Chapter 67

“What does that mean? I had nothing to do with that damned necklace!”
“But it has become a part of you and you a part of it, like those before you,” Lunaria replied calmly.
“I want to be free of it!”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you destroy it?”
“I didn’t have the will to. Neither did my daughter. She was the first Luna of the Moon Pack and the necklace showed her visions.”
“What kind of visions?”
“All sorts. It showed her the past and the future. Like me, she gave it away too.”
“To who?”
“A traveller whom she fell in love with. He was a Gamma from another pack. My daughter loved him but she knew she would never earn the respect of her pack by getting mated to a low-ranking werewolf.”
“So she sent him away?”
“Yes, with a parting gift. The necklace.”
“Why would she do that? Didn’t she see any vision showing her how destructive the necklace was going to be?”
“She did, and like me, she didn’t have the heart to say no to her lover who desired the necklace.”
“Oh, boy…”
“It was his priced possession for many years until it was stolen from him during a raid from a pack of rogues. The one who took it sold it to Alpha Vin, the father of the triplet Alphas.”
“And then he gifted it to Luna Riya his mate,” I added.
“Precisely. Oddly enough, she too had gone through a few tragic relationships in her life. Alpha Vin was her third mate.”
“But she hadn’t even received the necklace before meeting Vin. Why then did the necklace’s curse affect her?”
“Because she was from my lineage. Luna Riya was my great-great-granddaughter. She was destined to a similar fate like mine.”
“Wait, am I from your lineage too?”
“No. However, Riya recreated the necklace with her natural powers and she invoked binding forces into it, making her sons become one soul in three bodies. She bound them to one mate but it wasn’t supposed to be so.”
“Why did she do that?”
Lunaria shrugged. “Who knows? Perhaps she didn’t want them to ever be separated from each other. She was dying and she knew all they had in the world was each other.”
“That sounds pretty selfish to me. Why did she manipulate her children’s lives like that?”
“That unnatural bond coupled with the chaotic powers of the necklace made them love you and hate you in equal measure.”
I shook my head slowly. “I don’t think so. They hated me because I became a sex slave to another Alpha. I’m not sure that had anything to do with the necklace.”
“Then why did they hate your son too? Wasn’t he their son too?”
That question made me pause and think. She was right. I never understood why the triplet never showed any affection to Domarius.
“If you hadn’t been sold into slavery, something would have happened to eventually make them hate you. It was simply bound to happen.”
“This is a lot,” I groaned.
“The moment that necklace touched your neck, its powers became activated in your life and it has been in control ever since.”
“So, what now? What am I supposed to do now?”
“I can’t tell you that, Jade. That’s for you to decide.”
“Can you please just give me a direct answer for once? How do I get out of here?”
“Will yourself to wake up.”
“How?”
“I can’t tell you that. If you truly want to wake up, you will.”
I gritted my teeth. Her non-answers were getting on my nerves big time!
“I thought Rowan killing Dominic and burying him with the necklace was the end of this ordeal for me. I wasn’t expecting to begin a quest in the afterlife.”
“This isn’t exactly the afterlife.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes.”
“Look, I just want to get back to my mate and our daughter. Even you must agree that I deserve this happiness that I finally have. Why then take it away from me?”
“I don’t have the power to take anything from you, Jade. I am only here to enlighten you. Whatever happens after now depends on you.”
“Why do you keep saying that? Can’t you see that I don’t know what to do?”
“Fine, I’ll tell you. When you finally will yourself to wake up from this deep slumber, you must find the necklace and destroy it the right way.”
“We’ve already tried to destroy it but Dominic killed the seer who could do it.”
“She’s not the only seer in her pack.”
“I don’t know where to find her kind. They seem to live in the shadows.”
“If you manage to wake up from this… coma, you will find one. In fact, she will come to you.”
“Really?”
“Yes, and when she does, take her to the spot where Dominic is buried and dig out the necklace.”
Hope filled my heart. “Oh, that’s easy. I remember where we buried him. It’s in the woods just on the outskirts of the eastern territory.”
“Good. Find it and destroy it. But –“
“What?”
“There’s a timeline for you to do this.”
“What do you mean?”
“The power of the necklace is ready to complete this cycle and start another one. That means that one of you must die.”
“Why?” I screamed at her in frustration.
“Because that is how the necklace completes its life cycles. And that is why you have to destroy it if you must live. Otherwise, you or Rowan or even Nyla will die.”
“No,” I whispered.
“The necklace survives on grief. It craves it and it must have it.”
The hope I once felt had suddenly disappeared. It was replaced with crushing fear. I couldn’t let either Rowan or Nyla die. I couldn’t bear it.
“What if I remain here?” I asked Lunaria who was watching me with pity in her pretty eyes.
“You mean what if you die?”
I nodded, dreading her response.
“Then the necklace wins. It will feed off of Rowan’s and Nyla’s grief until it begins its next cycle with another carrier.”
“I just can’t win, can I?”
“You can if you destroy the necklace. I wish I never created it but wishes won’t destroy it.”
I felt like crying but it was pointless. Crying won’t change anything right now. I needed to act fast and destroy the one thing that was standing between me and my happiness.
“How much time do I have?”
“Until the next full moon. If you don’t succeed in destroying that necklace before then, its next cycle will begin whether you want it to or not.”
I shivered internally. There was a full moon before the night of my birthday celebration. That meant that I had roughly three weeks to locate the necklace and destroy it.
“Finding the necklace is easy,” I said confidently. “The woods are less than two days’ journey from the Highlands. We won’t have trouble finding it, I’m sure.”
“Good. Your task is half completed then.”
A thought occurred to me, so I asked Lunaria, “What will happen to you when the necklace is destroyed?”
She shrugged her delicate shoulders indifferently. “Nothing. I have paid my dues and I am no longer among you living werewolves. Whatever happens with the necklace does not affect me anymore.”
“Then why are you here, telling me all of these things?”
She sighed. “Because I feel guilty. If it wasn’t for my diabolical creation, all the Lunas who have suffered and lived miserable lives like you may have had a shot at true happiness in their lives.”
“I don’t think it was entirely your fault. Fate chose a hard destiny for us. But then you made it worse by creating a necklace that added more fuel to the fire.”
She smiled. “You’re right. It’s partly my fault and that is why I want you to end it now because you’re the only one who has the power to do so at the moment.”
“I don’t even know where to begin. I don’t know what to do.”
“You do.”
“Why do you keep saying that?”
“Because it’s true. Wake up, Jade. Wake up.”
“How?”
“How else? Open your eyes.”
“My eyes are open.”
“What do you see?”
“You, of course. It’s just the two of us here.”
“Then you need to wake up and see the living. I am not one of them.”
“The living…”
“Yes.”
“Rowan…” I whispered.
“I am here, my love,” he said.
I turned towards his voice and a bright light suddenly pierced through the thick darkness. My eyes opened and I was awake.
“Rowan,” I whispered again. His face hovered over mine, watching me with eyes filled with concern.
“You’re awake,” he said with relief. “You came back to me.”
“I had to,” I croaked. My throat was dry and gritty. “You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”
He chuckled at my joke. Tears shone in his eyes as he smiled at me.
“And here I was thinking you were trying to get away from me. You’re going to have to try harder than that.”
I tried to laugh but I choked on it. I felt that familiar bubble in my throat and before I could stop it, blood poured out of my mouth.
It hit me right then. I was awake from my coma but I was far from being out of danger. I needed to find that blasted necklace fast!