3. Twenty- one

I was floating and falling.

Not being able to feel anything.

Darkness.

The feeling of the softest grass under my body.

Walking to the cliff.

Finding the white woman on the edge of the cliff.

I walked closer to the moon goddess in a huff, irritated as to why I was here again. These meetings annoyed the hell out of me, mainly because I never got the chance to turn around and walk away. I just couldn't ignore the goddess and go on my merry way. So, these talks were forced and out of my control and I hated not being in control. 

"Why am I here again?" I asked and crossed my arms across my chest. 

The moon goddess raised her eyebrows at my attitude. "Is there a problem?" 

"If you haven't figured that out yet, I don't even know what to say." I rolled my eyes and sat down on the damp grass. 

"You don't want to meet me and pass along my messages, is that correct?"

"Of course, I don't. You pass your messages through me which forces me to stay in contact with Harper, while we are still on shaky grounds. And I can't just walk away when I could help the whole pack by just passing your information. It would make me extremely selfish and their deaths would be on me. I don't want that. So, even when I want to walk away, I can't. Literally and figuratively."

"I see."

Irritation bubbled up inside me at her calm and serene composure. "Why did you choose to come to me anyway? Wouldn't it be easier to just visit some werewolf in their dreams? At least they won't resist you like I do. They would obey your every command and listen to everything that you have to say. I think that would have been a much better option." 

"You want to know why I chose you specifically to be my messenger and why I didn't just visit some wolf who would have been more compliant to my wishes?"

"Exactly."

She looked away from me and had a faraway look in her eyes. "Aiden is dying right now." 

I immediately sprang up from my seat on the ground. "What?" 

"He had a knife stuck in his thigh. He's bleeding out and he has inhaled a lot of wolfsbane which has hindered his Wolf's healing. So, he is dying. If he doesn't get immediate help in the next few minutes, he will bleed out. His pulse is already weak and fluttering."

"You're kidding?" I asked, stunned. Where did this come from? "Aiden is dying as we speak?" 

She nodded. "The only person who can help him right now is Harper. The rogue who escaped hurt Aiden but left Harper unscathed. Harper is lying one foot away from Aiden, his body filled with wolfsbane but in a way better condition."

"Why are you telling me this? Let me go so I can help him. Aiden can't die. Samantha would be devastated." I held my head in my hands as visions of Aiden's body filled my head. 

"You going back won't matter, Zara. You can't save him, only Harper can."

"Hello?" A distorted voice rang out and my head whipped around to see who it was. "Do any of you know how to get out of these woods?" Whenever I came here to meet the goddess, I had always been alone. To hear someone else's voice here felt so unrealistic. 

"Who's he?" I asked the goddess because I knew that if someone other than me was here right then, it was because the goddess wanted it. She controlled this spirit land and thus, she knew who this person was. 

The moon goddess didn't say anything, just smiled pleasantly at me. I turned around to look at the figure making his way towards us and gasped as I recognized who he was. "Harper?"

"What is this place? Where am I?" He asked and I was too surprised to answer him. Just now I was complaining to the goddess that she called me to this weird spirit land to pass her messages while she could have just called any other wolf to do her bidding. And now, here was Harper, standing before me. 

"Harper?" The moon goddess took in Harper's body carefully and smiled at him. I was way too confused to say anything. I could not even believe what was happening right in front of my eyes. 

Harper was riveted to the goddess. He couldn't keep his eyes off of her. "Goddess", he spoke reverently and moved to bow down to her. The goddess made a motion to stop her and he immediately stopped, like clockwork. "I can't believe I am meeting you."

"How did you get here, Harper?" I wondered out loud. Surely, I must have something to do with the goddess but why now, all of a sudden?

"I have no idea. I was with Aiden and this rogue we had captured. Then I fainted because of the wolfsbane in the prison cell. What happened?" As soon as he said those words I remember what the goddess had said, that Aiden was dying and the only one who could save Aiden was Harper. But if Harper was here, I didn't want to think about what could happen to Aiden. I opened my mouth to say something when the goddess interrupted me. 

"Oh, dear. You aren't supposed to be here, Harper." The goddess shook her head and I watched as Harper became entranced by her fluid moments. His eyes became wide, his face in a trance and his mouth wide open as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. I nodded emphatically at the goddess's words because that's exactly what I wanted to say. Harper had to go soon so he could save Aiden. 

"No. I'm exactly where I should be." Harper said, in awe of the goddess, his eyes not drifting from the goddess's enchanted form. 

"No, you don't understand. Aiden is dying." I stepped forward and took hold of Harper's muscled forearm and shook him to bring him out of his trance. Without even looking at me, he jerked his arm away, making me stumble back. He couldn't take his eyes off the goddess and I had the sudden urge to scream in his face so that I could bring him back to reality. 

"I don't care. I'm exactly where I want to be. I want to stay here forever. I want to be with the goddess. My wolf wants to stay with the moon goddess. Nothing else matters." Harper sounded like a robot, saying things that I thought he could never speak. The Harper I knew would die for his best friend. He seemed so far away that I just wanted him to bring back to his usual self. 

"You don't understand, Harper. If you spend another minute here, Aiden will die. He's bleeding out." I took two steps towards him. My voice reached a fever pitch as to gain Harper's attention but he seemed so mesmerized by the goddess that I knew nothing I was saying mattered to him. 

"Zara, if Aiden dies, he gets to come here and be with the goddess. If my staying here longer assures his death, he will thank me one day because he will get to be with the moon goddess. I know this is what he wants. He will thank me for letting him die because then, he will finally be with his one true goddess." Harper rambled, without taking a small breath and I gaped at him. How could he even say that? It was clear that Harper wasn't in his right mind. This spirit world was doing something to him. If he were himself, he would never have said something so gibberish and stupid. 

I would have to try my best to bring him back to his senses. "What are you doing? You have to go back, Harper. Aiden is dying." I stepped in his view of the goddess and put each of my hands on his face and made him look at me. His unshaven cheeks tickled my palms and his eyes looked so haunted but I knew that I couldn't let him go. Harper couldn't understand the gravity of the situation right now but I could. I didn't want to panic right now but settle the matter with a good head on my shoulders. "You need to go back, Harper. Please."

Harper placed his hands over mine and squeezed them gently. "I don't want to, Zara. Aiden would understand." 

I couldn't help myself; I slapped him as hard as I could, hoping to get some sense into his brain. I was beginning to realize that nothing I said was making any difference, Harper was dead set to stay here. Panic settled in my mind, knowing that if I couldn't convince Harper to go, Aiden would die and Harper would never be able to live with this guilt. My heart broke for Samantha who stood so close to losing her mate and tears poured out of my eyes at my helplessness. "Harper, please. Go back to Aiden. He needs you. He will die."

"I, I, don't want to." Harper declared with a blank face as if he was chanting the slogan of a cult, he was part of. 

"Harper." The moong goddess calmly called out to him and he immediately snapped to attention. Anger bubbled up inside me with how calm the goddess was being. 

"Yes, goddess." Harper walked towards the goddess and went down on his knees in subjugation. "I am yours." I clamped my hand over my mouth, horrified at what I was seeing.

"Son, you can't stay here. You need to go back." The goddess calmly stated and Harper's face twisted in pain. I glanced gratefully at the goddess. If anyone had the power to send Harper to send him back to the land of common sense, it would be her. It had to be. 

Tears leaked from Harper's face and I stared at him in absolute surprise. How could his devotion to the goddess be so absolute that everything and everyone else he loved disappeared from his mind? "B-but I, I want to stay with you."

The goddess leaned forward and swept a caressing hand down my cheek. "I know you don't but it's not your time. Not now. But soon. We will see each other very soon. When it's finally your time." I watched the scene unfold in stunning awe, amazed at how Harper was acting. 

He opened his mouth to protest, but she flicked her wrist. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and slipped into unconsciousness, while his body fell in the damp grass.

I watched his body for several seconds as numerous questions entered my mind. "What do you mean that you will see him soon when his time comes?" I glared at the goddess who didn't even look the least bit surprised by my line of questioning. 

"Exactly what I meant." She said without a hint of emotion in her voice. 

"Are you saying that he's going to die?" I whispered, afraid even to utter the words out loud. 

"That's not the question I'm going to answer today but I believe I answered the one you asked me today."

I didn't care what other questions I asked her today. I just wanted to know what she meant when she said that she would see Harper soon when his time came.  That could only mean one thing, couldn't it?

"You asked me why I didn't pass my information through a wolf who would be eager to do my bidding. The reason is that once their wolf set their eyes on me, they forget all of their earthly attachments and want to stay with me forever. Even Harper, who is one of the strongest wolves alive acted like he wanted to give everything up just so he could stay here. He forgot every reason he had to live and that is exactly why I can't meet up with a wolf. That's one of the reasons why I chose you to be Harper's mate. That's why I chose you to be the bearer of my messages." 

A tear rolled down my cheek. "What did you mean when you said that you would see him soon when his time comes?" 

"Exactly what I meant, Zara. The next time I see him will be the perfect time because he will have the perfect stronghold and will want to go back to his life. The next time, he would be glad to see me but he wouldn't want to stay here." 

"What does that even mean?" Nothing she said made any sense. 

"You don't need to understand anything. Right now, you need to go to Samantha so she can get through a difficult time. Also, Harper won't remember meeting me in this spirit realm. So, I suggest you don't mention it to his sanity."

Before I could say anything, I woke up in my bed, sunlight barely streaking through the window.