Chapter Fifty-Four

Jasmine’s POV

Everything Gaia said came as a shock to me.

I still found it really difficult to wrap my head around the fact that I was from the Royal bloodline.

The story she told of the four sisters sounded like a tale and honestly, far fetched. But it did explain a lot.

Since I was never educated and no one ever bothered to tell me anything about our origin, Gaia’s story was the closest I had ever gotten to a lesson of our history.

Still, a question stood out for me, one I did not hesitate to voice out.

“But if Alaric and Arwyn wiped out the Royal bloodline over a century ago, why do we still have to be afraid of them?” I asked. “They must be dead by now”, I pointed out in case someone missed it.

“Precisely”, Lena said from where she was seated on her mate’s lap with his arms around her. “Is it their descendants we should be worried about?” She asked.

Gaia shook her head sadly.

“There is more to my story”, she said. “As I had said earlier, the Goddess of Darkness stole a secret from her mother and made her children live long. This secret was passed down through generations of vampires. It is also the reason that vampires have the longest lifespan than any other creatures of the realms”, she said. “However, the lifespan extends with their consumption of the life force of other creatures. Alaric has been alive for centuries. And in exchange for her help, he made Arwyn an offer so tempting she could not refuse”, she said. “He offered her the secret to his immortality”, she said.

I felt my blood run cold at the meaning behind her words.

“Does that mean that she is still alive?” I whisper in a low tone.

Slowly, Gaia nodded her head.

“She is”, she said to leave no doubt. “And from the words she spoke in your dream, I believe she already knows of your existence”, she said as Regan wrapped his arms around me tightly.

“And if she knows of your existence, then so will Alaric”, she said finally.

I shivered at her words, seeing the fear in her eyes as well.

“He will come for me?” I asked in whisper.

She nodded. “And your unborn pup”, she affirmed.

A sob escaped me before I realized that I was crying.

Regan pulled me into his arms completely, wrapping me in his warmth that did only little to ease the chill making its way into my heart.

It did not help that I could also feel his fear, and that made me all the more afraid.

That my powerful, fearless mate would be scared of Gaia’s words told me that he must have heard of Alaric and believed Gaia’s words to be true.

“Is there nothing that can be done?” I heard Nana ask as I held onto my mate tightly.

Gaia was quiet for a while before she finally spoke.

“I had a dream last night”, she said. “A vision if you will call it that”, she told us all. “The question you should all have asked is why does Alaric want to wipe out the the Royal bloodline of the werewolves?” She said before turning to Nana with a smile.

“The answer was revealed to me last night”, she said.

Nana came closer to her and bent to sit beside her chair.

“That means there must be a way to save them”, she said.

Gaia nodded.

“A very narrow way”, she said. “But a way nonetheless”.

“Tell me of your dream, my friend”, Nana urged.

Gaia nodded.

“Before Alaric’s attack, the werewolf realm thrived under the rule of the then werewolf King, Johan WhiteMoon”, she said. “The entire werewolf kingdom was his pack and though every pack had an Alpha, he was the Alpha King. We grew and thrived under his reign, so much so that we became the greatest race in the realm”, she turned to Nana. “I saw him”, she said. “And I saw the man that the Earth Goddess sculpted”, she said and leaned forward. “It was the same person”, she revealed.

Nana gasped and drew back in shock at Gaia’s words.

“How could that be?” Nana asked after recovering. “It was told that the Goddess of Darkness killed him”, she reminded.

Gaia nodded. “She did”, she said and went on. “But you forget that that man was the father of all the races, and he had a soul, and sometimes, souls are reincarnated”, she said. “So when King Johan was born and grew to be the spitting image of the first creation, you can imagine the surprise the sisters must have felt. They all took an oath never to meddle in the affairs of their descendants but allow the Goddess of fate handle it all. So what were the chances of King Johan, who was born by a half-witch descendant of the Earth Goddess, being the reincarnation of the first man?” She asked and my confusion grew.

“I will tell you the answer”, she said and looked straight at me.

“The sisters broke their oath”, she said. “Wars had broken out between their descendants and the descendants of the Goddess of Darkness. They learned of their sister’s deceit of stealing the secret to make her descendants live longer. Not to mention that vampires were feeding on the descendants of the other three sisters and reducing their race in the process. So if the Goddess of Darkness did not play fair, the other sisters did not see why they had to keep their oath any longer”, she told.

“The Moon Goddess and the Earth Goddess had secretly gone to the Goddess of souls and asked for the soul of their mate to be reincarnated. That was how King Johan was born”, she said. “But the two sisters had broken their oath and gone against their father’s orders. They were punished and forbidden from meddling in matters concerning their descendants. But they were not the only ones who broke the oath, they were just the only ones caught”, she told.

“Johan was strong and powerful, and the Goddess of Darkness knew the only way to rid her self of him and his family was through her descendants. But they would not be enough to get rid of Johan. So she possessed one of the twins of a powerful witch from a direct line of the Earth Goddess, knowing there was nothing stopping her from doing so any longer . When the children were born, one had light hair and the other had dark hair, but the twin girls had something in common”, she said. “They both had silver eyes. The twins were My grandmother Aran and her sister Arwyn”.

“I had always wondered about that but my vision last night finally revealed the answer”, she said. “There was a prophesy after King Johan’s death that he would be reincarnated”, she said, a light in her eyes. “It was said that his rebirth would bring the end of Alaric’s reign and the unification of all race once again. It was also said that his mother would bear the mark of the Royal bloodline”.

At her words, I felt all eyes turn to me.

Gaia smiled. “That is why Alaric wiped out the Royal bloodline”, she said. “He was trying to prevent King Johan’s rebirth”, she burst out laughing all of a sudden.

“It all makes sense now”, she said to no one in particular. “Alaric has been searching for years to make sure that King Johan is not reborn. It is why he will try to kill you and your unborn pup”, she said to me.

“And why is that amusing?” Regan asked grumpily from beside me.

“Do you not see?” She asked. “The reason your wolf and mark were hidden all along” She said looking at me. “The reason you could not gain access to your wolf until you completed the mating ritual. The reason Arwyn visited your dream”, she said. “It is all because the prophesy is finally coming to pass”.

She turned to Nana and began to recite.

“Where the mark of Royal blood resides”, she quoted. “There, the King of werewolves shall abide”, she said.

Nana gasped and brought a hand to her mouth, her other hand grabbing onto one of Gaia’s tightly.

“Truly?” She managed to choke out, her eyes glistening with tears.

Gaia nodded.

“The prophesy will finally be fulfilled”, she said and they both turned to look at me as I stared back at them in confusion.

“I do not understand”, I finally said, unable to wrap my head around their confusing tales.

Nana removed the hand on her mouth and reached out to take one of my hand in hers.

“It is the prophesy”, she said, looking at me like I was something extraordinary. “You are the prophesy”, she said.

I shook my head.

“I still do not understand”, I said honestly.

“Jasmine”, I heard Lena call my name and turned to see her looking at me the same way. “Have you never heard of the prophesy?” She asked.

I had in fact heard moonlight stories of the prophesy, but like every story told to young werewolves and pups, I had believed them merely to be for amusement.

I nodded.

“The prophesy says that the werewolf King will be born again”, she said and I nodded, remembering that much. “I believe what Gaia and Nana are trying to say, is that you are the one to give birth to our King”, she said, tears slinging down her cheek. “You already carry him”, she said.

I looked from her, to the other faces in the room before finally looking at my mate.

Regan’s face was unreadable. So, I tried to feel his emotions instead.

The fear was still there, but it was not as bold as it had been moments before. Alongside the fear was the strong feeling of determination, protectiveness, pride and love.

I could tell that my mate completely believed Gaia no Nana’s words. And like every werewolf who had heard of the tale of the prophesy, he was ready to die to protect our unborn pup, and not just as his father.

“This means there is hope”, Nana said and I turned back to look at her. “Knowing what we now know, we would not be alone”, she said.

“Once the other packs hear of you, they will come to see if it is really true”, Gaia said. “We will show them your wolf and your mark”, she said with a smile.

“And if they still doubt it”, Nana said. “They will only need to catch the scent of our little one to know that the prophesy is finally coming to pass”, she said.

“That is all you will need, to raise the army against Alaric”, Gaia said. “The packs are already pledged to protect the Royal bloodline”, she told me. “So all we will need to do is call a meeting with the council of elders to summon all the Alphas. Once that is done and they are informed about you and your pup, they will bring their packs together to stand and fight against Alaric and his bloodsuckers”, she said.

“But we will need the help of the witches as well”, Nana said.

“Leave that to me”, Gaia said. “I could have a letter delivered to my cousin in the West before nightfall. Once she hears about this, she will gather as many witches as she can find to help stand for our cause”, she said.

“Fate willing, we might just win this fight”, she said.

“Enough!” I snapped without realizing.

I had heard and had enough.

I pulled Regan’s arms away from me and stood to my feet.

“There will be no fight”, I said firmly. “There will be no war”, I told them as they all stared at me. “I am not who you think I am”, I said. “I am not special, I am not a prophesy”, I could feel the tears sting my eyes as I spoke.

“I am just a she-wolf who has finally gotten all she has ever wished for”, I said. “My mate, my wolf…”, my voice trailed of before I could say the last words. “And my pup”, I finally managed to choke out. “And I want nothing else”.

With that said, I walked away.