Chapter Fifty-Three

Regan’s POV

Arwyn.

I tried to recall if I ever heard of such a name but came up blank.

I had never known of anyone by that name and neither did I recall ever hearing the name before it fell from Gaia’s lips.

But what troubled me wasn’t the name itself, but the reaction to the name.

In all my years of knowing her, and I had known her all my life, I had never seen Nana so visibly frightened as she was at the mention of that name.

Gaia herself looked so obviously uneasy that it made me worried. It did not help that I could also feel the fear in my mate as she spoke of the dream she had of the so-called Arwyn.

“Who is this Arwyn?” I asked, certainly voicing out the thoughts of the younger occupants in the room.

If Gaia heard me, then she chose to ignore my question because instead of replying, she grabbed my mate’s other hand from mine and held on firmly.

“Show me what you saw”, she demanded and before I could reach out to pull her hands away from my mate, her body jerked and her head fell back to look up.

To my great astonishment, her silver eyes turned white.

I took a step back in surprise, turning to my mate to see that her eyes had turned white as well and her body sat stiffly in the chair.

I moved straight to her and tried to pull her away from Gaia’s grasp but she did not budge.

My heart began to race and I turned my, no doubt, flashing eyes to her son who fortunately, did not inherit the strange silver eyes of his mother but possessed green ones.

“What has she done to her?!” I asked, fear and worry, compelling my actions.

“Regan, calm yourself”, Nana said firmly as I marched over to Alpha Gaius.

“What has your witch of a mother done to my mate?!” I roared, beyond reason as I approached him, feeling Rage at the surface.

Lena put herself between me and her mate.

“Regan, stop!” She pleaded.

“Look at what is happening to her, Lena!” I yelled, throwing a hand towards the where my mate remained stiffly sat in her chair.

For all I knew, whatever Gaia was doing might not only harm my mate, but my unborn pup as well.

At the reminder that my mate was pregnant and was in possible danger with our pup was all it took for Rage to snap.

I pushed Lena aside, sane enough to not push her hard enough to make her fall but just enough to safely get her out of the way, before I launched myself at her mate.

If I could not touch the mother, which I had tried to and failed, the son would have to do.

However, before I could make any contact with him, I felt my bones freeze up. I tried to move my limbs but soon realized that I had lost control of my body.

And it could only mean one thing.

Magic. Or you witchcraft as some referred to it as.

Out of my control, my body turned back around to face none other than Nana.

I had to admit, I was surprised.

Even though I had always been aware of her abilities, Nana had never used them on me before. So I was quite surprised that she had chosen to do so.

“Calm yourself before you do something we both know you will regret later”, she said, her hand still up as she made her way over to me.

“I do not believe you understand exactly what is happening”, she said, coming to a stop in front of me.

“Your mate”, she said. “Our dear Jasmine and your unborn pup are in grave danger”, she said as her lips began to tremble. “And the only one who can help us with the answers we seek to try and protect them, is Gaia”, she said slowly to let her words sink in.

“I will not let your temper get in the way of protecting them”, she told me firmly. “Or your lack of control put them in more danger”, she said. “So you either calm yourself, or I will help you, Alpha or not”, she warned.

I could see the fear behind her threat and finally understood that my suspicion was correct.

Nana was afraid.

And that simply meant that I should be terrified.

The situation had become more grave than we feared.

I gave a nod and she whispered a few words that released me from whatever hold she had put on me.

“My mother is only trying to help”, Apha Gaius said and I turned to him, embarrassed at me earlier actions. “She will do all she can to keep your mate and unborn pup safe”, he assured.

I nodded, an acceptance and apology he instantly recognized and accepted with a nod of his own.

I turned to Lena who stood to the side.

“Forgive me”, I murmured, head hanging in embarrassment.

“I have”, she said and I looked up just as moved to embrace me.

If anyone came even halfway close to sharing my fear, it was Lena.

I knew how much she loved my mate.

So I wrapped my arms around her and held on tightly, throwing a sympathetic look over her her shoulder to her mate who watched her longingly.

For a brief moment, I felt sorry that Lena had met her mate under such grave circumstances. And knowing her, despite how much she craved it, she would put Jasmine’s need and safety first before any need of her own.

Knowing it was the right thing to do, I released Lena and pulled away.

“Go to your mate”, I whispered, knight anyone could clearly hear. “You have kept him waiting long enough”, I told her, bringing a hand up to gently pat her hair, before placing a brief kiss on her head and pushing her towards him.

As soon as she got to him, he immediately enveloped her in his arms and buried his face in her neck, taking in her scent.

I turned away.

Nana still stood a small distance away from where Gaia and Jasmine were seated and I felt a hand on my shoulder as Luke came to stand beside me, his eyes looking towards where the two women were seated.

I turned and followed his line of sight to see Gaia moving her head back to its normally position, her eyes returning to their usual silver.

As soon as they did, Jasmine’s stiff position turned slack and her eyes returned to their usual blue color.

I rushed to her side, pulling her into my arms and burying my head in her neck to inhale herself and kiss her my mark on her.

“It was her”, I heard Gaia say, her voice sounding far away.

“Who is this Arwyn?” I repeated my questions for the third time.

Gaia finally let go of my mate’s hands and I became aware of the thundering of her heart.

Paying close attention, and thanks to my abilities, I could make out another scent that was not particularly hers but at the same time so similar.

I knew it was no artificial scent.

That was my pup.

I pulled her closer into my arms.

“Arwyn is my Grand Aunt”, Gaia said and we all turned to her, all excluding Nana and her son that is.

She had a far away look in her eyes as she spoke.

“When I was young, my mother would always tell me about the story of how the Royal bloodline ended”, she said. “I know not everyone is privileged to know it, so let me share it”, she said as she began.

“The world has always been divided into realms”, she began. “Some say it started with the four sisters. The four Goddesses. The Goddess of the Moon, the Goddess of the Sun, The Goddess of the Earth and the Goddess of Darkness. They were said to have been close and did everything together. One day, the Goddess of the Earth sculpted a figure for their mother. It was said to have been in their image. Their mother, the Goddesses of life, loved the figure so much that she gave it life. The figure became a man and served the four sisters”, she told.

“However, as time passed, it was clear that the sisters became too fond of the man and began to desire him. But while the man’s loyalty lied with the Goddess of the Earth, his maker, his affections lied with the Goddess of the Moon. This made the Goddess of Darkness, who greatly desired him to grow jealous. But the man’s heart could not be swayed”, she said. “Before long, the Goddess of the Moon became pregnant with the man’s child, and in jealousy, the Goddess of darkness went to their father. In his anger, their father threatened to destroy the man, but all four sisters pleaded for him to be spared. The Goddess of darkness then suggested that to make things fair, the man be required to impregnate all four sisters”. I felt my eyebrows widen at the absurd preposition but said nothing.

Gaia, probably seeing my reaction, smiled but went on.

“The father agreed and gave the command so the man had no choice but to do as commanded. All four sisters gave birth to children. The Goddess of the Moon gave birth to the first shapeshifter, now known as the werewolf. The Goddess of the Earth gave birth to a being with abilities, known as witches. The Goddess of the Sun gave birth to a being known as human. And the last sister gave birth to a heartless, bloodsucker, known as vampires”, she told.

I heard my mate gasp in surprise.

I was not surprised. I knew of their existence though I had never met one before.

“The Goddess of Darkness disliked her child, blaming it on the man’s resentment towards her rather than her own wickedness and tried to make the man conceive another one with her. The man refused, and in anger, she killed him. When the other sisters heard of this, they were furious and heartbroken”, she said. “The Goddess of the Moon was heartbroken at the loss of her true love and took her children and moved away to the East where she lived. The Goddess of the Sun, seeing no need to stay moved to the North, so that no one would disturb her and her children. The Goddess of the Earth, angry at her sister for killing her creation moved to the West to stay with her children and the Goddess of Darkness moved South to stay in the coldest place in the realm with her child. That was how the four realms emerged”, she told.

“Due to their mutual affection for the man, the Goddess of the East and West grew close and allowed their children cohabit in the West. The Goddess of the Sun had no issues with any of her sisters but still stayed alone and was visited from time to time by her sisters. However, the Goddess of Darkness and the South still resented her sisters over their anger towards her at the sim she committed against them. Especially the Goddess of the Moon who had the heart of the man she wanted, her bitterness grew and affected her children. She raised her children to be killers, stealing a spell from her mother to give them long life and make them feed on the life force of the children of her sisters, blood”.

“Years past and one of her descendants launched an attack on the descendants of the Moon Goddess, dividing her children into packs and wiping out the royal bloodline that would unify them to make them stronger. That descendant was known as the vampire King, Alaric. And he could only achieve that with the help of a powerful witch with a direct bloodline from the Goddess of the Earth”, she said and looked around at us.

“That witch was Arwyn”, she said. “And she betrayed her family and helped Alaric wipe out the Royal Bloodline of the Moon Goddess”, she told us. “Some of the mates of the Royal bloodline were witches, which means that in wiping out the Royal bloodline, she wiped out her family as well”, she said.

She turned to look at my mate before she spoke.

“This means that the Royal Bloodline possessed abilities as well”, she told her.