Chapter One-hundred-and-one: My love

“I’ve been accepted.” I say to Markus, who continues to listen intently. “As a Goddess, by rest of those that rule in the Kingdom of Eos.”

I say nothing more and I can tell he’s both bewildered and shocked, but I leave him to his thoughts without saying anything further. I walk on, entering the grounds and heading straight towards the training hall. I can hear Markus catch up behind me.

I could smell the scent of death a long time before we entered the training grounds, but the closer we get, the more horrendous the smell. I feel bile rise in my throat, knowing that the war that had nothing to do with the pack has caused so much pain. I feel bad, making the pack wait a week for the Moon funeral to release their ties to their loved ones, however I do not want to do this again without Lukas.

I push through the thoughts exploring my mind about the situation and stress I’ve put the pack in, and head right into the training hall, and my heart sinks.

I see what I can only describe as small hills of bodies, waiting to be burned at the Moon funeral. Each body, as is normal for the passage to the Moon Goddesses realm, is covered in a black cloth with small crescent symbols to represent the packs name. The larger the crescent, the more important the wolf is to the pack. I turn and look at Markus who is regarding me intently.

“Is this everyone?” I ask, hoping there isn’t any more tucked away anywhere. He shakes his head.

“No, not everyone that perished. Every pack member is in this hall to be clear. There were a few vampires however, but they’ve been carried off by the other vampires to be sent away themselves which is their own right.” He says, then takes a moment more to think. “The other witches and the elves suggested for those of their kin who perished, that they’d be happy to be sent away in the same fashion the Moon funeral holds.”

I nod my head and turn back to the scene in front of me. I sigh, trying to locate what I’m after. When I can’t find it, I look to Markus who already knows who I’m looking for.

I see a pained expression on his face as he takes off through a path that’s been created in between the bodies. I send a prayer to Selene, hoping everyone here has a place by her side, watching their families down here till they meet again.

We walk over to the far corner of the room where a bit of space has been made and I see a black cloth with a large crescent Moon symbol on it, usually symbolising the packs Alpha. The cloth, however, is unravelled, as if it’s been ripped off.

Markus looks at me, shocked. He’s no idea what’s happened. I give him a soft smile.

“Where is he..?” He asks as a question, but I can tell he wants to know what’s happened.

I shrug my shoulders. “I’m unsure.” I ask. I then go into detail with him my wish to Zeus and the information Selene passed to me when I asked her about it. I see tears fill his eyes. He steps over and embraces me which is unlike he’s ever done before, a sob escaping him.

“I could never thank you enough for this. You brought him back, and all I’ve been since he left was suspicious of you. Please forgive me.” He begs.

I return his hug and smile into his shoulder. “I would do anything for him. Anything.”

We stay like this for a minute before we part, both looking at where his body was.

“I don’t know how this resurrection stuff works.” I say honestly. “He’s either got up and went somewhere, or he’s been moved somehow. I’ve no idea where.”

He thinks for a moment, then has an idea.

He leads me out of the training hall and out of the training grounds, then heads to the Eastern side of the pack. It doesn’t take us long before we stand before the tree line. I smile, knowing where he wants to check.

He stops and turns to me. “If it’s my son who’s decided where to go if he’s confused, or has chosen where to go himself, then he’s probably went to the treehouse. I would love to go there, but I know for a fact he’ll want to see you first. You brought my boy back to me, and have brought our Alpha back to our pack. You go to him, and bring him back. I’ll make sure everyone waits for you. He says gleefully, and I smile at him and give him a brief hug before walking past him to go into the forest.

I start fast walking into the forest and peek around me to make sure no one is around, as I decide I want to shift, rather than go there in my human form, as I’ll be much quicker. I feel Athena getting ready excitedly in my mind.

I shift in seconds, the bones cracking with next to no pain, as if I were used to it already.

Athena stands tall, ready to sprint towards our love.

“Let’s go.” Is all I have to say to her before she starts pelting it deeper in the forest.

After a short while, we start to slow down, smelling the familiar caramelised apples not too far away, causing our breathing to speed up, our heart beating so fast it may leave our chest.

We start trotting towards the huge tree, seeing the wooden steps leading up into the tree house. We get to the bottom of it and we shift back to my form, with Athena being unable to climb up the small steps that were vertical.

I don’t care about being naked, both mine and Athena’s excitement gets the better of us, and I find myself running to the steps and climbing up as if there’s nothing else in the world, the universe in fact, holding me back.

I get to the top and pull myself into the tree house, remembering the small room with the small window overlooking the trees branches.

My eyes land on Lukas, who is asleep in the corner. I see he’s lost a lot of weight, too much for my liking. I crouch over to him, as the tree house doesn’t allow enough room for me to stand. I reach him and I just lie down next to him, snuggling into his warmth, which he’s still emitting even though he’s obviously severely malnourished. I hear him breathing, even though shallow, but steadily. I feel myself sigh a breath of relief, all the tension that had gathered over the last few months being released.

I stay there for, who knows how long. I end up falling asleep in his arms, finding myself waking up when I feel him stirring. I get up, completely forgetting he’s not well, and I sit up, looking down at him.

He’s still sleeping, or hibernating, I’m unsure what to call this. I look out of the tree house door and notice it’s getting darker, so I decide I have to take him home to be able to help heal him. Doctor Lowe will be able to speed up the process.

Lukas is too big, even in this state, to be carried out of the tree house and down the steps, safely, at least. So I do the only thing I can. I call on the water around me to create a wrap to pull him out and down onto the grass in front of me, so Athena can carry him to the pack hospital. I decide to warm the water up using my fire abilities, so the water doesn’t cause his body stress.

I raise myself up on a platform of water so I can see what I’m doing. I then call on the warm water to wrap around Lukas and lift him from the floor, gently guiding him out of the door and onto the grass, where I lay him down. I then shift again into my gorgeous wolf and lift him up onto my back, where I then start a gentle run, back the way I came, and head towards the hospital.

I stop around a mile away from the tree line, sniffing the air to make sure I can’t smell anyone nearby whilst making a decision on how I’m going to go about this. I decide to mind link Doctor Lowe when I’m a few minutes out.

“Hi Doctor Lowe, please make the largest room available with all treatment needed for malnourishment.” I request.

She takes a few moments to respond, probably not aware I was back. “Of course Luna, may I know who my patient is?” She asks.

I cut off the mind-link to her so I can decide what to do. I think for a moment if I should say anything but decide it’s probably best she knows who so she knows the priority that’s needed….she’s going to find out in a minute anyway.

I continue to jog towards the packs hospital and find myself looking at it from a short distance, in the tree line. I look around me to see if anyone is about and after seeing nothing, I start making my way towards the hospital.

I turn the link back on and respond to Doctor Lowe.

“It’s the Alpha.”