After the conference call, I was emotionally spent. I asked Julian if I could have the room that I had stayed in before and take a rest. I just need some me time and a good nap. After greeting and hugging Julian’s parents, the king and queen, I go to my room. This will be my sanctuary for now. I had to convince Councilman Bari to let me stay with the Coven. They wanted to move me to another safe house ran by the council, but I feel safest here. I trust Julian and his family more than anyone outside of my Circle and Alpha Clark. I had to convince my dad and all of my friends that I was ok and just needed time away from everything for now. I promised my dad that I would be home once I was ready. Right now, my mom and my dad are ready to go to war with Jarvis.
Jarvis’ mom tried to call me. I know it is not her fault, but I told her I just needed a little time right now. She apologized and let me know that she was there for me whenever I need to talk. Her and Jarvis’ father are not on speaking terms with him right now. They and the whole pack are upset that he hurt their new luna. I thanked Momma Daisy for calling me. I know under other circumstances, we would be extremely close, but I just can’t keep a connection with Jarvis right now.
I am finally in a quiet place to myself. I just want to go to sleep, wake up and realize this is just a dream. I cannot understand why the moon goddess would allow this to happen to me. I was taught all of my life that the moon goddess wanted me to be happily mated, but I was rejected by one mate and cheated on and disrespected by my second chance mate. I don’t think I want another mate after this. I do not have it in me to trust in the mate bond anymore. I was taught that if I needed and got a second chance mate, he would make up for everything that went wrong with the first mate. Was everything they taught me a lie?
“Lettie, mother moon loves you beyond measure. It was never her will for you to be hurt like this. I don’t understand how or why this happened, but please don’t lose faith in mother moon. I am sure we will understand this in time, and I know we will be ok in the end, with or without Jarvis and Onyx.”
“Thank you, T., I am really trying not to lose faith, but it is hard.”
“Don’t worry about anything right now, for now. Just rest and let the others figure things out.”
“Ok T, I’ll do that.”
I really do feel like taking a nap, so I climb in bed and within seconds, I am asleep. I find myself at my favorite spot in my old pack. The spot where I feel the closest to the moon goddess. I feel so much peace in this place. Even in my dreams, this place has a calming and healing effect on me. I lay in the grass and take in this feeling of peace.
Before long, I see this beautiful wolf and the most beautiful female walking towards me. As they get closer, I recognize Tamaska and none other than the moon goddess herself.
“Hello Seleste,” the moon goddess says, smiling at me.
“Hello mother moon. It has been so long since we’ve met here.” I say.
“Yes, my child. I had to step back and let you grow into the female you were meant to be. You have grown into a lovely young lady, and I am so proud of you. Seleste, I have so much to tell you and so little time. Let me start by saying that it was never my will for you to be hurt by your mate. The fates did, however, show me the possibility of it happening.”
The moon goddess pause for a minute and gives me a chance for my thoughts to catch up with her words.
“So why did Trevor reject me?” I asked.
“Young Trevor was never meant to be your mate. Tamaska has always been fated to Onyx.”
Tamaska and I both looked surprised at that statement.
“As you know, the Sisters of Fate monitor the timelines of my beloved. They saw change in young Trevor’s fate and needed to intervene so that he would learn compassion. He zeal to become the strongest would have consumed him and he would have lost himself to the quest for power if something drastic did not happen in his life. He would have rejected his fated mate, and it would have killed her. Yes as you are thinking, Lacey is his fated mate. She would have continued to seek her father’s approval and would have eventually died if fate had not intervened in the two of them.” The goddess says. “I allowed you to be the one the intercept young Trevor because of the love that he had for you as a friend. I knew that when his eyes opened to the pain he caused you, it would shock him back to the right path. No one else in your group would have been strong enough to survive or had a friendship with Trevor strong enough to make a difference. You were already doing your role as the protector without knowing it.”
“But Jarvis also had a mate before me.” I say, still a little confused.
‘Yes, he did. She was his mate, but not his fated mate. It was necessary for him to have her so that his heart would not grow hard while waiting for you. The sisters of Fate chose her because she was always fated to die young and leave her mate behind. Her original mate would have died with her. The Sisters changed her fate and the fate of her mate. He ended up mated to a shewolf whose’ s mate died before she met him. She would have spent her life alone.”
“That all seems so complicated. There are so many moving pieces, sort of like a chess game.” I say.
The moon goddess smiles again.
‘I guess that is one way to look at it.” She says. “Now, on to my reason for coming to you today. I wanted to put your mind at ease. Jarvis never betrayed you. He really was under the influence of some particularly strong and nasty magic. The hold was temporary and your pain broke it. This is very troubling because the bond that you and Jarvis have should be unbreakable. Tamaska and Onyx have been mates from the beginning of werewolf creation.”
“How is that possible?” I ask.
“You know that all of my wolf spirits are reincarnated after death?”
“Yes.”
“Until now, I never released the wolf spirits of the original wolves, but you Seleste were a special case. You are a double blessed wolf and required my best warrior wolf as your companion.”
“What do you mean by double blessed mother moon?”
“The moon and the stars blessed you. I am sure you have noticed over the years that your Protector symbol differs slightly from your grandmother’s.”
“Yes, I have. I just assumed that all marks were unique to the individual, like mate marks.”
“Did you also noticed that at night when the moon and the stars are the brightest, you star symbol shines brighter than your moon?”
“Wow. No, I didn’t notice that.”
“Yes, it is true. You have the same mark as your ancestor, my original protector. You also have all of his powers. I don’t know if you remember, but as a child, before Tamaska awakened, you could read auras and determine if those around you were being deceitful. You also manifested some of your more active powers. You used your power to pull you bottle to you as a baby. Your grandmother became worried that other would find out and try to harm you, so I bound your powers until you turned 18. Tamaska was aware of your powers and could use them in life or death situations, but fortunately, you were so well trained that you never needed them.” The goddess said. “You also have the gift of immortality, like your ancestor. Only I can shorten your life or give you rest if you want it. You and Jarvis are somewhat unkillable together.”
“So, how were they able to get to Jarvis?”
“They were not actually able to control him. They just froze him briefly and confused Onyx.”
‘So, is that shewolf working with them?”
“No, they were controlling her completely.”
“Why are they doing this?”
“Its about power. There is a dark lord who is as ancient as time. He is the reason I created the original wolves. They were created to shift the balance of power and protect all other supernaturals. They were all given different gifts to assist them in keeping the dark lord from taking over. I gave my first Protector additional power and skills so that he can go up against any form of dark magic. That is the real reason that the magic they used on you didn’t work. You are immune to all magic and poisons. Unfortunately, drugs can still effect you.” The moon goddess says. “The dark lord began influencing other supernaturals and were animal to seek power. He became stronger the more they fought for power. Young Trevor was beginning to feel the draw, but we were able to snatch him back. If we had not, Young Trevor would have been the leader of the rebellion. That was the possible future the Sisters saw. We saved Trevor, but they got the councilman instead. That was a tradeoff we were willing to make. I knew your connection to Trevor would have made it impossible for you to harm him if you hard to go to war with him. You would have lost yourself trying to save him.”
“That is true. I would have never believed that Trevor could be completely evil.”
“So now I have something I need you to do that will be very difficult for you.”
“What is it I need to do, mother moon?”
“I need you to not do anything right now. I told you about the dark magic to ease your pain, but the team needs to complete the full investigation and find the answers about the magic used on their own and develop countermeasures. We cannot interfere with fate at this point or we risk changing the outcome of the war.” The moon goddess says. “I do have a message for Young Trevor and the team working on finding the royal that fathered that werecat. Tell Young Trevor to ask the king about his youngest brother, who is the alpha of Pleasant Moon Pack. The king will instantly know what is going on then. After that message, stay here with the coven and recharge. I have already instructed Tamaska not to let Onyx know the truth about what happened until the right time. I know it will be hard for you all to stay away from your mate, but this is necessary. We need them to think that they were successful. We need to draw out the dark lord. He is hidden from me. They are still after you right now, but I have hidden you from them.”
“Do they know who I am?”
“No, they don’t. They think you are important to the protector team and can lead them to the Protector. They believe the protector is a male. Even when your grandmother had the role, the outside world thought she was a male. Only the people in your pack and her protector team saw her true appearance. The same thing will be true for you once your step out as the protector. You will appear as a male to the world. I do that so that you can have a normal life when you are not official protecting the world. Now get some rest and we will talk again soon.”
After that, I fall into a dreamless sleep for the rest of the night. The moon goddess is right. Now that I know Jarvis did not betray me, I really want to run back to him and makeup, but I will not. I will stay here like the goddess said and rebuild my strength. I want to let Julian know what is going on, but I won’t. It would be strange to everyone if Julian suddenly stop being angry with Jarvis.
I wake up the next day and call councilman Bari. I give him the message from the goddess. He tells me not to worry about anything right now. He will handle everything. He wants me to just take this time and focus on me. We end the call after I told him how much I appreciated him. I decided to spend a lot of time in the room. I don’t know if I can pull off being devastated now that I am not any more. I guess I could just say that I am focused on my future which is true. I’ll just throw myself into training. There’s a war coming, and it is coming soon.