Chapter One-hundred: Mending

I part with my Mother and Father, our farewell short, knowing it probably won’t be a long once since I can now visit them whenever I please. I leave, happiness filling me, knowing I will be with Lukas soon enough.

I feel giddy, rather than unwell as I whizz through the teleport. I notice as I’m being hurtled through that Athena is no longer separate from me, but instead is part of me again. I feel her cosy in my mind, getting ready to see Lukas and Ares again. I come out through the other side in less than a few seconds, my heart thumping against my chest. I arrive in the exact same location I left, in the middle of the battlefield. That’s when it hits me.

I look around and see week old blood patches on the ground next to me, knowing full well that it was Ares who lay here. I look around and see other patches of blood stained on the grass. My heart drops, knowing that a lot of our side had died fighting to defeat Fedori.

I look up from the grass and see Melinda, a few meters away just sitting on the grass. I hear her sniffling.

“Melinda?” I call to her softly. She doesn’t move and so I walk towards her and bend down to touch her shoulder.

She stiffens before looking round at me. Her face is red and slightly swollen, as if she’s been crying a lot. I furrow my brows at her appearance. Has Lukas not returned yet?

“Aliana?” She says, looking at me, her mouth opens in shock as if she’s looking at a ghost.

“Hello Melinda.” I say to her, extending my arm for her to take so I can help her up.

She takes it and I hoist her up. I can see visibly she’s lost weight. She says nothing but embraces me in a hug, squeezing me tightly. She pulls away to look at me.
“You’re looking much better than when you left. Where did you go?”

I raise my eyebrow, wondering what Nuria’s said. “I’ll tell everyone in a meeting room. Let me link them.” I then go to mind-link the ranked members and Lukas’ family.
“Can you all head to the meeting room, I’ve returned and we’ve got a lot to talk about. Can someone grab Elijah and Nuria as well please.” I request, then cut off the link, looking back to Melinda.

“Let’s go. You look cold.” I say to her, sadness pouring out from her. I guess Lukas isn’t back yet which makes me wonder what Selene has done with him.

It’s not long before we’re standing in front of the meeting room, and I’m already able to sense the members who are inside waiting for me.

I walk in and all eyes are instantly on me. I see Nuria at the front, patting the chair beside her, prompting me to walk over and take a seat, which I do without hesitation. Melinda moves across and takes a seat besides Markus who I can see comforts her as she sits down.

Nuria looks to me. “As you wished, no ceremony has taken place and no changes have been made. The field was cleared and the ones who perished were kept to one side after being cleaned, ready for their Moon funeral.” She starts, looking around her worried someone will berate her for talking about the packs news, but no one says anything. “It’s been a week, and the pack are starting to become unsettled that they cannot say goodbye to their dead.” She looks over at Nina who looks quite upset about the situation. “I did try to tell them, but…” I cut her off by standing up.

I look to everyone in the room and see their expressions. Some confused, some upset, even one or two angry faces. Markus looks to me.

“Why did you leave us at the end?” He asks.

“I was exposed to the Gods. I was sent to the throne room.” I respond, straight to the point, not wanting to hide anything from them.

Elder Wyatt looks slightly bemused. “They called for you? Are you able to tell us more?” He requests.

I smile at him, always hungry for more information. I sit back down and address to the room what happened to me, and why I was sent there. The conversation I had with Zeus. I left out my wish however as I wanted to figure out what happened to Lukas myself just in case somethings went wrong. I also kept our a few details about my past and how I came to be.

“I asked Nuria to wait for me to be here for any other formal decision to be made, as you were all inconsolable right after the battle.” I look to Nuria at my side. “I’m sorry I made you out to be the bad one, but it was my only choice at the time.”

She waves her hand as if to say don’t worry about it, but I’ll be sure to show her my gratitude at a later time.

I look to the wolves in front of me. “I apologise for not being here right after, and this is the soonest I could return…” I pause, trying to think of the right words.

“Where’s Lukas?” I ask to them generally, unsure who would know and who wouldn’t.

“We’ve laid all of the bodies in the training hall…..there were a lot, and not all werewolves. We had to keep them separate but didn’t want to spread them out.” Markus chokes out to me. I can see he’s been having a hard time trying to lead with Nuria, mourning the loss of his only son.

I wince at the wording, knowing that probably a few elves, witches or vampires had died. I will need to speak to them after I sort out my pack, which was my priority. Right after I figure out one thing.

“Take me to him.” I command, and I see Markus get up and wait for me at the door. I look to Nuria.

“Speak with Melinda about preparations for the Moon funeral. It’s only right we put our fallen first, after all they’ve waited so long.” I request to her softly, however knowing that everyone in the room can hear me. I hear a few relieved sighs, one of which coming from Nina who has tears in her eyes.

I walk to her and stop instead of going straight to Markus. She looks to me and weeps.

“Who was it?” I ask, knowing she’s lost someone.

“Lance.” She whispers. I can feel her pain, her brother was imprisoned for trying to help the pack, and now he’s died defending his pack.

I think about her brother and I feel a burning sensation in the back of my mind. I feel my eyes grow heavy so I close them. When re-opening, I see myself on a vast grassland, waterfalls falling from the sky and creating a beautiful mist in the air. I see a man in front of me.

“You’re in my realm.” I hear Selene say to me, and I look around and see her walking softly towards me. “As you are part of me, you can visit whenever you wish. This is the same as your Fathers realm. You seem to already have mastered it, now that there is no boundary blocking you from our realms, or Eos.” I hear the glee in her voice and I smile.

“Welcome, Luna.” The man says, and I start to wonder who he is. He seems to understand my look of confusion and he reveals himself.

“I am Lance, the one you and Alpha Lukas sent away on a convoy, or perhaps you know me as Nina’s brother.” He says, a smile across his face.

He’s watching me with his brown eyes as I look over him and see he has ashen blond hair. He’s fairly tall, his muscles failing to hide under the robe he’s donned in the afterlife.

“It’s nice to meet you, Lance.” I say to him, however I am confused. “The last we heard of you, you still hadn’t returned.”

He chuckles. “I could tell the pack was in danger when I saw the smoke rising from the direction I was heading, which at first was away from the pack. When we finally made it out of the dark forest, we headed towards a path that had overgrown, but we could tell it was there. Then we saw the darkness fill the sky, and an area ahead of us started burning.” He looks sad as he shares the story. “We then head into the mountains on our side, ditching the convoy in a hidden place. We stayed up there for a few weeks, then decided to head back when the weather started changing for the worse. When we returned, the Alpha had been taken by the evil one and you were missing….or on a mission the details kept changing. It’s at that point we started training for the worst to happen.” He tells me.

“I am sorry we had not met sooner.” I say to him, and he shakes his head.

“I am too Luna, but the pack loves you and I know you’ll look after the pack, which is all I could ever hope for. When you return, please tell Nina I love her. But I am with Esmae now. She was my mate who died giving birth to my daughter who is also here with us. We are happy.” He says with a smile on his face and I feel nothing but happiness for him.

I nod at him, then I feel myself pulling back, returning to my body. I look in front of me and see Nina, along with a few others, staring at me in awe.

“What was that?” I hear Markus ask. I look to him puzzled, so he explains. “Your eyes, they were golden. As if you were mind-linking but not the usual black we see.

I say nothing but instead mind-link Nina and tell her about where I’ve just been and what was said. I request she not say anything to anyone as I’d rather not have a thousand questions at this moment on that gift.

She falls on her knees and hugs me unexpectedly with her tears running down her face, causing everyone in the room to look confused. I smile at her and bring her up, pulling her into a hug.

“Thank you, Luna.” She says.

I see Albion behind her looking confused and defeated, as I assume he’s been trying to console her. I look to Nina to grab her attention.

“Your mate needs you. Go to him.” I suggest, and she does, snuggling into his chest. I look up to Markus who is still waiting by the door, a look of confusion plastered over his face.

I walk towards him and he allows me to leave the room first, him close behind me. I look around and see no one follow so I assume he’s commanded them not to. We walk besides each other, and I feel the sadness roll off of him.

“A lot has happened in the time I’ve been away.” I start, knowing he has plenty of questions like everyone else. “However I will not go through everything I’ve done. In all honesty it’s felt like a few hours to me, rather than a week.”

He says nothing as we continue to walk. Right before we get to the training grounds, he turns me round gently by placing a hand on my arm and pulling on it.

“You’ve changed, Aliana. Something about you is….has changed. My wolf senses it. We know what you are, but…but something has happened, hasn’t it. I feel the need to bow to you whenever I see you. I don’t…I don’t understand..” he says, his face reddening slightly.

I smile at him, knowing that the wolves probably can feel the change that has happened within me. I’ve always been a Goddess, but now I’m an accepted Goddess.