The Mystical Attraction of Alpha

Chapter 261 – Ella Goes Into the desert

Ella

In the darkness of the back room, Regina instructs us to strip down to our skins and then hands us two rough robes that we pull over our heads, hardly more than bleached potato sacks with cowl necks and long sleeves.

“Is this part of the ceremony?” I ask, curious and disliking the feel of the fabric on my skin. Honestly, given my choices I’d rather wear the leggings and simple shirt that I arrived in.

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“No,” Regina answers, looking at me evenly, not a hint of emotion on her face. “It will simply keep you cool in the heat of the desert. But your nakedness beneath,” she notes, letting her eyes travel down my small body beneath my robe, “that is to honor the goddess. When you perform the ceremony, you must be naked before the moon. You can bring nothing with you from your earthly life.”

I run my fingers lightly over the claiming mark between my neck and shoulder, suddenly glad that wolves don’t do wedding rings. I’m not sure I could leave this memory of my mate behind, even to lay myself bare before the Goddess. My fingers move again to my stomach, and I look down again to the swell of my child.

“Will it matter?” I ask, suddenly looking up at Regina. “That my child is a boy? Like, if there are no boys allowed on this trip

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Regina smiles slightly, coming forward and laying a hand on my cheek. I stop mid–sentence, surprised to see her express any positive emotion at all.

“While he is within you, he is part of you, and part of the sacred cycle of womanhood. He will be safe, child, have no fear.” Her eyes crinkle a little as her smile deepens. “A boy, then? How wonderful. A blessing for the kingdom.”

I join her in smiling and give a little nod. A blessing indeed, though I admit I hadn’t really thought about his role in the kingdom. But if Sinclair did win this war, then he would be King, and his son…

Well. Questions for another day. My wolf yips within me, somehow sensing in a way that I do not our need to get moving.

falling,” Regina declares, taking her hand from my face and walking towards another door on the far side of the room. “It is time

each other a glance and then, together,

It’s an incredible sight, the way the entire landscape seems to take on the nature of the sun, glowing and hot and alive. I look out over it admiringly, wondering if this is the sun putting

the one with the soul bond to the Goddess now, to my mother. I shake my head, still marveling over that fact. I had always wondered who my mother

son’s life, having a goddess

too, have

And what were mine?

I can get out of this scratchy potato sack, away from this

Regina warns, her

desert is spread out

Regina murmurs, looking up at it. Cora and I follow her gaze. “The full moon will

Inside me, my wolf turns in a circle and curls up, alert but content. We have reached the place we’re supposed to be. I do a little turn, marveling out at the silvery desert spread around us, the

beautiful as it is, we are in an empty place. There is nothing here to with any script regarding

over her head in a single graceful movement and spreading it out on the ground. Then, she folds her legs

the idea of waiting. Though I know this is where I need to be, and my wolf is calm inside

–

frown at

of it. I place my hands on my thighs, sitting my butt back on my heels. Cora sits down next to me on her own bit of fabric, staring up at the moon, and I close my eyes, slowing my breathing. I’m not really someone who meditates – who has time for that? – but I

its basest state, trying to clear all

begins to glow. I barely notice it, register it as strange, until it begins to

And then, I gasp.

feel the shuddering warmth of my mother’s love. And it’s an incredible thing, because it’s a love for me, specifically, but also, somehow, a love for everyone. I am filled with it, with my mother’s ceaseless love, with the love of