his mate would perceive from him. He had imagined he smelled like the storm and forest for he was wild and free spirited.
He closed his eyes, willing to let go of the distractions around him.
Under the full moon, his sense of smell was the sharpest. But as he took in the air, all he felt was the cool evening breeze, seeping through his nostrils, lulling him.
“Are you picking anything yet?”
Klaus’ words woke him from his mid-sleep. He pulled his lids open.
“Huh?’
Klaus paused. “You’re doing it again, aren’t you?”
“Doing what?”
“Getting distracted?” Klaus lowered his eyebrows, angry, but visibly concerned. “For each mating season that you’re without a mate, we lose about ten of our pack members. This is a serious matter, Alpha Kael.”
Alpha Kael exhaled. “I wish I didn’t have to bear any of this burden, Klaus. I wish I wasn’t even a prince to this pack.”
“You can’t keep washing when people are dying, Alpha.”
He exhaled. “Let's do this.”
As soon as he shut his eyes, he heard a shrill cry through the crowd, one that sent him opening his eyes. Someone was pointing to the sky and the crowd was gazing, their face strike with horror.
The moon stood there in the sky like a stranger for it was in a form the had never seen.
Black.
Like a bad omen.
The crowd was dispersing.
“It's him…it's the cursed prince. He's causing this.”
They were running away from him and from the large ball that loomed in the sky.
Kael's heart thrummed with a fear that was strange to him as he stared at the moon.
“What does this mean?’ he asked Klaus, the only companion by his side.
Klaus was gazing at the sky too.
“The moon is gone.” His horror-stricken face fell to Kael’s face. “You know what this means, do you?” He asked.
Alpha Kael was afraid to think about it. But Klaus wasted no time in revealing the truth.
“If the moon does not return, we can never find your mate. And that means doom to us all.”