Chapter 216

I stumbled into my apartment around ten, utterly exhausted, but I had something I still had to do. I showered, ate, and then curled up in my chair. With shaky resolve, I turned inward and started down the path I had once walked months ago. I was back to the first day when my grandmother coached me through finding my power, but this time, I was searching for something else.

My wolves.

I trailed my hands down the trees of my mind as I passed. I walked barefoot through the tall grass. The pathway that was so clear back then had become overgrown, and I didn’t know why.

“Because your wolves stopped using it.” I turned to see a woman walking next to me. Her hair and skin were luminous, a bright shining light in the darkness.

“Moon Goddess.” My breath hitched. “Why are you here?”

“Because you need me to be.” Her smile was soft, but it comforted me.

I turned back to the path ahead of us and we continued. The trees grew darker the deeper we went. We walked for a long time before I worked up the courage to ask. “Why did they leave me?” It’s been the question that had been eating at me for months, the one I desperately needed an answer to.

The goddess slowed and grabbed my hand to pull me to a stop. “I don’t know, but I will help you figure it out, together.” She paused as she wiped a stray tear off my cheek. “Together, we will fix it.” She kissed my brow, and I closed my eyes. I shivered with need, but I was going to hold back. I swear I was. But then she wrapped her arms around me and my resolve broke. I dove into her arms and sobbed. “Oh, my dear girl.”

“They are the missing pieces to my soul, and they left me to wither alone.” I crumpled to the ground and sobbed harder. “And I had no one I could tell or turn to. Why would they do this to me?”

The moon goddess gripped me to her as she stroked my back. “Let’s go find out.” She pulled me to my feet. Gone was the aloof goddess that had watched over our race, and in her place was just another woman, like my mom or grandma, loving and taking care of me when I needed it.

“Why are you helping me so much?” I swatted at a few more tears, and her chuckle was soft.

“You haven’t figured it out, have you? I thought you had, from your last words of your first life.” She wrapped her arms around my waist, and we walked again, deeper into my soul.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you remember what you said?”

“Yes.” I closed my eyes and pictured my last day, as Brandon stood over me, my declaration. “But we are all descended from you.”

She nodded. “All wolves are descended from my power. And you know Lycans are my descendants as well. Do you know how?” I shook my head. She gave a soft smile. “Before I had grown in power, I was cut adrift, much like you are. I had no animal to call, no direction, if you will. I was the moon, I was death, but I wanted to be so much more. Then I heard it.” She tightened her hand on my side.

“Heard what?”

“The call of the wolves.” She smiled. “But from the sky, I could not get close enough to see them. They were too fast, and I was too young to leave. But high on a mountain, a man was attacked.”

“Attacked by what?”

The goddess shivered. “Something gone from this world.” Her eyes were dark. “Something I am trying to keep away.” She shook her head, causing the light to dance behind my eyelids. “He was dying, alone, and begging someone to save him. But he was alone, and I was the only thing above him, so he prayed to me. He was the first to call me Moon Goddess, the first to pay tribute to my status, the first to openly worship me, and he was the first to receive my blessing.” She waved her hand, and the forest was gone.

The moon was glowing brightly, and this high up, it felt so close I could touch it. But then a man coughed, and my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the land.

There, on the highest peak, was a man, broken, bloody, and dying. “Moon goddess. I know you are with me, and I will be with you soon. Please take care of my family, my children.” He coughed, and the world seemed to slow. A glowing drop fell from the sky like a tear and landed on his face. Then a second, and another.

Her soft whisper came from beside me. “I was stuck in the sky, so I cut myself, blessed him with my blood.” His scream ripped through the sky, and he shifted, first into a white wolf, and then into a second form. “The first Lycan.”