Awoo!
Claire howled at the moon. The sound was long and loud. It echoed through the valley under the lookout point. Guided along by the night winds blowing languidly through the coniferous trees, edging around bark and plants. The act excited her beyond belief, beyond measure. The world before her was bathed in sweet luminescent moonlight. A fine feast for the eyes. It made her want to howl, again and again. She braced against the safety bar before her. Intending to make another fine showing.
“Ya know, there's no reason to howl like that.” A voice came from behind her. It halted her inhalation and preparation. She smiled as she turned, the intruder to her solace was an expected visitor. Lux’s footsteps crunched along the gravel and rocks of the trail underfoot as she hiked up the remaining steps. She wore the scarf Claire crocheted for her. The complimentary colors of navy blue to her wonderfully pale fur patterning, but it was practically black in the ambient light. The white about her face always dragged her attention back though. Back to the dark, round eyes and the laughter lines and the half smile she always wore. She looked cozy all bundled up in multiple layers to stave off the chill. “Anthro wolves like us haven't needed to howl in ages.”
“Well I'm just getting in touch with my primal roots. Look at the moon and tell me tell me it doesn't make you want to howl too.” Claire turned, majestic beauty before her. The grandeur of a world bathed in luminescent moonlight. Just a minute ago, it had been all for her. Now it was all for them.
“Wolves have never howled at the moon.” Lux said, nudging Claire's shoulder as she also stepped up to the lookout point.
“What! I don’t believe you. Every story I've ever heard said wolves howl at the big ol’ white ball in the sky.” Claire challenged. If that was true then what was this feeling in her chest? What was the will that brought forth her trembles at the thought of howling the moment she stepped to the top of the hill? Crooning out to the world and the sea of ivory green. If it wasn't instinct, then what was it?
“Now, hold on. I never said they didn't howl. Just not at the moon.” Lux said while the wind played with her fur in a way that made Claire jealous.
‘I wish I was the wind. To be present yet invisible. To be only a breath away at any moment.’ She lamented silently.
The two lovers could never be together, not in the way they wanted. Too many arguments and shouting matches with their parents had worn them out, a battle that neither was sure to win with any level of satisfaction. Between two grim realities they made their choice together, they stopped seeing each other. In the sunlight, that is. Here though, here beneath the full white orb in the sky. Here among the world free of eyes and onlookers. Here was where they could be together. For as long as until the Morning Star made itself known, they were here as one.
“Well, Ms. Smarty-pants. Maybe you could educate me. What do wolves howl for?” Lux gazed across the lands. Claire followed her sight. The roving and raving trees spun and shook as bitter chill swept across their needles. What mysteries were hidden beneath that canopy? From this high up, there was no way to know. But Claire still wondered. And still felt the urge to howl. And more than that, she felt the urge to be close to Lux.
She shifted sideways. Inching closer to the person of her affections, the secret companion that she could only see when she was spirited away from lands of light aplenty to the dull shades of night. Where shadows hid their love and sins from those that would condemn them. Where she could be as the wind and play with Lux’s fur. Clair leaned onto the wolf, her lover. An arm whipped about her back and to her opposite shoulder. Comfort found in the embrace of another.
It was wonderful, but it was not enough. It was never enough.
The feelings in her chest, the yearning and seeking for Lux never diminished when they were together. She loved being here. She hated being here. They had passed each other numerous times in the halls of school. Passed winks across lunch tables. Slipping notes into jacket pockets. Growing closer through maintaining distance. Many treasured moments, but too few to name. Claire could never speak this aloud. How do you say to someone that they are the most perfect place in the world yet never around enough? It made her want to howl. Cry to the moon and stars and space aplenty. To be free of this turmoil.
“Wolves never howled at the moon, Claire. Wolves howl to find their pack.”
“Really?” Claire didn’t believe her.
“Look at the moon, Claire.” She did. It hung among stars overhead. Bright and brilliant. Full and decadent. It sat so close and only reason told her it was thousands of miles away. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
“I think you look better than that space rock.” Lux laughed. An amazing melody.
‘Laugh again and again, Lux. Laugh for me. Never stop.’
“Well, thank you, but that wasn’t my point. It may be beautiful, but it doesn’t have ears.” She leaned over and nipped at Claire’s. The soft bites made her twitch and peppered her soul with jewels of light. “So why would wolves howl at the moon? It can’t hear you. If a wolf ever howled, it was so someone could hear it.” Words whispered to a lover. Spoken so she would hear. And only her.
Claire bundled closer to Lux, her puffy windbreaker collapsing in as she sank into the embrace. Lux’s scent carried through her jacket. The sweet scent of her vanilla perfume, one Claire gave to her as a present. It only made her long for more. To drown forever in that taste.
“They howled for their pack.” Claire said, understanding what she meant.
“Yeah. Or, at least that’s how I think of it. I could be wrong, though. Who knows what wolves were thinking.”
“Well, I bet you know what this wolf is thinking.” Claire said. She turned her snout Lux’s way. Again bewitched by the white face that the moon couldn’t compare to. Lux’s cheeks turned up, bright white fangs that beat the stars in glow.
“You want me to kiss you.” She correctly guessed. Sweetly smiling at the landscape.
“See, told ya.”
“Well,” Lux pulled Claire in front of her. The two stood chest to chest. Lovers in the moonlight, enjoying the little time together. Lux leaned forward, lips parting slightly. Claire smelled her lip gloss. Candy Apple. She wanted to taste it. Mouths connected, tying two wolves together. A pack of just them.
They parted too soon for Claire. The moment of connection that she couldn’t have whenever she wanted. It was only here, under luminescent moonlight, that this pairing could make itself known. So why were they parting? Was breath so necessary to keep them separate?
“I always know what my Puppy wants.” She finished from earlier. Claire’s tail wagged as she said it. Erasing all the frustration from her heart. Now she only wanted to hear those words again. “And I know that she wants to howl.”
Claire nodded, eyes screwed shut. She did. More than anything. She wanted to scream and shout and cry for her pack. Even if the only other member held her in her arms. Nothing mattered more to her than that.
“Then howl, Claire. I’ll howl with you.”
She needed no further encouragement, and no further accompaniment. Claire let loose, callings of her ancestors granting her the strength and spirit needed to make the right noise. In the wolf’s arms, her lover howled along. A duet of sirens singing not for the moon with a beautiful face but no ears. But for each other.
Along the valley, feral wolves heard the sounds. The only audience which understood the performance. They joined, pack after pack, one after another. Only they acknowledged the love whose sunlight was luminescent moonlight.
Awoo.
