Chapter Ten - Who Knows the Truth

Ellie and Elsie suddenly burst into the room, their mother right on their heals.

“Lia?” Elsie dropped to her knees on one side of the cot and Ellie on the other. Damned if he could tell which of the girls was which. Usually there was a way to tell with twins but he really couldn’t see any difference between these two.

“Come on Lia, we know you’re waking. Open your eyes.” The other begged.

Marie sat on the cot by Lia’s hips and held her hand. “Come now, sweetie. We feel you stirring. Open your eyes.”

David had followed his girls in and stood beside Jake now. “So...Lia’s wolf talks to you, but she doesn’t know it exists? And Selene’s wolf is completely silent?”

“Selene’s wolf has chosen to be silent. She spoke to us when we first met her but stopped not long after Lia was born. I don’t think her wolf talks to her anymore either, or if she does Selene completely ignores her. Lia doesn’t really link with us the way other werewolves do, but my girls can usually tell how Lia’s feeling. Not words or conversation level, but they know her health and emotional status. Apparently, they can tell when she is recovering from being poisoned, but this is a first, so...” David shrugged, “it might just be wishful thinking on their part. Selene hears more of Lia’s wolf than anyone. She knows if Lia has a secret or if her wolf has made a comment or suggestion that Lia knows she’ll get in trouble for.”

“Does that happen often?”

“Often enough.”

“What does Lia’s wolf-like her do that gets her in trouble?”

“Chase sheep, heard baby chicks, play tricks on people who pick on her or her friends,” David shrugged again, “normal stuff for a pup. Selene wants Lia to fit in with humans so she scolds her wolfish behavior as humans would. Right from the time Lia was small, Selene has told her that the voice in her head was really the voice of the evil moon goddess.” Jake’s head reared back in surprise.

“The evil-”

“Yep,” David interrupted with his confirmation. “That will be one of many hurdles you’ll have to deal with after the whole being a werewolf thing. She believes the moon goddess is evil, mating means torture and enslavement and all werewolves want to harm girls. To her the woods is scary and the night dangerous. She’s been taught that the moon goddess is spying on her and sending huge male werewolves and Lycan to hunt and enslave her… It could be a long haul.”

“The old woman rewrote our religion to poison her pup against werewolves?” Mark’s tone was harsh and angry. The two men turned towards him in surprise, they’d been so busy talking that they hadn’t noticed his entrance. David’s expression was understanding and tolerant, Jake’s angry and accusing.

“She felt she was protecting her cub, Beta Mark,” David said in a calm voice. “Ask any mother wolf and they will tell you that there is nothing they wouldn’t do to protect their pups.”

“How is an evil goddess more protection than a guardian and benefactress who will provide wise guidance?”

“Fear of the moon goddess kept Lia out of the moonlight,” Marie said softly, joining the men. “Surely you noticed the colour of Selene’s wolf when she flickered? She was in full wolf form while she ran for her life, but she hasn’t shifted even once since she settled to make a home.” Marie shrugged, “A scarred, pure white wolf with blue-violet eyes living south of the tree line? She’d stick out like an injured paw. Even a white-haired woman with a white-haired child are rare. An old, white-haired grandmother with a white-blond child, both of whom barely smell of wolf would attract much less attention. This way they are much easier to hide, whether the one looking is a man, a werewolf, or a beast. She had no male of her own to protect them. Once she was with us, David would have of course, but she had no mate of her own.”

Mark glanced at the sleeping old woman, his eyes only slightly less accusing than they had been.

“Who are they hiding from,” he asked. Marie smiled, even though it was obvious that his question wasn’t simply born of curiosity.

“We aren’t entirely certain,” Marie confessed. “Selene once said it was her mate, but a mate couldn’t be as cruel as that beast was to her. If they were mated, he couldn’t have injured her the way he did without also injuring himself. She was near death, he wouldn’t have had the energy to do it with himself in the same state. Selene can’t even talk about it. Shortly after Liana was born I convinced her to share what lead up to her leaving him. I thought it would help her to heal or find a way to reconnect her with some family. She tried to show me through a link, but she broke down, the images shredding as she whimpered and shivered in the den. It was the next morning before we could get her to respond to any communication, and then it was only verbal. As far as I know, her wolf hasn’t spoken with anyone since that day unless it was to call us for help.”

“I have trouble believing that,” Mark said.

Jake growled at him.

“If I hadn’t seen it I wouldn’t believe it either,” Marie said sadly.

“From the day we met her it was obvious she was terrified of someone finding them,” David said, “I was surprised when her wolf stopped openly communicating, but I didn’t know you’d had that sort of conversation with her, Marie.”

Marie sighed and looked at Selene, biting her lip and fiddling with the small stone she wore around her neck. “Under the circumstances, I think you need to know.” She sighed again. “This will likely cost me a good friend, but the way things are she cannot protect Lia, and I can not be with them both all the time. Her mate's face was the last image she was able to share with me. If I share the memory with you, Jake and Mark, you will understand why Selene has raised Lia the way she has, You may also be able to recognize the beast she needs protection from. Selene’s wolf isn’t focused on him though, it was completely preoccupied so you’ll have to try to focus on him yourselves and pay close attention to the brief glimpses of the beast. He seemed oddly tall to me,” her tone sounded far away and distracted as she tried to conjure enough of the memory to share with the men. “Mark, Jake, you’ll have to open your mind to me yourselves, I can’t look into both of your eyes at the same time.”

“Look in mine,” Mark ordered, “Jake will be able to see it from his link with me.”

“Alright,” she said, “Girls,” she spoke over her shoulder, “You are not to watch this. Do not try to sneak a look into any of our thoughts. If you do, you will regret it. Understand?”

“Yes mother,” they mumbled together.