Chapter 7 Tour
In the morning Aylin came to my room bright and early, “Are you up and ready?” He asks as I open the door to my room and take his hand in mine.
“Let’s go, I am excited to see our home,” I say with a smile.
This inn is beautiful. Aylin first took me to the inn's guest rooms.
Each door was unique, each was a different nature seen in different seasons.
Above each door was a number, 1 through 30.
I was surprised by the number of rooms we offered since this was a smaller town.
Stella came from the next hallway and offered to open one of the empty rooms for us so we could see the decoration.
We went into room 25. She explained that this was a room that slept families of 6 or more, but all the rooms on the inside had the same decorations.
There was a large bed with brown blankets and a smaller yellow blanket across the foot of the bed in a private room.
The room was done in yellow and had brown baskets on shelves, and brown decorated plates hanging on the walls.
The connected bathroom and the main bathroom were blue and all the accents were ocean themed.
There are two sets of bunk beds in a smaller room, one set had green blankets and the other set had yellow.
There was also a living space with a fireplace and television, a table with chairs, and a usable kitchen that had an oven/stove combination, a small fridge and a sink.
The decoration was light blues and gray.
On the back wall there was a glass door that opened to a small seating area that was blocked on the two sides but open to the meadow and then forest at the back.
“I know the number of rooms we have seems like a lot, but we have a larger population in this area. We all get together for the full moon and having enough rooms plays an important part in that. Luna, we also clean the rooms daily, even if no one stays in that room.
The minimum per room is toilet cleaning and dusting. That way when a family comes in the room will always be ready. We offer breakfast, lunch and dinner to all our guests, with breakfast being free of charge.”
She continues to talk while ushering us out of the room and down the resident hallway.
“These rooms are for anyone who wants to live here. We have rooms that sleep one or two all the way to ten. The decoration is the same as the guest rooms, they can also decorate how they like. They have a full kitchen and pantry area.
The rooms that sleep over five in the resident area are two floors. We currently have fifteen families living here with five available rooms. All the families have access to the Inn’s prepared food they either pay per meal or monthly.”
Stella holds her hand up to her ear, “I have to go back up front, but please come by if you have any questions.”
She bows to me and walks down the hallway.
So many people live here, and I know that I will love it.
Everyone is being nice to me and took the time to introduce themselves.
Aylin insists on calling me Luna Celest even though I insisted on him calling me Celest.
I know that being Luna is my new role, and I will just have to get used to it, but it will take time to adjust.
There are people here of all ages. Children, all the way to the elderly.
I asked Aylin how we cared for them, and he said we have a few families who care for them but they don’t really have a facility at the current time.
The pack had a large increase in population over the last 21 years in anticipation of my return.
This isn’t exactly what I had in mind for a business but it could evolve into something more.
I believe that children and elderly people need special accommodation.
So I pitched my idea to Aylin and he agreed, letting me know I could do whatever I wanted, and if there wasn’t enough space we could buy more land or buy a bigger home.
I am so excited to have this opportunity, I start to daydream about how I could help out in the situation.
We would essentially need to have a childcare area and an elderly home, right here in the house or close by on the same land.
I don’t want to ship them away, just make their lives easier and make it easier for family and friends to visit and not feel obligated to care for them.
Aylin squeezed my hand, I snapped out of it, stopped walking and faced him, “what’s wrong, did I do something wrong?” I cower slightly at his gaze.
He reaches over and pulls my chin up, “No my love, you have done everything right. I was just admiring how much you care for our people already. We are going to make this pack wonderful.” He leaned down to me and cupped my face and kissed me tenderly.
Aylin walked me down the hall to the check in area.
This area was large, with five different seating areas and tables with chairs.
Along the side wall there are cases filled with games.
On the opposite wall there is a large fireplace.
All the furniture is tan and everything is clean and kept nicely.
The floors are dark cherry wood and there is a large compass decoration on the floor.
Above every table is a hanging light that gives off just enough light to brighten that specific table.
Near the front entry is a check in table where Stella is checking in a family.
They have their luggage piled on a rolling cart and I hear her say they are going into room 13 of the guest wing.
The child with them stops and waves at me and I wave back and smile.
Aylin keeps us moving to the kitchen area which we have fully staffed with ten workers.
Four cooks, three food station workers and three servers.
They are in the process of preparing lunch, the aroma of baking chicken and bacon floats in the air, and my stomach growls making us both giggle.
The staff is busy so we don't stay long, I don't want to get in their way.
We continue on the tour and see a dining room filled with families eating breakfast, a communal restroom, a conference room, and a spa.
I have already seen the library so we don't go inside as we can hear Archer talking with someone.
Seeing everyone here so happy and helpful, makes me mourn for a life I should have had.
After the tour Aylin and I go and join some of the families for breakfast.
Most of them talk about being on vacation or needing just a small break from home, and they are here to join our run on the night of the full moon.
They have all been here before and say they love the family friendly atmosphere.
Stella and Georgia really have great customer service.
After eating I pull Aylin into an empty hall and pull his face to mine and kiss him.
I slide even closer to him and moan slightly, as he deepens the kiss.
He stopped and pulled away looking into my eyes, “we can’t do this here, we need to have a private space.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me up the stairs to our room.
Once we got into the room I stood there and just watched Aylin.
He was looking around the room for something but didn’t say what. “What are you looking for?” I asked.
“It’s a small blue box with gold trim,” he said.
“Do you mean the one over there on the dresser?” I asked and pointed over to the dresser by the window. Aylin didn’t answer, he walked over and picked up the box and brought it back to me.
“Celest, I know you are my mate, and I love you, this was my mother’s and father’s, and she told me to give it to my mate once I found you. She really wanted to be here to meet you, but she got really sick years ago and passed away. It was later discovered that she was poisoned.
That’s why I was gone. I have some unfinished business to deal with.”
He opened the box and inside were three rings.
One with a gem; blue and purple swirled together, one all diamonds that fit on the gemmed ring, and one that looked like it would be for a man.
It was a band of small purple and blue gems.
These rings are beautiful. Aylin took out the one with the gem and slid it on my finger, it fit like it was made for me.
“I love you Celest, I know we won’t get married right now, but I know I want to marry you. Please wear this ring to show that you are mine and one day we will be married.”
I had tears running down my face, I stared into his eyes trembling and said “yes, of course I will marry you, you are my mate, but Aylin I need time to learn how to love and how to be loved.”
He was confused by my answer, and I promised I would explain everything.
Aylin took me into his arms and lay with me on the bed.
“Alyin, I have been abused by my whole family since I was little. I was told I was poisoned after I shifted for the first time, lost my wolf, lost the connection with the Moon Goddess, and lost myself. I have been isolated, beaten, whipped, broken emotionally and physically,
and starved for days at a time. I want to go to a school in business management, at a school, not someone coming here. I want to have a meaning and be useful, not just the name, Luna or princess.”
“Celest, if you want to go to school that would be okay with me, I am so sorry you have been through so much abuse. I could never understand the pain or loneliness that you have been through. If you let me, I want to be with you every step of the way.”
I was ecstatic, my body felt like it was vibrating.
I know that the knowledge I would gain would be useful for running the elderly center, the childcare center, and helping with the business side of the Inn.
My mind was racing with dreams of the possibilities, and deep into the afternoon of just talking and being in each other’s arms, we fell deeply and happily asleep.
While we slept, the Moon Goddess came to me.
She was right there in front of me however, I could not talk with her, it was like she had blocked my ability to speak.
So I listened. “You are the Queen of the Cosmos, your role right now is to develop your power and learn your true potential. You will lead your people, and not just lycan, but werewolves, witches, vampires, fairies, dragons, as well as the humans.
Your future could not be told in fear of others finding out, and someone trying to hurt you or even kill you. Celest, you are to save the Lycan people and bring back the race the way it should have been so very long ago.