*Arealla*The meeting ended very abruptly. Marcus didn't let anyone else speak after that. And we were all dismissed, the meeting to be reconvened at another time. Before I turned and walked out, Liana appeared at my side, and she walked me out of the room."What just happened?" I asked her, very confused."Not here," she told me, shaking her head. "The walls have ears, especially when a Luna speaks. I'll explain in your room."We walked there quickly, with Liana staying by my side the entire time. I opened the door and let her through, shutting it behind her quickly. It really was starting to feel like my room, now.Marcus slept there, too. But he came in very rarely other than to sleep. I suppose he had his office that he could go to."Marcus has the right to pause the council now," Liana explained. "Jason has called for exilement. Under our pack law, Marcus has to consider his request, and then give a decision about it."There were so many questions that burned through
*Arealla*"He's just stressed right now. I'm sure he knows what you meant. I'm going to go speak to him," Liana told me, as she followed her brother out the door.She pulled the door closed behind her, and I heard her call her brother's name.And then, just like that, I was alone in this entire mess.I wasn't as sure about Marcus understanding my words as Liana was. And I knew that there was a big problem here that needed to be fixed.And there was only one way to solve this entire situation.I had to speak to Jason.He was the one leading the insurgency. The wolves gathered around him and relied on his knowledge of me, and the fact that he had brought me into the pack, to base their claim that I should not be trusted.If they could convince the rest of the pack of what they thought, that I was the culprit or the one causing all the mayhem and chaos in the pack, then it put Marcus in a very difficult situation.And I couldn't really imagine the true depth of that.B
*Arealla*I watched as Jason left with more than just a little dejection inside of me. I had really wanted this to work; I had hoped that it would work.And more than that, I now knew that there were not many other options that I had.I took a deep breath. I wouldn't let this get me down. I needed to focus and rethink in order to get to a solution. So, with that resolve in mind, I turned and headed back to the room.For the first time, I took a look around me. And I really began to see the place that I had been brought to.I stopped thinking of me being here as me coming here, I began to think of it as if I had been brought–by fate, the universe… maybe even by the Moon Goddess.I had no idea any longer. But just by thinking about it that way, it made all the difference to me. I didn't feel like I had made some monumental mistake, not any longer. I well and truly felt like I was where I was supposed to be. I had no idea why, but I was here. And I needed to accept it anywa
*Arealla*'A very powerful Luna,' the wolf inside of me spoke.And her voice sounded so familiar. It was the same voice that came to me in thought, sometimes. Though I had always just assumed that it was my own thoughts.Now I knew differently. It sounded like me, but it also sounded not like me.I stared down at Marcus, wanting to focus on anything other than what was happening in my own mind. Without any kind of warning, Marcus rushed at me, cupping his hands on either side of my face. And then I felt his lips press against mine.And then I punched him square across the jaw.He staggered back. And for a moment, I almost didn't register what that meant.I had punched him. And instead of my hand being broken, he had gone reeling.I flexed my fingers, there was a bit of a sting, but nothing was broken. And I had punched him hard enough that there should be some kind of damage.'No,' my thoughts answered me. 'We're as strong as he is now. He is our mate.'The thoug
*Arealla*I stared at the empty space that he had left, but there really was nothing that I could do about it. He was gone. He had just upped and left. And I could probably follow him if I wanted, but did I really want that?Did I really want to face more rejection?It wasn't like I had expected him to declare undying love for me, but I had expected a little bit more emotion than what he had just given me. I had just given him my body, for crying out loud.But I didn't have the energy to do anything. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't bring myself to do that. I couldn't even manage to sit up in bed.I brought my hand in front of my face. It was perfectly normal now. When did that happen? I tried to think of the claws, but I couldn't bring them out. I didn't try very hard, I was on the brink of sleep. And soon, I couldn't even work out what I was thinking any longer. My thoughts were just a jumble of pictures and feelings, and anything coherent was beyond me.And then there
*Arealla*My fears turned out to be well placed. Even though I had half-shifted last night with Marcus, nothing we did seemed to make it come back out now."Okay, stop," Liana said, staring at my face with an incredulous expression. "That just looks terrible."I dropped the stance that I'd been holding, not even sure what I was trying to do myself. It had worked with emotion last night, but obviously that couldn't be the key every single time. I'd seen wolves just transform without having to go through some intense crisis for each transformation.But whatever the key was, I just wasn't getting it. We spent hours trying different techniques, but I was getting more and more frustrated as we didnt get very far."You could try talking to your wolf," Liana suggested hopefully. "Maybe she can help you."I wasn't so sure. She hadn't come out last night because I'd been talking to her. She had spoken to me because I had unlocked it.But still. I was at my wits end, and I was read
*Arealla*I didn't wait for Marcus to react. I turned away from him.And I turned to the Moon Goddess.This was not about me and him. This had to do with Marcus, yes, but it wasn't all about him.This was about me, really. And the gifts that I had been given from the Moon Goddess. I wouldn't tie this to just him, not the experience and not the ability. I had become perfectly content with living in this world as myself, with being a part of this pack.And none of it had been for him.I would not make this about him now.I reached my hands out in front of me. I felt the moonlight on my skin. I had no idea how that was possible, but I felt it as surely as I felt the wind.It was a light sensation, a warmth and coolness at once. And I felt it seep into me, through my skin, through every pore on my body.And I felt the Moon Goddess guide me in this. I felt her voice whisper to me on the winds. I felt her calmness and her energy. I felt every bit of it flowing through me.
*Arealla*Leaving the pack lands was harder than I thought it would be.Marcus accompanied me right to the edge. And even when we reached there, he seemed to linger. This was hard for him, too. But I had been prepared for that. I hadn't been prepared for how hard it would be for me.I felt a pull to the lands that I was walking away from. I felt a pull to the wolves that I was leaving. Marcus explained to me that I wouldn't go mental like the Luna he told me about, because he hadn't sealed our bond yet, he hadn't marked me nor did I mark him. This gave me some peace of mind.A part of me felt like even the moon would be different once I left here.The Moon Goddess was strange. I could feel her influence over me. I could feel the need to transform greater under the full moon, but it was just a gentle whispering. A suggestion that was near a temptation. But it was nothing overpowering, like in all the stories.Something told me that whispering would be gone once I left the pa
*Arealla*The month passed slowly. But it did pass.The time without Marcus had been nothing less than torture. And what was worse was that it was by my own hand and his decision. But while it made it worse, it was also the only thing that kept me sane. We could go back to each other at any time we wished.I could go back to the Dark Moon. Or he could come here. Well, he probably couldn't come here. They would very likely kill him for setting foot on our land. But there was a great chance that he could just come to the edge of the border and someone would come and tell us that he was there.I trusted that they wouldn't just kill my mate at the border.Though, I had to prepare myself in case it happened. I would go insane, I knew that much. From the countless times Marcus had tried to make me understand everything, back when we thought that I was just a mere human.I would go insane. But I wouldn't allow myself to hurt anyone. Other than the ones that hurt him. And then it w
*Arealla*I stared at him as he spoke. I had never once seen his expression so open, it was like I was staring at his heart."I want nothing more than to just keep you here with me," Marcus said again. "I want to keep you safe so that nothing happens to you, so that you are never in need of any of them healing you. I want to give you everything that I have to offer. I want to keep you a part of this pack."Marcus spoke easily, and I could hear the truth of his words."But that would not make either of us happy," he said again, shaking his head. "We would come to regret what we had done. I am Alpha, and you are Luna. Our pack needs us. Both of our packs. They are fractured into two pieces, but they are one. And we have the chance now to fix it, to make it whole again. And if we turn away from this now, then we will blame ourselves and each other for the rest of our lives."I knew that he was speaking the truth, it was just that it was too hard to have to accept right now. Marc
*Arealla*"What is the third option?" I asked Marcus.Because I knew him. I knew that there had to be something that made sense. There was no way that Marcus was going to put impossible choices in front of me. And definitely not ones where I just died either way.Marcus took a deep breath. And I knew that I wasn't going to like what he had to say."Go back with them," Marcus started to say."Marcus!" I threw my hands up in the air as I spun away from him. "What part of that makes sense?"It was the same thing as option number two. And it meant that we would both just be in excruciating pain. It meant that we would just suffer.Not to mention, it was the exact thing that I just didn't want to do. I didn't want to go back with them, I didn't want to go back to the Crystal Mist. And who would?If I went back with them, it meant that I would have to go back to the people that had just thrown me away. And I would have to forsake the ones that had taken me in. And that just w
*Arealla*I turned to Marcus. I would give him the few minutes that he asked for, but there was nothing that he could say that would make me change my mind.These wolves had thrown me away. They had so many options, so many choices before them. And they had chosen to just give me away to a random human.They could have given me to Marcus' parents. They could have at least tried to get my wolf back. But they didn't. They wouldn't. They would rather have made their daughter an orphan, surrender her to the humans, than do anything that might seem like it was giving in to their enemy.Not even for their daughter's life.There was nothing that Marcus could say that would make me overlook that. I would move the earth for him. But I wouldn't go back to them. Not after the Moon Goddess had guided me to him, and brought me back to the Dark Moon despite all of Vanessa and Thibault's efforts to separate me from him and the pack.I would tell Marcus all of that, and I would say it befo
*Arealla*My mother's story was sad, and I truly felt for her. But it wasn't everything. She was keeping some things back, and I wasn't ready to let that happen. I had been waiting for so long to hear the truth of everything, I wasn't about to accept any half-hearted truths right now."Okay," I told her while still sitting on the bed beneath the moon. "But how did I end up with Lucille?"I didn't share any exact details about anything Lucille had told me about my origin. I wanted to see if the stories matched, and I didn't want to give Vanessa anything that she would be able to use to fill in any of the blanks."That part of the story is still a ways off," Vanessa answered, and I could tell that part of what she was telling was absolutely the truth. "And there is so much to tell before that."And then she turned away from me, looking into the distance of the horizon, where the dark earth met the black sky.Vanessa didn't speak immediately again, but none of us pushed her. W
*Arealla*The world was jarring, after being in the Moon Sleep for so long. The Goddess had come to me again. This time, she had stayed so very long. She wouldn't say if I would survive or not, and I don't think it was because she hadn't known. I think it was because she had wanted to give me the chance to see for myself.But she had answered more than a few of my questions. Especially those about myself, and where I came from.I should have gone to the Moon that much sooner.But now she was gone, and I was staring up at the woman that was my mother.I pushed myself into a sitting position, with Marcus cautiously helping me. But I didn't need the help. I knew that I had been dying, that I had been weaker. But everything was different now. I could feel my mother's blood coursing through my veins. It was like liquid gold, healing and spinning everything into place.Once I was sitting, I regarded my mother. She looked so much like me. We had the same eyes, the same lips, the s
*Marcus*"Follow me," I told her. There was no need for any further arguments or discussions, and there was no time.I had no idea how long it would be before Arealla would succumb to her wounds. So we moved quickly to the room that she was being kept in.I entered first and turned to watch as Vanessa came into the room. I wanted to see what her reaction would be, and I wondered if I would be able to gauge any new knowledge from that.But even as Vanessa entered the room and went straight to Arealla's side, nothing in her face changed. And I learned nothing new.The woman regarded Arealla silently for a moment before speaking."It's poison," Vanessa said, looking down at her daughter. "Someone has poisoned her, I'm not sure that I could say what the poison even is, but it looks painful. She will die from it if she isn't given the antidote."I pursed my lips. That was something that every single wolf knew. That was what I had delivered in the message. The woman had been st
*Marcus*The woman still kept her hood covering her face. Her cloak was dark green and heavy, the kind that would be good enough to sleep on, the kind that would protect the wearer through everything.It was little more than an accessory, given that we were wolves, and impervious to all of those things either way.She didn't want to show her face.I had seen her before, but years ago, when I had still been a child. And I didn't remember her, but even if I had, I doubted that it would help in any way. She had probably changed since then. We all had.She spoke very little, and even when she spoke, she acknowledged nothing and gave nothing away."I have not summoned you," I told her simply, denying her words and the implied meaning. "I sent a request to every Alpha and Luna from every pack. And with that request, there was a condition. The same condition that is attached for breaking treaty, for entering pack lands unwarranted. A simple request and simple condition, in our wor
*Marcus*The notice was prepared almost immediately, with Ben overseeing its creation. But sending it out was proving to be more difficult than its writing. It wasn't such a simple matter of just dispatching the letter.Our pack lands had borders, and between the borders were no man's lands, places where no pack laid claim to and no wolf lived in. It was the safest way for the packs to exist since it limited fighting between the packs. It was the way that we had done it always, and it had always protected us.But it also made communication harder. Almost impossible.And some packs were worse than others.But we still tried. I would try every possible avenue to save my mate.We took heralds to the borders of every pack territory that we could reach. Thankfully, we didn't have to cross into any pack's territory to reach any other pack, that would have been a nightmare in and of itself, and I had no solution to that. It wasn't something that we had to encounter. The Dark Road