Chapter Fifty-five: The Darkness

Lukas instantly growled. “What? What are you on about, Elder Wyatt? Please do enlighten us.”

I could feel him becoming more and more agitated. I look to Elder Wyatt a bit unsure as to what he means. Elder Wyatt raises his hands slightly, sensing the Alpha becoming angrier by the minute.

“I believe I read somewhere about a prophecy and something called the white one. Something will come for us all and only the white one will be able to save or will be the cause of all of our deaths, and I don’t mean ours as in wolves, but ours as in every living creature.” He says whilst looking between me and Lukas.

I think about the words he’s used and a memory of the elven Elder’s pop into my head, and the children’s book that I read shortly before I left their community, mentioning the white one as well. I internally shiver, remembering about what he said about the consumer of Earth, a son of Gods, an evil dark elf. I whisper his name finally remembering it coming to me. “Fedori.”

I see the ranked members and the Elder snap their head to me, understanding what I had said with their heightened hearing but waiting silently for me to continue. Before I get the chance to open my mouth, I feel a connection coming through my mind-link.

“Alpha, Luna. As requested, Elijah has woken up. Albeit he’s still quite….unsettled, he’s insisting he speak with the Luna immediately.” I could feel Lukas shift in his seat slightly and I could tell he seemed a little jealous that Elijah asked for me as soon as he woke up.

I decide to ignore the movement and respond to Doctor Lowe. “Thank you doctor Lowe. I’ll be there soon.” I mind-link to her, then cut it off. I stand abruptly, from the table, and Lukas stands too.

“I’m sorry everyone. Elijah has woken up and would like to speak to me.” I say, feeling a bit uneasy with the aura Lukas is currently putting out. “I’m going to speak with him and see what he has to say. I would like to reconvene this meeting at the soonest moment possible, tomorrow perhaps.” Everyone stands and bows their heads towards us. I look to Elder Wyatt once more to see him watching me intently, and I worry that he knows much more then he’s letting on.

Lukas and I head out the room, not waiting for everyone else to leave, before we leave the front door, he pulls two coats from around the corner and places one on my shoulders. “I know we don’t really get cold, but I couldn’t help myself.” He says, a slight smirk on his face. I snuggle myself under his arm and I feel him relax slightly.
We make our way to the pack hospital without disruption and head straight to the room where Elijah is staying.

Before we enter the room, Lukas moves his arm out in front of me to stop me from proceeding to open the door. “Aliana, wait. I know he’s your friend but we have to assume he’s hostile for now. I’m not saying we’ll put him into a dungeon or tie him up but I just want you to go in there with a neutral mind.”

I furrow my brows as I feel myself instantly get angry as this was my dear friend we were talking about, but I take a deep breath, understanding where his thoughts are going. I feel the worry radiating from him. He wants to keep me and his pack safe, and this is the first time an outsider has stepped on pack lands in who knows how long. I nod, taking a deep breath, agreeing with what he’s said.

“Ok, let’s go meet your friend.” He says with a small smile, and we slowly go to open the door.

The first thing I see when I enter the room is Doctor Lowe writing a mass of notes on her clipboard, whilst looking to and from a monitor attached to cables which are linked to Elijahs arms. I look towards Elijah and a sadness fills my heart, seeing my friend look so hurt from my memories of him always being so fit and healthy, right now he looked a mess as if he’s been through hell and back.

As soon as Lukas and I are through the door, my eyes meet his and I can see the tears fill in his eyes. He tries to move towards me but I feel Lukas take a more defensive stance in front of me. I frown at him and move past him, resulting in a growl coming from him. I turn to give him a warning look and I see him scowl but back off a bit. I go to the side of the bed without all of the cables and machines and take a seat next to Elijah, taking his hand into mine.

“Elijah….Elijah what happened to you? You look terrible.” I say, looking at him with concern. I look to Lukas who is still unsure of him, keeping an eye on his movements. I look back to Elijah who is looking defeated and upset in the bed. I decide to break the short silence between the two males in the room. “This is Lukas. He’s my mate. The one that saved you when he found you.” I say, keeping out the fact he nearly went to kill him.

Elijah hangs off of my every word and I can see him flinch slightly when I call Lukas my mate. I remember that Elijah hadn’t found his yet and had hoped I was his destined mate. Alas, I find myself here with Lukas who is my mate and Elijah who seems to be more tense with Lukas in the room. I debate internally if I should ask Lukas to leave but I know he’d make a scene so I don’t ask. Instead, I focus on Elijah and try and understand what happened to him.

“Tell me what happened. You mentioned burning?” I ask softly, not wanting to cause him to panic but it seems it had the opposite effect, as his eyes widen and I see him starting to take ragged breaths.

“You need to calm down Mr…..Elijah. I’ll have to put you under again.” Doctor Lowe says in a tone that says she’s not to be messed with.

I stroke Elijah’s hair, trying to calm him down a bit which results in a growl from Lukas. I shoot my head to him, glaring at him. I decide to mind-link him. “Look, I’m restraining myself from getting any closer to him at your request. I will step away if I see or sense anything off. But I am the only one here he knows right now and he’s obviously going through a lot. Back off or leave!”. I cut off the mind-link instantly and see Elijah looking at me unsure.

“Sorry, I was mind-linking Lukas…..It’s a er, wolf thing.”

“So you’re a wolf then? You weren’t when you were with us.” Elijah asks in a small voice, still a bit unsure of himself.

“Long story, but my wolf, Athena, came to me shortly after leaving Druida. I actually think it was the light. Look, there’s a lot going on from my side which we can catch up on later. What happened at Druida?” I ask, a bit more persistent.

He takes a deep breath. “It’s gone Aliana. A darkness came….just darkness. Everything went black, we could barely see a meter in front of us. Then the fire. Everywhere, everything burning, everyone….oh Aliana, the screams.” I see the tears falling from his eyes, and my heart hurts for him. I look to Lukas who has a poker face on but I can feel sadness emanating from him also.

A sob escapes from Elijah, before he continues. “Our friends, the children, all gone. All burned. We couldn’t do anything. There was no hiding, or running. I was with the four Elders at the time. Elder Forlum shouted for me to run to the gate, and so I did, very reluctantly. Elder Liandor was the last face I saw before he forced me out of the community and started shouting to close the gate behind me. He told me to run towards the dark forest and to find you. He said you were the key to survival for all. He…he…they all died fighting something off from what I could see from a distance. What I fear the most is that the once lively chatter I heard from the community was replaced by a deafening silence.”

I rub my hand on Elijah’s back softly, a tear rolling down my cheek. I say a silent prayer to the Moon Goddess to look over all of my elven friends and those I would call family. I give Elijah a few minutes to calm down before he continues.

“I ran, day and night. It’s taken me several days from what I can tell to get here. I was lost, there were things….in that forest. That’s when I saw it.” He says with a slight smile. “I saw the bow I gave to you by a river. I know you’d never leave it and so I assumed you had crossed or had went into the river. I took the bow and started down the river to try and find any sign of life. I travelled for a few days and without food or water, I felt exhausted. That’s when I started hearing something, as if following me. I ended up running and had fallen down a steep hill, where I believe I met your…mate.”

Elijah peeks over at Lukas unsure. I take a quick look at Lukas, who still has no expression showing but I can still feel the sadness coming from him, now along with a hint of fear.

I take Elijah’s hand in mine, noticing that Lukas no longer is growling or shifting when I do. “Elijah, I want you to stay here and get better. Doctor Lowe will take care of you. When you’re ready, we’ll move you out of the hospital and we can have a catch up chat. I’m so sorry that everyone is gone. I….I can’t even think about it. They were my family also. The Elders…Orla.” I feel more tears falling, feeling pain for my friends. I think back to all the times they helped me, healed me and taught me and I can’t help but feel an overwhelming sadness take over me.

“Ali….can you stop?” I look to Lukas a bit surprised at what he’s just said. I feel the anger rise within me before I grunt a response to him.

“What do you mean?”

“We can feel your sadness.”