A Gift from the Goddess

“Please forgive me, Alpha,” I heard Elder Luke quietly mutter behind me before he quickly closed the meeting hall doors. 

*Click* 

And suddenly I was locked in here. With them. 

“Aleric... Cai,” I said cautiously, my hand already moving slowly towards my dagger. “Didn‘t expect to find either of you here of all places.” 

Not only had someone broken Aleric out of the cells but they‘d also succeeded in getting Cai over the border without my knowledge. And I knew, without needing to think too hard on it, that only Elder Luke was capable of something like this. 

My mind was already racing with what was going on, analysing their movements carefully to ensure ! wasn‘t taken off guard. If they were under Thea‘s influence then they might try to kill me. I couldn‘t think o f any other reason for why they would have trapped me like this. 

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Aleric said, taking a step forward. 

And, immediately, I unsheathed my dagger and held it up defensively. They were mistaken if they thought I would go down easily. 

“Who‘s blood is that?” Cai then asked, bringing Aleric‘s attention to it as well. 

“None of your business,” I bit back. 

“...What the hell have you done, Aria?” Aleric growled. “Is that Lucy‘s scent I can smell on you?” 

“Nothing you wouldn‘t do, Aleric,” I snapped, taking a few steps forward cautiously. 

I heard him then sigh quietly at that and look towards Cai. “We‘re going to have to go with Plan B.” 

And quickly, I got into a crouch and readied myself. “What is this? Did you just tell me that Lucy was a spy to throw me off your trail? Didn‘t want me to suspect you of working with Thea anymore so you could organise this? Are you all in on this? Elder Luke too? All of you working for her?” 

“Not everyone is your enemy, Aria,” Aleric said. “You‘re sick and you don‘t even realise it.” 

I laughed at that. “Oh, *I‘m sick*? How about the person who murdered my parents?” I asked before turning towards Cai. “Or the person who slept with the creature trying to kill us? Did you just forget that taking me out is just one step closer to your own death?” 

“We‘re not trying to kill you, Aria. We‘re trying to help you.” 

«But then I saw it. A flash image of him charging at me, throwing me to the ground and ripping out my 

throat. Almost as vivid as a vision… but different. 

“I knew it! You‘re lying!” I yelled, adjusting my stance. “Always lying! You think I‘m going to let my defences down this time? I won‘t be taken out so easily anymore. There‘s no silver collar to hold me back 

now,” 

“You should kill them before they kill you,‘ the voice said. “Maybe there is a way to take their abilities. If we could gatekeep all three lineages then there wouldn‘t be any need for them. No more liabilities.‘ 

I was too focused on the situation at hand but I knew that what she was saying sounded too risky. We weren‘t a God and even if I could take their abilities, I wouldn‘t even know how to go about doing that. 

Just try it, she said. ‘Before they get to you first. Before they make the choice for you.‘ 

Cai ended up being the first one to move, charging from the right, but I sensed his movement perfectly. H e was aiming to tackle me to the ground but he was mistaken if he thought something like that would 

work on me. Aleric‘s distraction of talking to me wasn‘t going to be anywhere near enough to get the drop on me. 

Instantly, his body flew past as he missed me entirely and I quickly turned to be ready for a counter. 

He was still too slow though. In the month since I‘d last seen him, it looked as though he‘d regained the majority of his strength but he wasn‘t yet back at his peak. I knew what Cai was capable of on his best day and this wasn‘t it. 

He tried several more attempts at landing a hit on me to no avail. In fact, it was useless for him to even try since I could sense his attacks seconds before he moved. 

“That‘s not going to work on her,” Aleric then shouted from the side, moving in to flank behind me. “She can foresee your movements.” 

“Evidently,” Cai replied dryly, not taking his eyes off me. 

“Scared, Cai?” I asked and faked a lunge forward. He immediately jumped backwards defensively causing me to laugh. 

But the humour was cut short as I felt Aleric attempting to take advantage of the mild distraction. 

“Nice try,” I said and moved back just as Aleric‘s hands tried to grab me. 

He‘d left himself open by doing this though and, utilising his proximity, I quickly brought my knife up to get a hit on his arm, hoping to maim him. However, he was almost as fast as me, managing to move out of the way to avoid in time, 

The whole thing was reminiscent of the day before my birthday when we‘d been sparring in the gym. Except neither of us had things holding us back now. For what I was lacking in brute strength and extensive fighting knowledge, I was able to make up for in speed and foresight. And, unlike him, I was actually armed. 

The dance began as we both attacked and countered each other, now almost perfectly balanced and in sync. It was impossible to say who had the upper hand as everything moved in a blur. Perhaps it might have even gone on forever... but then I felt it; 

Cai coming in from the side, deciding to finally interfere. 

He looked for an opening and I sensed his next move, but I was only just able to miss it by a second. Taking on just one at a time might have given me the slightest chance of victory… but two? 

And it ended up being just as difficult as I thought. The only thing giving me a real edge now was the knife, both of them having to give a clear radius to avoid that. If they managed to disarm me I knew it would be over. 

... The strange thing though was that neither of them had shifted. Taking them on in human form was only giving me the better advantage. I knew that if they were both to take their wolf forms I would be in trouble; my own wolf now lacking in strength since her absence. 

“Kill them both,‘ the voice instructed frantically inside my head. 

‘Do it. Before it‘s too late.‘ 

‘Do it.’ 

up!” I screamed back aloud in frustration.

more. I just wanted my head to b e

are you talking to?” Cai asked, closer behind me than

perty Seven 

I didn‘t

my elbow to strike his jaw, I sent him straight to the ground with a thud. The impact alone had probably hurt

him, using my weight to pin his arms down. I needed to be fast because I knew he was probably capable of overpowering me in overall strength again; him having recovered enough for at least that much.

yelled urgently, his golden eyes locking with mine. “Stop. This isn‘t you.”

to persuade me to

I tightened my grip

kill him. We can defeat Thea

my hand.

‘FINISH IT. ...And 

nei tianty toht 

Chapter Eighty–Eight 

yelled from behind me...

of muscle quickly tackled me off Cai, sending us

was putting everything into this. It was almost impossible to

he didn‘t, something to give me the advantage here;

as I could, I

disarmed the knife from me,

It was over. 

Kill me. Just like my parents, Aleric. Is that the kind of ‘help‘ you had

pushed my shoulders back down again to try

is actually!” he said furiously. “That is exactly how

see their murder as some sort of messed up reversed logic where you‘re actually the hero?

me off. “That‘s what I mean by saving

shocked at what

You‘re just lying so I let my

do that? I could just finish you off now if I wanted

saw their bodies, Aleric,” I argued. “I saw their blood on you. How

you?” 

actually saw their blood then tell me... where were their

seen their lifeless forms in my mother‘s office but I couldn‘t recall ever seeing

“He came down to the office with me when Tytus

dead on the ground?”

not dead,” he stressed again. “They just looked that way. After the attack, your father came bursting in, having heard the news about your mother, and found me with the body of the spy. We concluded that he was going to try and frame me for killing your mother... so we let them all think that it worked. If Thea was going after your family then we all agreed it was safer for them to be thought dead rather than alive, or at least until we could remove Tytus for full control. Your mother then quickly dosed

Chapter Eighty–Eight 

for me to

I was struggling with how it contradicted

tell me sooner?” I argued.

I‘ve seen you once in over three months and it was after I was holding

have told me then. You could have told me in the cells after she

I have been this entire time,” he answered, his voice calming down a little. “...Only now I‘ve had to protect them from you. I knew it the second you walked into the cells, Aria… you‘re

started struggling again under him, trying

being alive, now he was trying to say that

no, no, there‘s nothing wrong with me,” I said, wriggling in his grasp. “You‘re wrong. You‘re just being used by

of it

up at him wide–eyed. He had that serious expression about him, the same one that made me want to believe him. Like

for me to sit up. Risky considering I could have made a run for

it out between us, his grip tight

W–what are you doing,” I said, trying to pull it back. “Stop.”

Aria,” he ordered and he proceeded to slide his hand down the inside of my arm along my skin.

what I’m meant to be looking at. Your hand? My arm?”

that was going to

“And...?” 

my answer. “And what happens after

at where he was still holding my arm. What was he talking about? Shifting maybe? Was he referring to how my wolf was absent? What would that have to do with my

finally realised what he was referring

feeling of dread quickly spread throughout

and grabbed back at his arm frantically, touching his skin

had said there was no changing it, that it was set in stone the moment of our conception. So where was it? I knew what this was supposed to feel

there was nothing.

my mate... and I couldn‘t feel the mate bond.

Chapter Eighty–Eight 

I asked, panic filling my voice. “Why can‘t

everything came crashing down. Just his look alone was enough to tell me that, whatever this was, it really was

no pull, no feeling of relief from being near

Just... nothing. 

cheek as I held his

with me?”

life that we were mates. I‘d lived four years already knowing he was tied to me so it just felt like any other day. Somehow between everything that

it there? Why

actually sick?

if I really was the problem, if something really was wrong with me, didn‘t that mean Aleric was maybe telling the truth?

couldn‘t breathe and I began questioning everything that had happened over the last few months,

as though the world just completely stopped. and there was only you,” he said quietly. “It was like nothing else I‘d ever experienced and words couldn‘t come close to properly describing it. You‘d already told me previously that we were going to be mates but I guess I just didn‘t expect

even though I hadn‘t felt it in this life. I could still vividly recall the first time I‘d seen him in the past, how it was meant to feel and how

the most intense emotional pull of our lives, forcing us to gravitate to one another. Instead, you just looked at me coldly, speaking words