In The Beginning, Chapter 74
Charlie POV
When the Eta pulled the car up alongside what looked like a small grey substation, I thought he had made a wrong turn. Although I failed to see how or when he could have made an error on a service road without any forks in it. He pulled the car behind some trees, and hopped out, before opening my door for me.
“Alpha told me to escort you to him.” He said by way of explanation when I didn’t move. Maria squeezed my hand gently, and as if coming to my senses, I climbed out of the backseat, Maria following close behind me. The Eta scanned the area quickly, and made a similar noise to Daniel had at the bonfire, again there was a response of six or seven wolves, surrounding us. The hairs on the back of my neck and arms stood on end at the realisation, and my eyes scanned the trees for any glowing eyes staring back at me. “This way Luna.” The Eta prompted, and I realised I was frozen, staring into the blackness of the woods.
“Yes. Sorry, I was miles away.” I smiled uncomfortably, as I forced my feet to move forward. We got to the steel door of the small grey building, and the Eta entered a code. Inside there was a small steel desk, that was bolted to the floor and had Plexiglas from the top of the desk to the ceiling, creating a secure box, and an elevator. The man behind the desk looked us over with interest, but said nothing as we walked to the elevator doors. A thumb print this time, and a code once inside the elevator, I watched as much as was appropriate with interest.
“If you enter the wrong code the elevator shuts down. An alarm is activated, and all men in the facility report in, the watch commander then uses his code to send the elevator to a floor we have evacuated, apart from the armed guards who will be waiting to arrest whomever is inside. Our fail-safes have fail-safes, this is the most secure building in the pack.” The Eta said with pride, I smiled, but even my curiosity seemed dulled by my mood. “A lot of us understand your position, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.” He tried to cheer me up, which only served to let me know how miserable I must have looked. As if he only realised it wasn’t entirely appropriate, or possibly after receiving a sharp look from Maria, he looked a little panicked. “My apologies Luna. It was not my place.”
“Charlie, I’m not your Luna yet, and I appreciate the sentiment. I’m just struggling to believe it.” I smiled, but it felt a little more genuine than before.
“Alpha is a good man, he will do what is best for the pack, and what is fair.” The Eta nodded, as if that was the end of the matter, the elevator stopped and the doors opened, stopping the conversation anyway. We followed the Eta, into another room like the one we had just left, a man was in the same sort of box, and two armed guards stood at either side of a stainless-steel door. The Eta walked up to the box, and typed in a code on a keypad. It appeared as if the code was verified by the man in the box, as he gave a nod, typed something and the door opened for us. Inside was the first room that wasn’t concrete and metal. A thick black carpet covered the floor, there was a large wooden desk with a black leather executive chair behind it directly in front of us, and there were three high-end leather couches in a U shape to the right, where Daniel sat with Ben and Theia.
“What are you doing here?” I asked Theia, shocked she was with Daniel, and a little irked she was openly ogling his muscles. “Are you-?” I didn’t get to finish the sentence as Daniel stood and I saw the deep purple bruises going from the centre of his chest around his ribs to his back. It covered about a quarter of his torso. I dropped the sweats I had been carrying, my hands trembling as I examined the horrific discolouration.
“I’m fine, a bit stiff and sore is all.” He whispered against my hair as stared at his battered body. I couldn’t hold back my tears as he gently pulled me into his chest. “I’m fine I promise.” He whispered, as the first tear fell onto his skin. I jumped back in surprise, as my tear trailed over his bruise, healing it, a line of skin cutting through the dark purple, and then spreading, until it reached the centre of the bruise, where it seemed to be absorbed. A circle of healed skin appeared over his ribs, where the tear had disappeared, it looked like a bizarre negative of a dandelion, except the stem and centre were growing. I watched, stunned as the last of the purple disappeared, and Daniel took an audible deep breath.
“Well, that’s new!” Ben sighed, and I dragged my eyes away from Daniel’s body, looking around the room.
“I have you, look at me.” Theia was suddenly before me while my whole body began shaking. “It’s okay, this happens the first time.” Theia was slowly instructing me, but I couldn’t respond.
“What’s wrong with her?” I heard Daniel demand, I tried to look at him but Theia had my face in her hands.
“Charlie, look up, at the ceiling, that’s it.” She said softly as she ran a soft material under my eyes, catching the tears as they spilled from my lids. “Now, take a deep breath, I know it feels like you can’t, but you can, now in.” I could hear her breathing in, I closed my eyes, the last of my tears forced out. “Now, out slowly... yes, good girl, okay, two more breathes, and then I will explain.” The way she said the last part sounded like she was gritting her teeth and aiming it at Daniel who I could feel nearby, and hear growling softly at being ignored. I completed the breaths as instructed, a little afraid to open my eyes. “Good, now Charlie, open your eyes, you need to sit down, and drink some water." She led me to a seat, and I found myself obeying her every command, as a tall glass of water was placed in my hand. “Charlie is progressing quicker than I anticipated, or I would have gone into more detail about this. Theia explained as she paced in the small room. “When we started having children, we noticed a pattern as their powers developed. You see, within all of us with a direct connection to the source of everything, have the ability to use that to satisfy our every need or want. And as we learn to draw on these abilities, we are feeding them, until they become in tune with your very being. Part of what I will be teaching you from now on, will be how to hold your powers back, so they do not fulfil every whim that crosses your mind. You need to be the one in control, rather than your emotions.” Theia addressed me, and I felt my grip tighten on the glass as my mouth ran dry. “Now, Alpha- oh! You’re clothed.” Theia said, almost disappointed, and I found myself glaring at her. “Would you like to explain our compromise?” Theia smiled, and retook her seat. Maria had joined Ben, who had one arm around her shoulders, their hands connected across their bodies while she leaned on his chest, and he rested his head on hers, both appeared to have been snapped out of a daydream, or a conversation via the link, looked at Daniel expectantly, while I tried to get my throat to accept the small sips of water I was drinking.
“Yeah, just a sec.” Daniel held out a finger, and knelt in front of me. “Are you okay?” He asked softly, but I honestly didn’t know. So, I gave him a weak smile, and a kiss instead, before pulling him to my chest, wrapping my arms around him, and burying my face in the crook of his neck, just for a moment, needing the comfort of his body against mine. His strong arms snaked around my waist and back, until I was secure against him. “Thank you for healing me, intentionally or not.” He chuckled, and I nearly sobbed in relief, before biting it back and kissing his mark softly. I felt a tremor move through him, his arms tightened their hold for a second, before he pushed me back onto the couch, and perched on the arm beside me. His right arm lazily spread along the back of the couch as he caught my left hand with his and brought it to his lips, placing a soft kiss on my wrist, above my pulse. “Theia has kindly offered to talk the minotaur and his female with her after they have answered our questions, if they choose to, however if they refuse to leave earth, we will execute them.” Daniel explained with a tight smile.
“That’s not much of a choice.” I muttered darkly.
“No, but it is the only way to protect not just the pack, but the rest of the world from them. They feed Charlie, on people, I can’t allow that to go into the world! I would be damming the next Alpha to catch and kill them, after burying who knows how many of his pack!” Daniel snapped, before groaning, and lifting my arm again, this time to sniff my wrist. “Where Theia wants to take them, they can have a life, with whatever time they have left, and they won’t be able to hurt anyone.” Daniel employed me, his eyes staring into mine.
“Where are you sending them?” I asked Theia and I heard Daniel sigh in relief.
“It is a region on Athena’s world. We use it to... detain rogue elements. There is a rather large cabin, and some farm land. It is a self sustaining ecosystem, and at the moment, empty.” Theia smiled.
“What do you mean detain? Are they free or not?” I asked, feeling like I was being sold a half truth.
“The land is roughly... ninety thousand acres in a valley, it is extremely difficult to navigate the mountains that surround it on all sides for a quarter of the year, the rest of the time it is impossible. We have, in the past, removed certain species from Earth. Some end up in the basin as it is commonly known, if we see the race improve and start to live in harmony with each other and the land, they are offered a place in Athena’s society, those that do not, die off eventually. We return the land to the condition it was in when they were placed there, for use of another species. We have never had just a male and female, of two different species before, but we will offer them the same.” Theia explained a little impatiently, and bored.
“Isn’t Athena worried about her people? They could still feed off them, couldn’t they?” Daniel immediately asked, concerned.
“No, they can not.” Theia said shaking her head. “When Athena made her Amazons, she made their sparks impenetrable, none of Zeus’s children will feed off of one of Athena’s ever again.”
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