A Gift from the Goddess

Chapter 68

Chapter Sixty-Eight 

The rest of the meeting went without further incident and soon everyone disbanded from the meeting hall to congregate outside. It was sunset by this point and I could feel everyone‘s exhaustion around me as they waited for their sleeping arrangements to be made available for the night. 

Aleric and I stood to the side, avoiding further interaction after the events that had occurred. Not that I imagined anyone would be upset by that. If anything, they would be grateful for our distance, not wanting t o find themselves as the next subject of our focus for too long. 

V 

But there was one individual I had a feeling wouldn‘t pick up on that obvious social cue. An individual who had just left the building, their eyes beginning to scan the area around them. 

Without hesitating, I quickly pushed Aleric around the corner of the meeting hall building to hide ourselves from none other than Alpha Fredrick. 

Only he would be brazen enough to not let sleeping dogs lie. Or in this case, wolves. 

| peeked around, watching as he frantically searched the crowds of people conversing outside. Searching for something or *someone* in particular. 

“Why are we hiding?” Aleric asked quietly behind me. 

He was close, his body right next to mine so he could whisper and not draw further attention to our location. I was grateful given the keener senses of our peers around us. 

“Because Alpha Fredrick is going to try to speak to me privately,” I explained. “And he‘s going to demandt o know where I heard those rumours about him from; something he couldn‘t ask me in that meeting without looking further guilty in front of the other pack representatives.” 

“...And are they true? The rumours?” 

| spun my head around and smiled wickedly up at him. “Who knows? They‘re just rumours after all.” 

“Aria, what the hell,” he laughed. “It‘s a pretty serious thing to infer about someone.” 

| shrugged, turning back to see if Alpha Fredrick was still looking for me. “He deserves it even if they are false. And besides, I‘m pretty sure that fighting a rumour with another rumour is far better than attacking him, like what you wanted to do.” 

“I‘m sure that he is wishing right now that I actually had hurt him in order to save him from that social execution you just served him–.” 

Alpha Fredrick‘s eyes then started searching towards the general area we were hiding, perhaps catching our scent in the wind change. 

“Crap, time to go,” I said, grabbing onto Aleric‘s hand, and I ran towards the back of the building, all the while dragging him behind me. 

“Aria, wait,” he called out, intending to sound disapproving over my immature reaction but his laughter betrayed him. 

Behind the large hall was a grassy slope that led all the way down to a small pond at the bottom. Perfect for resting while I caught my breath for a minute; the lack of my own strength and endurance painfully obvious, courtesy of the collar. 

I doubled over, both hands on my knees as I breathed in deeply. All the while, Aleric simply watched over me. I could see the amusement in his eyes at my state, something that was probably bad for even human 

standards. 

Chapter Sixty Eight 

“Give me a break,” I whined. “I haven‘t trained, nor done anything even close to that in months.” 

“I‘m aware,” he said, walking past me to seat himself by the water‘s edge. 

I followed only a moment later once my breathing was back under control, plopping myself down on the grass beside him. 

the water glistened orange in the dying light. I felt I could stay here for hours, relaxing as I continued to neglect all the problems

after a

“Is that so?” 

attempt to try and make me feel better,” I said, pulling my legs up to my chest and hugging them. “But which was your train of reasoning... fresh air and a change of scenery? ... Or taking

you would get thrills from thinking of things in meetings that no one else had. I

It seemed

on those pack matters yesterday, including even those petty issues that anyone could

like participating in the actual discussions today, I still got to see you in there. It was like you came alive again, Aria. Something I was beginning

meet his eyes finally and found them full of only genuine concern. The orange-toned light around us had made the green in them appear as if they were more saturated.

becoming impossible to pretend that this Aleric didn‘t care about me. In fact, it would be naive of me to think

control‘, but perhaps I didn‘t need that after all. The fact he at least considered what I had to say was still far better

myself. He had loved Thea, loved the pack, loved his work… it was just me that he hadn‘t loved. As if he was incapable

felt my uncertainty shift on any given day. Did I enjoy his company now? Yes... but at the same time, it was impossible to push aside my concerns. For all I knew, he could be a volcano waiting to erupt at any second; its final trigger still unknown to

pulling my attention back to the pond. “It‘s just a hard adjustment, everything considered… and I

on, mixed in with those quarters... it was like living inside my nightmares. Slowly,

confusion but laughed a little. “Given how much time you‘ve

but it‘s actually the lesser of two evils,” I said with a small reciprocating smile, my chin resting o n my knees

more, and I flicked my eyes

can talk to Tytus about switching your room to another one and I doubt

nodded my head. At least that was one

in the hundreds of issues I‘d been

through me. It looked as though the scarf came in handy for more than

probably looking for us,” Alerc said, standing back up Td say we were at the top of the list for being shown where

I agreed, stretching my legs back out in front of me. They were

held his hand out for me and I happily took

squats again at this rate,” he joked “Can‘t even get

the gesture, and we started our ascent back

been meaning

stopped to look at him as we were almost at the top of the

it‘s about when”

out as something then suddenly caught my eye behind his shoulder, immediately taking precedence over anything else

i recognised

I said, interrupting him. “Surprisingly, I‘ve just seen someone i know.”

look at who i was referring to. Who is that? They have Alpha biood.”

about your thing later?” I asked but i was already walking

“Aria, wait...” 

ran

for leaving so suddenly but my focus was elsewhere. Or, more accurately, it was on the person who i never expected to see

they greeted, almost as it in a sigh of

my surprise, she immediately engulfed me in her arms, her dark curls falling onto my face as she hugged

in my voice. “Why are you here? This meeting was for small packs within the Winter Mist alliance. The Hidden Moon pack is by far one of the largest

pulling away, “I know that I came looking for

“For me?” 

guests staying here,” she explained. “I came as quickly as I could to

over my chest. “You could have just sent

I‘ve been worried sick, Aria. We‘ve* been worried sick. The one living Saintess goes missing one day and the only public updates provided were coming from the same sketchy Alpha some weird rumours were involved with. Do you realise how worried we were?”

the only child of Alpha Sullivan, was the girl I‘d helped save three years ago, back when I‘d used her whereabouts during a kidnapping for my own financial benefit. Back when I thought

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