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25: Uneasy Trust
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Rite of Power 26: God is a Woman
She was a beautiful, albeit terrifying, force of nature. It explained so easily how people loved her so wholly and completely in such short time spans. She didn’t have to demand loyalty or devotion; people would just give it over willingly simply because they loved her. And she deserved that love, even if she didn’t think so. ‘She’s so different this time,’ Bo, mused as we followed Selene out of the dark concrete hall in the cell block. ‘You keep saying that. When are you going to explain it to me?’ So far the exchange of knowledge had been very one sided, with Bo not having roamed the mortal realm since before the fall of the Romans. She asked more questions than she answered, ‘She cares so much about so many of you…’ ‘She’s a goddess, isn’t she supposed to care about those that worship her even if they don’t know who she is?’ It was still hard to adjust to the foreign laughter that danced through my
Rite of Power 27: Body Language
Sophia was understandably distracted by the sudden appearance of her own wolf. Just another strange thing I was sure could be attributed to my Alpha. It seemed most of the new shifters were being bestowed with ancient wolves that hadn’t walked the earth in a very long time. Not since wars among packs was a common occurrence. ‘I’m going to start taking offense to these musings of yours,’ my wolf was jealous of my curiosity, even though he knew I wouldn’t want any other. He was the only one who truly understood and shared the depth of my devotion to her. ‘So you don’t think it’s odd? You’re the one that pointed it out to me,’ I suppose it could have just been a casual observation, but the coincidence of it all is what made me continue to dwell on it. “Little Mark seems to be doing well, doesn’t he?” Even when her personal life seemed to be tearing her apart, she was focused on taking care of everyone else. “Mmmhmm…” What
Rite of Power 28: Perspective
“You’ll leave tonight and bring Luna Jeanette back with you after you apprise Beta Lucas on the situation for Caleb’s extended absence. He shouldn’t need to lead more than 2 pack runs.” Dmitri still wouldn’t look me in the eye. It hadn’t been my fault that Selene had chosen to kiss me to get even with him for Candice. If I was honest with myself, she’d probably done it to punish me as well. But how could she have known exactly how it would change things between my Alpha and I? The fact that she’d safeguarded my life against his wrath gave me a little hope that she had a plan to fix the rift between us. If he couldn’t trust me, I couldn’t continue to serve as his Beta. For now, we were all just playing our parts. A grand act to keep the world from knowing the depths of the fracture The Vὅlsung had caused. “And make sure you bring Jeanette’s Delta as well,” Selene added to the other men’s surprise, “I want her to feel comfortable moving
Rite of Power 29: Labors of Love
It was a relief to be able to send Nathan off without raising any suspicions, even if it was only for a few days. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to look at him without seeing her lips pressed against his. The anger was always twisted with gut wrenching guilt, was this how she felt about me and Candice? Would she always be a ghost that haunted us? So far, Selene had completely forgiven Sophie. She’d even gone as far as bonding them together in blood and giving her a demigod wolf spirit. The two of them had grown closer through this chaos. I couldn’t help feeling jealous. She seemed to have grown closer to Blake as well. Even though I knew I didn’t have any reason to be jealous of their relationship either, it didn’t stop me. She outright claimed him as her Delta to Caleb earlier, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he could also smell the faint scent of fresh blood and antiseptic that wafted off her hand when she waved them through the air while she ta
Rite of Power 30: Sub-Servant
After wrapping a towel around me, he stayed behind to drain the tub and blow out the candles. I sat on the edge of the bed watching as the doorway grew darker with each flame extinguished. I didn’t know how I felt about what he said. Hadn’t I already changed in ways that couldn’t be undone? His body filled the dark space I was watching, his wet shirt pasted against his skin. “I’m going to change into something dry; do you want me to get you something to wear to bed?” No one had a right to look so damn good when I wanted to not want him. He was doing so well at being good. So why was it the more he behaved himself, the more I wanted him not to? He looked at me expectantly, but not in the way I was used too. He’d asked me a question. What had he asked me? “Selene?” Oh, no. Now he looked concerned. He’d asked me if I wanted something. What did I want? I wanted to not be me, even if it was just for a night. I wanted to pre
Rite of Power 31: Answers in the Aether
This was home, where I was always meant to be. Even though I know they wouldn’t, it felt like his arms wrapped around me like this could shield me from all the evil and pain in the world. Here in the dark, no one would ever find us. I stretched against him and tried to look around our room to determine what time it was. My cheeks burned as I took in all the twinkling lights watching us from the dark inky depths of the Aether. When had I willed myself here? No, how had I willed myself here and pulled Dmitri in with me? Sitting up, I was taken aback by the golden thread of light that seemed to be wrapped around us over and over again like a cocoon. It shielded the fact that we were naked from all the eyes watching us, but it didn’t feel like that was its purpose. It felt like it was a part of me, or us, I couldn’t tell which. I looked around again, trying to find the black furry form of Arkadi, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. His abse
Rite of Power 32: Memories of the Soul
This was my body, but it wasn’t my body, at least not the body I was just in. I tried to fight through the dizziness that blended all the thoughts in my head together and kept my eyes from focusing. Where was I? This wasn’t the Aether, and it wasn’t our bedroom or even the pack hospital. I could only steady myself enough to sit up. I brought strange hands up to my face and tried to determine if I was damaged in some way. Everything felt the same, except my hair. There were smooth strands where I’d expected to find curls, and the color was brighter, a more rose gold color than red, as I pulled a strand forward where I could inspect it. “Nane tooyi Isis!” a small girl ran into the room and jumped up on the bed beside me with a grin. When I didn’t respond she frowned and patted my cheek gently, “Isis?” Was I Isis, or was that a question. I gave her a light shrug. Her big brown eyes stared up at me with concern, but I didn’t know how to an
Rite of Power 33: The Bigger They Are...
“What time is it?” I pushed through the pain in my head and tried to climb out of bed, “There still enough time for me to knock Caleb on his ass before breakfast?” “Maybe you should give yourself a few hours to recover from whatever the hell it was that you just went through before trying to pick a fight with another Alpha,” Dmitri tried to tuck me back into bed. “Really?” I stared up at him and brushed his hands away, “After everything that you just witnessed, you think that smug meat head can beat me? Even on my worst day I think I could still knock him down a peg or two. So move.” He held up his hands in surrender, “Yes Ma’am,” he gave me a sly smile. “Don’t try to distract me,” I climbed past him out of the bed and walked into the closet to throw on some leggings and a sports bra. He’d already slipped into a pair of basketball shorts and a sleeveless shirt, one of my hair ties dangling in his fingers as he waited o
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Rite of Power Rite of War
If you've made it all the way to end of this chapter in Selene's journey, then I hope that you've enjoyed the ride thus far. The next and final chapter of her life "Rite of War" should start posting around December of 2023. If you feel like being encouraging, and you have a minute or two to spare, please add a book review/comment. I don't know if it helps boost the story, but I do know that they boost my mood
Rite of Power 120: The Alpha of Alphas
I didn’t know how long I stood there, just staring at the lump in my hand as the thumping slowed to a stop. But I could still feel its pulse in my fingertips. Not fingers exactly, something more akin to monster hands. I found myself wondering if they’d be as pristinely white as the short velvety fur coving my arm if they weren’t coated in blood. “Selene…” Someone said my name, but they sounded too far away for me to recognize the voice. The dead lump rolled off my fingertips, falling to the ground with a wet thud. I didn’t feel anything now that it wasn’t pulping in my hand. I was numb and hollowed out, just like the lifeless husk at my feet.&nb
Rite of Power 119: A Final Breath
The sky was completely free of even the barest wisp of a cloud. It was as if the gods were watching, and had declared that nothing obstruct their view of the fight they’d been promised. There weren’t even any birds singing in the forest around our little meadow in the middle of the woods. Someone was going to die here today. Sophie had done well. A ten foot circle was clearly marked in the center of the grass with a larger circle marked around it another ten feet out. Beyond that, two white tents stood up on opposite sides of each other. I was supposed to do all of this, but the goddess wouldn’t settle for anything less than a full twenty-four hours. I had to kill someone today. I knew that I was physically capable of doing it. I was just a little iffy on if I had the conviction to kill her in such a gruesome way. It would’ve been much easier to just order her to stop breathing. But blood had to be spilt. I’d be rem
Rite of Power 118: Death March
I felt a little guilty for leaving Blake to deal with Selene’s possession all night. Now I owed him, Kelly and Sophie big. I just couldn’t risk that she’d find a way to seduce me if we were alone together. She curled up beside Blake on the sofa, under a throw blanket with her head on his lap. At least he’d managed to get her to sleep before she was set to fight to death in a couple hours. Blake looked exhausted himself, like he hadn’t slept a wink and brought his finger to his lips in a shushing motion when he saw me. ‘How much trouble did she give you?’ His shrug
Rite of Power 117: A Long Day
It wasn’t too hard to babysit a goddess once I started approaching the situation like I was taking care of my own little sister when she much younger. Aside from having a filthy vocabulary and an overwhelming sense of entitlement, it was just like taking care of a ten year old girl. She played in the water like she was a nymph, basked in the sun until it got too warm, preferred sweets and junk food over veggies, playing dress up with the plethora of clothes in the closet, and sitting on the floor in front of me while I brushed and braided her long, unruly curly locks for her. “She chose well with you,” she sighed contentedly as she watched me clean up our dinner dishes.
Rite of Power 116: Tick-Tick-Tick
“I don’t understand, what is going on?” Alex stared at me as I watched Dmitri storm down the hall. I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her out of the hall, “I don’t know yet either, but I’ll let you know what I can when I find out. Ok love?” She frowned at me, “Meaning you have to leave early this morning.” “You know I don’t want too,” I brushed the hair out of her face, “and in just one more day, almost all of this craziness will be done and over. Then I can ask Dimi and Selene to let us have a few days out at the cabin.&rdq
Rite of Power 115: Babystitting
Nathan ran back to spend his day with Candice, some kind of last day with her mate bullshit. Dmitri had shifted back into his wolf to carry the goddess in Selene’s body out to their hideaway cabin, since she was deadlocked in human form. I was tasked with grabbing a motorbike for Dmitri to ride back on, since I’d be staying out there with Selene. ‘There’s been a change of plans,’ I linked to Kelly as soon as I was close enough. ‘Did you guys find Selene?’ ‘Yes, but she’s not herself today, so we’re spending the day out at the cabin,’ I expl
Rite of Power 114: Dark Deals
It wasn’t hard to see that everyone had picked up on Selene’s complete lack of interest in everything around her. But just like everyone else, I said nothing. After the report Nathan gave me of the test run he’d put together for her, she seemed broken in a way that none of us knew how to heal. I couldn’t help but feel that things were only going to get worse. If ‘killing’ a statue had this effect on her, what was going to happen when she actually took a life? I cursed myself for letting her set the terms to all or nothing. Someone had to die, and I was starting to worry that she’d let it be her instead of having to take a life herself. Traditions and laws be d
Rite of Power 113: Erie Calm
There was definitely something off about Selene tonight, but no one seemed to want to voice anything about it. I was willing to bet that the only person that would’ve spoken up, was Blake, but she’d ordered him to stay with his mate for the rest of the day and even arranged to have their diner brought up to them so that Kelly wouldn’t have to tax herself any further by dealing with more people. She kept staring off into space throughout the meal. Clearly her mind was somewhere else. But she still managed to fake a smile, and nod at the appropriate times as the conversations prompted. She didn’t even lean into Dmitri’s touch, which struck me as more odd than her lack of banter.&
