16th December, 2017

Alpha Gabriel's Territory, Nivadia

-

My hollowed brown eyes stare back at me in the mirror's reflection. There is blue and black under my eyes from last night. It had been like an invisible force took control of me, disorientating my every sense. I had one objective, find the woman calling for me. I had felt everything, a tether formed in my heart. I felt connected to some unknown part of this mysterious land I now live in. It was different from the bond I feel with Gabriel, different from the bond I feel with the Goddess. Something so pure, so light that it is driving me insane not knowing its origin.

The Goddess told me through our brief meeting somethingI have been trying to decode for hours. The words leaving me sleepless as the winds howled through the cracks of the palace walls.

"Undo the bounds of my mistake, make right what was wrong. Forgive my land for I do not hold the power but yield what I have given you. You are my love, my light, shine it upon the darkened lands..."

My face was lined with worry. If only I understood. I knew what she wanted me to do, deep in my bones I knew. But I couldn't find a way for my brain to understand truly.

I would have to trust my heart.

Vanya put the last golden hair clip in my hair when my chamber doors burst open with furry and might. Gabriel rushes in only wearing his tight brown pants. His chest huffing up and down as his eye's pint pointed me seated before my white vanity. Our eyes connect through the reflection and my heart jolts at the swirling emotions in his eyes.

"Out," he barks at my ladies.

They rush out before softly closing the door behind them with a click. The room is silent except for the harsh breaths coming from the powerful male standing rigid behind me.

I break eye contact and slowly turn around on the matching white stool to the vanity. My movement seems to break the silent spell and Gabriel rushes to where I am seated. He grabs my hands and kneels before me. His eyes searched mine for something, I do not know what.

"Are you alright?" he asks worriedly.

I gulped wordlessly as I become stunned by the emotions that fog his bright green eyes. Inch by inch I force my neck and head to move, shaking in a silent answer.

Her voice. Her cries...

"I felt...I felt you slipping away through the bond. It was as if you just vanished. As if a part of me vanished," he whispers before pulling me into a bone-crushing hug. Tight enough for him to know I am here, in front of him, but soft enough for me to feel the pure intentions behind it.

At that moment I didn't care of my heart beating faster or my brain yelling at me, telling me to push him away, that he isn't Adam. I wrapped my arms around his broad back and allowed the mating bond the thrum between us. I allowed his warmth to coat my body and loosen my tightened muscles. I allowed myself to relish in the feeling of him pressed firmly against me.

I released a sigh of relief. It was as if I had been holding my breath this entire time, that this hug, our first intimate contact, was the final straw and now a weight on my chest has lifted.

He pulled back slightly, but only enough to look into my eyes once more.

"Can you tell me what happened?" he asks with such softness that my throat tightens.

I nod before saying, "I woke up to the sound of a woman screaming. She sounded like she was in so much pain like she wanted someone to end her life- to put her out of her misery. I felt... I felt a pull towards her voice like she wasn't just calling for anyone, she was calling for me. So, I left the palace as if I were in a daze and walked through the forest. Then everyone found me, but the haze I was in wouldn't go away. Alya... I think she was trying to help me, that she thought she could see what was wrong if she went into my head but there was a dormant part of me that woke up when it felt her. It was angry that it was woken, it was angry that someone disturbed its sleep. I couldn't stop it, I forced my way into her head. I saw her, I was her. Then the Goddess told me..." I trailed off.

"Told you what?" he whispers gently.

"I- I don't remember..." I whisper back.

I break my eyes from his and look at our joined hands. I don't know why I didn't tell him, perhaps it was because the message was only meant for my ears or maybe... I didn't want to drag him into the mess I somehow found myself in.

Gab takes a heavy sigh before squeezing my hands.

"We knew this wouldn't be easy, Sarah. The books we have read explained as much. I just don't like not knowing what's happening to you, you are my mate and even if you don't feel the same I will always want what's best for you," Gabriel says before resting his forehead against mine.

I breathe in deeply, taking in his euphoric sent. I close my eyes and focus on his steady breathing. My lips curve up into a small smile, this feeling, the one that swells my chest with warmth and light. I have never felt something so real, so perfectly right.

Loud voices sound outside my room, one I can identify being Huxley, the other voice-

The doors slam open and Gabriella rushes in. Her dark makeup framing her burning eyes as they narrow in on us, at how close we are. She seems to realise her glare as she straightens her spine and freezes her eyes cold.

"Mother?" Gabriel asks before standing up, releasing our hands.

I automatically miss the lack of warmth they made, the soft tingles washing out into nothing. I frown slightly at the lack of contact before moving my eyes between mother and son. For once there is no malicious intent in Gabriella's eyes as she looks at her son.

"Is it true then?" she asks him with a soft edge that I would never have thought would come out of that woman.

Gab looks at her solemnly before nodding. Her shoulders slump slightly as she lifts her hand to rub her chest as if the hollow cavity where her heart should be feels pain.

I rise from my seat and walk to where Gab stands. He looks down at me with soft eyes. I smile at him before linking our hands again. The warmth thrums in my body, the feeling addictive.

"How many?" Gabriella questions. I have never seen her show emotions other than disgust, the look on her face not fitting with her dark aura.

"It is best if you do not know, mother," Gabriel tells her tenderly.

I watch the two closely. I have not been seen Gabriella, save for meals, since she threatened me in her thorn room, which is what I named the glass dome she has filled with black roses that she and her evil cronies resided in most of the day.

"How many," she seethes with a flash of anger. I take a step closer to Gabriel, not out of fear but ready to jump between them.

He looks at her firmly before sighing and saying, "Just over two hundred."

Gabriella closes her eyes and clenches them together. Her breathing hitches for a moment before the powerful glow of energy around her physically dims before my eyes.

I look between them before slightly tugging at his hand to catch his attention. His eyes flicker to mine and before I speak, the words get caught in my throat. His eyes, those beautiful green portals into his soul, are dull of that light I saw moments ago.

"What's wrong?" I ask gently and stroke his hand with my thumb.

"Don't act like you care," Gabriella's venomous voice spits at me.

I tense at her words before looking at her with a face of stone. Gone is the wounded woman, now a livid she-wolf has taken her place.

"Do not talk to my mate like that, she does not deserve your hate." Gab growls back, his body going rigid alongside mine.

Her eyes widen slightly in surprise before forming back into her closed composure.

"She may have you fooled, my son, but I see through her facade. Do not fear, I will prove her guilty in due time," the pure evil in her voice feels like a cold hand gliding down my back, as if the devil himself were in the room.

"Leave," he commands, the power in his voice causes Huxley, who is standing by the door, to bow his head and show his neck in submission.

Gabriella stares at her son for a long pause before nodding slightly and turns to leave, but not before looking to me and snarling- literally snarling, her teeth no longer human but that of a monster.

Her black dress moving is the only sound as it swishes and sways down the hallway before coming one with the shadows.

The three of us stare at her retreating form, myself being mildly shocked at the emotions she just displayed.

Huxley clears his throat before looking back at Gab and me. His eyes go to our joined hands before a smirk lifts his lips. I separate my hand from his and take a step back, a light blush covering my cheeks.

"I am sorry about her, she was just hoping for better news," Gab tells me before running a hand through his curly brown hair, the strands tugging in a way that makes my hands clench from the urge of doing it myself. My eyes follow the movement of his muscular arm flexing before I absentmindedly ask, "What happened?"

"I told you about the attack on the eastern front and how... three thousand of our people were murdered. What I didn't tell you was the number of rogues that attacked and what that means," he breathes heavily.

I wait for him to continue but he doesn't, he just stares at the wall with a hard glare. Huxley explains for him,

"Two hundred rogues gathered and attacked, the problem is that rogues have never been able to gather in groups larger than ten, let alone two hundred."

"How could two hundred rogues kill three thousand people?" I ask, almost afraid of the answer.

Huxley looks over to Gabriel, asking for permission to tell me. He doesn't look at Huxley but gives one sharp nod, his jaw clenched and eyes calculating. Huxley tells me I should sit down and guides me to the couches.

"Rogues aren't born from the Goddesses powers; not like we are. They are made by dark power as old as the great realms, no one knows where this evil came from and the Goddess has not told us, no matter how many times the Priestesses ask. What we do know is that rogues are born to kill, they are stronger than the average wolf. They used to be the Alphas of our world, long before the new ages. Our world was in constant war, the rogues constantly wanting more, whether it be land or riches, they forced the common wolf into submission and used us as slaves. They did not believe in mates and took whoever they pleased, their only goals being to spread their line of succession. It wasn't until one of the rogue Alphas found a woman wondering, lost and wet and shivering, in one of his forests did things begin to change. Before the new ages, we did not believe in clothes, our primal instincts were seen as the dominate side of ourselves, but this woman was wearing strange fabric on her body, something he had never seen before. The cloth on her body weighing more than the woman herself. The rogue Alpha immediately recognised her as his mate. His primal side was so powerful that he lost his sense of self and tried to force himself on her. Imagine his surprise when the petite woman fought against him, an invisible force knocking him into the ground with so much power that he blacked out from the pain. When he woke up, he saw her running away from him. He caught up quickly, ready to lunge her to the ground but the force knocked him back again, this time with more force.

It was as if the force suppressed the animal inside him, making him more... morally sane. He caught up to her again, but this time stopped her and treated her like some spooked animal. He walked up to her until she was cornered, he asked if she would be able to climb onto his back so he could take her to safety, not understanding what he had tried to do to her moment before. He shifted into his wolf and the sight caused the woman to faint. Worried and finally thinking clearly, the rogue Alpha brought her to his private caves, the only form of housing they had at the time. He tended to her, treated her with care. He was the first rogue to ever experience love and humility. It took him years of proving himself, but they fell in love. She incorporated her culture with ours, showing us her worlds fashion and architecture. They built castles all over their territories, everyone began wearing her clothing designs and the common wolf was taken out of slavery, but there was a rebellion forming by the rogues.

One night, the Goddess came to them and told them of what they must do. She tasked them with the responsibly of uniting Nivadia and creating peace throughout the land. They asked her how they would do this, but the Goddess told them that powerful allies will join them soon. They didn't know what this meant until more people began appearing from that forest, the same one Lily the original Child of the Moon came from. The same one you came from, Sarah. They were all mated to alphas of power and they all gave them something that Aiden and Lily were already experiencing. Love, unconditional love. Together they formed peace amongst the land. Not everyone agreed with their way of life. Mostly the rogues, who had been the rulers of Nivadia since the original Lycan and thrived off the oppression of others. United, the new Alphas banished the rioting rogues to the far borders of the world. They began to die off, war continuing amongst themselves until there was no longer any news about them. It was like they just vanished from the world.

After this, the Children of the Moon were worshipped. They were- are everything good and pure in the world, they gave rogue Alphas the ability to feel love and feelings other than anger and greed. They gave birth to powerful offspring's, more power than the rogues themselves. Whenever there was an injustice big enough for the Goddess to intervene her children would appear from the forest."

"Don't you see Sarah, we thought rogues to be extinct until two years before you came. They just...appeared. First, it was small attacks, something we could dismiss as attacks from the creatures from the forests. Then the attacks grew in size and ferocity. You came mere days after the biggest attack our kind has had since rogues were banished. The one that happened four days ago proves my theory, you came here when we needed you most. You are sent by the Goddess to rid the land of the rogues," Huxley finishes telling me with a small smile, his eyes shining the same way they did when we first met.

I process everything he told me and look over to Gabriel. He has moved to the large window facing the forest that reaches far into the horizon. He looks beyond into the far distance, searching for something.

"Is that why you locked me up? You didn't want me to fight these... rogues?" I ask Gabriel.

He looks over to me with hard eyes and a tight jaw. His adams apple bobs as he swallows deeply.

"The idea of you facing them... it is something I would wish on no one," he tells me, his soft voice contradicting his hard face.

"But how am I supposed to fight creatures that are stronger than even you, when I cannot control my powers in the slightest. I have had them for six months now and I cannot even move a piece of fruit," I say with exasperation.

"You manage to knock down fifty of our best wolves the night you tried to leave with a flick of your wrist," Huxley says.

"I don't know how I did that. The powers only come when I feel threatened, I cannot use them freely," I explain.

"You can if you train. If you can find Mother Lily's journals, she will have information about how she controlled her powers. She was more powerful than any after herself, she will have the answers," Huxley tells me.

"Where would I find such a thing?" I ask.

"The high temple of the Moon," Gabriel and Huxley say at once.

I look between them and ask, "And where is that?"

"It is in the centre of the territory. It is a seven days journey if you travel in wolf form, but that might prove difficult with you," Huxley says.

"But if I am to control my powers, what do you expect me to do with them? Am I to become a murderer? Is that what the Goddess has planned for me?" I ask with a hint of anger.

"No, of course not," Gab says and walks to where I am seated. "I would never put you in that position," he tells me as he stares into my eyes.

"Then what position are you putting me in?" I rebut.

"We will figure that out later, but for now I agree with Huxley. You need to control your powers and Mother Lily's journals are the best way to learn how," silence engulfs us before he finishes.

"I don't think I can kill, Gab," I whisper.
,
He cups my cheeks and brushes his thumb across my skin.

"I know, Amore. If war does come you will not have to kill. You can use your powers in ways that won't cost anyone their lives," he tells me.

I nod and search his eyes. He seems to be doing same, after a moment he nods before declaring,

"We leave for the High Temple of the Moon tomorrow."