WHERE IS SHE?

SHAWN I was running in the woods looking for Valerie. "Valerie!" I called her loudly. There was a terrible storm in the town and everyone had been asked to stay inside the house. But I didn't because I didn't know where my mate was. I ran deeper into the woods and looked for her but she was nowhere to be seen. "Valerie!" I yelled, stopping in my tracks. I growled loudly in frustration and looked up at the sky where the half-moon shone brightly amidst the sea of stars. My wolf was getting agitated, every passing second. He was begging me to shift after I felt a pain in my head. I held the side of my head with both hands and knelt on the ground. Gritting my teeth, I knew, I was feeling Valerie's pain. Suddenly, the sky was covered with the dark clouds, followed by a roaring sound of thunder and I knew the violently rotating tornado was close by. Dust got kicked up by the wind everywhere, the trees bent down with the force of the wind. Few trees even fell on the ground blocking my path. I felt hopeless because I didn't know where my mate is. I wanted her. She was hurt and I knew she needed me. "Where is she?" I asked looking at the sky only to see that the sky was covered by thick dark wall of clouds. "Where is my mate?" I asked again staring at the sky, hoping she would help me even though I couldn't see her. I rolled my head backwards and closed my eyes. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears and felt my whole body tremble with fear for her. I needed to see Valerie. "Please help me." I whispered slowly, hoping the Goddess could hear me because she is the only person who can help me now. She is the only one who can take me to my mate. I needed her to perform some miracle for me, though she has already done that by choosing Valerie as my mate. I couldn't ask for anything else after she gave me Valerie, however now, I was begging her to help me. "Please help me, mother." I whispered and tried with every ounce of energy to suppress the groan of pain. Valerie's pain that I was feeling. "Please!" "Shield her." I heard an angelic voice whisper and I opened my eyes. The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that I was all alone in bed. Where is Valerie? I couldn't feel her presence in the room either. Getting up, I quickly put on my pants and pulled down a shirt and hurried downstairs. This wasn't my home, hence I wasn't much comfortable here but the people were good. Everyone in her pack was warm and welcoming. When I heard the some arguing voices downstairs, I increased my pace. What are the people arguing about? It was just six in the morning. "You were supposed to guard it?" Oscar was yelling at an elderly man. "My apologies Beta to interrupt, but I saw Alpha with the statue." another guy said. "Valerie?" I asked. "Yes. I saw her meditating in the shore." the same guy replied. "The statue was with her?" Oscar asked again. "Yes." he replied. "She took the statue?" Sheila asked in confusion. Ignoring them, I ran towards the shore with Oscar. I just wanted to see and hold her after that horrible, scary dream. I saw Valerie sitting in the shore with both of her hands on her lap facing the ocean. I remember Jasper telling me that watching her meditate is a sight to behold and I couldn't agree less with him now. She looked so peaceful. Her whole body was stiff without any movement, other than the slightly fanning of her dark hair by the wind. Her eyes were closed and it seemed like she was unaware of the sounds from the waves because there wasn't a single emotion displayed in her face. Smile, frown, tensed nothing. She was like a statue. She was away from this world. Not here with us. Evie had told me that through that means she can connect to the Goddess which is something that is not possible for us. It made me wonder just how powerful Valerie is. There was a white cloth in front of her where the pieces of old statue as well as the new one were kept. I stood in my spot and watched because I didn't want to disturb her. When she said she had to reform the statue I thought she was going to ask help from an expert, but now I was surprised to see that she herself wanted to do it. The sun was slowly rising in the morning sky where the moon was still visible. Oscar was standing beside me and watching Valerie curiously. "Does she always do this?" I asked him. "Yes." "Since when?" "Since like always, but she told me she started meditating only after she shifted. It helps her a lot." he said. "But we shouldn't disturb her." he added quickly and I cocked an eyebrow at him. "The last time I tried I jumped five miles apart from the shock I got from the ring surrounding her!" he said and he had a terrified look in his face. "Blue ring?" I asked him. "Yeah!" I remembered that day in the beach when Valerie surrounded that ring around me, I felt no shock that day just a mild warming sensation course through my body. It felt as if I was getting... stronger or that everything felt new in my own body. I was gifted with a renewed vigor and power. Just then, the pieces of statue started rising one after the other, slowly at first and then all of a sudden they were lifted off the ground and floating in the air, around Valerie. My eyes widened when I looked at that. "What the-?" Oscar said. "What is happening?" Sheila said and that is when I realised that she was here with us. Sheila gasped when ocean blue color light started emitting from Valerie. The light was coming from every pore of her skin. Her hair, her face, and her palms everything was radiating with light. "What is she doing?" Sheila asked to no one in particular. "I don't know." Oscar said. We were all shocked to react. The pieces started floating high in the air and they were in level with Valerie's face. Suddenly, the light emitting from her surrounded around her in a ring and the pieces continued circling around her in that ring. Whatever that was happening here was very beautiful to watch especially, when the waves were like soft music in the background. And just like that, the pieces of the statue started glowing. They were shining brighter and brighter each passing second. The pieces grew so brighter that I closed my eyes from that harsh light. A little peek wasn't possible because the light was that strong such that it could make you blind. I closed my eyes again. Valerie was also emitting the blue light but hers wasn't as bright as the pieces. I bent my head down because the light felt too bright even when I closed my eyes. Few minutes later when I couldn't feel the brightness, I slowly opened one eye. Luckily, the light wasn't there and so I opened another eye. I had to blink at least a few times to get adjusted to the view around me because all I could see were black spots. Rubbing my eyes, I looked at Valerie who was still sitting in her spot, in the same posture. "Is it gone?" Sheila asked. "I don't know!" Oscar replied and I saw that both of them had turned around. "It's gone." I told them and they turned to face Valerie again. What surprised me was that the pieces were missing and in front of Valerie there lay a statue that was shining, but it was fading slowly and slowly. "My head is aching." Sheila said. "Wow!" I breathed out when I saw the statue that was now in front of Valerie. It was shiny and beautiful. I can say the statue was the most beautiful that I've ever set my eyes on! It was marvelous. Curly manes, almond eye, perfect nose, beautiful chin and full lips. "She reformed the statue!" Oscar exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief. "You know, when Valerie first shifted, I thought the Goddess herself had appeared in a fierce form. It took me days to get adjusted to the fact that she was a werewolf, just like us, though very special. After this...I am confused again!" He said looking and smiling contently. "She is special!" I admitted smiling. "That is so beautiful!" Sheila whispered and took a step forwards but Oscar pulled her back immediately. "Let her get up. We shouldn't force her." he said and Sheila sighed. I stood there and waited for Valerie to open her eyes and look at her wonderful work! ***** VALERIE I could hear the birds singing and the waves roaring and that's when I came to know that I was back. My whole body was exhausted; I knew that much because of the heat burning my blood. Slowly, I opened my eyes and looked at the statue in front of me. My eyes widened when I looked at the statue of the Goddess in front of me. "Wow!" I exclaimed staring at the beauty of the statue. The morning rays of the sun fell on the statue, sparking it's ends. "Beautiful, isn't it?" I heard Shawn asking and I turned to look at him. "How did this happen?" I asked him, surprised. "You don't know? You did it yourself!" he said to me. "I did?" "Yeah! There was light shining so bright that we had to close our eyes coming from it and just like that after few minutes the light started fading and this beautiful statue was in front of you!" Sheila babbled. "Huh!" I said in wonder. Sighing, I looked at the statue in front of me. The beautiful silver mane of the Goddess, the almond eyes, and the full smiling lips everything added to the beauty of the statue. But like always for me, Goddess was a bright light rather than a form to me. I slowly picked the statue and realised how heavy it actually was. "We need to keep the statue back in its place." I said. "Just like that?" Oscar asked and I realised that the event of placing the statue is one which should be celebrated. Every time during the eclipse we remove the statue and the immediate next day we place the statue back with great pomp and show. It's a custom celebrated over centuries amongst the werewolves. It's believed that Goddess is reborn after the eclipse. "Then a celebration will be there tonight itself." I said because today was the last night and I didn't know what would happen after that. "Tonight?" Oscar, Shawn and everyone asked at the same time. "Yes, tonight. I don't want to waste time!" I said and walked ahead with the statue still in my hands. I hoped they wouldn't trace the lie in my voice. "Make the preparations!" I said in my Alpha voice. I truly love my pack. I just can't stop saying that. I thought they would hate me because I had forced them using my tone, to make preparations for tonight as soon as possible, but when I went down to check I was surprised to see everyone were making preparations enthusiastically making me proud of them. Everyone wanted to see the renewed statue that I had kept in the office now. I walked downstairs and saw everyone working. Firstly in the kitchen, Veronica and a few ladies were making dinner for tonight's celebration. Then I saw Ivan and Nathan looking after the lights, while Oscar was taking care of the music. Jasper was placing the red carpet rolls on the ground, while Patrick and some other kids were kicking and scattering it. Sheila and Bella were taking care of the flower arrangements while Evie and Cherry were in charge of cleaning the temple. Edith was the only one who wasn't allowed to work due to her condition. My gaze met Shawn's who was setting up the stage along with few other guys. "Hey there." I said walking towards him and pecking his lips. "Hey." he said to me. "Do you need some help?" I asked him. "Na, it's cool. I'm worried about the temple though." he said and I smacked his arm. He was purposefully picking up fights with Evie who never backed down either. "I'll go to the temple then." I said and rushed towards the temple. "STUPID GREASE!" Evie screeched. "What happened?" I asked her. "Urrgh Val! Look at this." she said pointing to the hinges of the doors which had thick grease in them. "They aren't going!" she complained. "I'll do it. You take care of the platform." I said, taking the scrub from her and got down to work.