Disclaimer: don't own. never have. never will... darn it!

Sorry I haven't put up any Child of the Beast... but I had the... opportunity... to go back home for a bit... didn't want to stay there for so long, but didn't have a choice. and whipped this up as an apology... of sorts.

Child of the Moon

By: Anaea

A Mercedes sedan, colored dark by the near-moonless night, pulled up in front of a double-wide, ill-kept trailer. The driver, a man, weary of mind and body and heart, cut the engine and slowly let his forehead drop on the steering wheel.

He was a doctor—an ER doctor to be exact— and his day had been… hectic, to say the least. He had fast become the doctor most capable of dealing with injured children, and the one they called on for the most dangerous operations, unfortunately, most of them also included children. Today, a three-week old baby, mauled by his eighteen-month old cousin….

"Jesus," he whispered to himself, "what's the world coming to?" the man's dirty-blond head moved as he shook his head. His usually light, blue-grey eyes were a bright, icy-blue. And a voice in the back of his head growled in unveiled menace. And it snarled, 'the baby, yes, that little defenseless, unprotected baby, would be better off eaten… yes, we should do it… yesss, it'd be quick… quick and… relatively… painless.'

"No!" The good doctor's left fist shattered the driver-side window and his right broke the steering wheel.

The wolf whined in protest, but moved back.

The car groaned.

With great effort, Samuel managed to get out of his car… unfortunately, the door didn't survive.

He trudged into the house and somehow made it to his room. Once in his bedroom, he closed the door and let himself fall face first onto his bed.

He heard his roommate, Mercy, on the phone with his father and felt slightly irritated. But then, it's the same thing he did whenever she was out of his sight. Well… kind of. Mercy only called Samuel's father; Samuel called absolutely everyone Mercy knew and demanded they call him as soon as they saw her.

Samuel turned head so that the pillow wouldn't suffocate him and stared at the sliver of the moon through his window, 'please,' he begged, 'please, I don't want to break….'

Samuel wasn't aware of when he fell asleep, but some time later the sound of his bedroom door closing with a soft click awoke him. Panic swamped him; he never heard the door open, and he was certain he'd closed it… he always did.

Anyone who could've snuck up on him would know he was awake, so Samuel scrambled up to a sitting position. But there was no one near the door.

Then, he became awake that he was only pajama bottoms… but… he'd gone to bed fully clothed.

And as he stared at his covered legs he felt… something…. Something was wrong… but what?

And he saw it… the shadow of a woman across his legs.

Samuel's head snapped to the window as he jumped out of bed.

Next to the woman, through the window, he saw a full moon… but that wasn't right either…. It hadn't been a full moon when he'd gone to sleep… and if it had been… why was he in human form?

"Who are you?" something else was wrong, but curiosity won.

The woman was looking at him with sad eyes. Sorrow was etched on every inch of her skin.

It was only at his last thought that Samuel became awake of the female's nudity. And once he saw it, he wondered why he hadn't been aware of it before. She had skin the color of milk, and eyes the color of the night sky; a blue so deep he wondered if he'd find stars in them if he looked closer.

"I am so sorry my little one." A tear the color of clouds raced down her cheek.

Samuel frowned, 'little one?'

She took one step towards him, and Samuel took one step back, "who are you?" he repeated.

"It's alright, my love. I'll make it all better."

One step forward, one step back.

'My… love?'

One step forward, one step back. And so the went, until Samuel found himself against the wall.

He blinked and suddenly felt some thing against the back of his knees. His bed! How… what? But the woman was still in front of him. And when he saw her, now only a foot away, he stumbled back, falling on the bed.

"Who are you?" now his voice trembled with … fear.

And his fear made the woman pause her advance. After a thoughtful glance at the night sky, she turned to the werewolf, for doubtless, she knew what he was. Samuel didn't know why he was so certain she knew, but he was, and she did. "I am the Queen of the night sky." And at the man's confused glance, she smiled and motioned towards the window. Then, she parted her lips and sang of him a song he'd known for a long time.

Samuel gasped when it finally clicked, "you're the Moon."

It wasn't a question, Samuel had never been as certain about anything in his life as he was now that this woman was in fact the moon. And only when he said it, did she begin moving towards him once again.

She walked through the bed as though wading through water. And once she was beside his hips, she raised herself until she was on her knees, one on each side of his hips.

"No," his whisper was weak.

But she didn't stop; she put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him on his back. It only took the touch of her hand and the pants vanished.

Then she leaned forward, and gave Samuel a gentle kiss on the lips. But with that one, gentle, soft, chaste, seemingly insignificant kiss, the werewolf felt his manhood spring upward, hard as steel.

Slowly, the woman who was the Moon began lowering herself onto him.

"No. Moon…"

"Selene," she corrected, "and you are mine. I will make it all better."

The pure conviction in her words had Samuel sitting up. And once she had impaled herself with him, he tried to move her onto her back, only to have her growl at him.

When he would have protested, she rolled her hips and the protest died on his lips.

As she moved, Selene feathered kissed all over his face. On his cheeks, over his chin, his closed eyes, his lips.

He didn't know when or how but he suddenly became aware of being on his back again.

Selene hadn't sped up, but Samuel felt the pressure begin to build in his groin.

He looked at her and she looked at him, her breasts bounced slightly as she moved, her skin glimmered with perspiration.

Then he felt it, she began contracting rapidly around him, and threw her head back in a silent scream as her orgasm hit her.

Samuel sat up, gripped her hips, raised her, and brought her down hard, groaning in pleasure. He repeated the action, again and again, each time faster and harder than the last. Until finally, his own orgasm hit him like a freight train and he punctuated each thrust with a growl.

Finally, spent, he let himself fall back and she came down with him.

And once their breathing returned to normal, Selene removed herself from him and rose from the bed. Samuel sat up, his heart ached, "don't."

"I must my love. Everything will get better, just wait a little longer."

"No… please, don't…. don't leave me…."

He wasn't aware of when it happened, but he felt tears rolling down his cheeks.

Selene sat down next to him. A gentle hand wiped away his tears. She was crying too. She looked towards the window and he followed her eyes; the sky was becoming pink… the sun was rising.

"My sister does not want me here during her time. Run tonight; as a wolf. Run and you will see me."

In the blink of an eye, she was gone.

"NO!" Samuel yelled, and sat up in bed.

He heard a commotion and a second later, his father, Bran; his brother, Charles; his sister-in-law, Anna; Mercy and Adam, the local Alpha burst into the room.

Samuel looked down at himself. He was fully dressed. It was just a dream. The knowledge just saddened him more.

He was only vaguely aware of his father moving closer to him, sitting down next to him, and of everyone else leaving.

"Samuel," his father's voice was cautious. "Samuel, what's wrong?"

'So many things…' Samuel thought. But he didn't respond.

"Son, I want you to come back to Montana."

Samuel's eyes whipped up to look into Bran's, and the pure, unadultured horror in his son's eyes rendered Bran speechless. An instant later Samuel was off the bed and running out of the room.

"Samuel!" Bran yelled, "Stop him!"

But no one was able to. Samuel forced the Change, and an instant later a white wolf tore down the door of the trailer.

Bran decided to wait for nightfall before going after Samuel. His pain and sorrow was so thick it was palpable.

'My son has to be watched... or put down… he's getting progressively worse.'

No one bothered Bran, Mercy stayed home and kept making food as fast as Bran could be coaxed to eat it. And once night came, she absolutely refused to be left behind.

"Mercy," Adam, her mate, yelled, "stay, or I'll lock you in the safe room."

Mercy, and everyone else in the Alpha's house, stopped what they were doing.

Mercy slowly turned to face Adam, and the look on her face almost frightened him. Almost. Her words finished the job. "Fine. You do that, and you can forget you ever knew me. I'll never forgive you."

Adam stumbled backwards. He felt as though she'd slapped him.

It took a few seconds, but Adam regained his composure, "You have no idea what I'm willing to risk for your safety."

"And you have no idea what I'm willing to do for revenge. Pack magic only works on me when and for as long as I want it to. I'll leave you. And you'll never find me. In a few decades, maybe less, you'll feel my death. And it'll be the last thing you know of me."

By the time she was done, Adam was visibly shaking. Without saying a thing, he pounced on her and dragged her to the safe room.

She was naked—she'd been about to shift when the altercation took place. One second he was carrying a naked Mercy over his shoulder, and the next, a thirty-two pound coyote twisted around and bit his neck… hard.

Mercy used his moment of confusion to wriggle out of his arms. And before Adam could react, she had run out the open front door.

Fifteen minutes later, the entire Columbia Basin Pack, the Marrok, the Marrok's Enforcer, and the Enforcer's mate, began looking for Samuel. And also for Mercy.

A white wolf ran near the Blue Mountains, 'where is she?' Samuel asked the heavens. He'd been running for hours; the new moon hung darkly in the sky. He was tired… and hungry. But his desperation drove him to run more.

Finally, in the distance, he saw what looked like a bundle of moon-colored rags. Even the moonless night didn't diminish the glow of the woman. But it wasn't until he got within ten feet from her that he smelled the blood, and… birth fluid?

Samuel locked eyes with Selene's and he felt her command, 'change,' she spoke.

And he did. Surprisingly enough, with Selene being so close to him, the change felt the way Mercy described her shifting; just a tingle, like a good stretch after a thorough work-out.

His nose told him this Selene was the same one he'd made love to the previous night, but his eyes told him this Selene was very pregnant, and about to give birth.

For the first time since he'd become a werewolf, the wolf slunk back and didn't bother him as Samuel settled in to deliver the baby.

And not much time passed before a coyote, Mercy found them, and not much later a group of nearly forty werewolves for him. But after the wolves got within twenty feet from Selene and him, they were forced to change by the only one who could command such a thing. And no one, not even Mercy, was able to get closer than ten feet to them.

Two babies were born. One was pale as… his mother; his eyes the same deep dark blue. And the other, a girl, had fair skin, and a mop of light brown hair.

None of the werewolves felt any want to hurt the babies. In fact, their wolves were nearly purring with delight at being in their presence.

Selene regained her strength surprisingly quickly and, within two hours, Selene and Samuel –in human form– lead an entire pack of werewolves, the North American Marrok, Samuel's brother, sister-in-law, and a walker, back the way they came.

When daybreak came, Selene and the children disappeared. And when night fell, they again returned. The next day, Selene left with the Moon but the children stayed on Earth. Years and years passed and when the children matured they began disappearing for days, weeks and eventually years at a time. And new stars appeared in the night sky. And when that happened, Selene gave Samuel two more babies.

'My name is Samuel. I am a werewolf. I belong to the Moon, and she is mine. I was broken and she made me better. I was sad and she made me laugh. I grieved and she made me rejoice. I was alone and she gave me company. She fixed me; she kissed me; she made me whole. She gave me children and happiness and the life I thought I'd never have.

My name is Samuel. I am a Child of the Moon.'