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50: Xandikos
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Rite of Power 51: Kalliope
‘It’s time to wake up now,’ an unfamiliar woman’s voice called from far away. The voice faded away into the dark nothing that enclosed me as my own personal hell reset itself. There was no escaping this cycle of pain and misery. I’d built this prison brick by brick through the years and now it was all I had left. I felt the cold and wet pour down on me through the darkness. Here we go again… “You’re fucking sister led him right to us!” Giorgos had never been so angry with me before. “I have to find Daciana! She’s with the cubs!” He growled at me in frustration. It was the first time I’d ever been afraid of my mate, but it wouldn’t be the last time after today. His hand crushed mine painfully as he pulled me, half dragging me through the rain back towards the pack house. I knew it was our own cub that made him turn back. I collapsed on to the floor as soon as he released his grip. “I’ll search through the rooms upstairs
Rite of Power 52: Final Judgement
‘I’ve watched you go thru this five times,’ there was that voice again, closer this time. ‘I’m not going to watch it again. It’s time to for you to wake up and face the consequences of your actions.’ The rain froze in midair; all the screaming and sounds of battle fell silent around me. Even Giorgos was frozen in time; inches from snatching me up off the ground. I looked around, “Who’s there?” A large black wolf with a bright white patch of fur on the forehead in the shape of a starburst weaved their way between the people frozen in their horrific death scenes and padded towards me. ‘Why did you’re wolf abandon you here to torment yourself?’ “My wolf?” Who was this strange she-wolf to come into my personal hell and question it? “I gave up my wolf before any of this to be a Luna to my mate. It was the price I paid to leave The Vὅlsung, packs cannot have two Alphas.” Her fur rippled as she laughed, ‘Your mate was a cowar
Rite of Power 53: Phase
If Xandikos hadn’t verified every word, I never would’ve believed Kalliope’s story. It didn’t make any of it ok, but I hated the fact that it did make me understand why she did some of the things that she did. Worse, I think it made Dmitri understand her as well, and he was supposed to be the tough sell. Nothing she said kept him from making the mile long list of rules and stipulations for her continued existence. It was almost poetic justice that she was going to be confined to a single room for the foreseeable future. I just wished that it hadn’t kept me from getting the sleep I needed. I could’ve slept in this morning. I was hoping that I’d get to take my frustrations out on Nathan, now that he was back. In a few hours, we’d formally announce Candice’s challenge and chaos was sure to ensue. After that there would be no turning back, and my life would be placed under a microscope for anyone who wanted to look. I could’ve asked Blake
Rite of Power 54: Challenge Accepted
“This is all very exciting,” Jeanette beamed a big smile at me, “It’s very rare for someone to challenge an alpha at all these days, but for a female alpha such as yourself it has to be even more rare,” she took a deep breath. “It’s like we’re getting a front row seat to history, isn’t it?” Caleb nodded at her with a big smile of his own. “Thanks, I think,” I tried to smile back at her, but I’d never addressed the whole pack all at once before, in fact this was going to be the first time many of them were included in a link at all. If I could pull this off, it might be enough to distract Caleb from this morning, and it would be a big step towards the changes I wanted to see in our pack. “Just breath through it, and don’t let them overwhelm you,” Dmitri, stroked the small of my back to try and calm my nerves. “I’ll be right here with you through the whole thing.” The fact that he was encouraging my plan to unlock the link to all the pack members who cou
Rite of Power 55: Calm Before the Storm
We had drastically underestimated the chaos that would ensue from allowing every single member of the pack to access the link. We had to set up several different workshop type classes around the pack’s territory to help people understand how to use the link properly and directly with one another instead of the main pack link, which was a clusterfuck of noise to anyone that left themselves open to it. Some people couldn’t get out of it on their own. Sophie had to take over most of my daily tasks to free me up to handle that last group. Dmitri had once warned me against using sway to often or on too large of a scale because it could be draining, but I seemed to have a bottomless reserve of energy in that department. The exhausting part for me was walking someone step by step through the ability to access the link without broadcasting to everyone all at once. Dmitri had to hold open an active link between him and the higher ranking members just to get any
Rite of Power 56: First Moon
The closer it got to sundown, the more it felt like I was vibrating out of my own skin. ‘It’s just the pull of the moon,’ Bo reassured me for the thousandth time today. ‘Knowing that doesn’t make it go away,’ I growled back at her. It wasn’t just that I could feel the moon lifting into the sky above us, I could also feel the way she’d been melding into me and settling into my bones. Maybe the reason women didn’t shift anymore was because we were more sensitive to the sensations of a foreign presence taking root within us. ‘How much longer will it feel like this,” I scratched at my arms again, unable to satisfy the underlying itch. ‘It’s just a couple more hours, but if you’re having doubts…’ her thought trailed off. ‘No,’ there wasn’t any hesitation in my mind. ‘I don’t have any doubts. I just feel miserably uncomfortable right now. Will it be like this every month?’ Her mood brightened, ‘It’s just the bonding process
Rite of Power 57: Center of Attention
It was a lot to get used to in such a short time, but Selene had done what she could to make the process as comfortable as she could for us. It didn’t make me stop wishing we’d had just a little more time. Even just the few more days I would’ve had if Blake hadn’t been so stubborn and over protective. I’d known as soon as she’d asked that we were going to do whatever she asked. As strong as our bond was, and as much as he cared for our unborn cub, he was hardwired to put her above everyone else, even us. For me though, how do you say no to a Goddess? Even if I hadn’t known she was a goddess, I would’ve trusted her with my life. She puts all her time and energy into taking care of everyone in the pack. I’d never believe that she would put anyone in danger on purpose. ‘You rationalize too much and minimize your natural gift,’ Delphi purred, relishing in the sensation of the soothing touch of our mate. It was strange to acknowledge the he
Rite of Power 58: Hope
It was surprising to see Kelly as a wolf, but she was noticeably smaller than Sophie turned out to be. In fact she was smaller than Blake’s wolf too. Not many of us knew the origins of their wolves, so they likely didn’t notice the difference in size. But, it was hard to ignore that they had the exact same coloring, making them look like sisters. Isabel rushed forward, bombarding Kelly with questions and trying to assess her physical condition, interrupting the two mates greeting each other as wolves for the first time. “Isabel,” I hissed at her, “Can’t you see that you just interrupted a very intimate moment? She’s fine now get out of their way.” Blake snorted his agreement beside me. “As for the rest of you standing around and watching. The show’s over,” I called out over the crowd staring in stunned silence at the spectacle, “are you going to stand with your mouths hanging open all night? Or are we going to run?” I smiled at the sudden flurry of act
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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.&
