A Gift from the Goddess

Chapter Thirty-Six Alpha Tytus smiled between Alexander and I, clearly eager for whatever was about to ensue. In response, I couldn‘t help but squirm a little under his gaze.

Naturally, my father had to leave me to sit by Tytus given his rank. I watched him go and tried to not outwardly express just how nervous I was about him leaving me. But he needed to show that he was unbiased in this decision, and I needed to show that I didn’t require my father to fight my battles for me.

“Okay, Aria,” Tytus started. “Why don‘t you begin by telling us why you’re here today?”

It was clear by those selected to attend that they all knew already what I was about to say, and yet he wanted to hear it from me anyway. Once again, I found myself having to tread carefully, stuck in the game I knew Tytus was laying out for me. I knew he wanted me to become Luna but I didn’t know yet what he thought of my desire to be Beta. Would it be enough for him to feel I was contained and not a threat? Or did he see through my plan to make myself immune, trapping his son should he ever cross me? “Alpha, I’m here today to appeal a process that has for too long been an outdated tradition of our kind,” I spoke out confidently. I knew if he sensed any weakness in me that it would be game over. “I am here today to request you hear out my petition to succeed my father in his role as Beta when the time comes.”

There was a small murmur amongst the Elders but it wasn’t their whispers that worried me; it was the feeling of a cold stare on me, something I was too familiar with. I spared a glance to the Alpha’s right for only a moment and caught Aleric’s eye. As I‘d thought, he wasn‘t happy with my announcement and was staring daggers at me.

My natural instinct was to shy away and submit to his icy gaze, but I held my own, only breaking eye contact to return my attention to the Alpha.

“Mmm… definitely an intriguing prospect coming from you, young Aria,” he mused. “And Alexander? What say you about all of this?” 

“My son is the most qualified person in this pack to succeed my older brother upon his retirement,” my Uncle William replied. 

“I believe I was asking Alexander, not you, William.” 

Tytus stared down sharply at my uncle enough to make him bow his head apologetically. The awkward silence that fell was only broken moments later by Alexander clearing his throat, clearly nervous over how badly this had already started.

“Alpha, it would be my greatest honour to support our pack by becoming Beta one day. I am at the service of you, Aleric and our fellow pack members.” Tytus inhaled deeply in thought having listened to the replies on both sides. His eyes then turned back to me.

last time we spoke you mentioned having no

What has finally changed your mind?”

has, Alpha,” I said after a pause in thought. “He has shown me

been for my father accepting who I was, who I am, and who I could be, there would have been no possible way I would be standing here now before Tytus. His training over this last month had proven to me that I was capable o f changing who I was if I worked hard enough. That there was no reason to let others choose m y fate for me; not even a Goddess. “I

William called out. “By your logic then, there should be no issue

the direct descendant of this house,”

not have the strength required to defend the pack against larger male wolves. By extension, my Alexander

the back who looked embarrassed that his father was still speaking on his

blood began to boil. His arrogance and blatant disrespect for me was evident. Without even knowing what I was capable of, he had already written me off for the sake of his

refute. It was something I had never wanted to use, something I had refused to invoke before now, but I knew that it was my best hope. When it came to breaking

also been enough to scare him backwards, even though I was still several feet away. His face was no longer laughing. “I am not some silly girl with hopeless ambitions as you may think,” I snapped. “I am Ariadne the Saintess, the marked. The chosen. I was selected by the Goddess herself and a piece of

face had paled considerably as he

realise our deity’s decrees would be met with such exclusive prerequisites these days. Since when have we held more faith in outdated procedures over

to choose my own destiny, and this is what I had decided to do with it. I knew too well how she wouldn’t interfere with the choices her children made, having lived through that abandoned hell myself. Finally, I was able to exploit that system for myself. 1 “Aria,” Tytus said with a tone of warning. “You’ve made your point.” I peeled my eyes off William’s pitiful face only to turn back to the Alpha. “So, it would seem we have an interesting

with Aria that would persuade us to put our faith in her?” My father turned toward me as he spoke. “Her ability is commendable in almost all aspects, Alpha,” he started. “She has already proven to me in a short amount of time that, not only does she hold an acute mind for all traits a leader should possess, but her talent

is your expectations when she will be knocked flat on her back the minute she is i n a real battle, possibly even with a ranked male warrior?” my Uncle William chimed in, finally having found his voice

mostly in check at his younger brother’s tasteless remark, choosing to only narrow his eyes

strong as your male fighters, sure,” he replied, “but I think you‘ll find that they will be lucky to just land a hit on her. Her agility and speed are like no other warrior I’ve ever seen. With continued training, I believe she may even become one of the best fighters in our pack.”

this room.”