11

1 month and a half later

POV: Lou

I think back to the kiss he gave me that night, and my heart aches. Étienne left for London before the end of the Great Meeting, he had many problems and many worries to settle. We never spoke of me as Luna and me living near London again. Our relationship hasn't changed much since we first met. He left less than a week ago, and I miss him already. Fortunately, there is Émilie and Gab. I realized, during a discussion, that Émilie has problems with her family, so I arrange for her to talk to me and leave Étienne aside.

Before he left, we didn't swear anything. We have not planned to see each other again, to hear from us (even if I have his telephone number). He didn't tell me that he would come to see me, in my lost hole. He just kissed me one last time, before he left the apartment in which he was staying throughout the Grande Réunion. For me, his kiss didn't make me feel anything, not even the butterflies in my stomach (yes, I learned what it was called). In fact, it was just a conventional kiss. Sitting on my bed where nothing ever happened, where he never slept, a tear runs down my cheek. I'm sad, the emptiness in my heart is there, it's there and I'm going to have to get used to it. I think we parted forever.

The end of the Grande Réunion is in a week, I will finally go back to school, see my friends, my family and resume an almost normal life.

I understood, once, that Etienne wouldn't wait indefinitely for me to deign to agree to be his Luna, I understood that he would choose another.

I cry now. I can't wait to be able to go home, to my room, even if at the moment the situation is tense in the world.

Indeed, a new breed, hybrid wolves, have appeared. They do not transform but soon will power and there they will exterminate the wolves. They didn't want to sign a pact and I feel that a war is near but that's how it is, I can't do anything.

•••A week later•••

I said goodbye to Emilie, I swore to her that we would see each other again and she seemed sad to me. I so want her to come with me, but unfortunately, it can't be done. I'm on the stairs leading to the plane, I turn to the landscape before me before boarding the plane. I sit on the plane and, like the first time, no one comes to sit next to me, not even Gab. In my opinion, he understood that I did not want to be disturbed. When the plane takes off, I look at my phone, it only wrote me: "Bon voyage.". That's all, nothing else. A lump gets stuck in my throat and I end up falling asleep. It's half past eight in the morning.

•••

I wake up, always like the first time, when the plane lands. It's 8 a.m. in France. When it stops and we can finally get off, I hear Gab whispering in my ear:

- "End of a long journey."

I smile slightly then I see my mother, my father, my little sister and Elsa. I rush towards them and throw myself into their arms. They each hug me in turn and I'm happy. Despite this emptiness in the heart.

I cry with joy and kiss them as much as I can.

In the car that takes me home, they ask me lots of questions at the same time. There is an atmosphere of excitement and I throw yeses, noes, right, left. Until the fatal question. Asked by my mother.

-"So, have you found yourself a boyfriend?"

My smile fades instantly and I see that Elsa notices it, I'm sure she'll tell me about it.

Despite my state of shock, I answer:

-"Nope."

They all believe me, my sister starts telling me what she did while I was away. My little sister to me! Who is still 8 years younger than me! She talks about school, her drawing, when she played with her best friend.

I listen to him patiently and my parents do not interrupt him.

When we get home, I'm happy, I have a smile on my face. I go up at lightning speed to my room and start looking in my office, in my library, in my closet. Everything remained the same, as in my memory.

On the doorstep, Elsa stares at me, she asks me in a worried voice:

-"Lou, who is this guy?... Earlier I saw that your reaction when your mother asked you if you had a boyfriend. never had a lover!"

My joy is gone, nevertheless I answer him:

-"Elsa, I don't want to talk about it. Maybe one day I'll tell you, but not now."

She looks at me, sorry, then she goes down the stairs to join my family in the living room. I turn on my phone and my heart skips a beat when I see there's nothing. A tear flows. Definitely, it becomes a habit. I wipe it off and go down to the living room, a small smile on my lips to hide my pain.

We start talking, Elsa gives me the lessons I have to catch up on and my family tells me about what I missed in two months. I listen to them, give my opinion if necessary but secretly, my heart is broken.

Around noon, we go to the table, on the menu: salad, rice, stuffed tomatoes and a chocolate cake. A delight.

At the table, we mainly talk about the tensions that are constantly increasing in the world. The headlines always talk about it and people say there will be a war. In short, the subject of conversation is not happy.

After eating, my parents suggest a walk in the forest. I accept with a big "yes!". It's been a long time since I was in my wolf form, besides, I was starting to miss her. We wolves don't have the right to turn into a city, it harms order.

We leave the house, fortunately the forest is just at the bottom of the garden because I can't wait. We each undress in our corner except my sister, who can't transform yet. The wolves in us don't transform until around the age of 10-11, so it won't take long for my sister.

Once undressed, I transform and the wolf that I had missed so much appears. I look at my white paws and lick my chest. When everyone has transformed, we say hello to my little sister before jumping over the gate, then we start running through the forest. I adjust my step to that of Elsa, who turns into a pretty gray wolf speckled with brown spots.

I ask in my mind:

- "Are we racing?!"

It's Elsa who replies, annoyed:

-"Oh no! You're going to win again!"

Finally, my parents rush into the forest, zigzagging between the trees. Elsa and I are not long, and a few moments later we are running too. I feel like I'm no longer touching the ground, I'm so fast, my paws brush the dead leaves, I jump over ravines and roots. Then I see the clearing and I brake before crossing the edge of the forest.

I wait for the others. My father comes second and appears 50 meters from me. Then Elsa and my mother arrive, they are out of breath. I nudge Elsa's side with my muzzle, she growls. I laugh, which results in yelps when I'm in wolf.

We all meet and we admire the huge clearing. Flowers of all colors grow here and there, the green grass stirs in the sandstone of the wind and reaches us at the height of our wolf shoulders. We sat and silently watched the birds flying and the bees buzzing. I feel good, I am calm. Even though my heart hurts.

Elsa asks me:

- "I feel there is something, what's going on? You know Lou, you can tell me anything, I'll never judge you."

- "Elsa, I know all that, but you see, I'm not ready to tell you yet. I'll just tell you that I love you very much and that I trust you completely."

- "I will respect your choice until you tell me.", she reassures me.

Wolves can communicate by thought provided they are part of the same pack. In my case, it's the Europe pack, which is relatively large. But in any case, you have to "authorize" the person who communicates with you. It's a self-made system in the brain, so the person can talk to you at any time. Conversations in thought can equally well be addressed to a person or to a group of people. The concept is quite practical because like that, Elsa speaks only to me, and nobody else hears us. The only problem is that if we communicate over too great a distance, the people communicating together have a terrible headache that increases in intensity as the distance increases.

My parents turn towards the forest and it's the signal to return, we start to go back to my house and travel the 60 kilometers that separate us from my house. We've come a long way though!

Elsa came back on her side because her house is opposite mine.

When I get home, I go up to my room and open the door.