by Sydney Addae
“I don’t know,” Silas said.
“Continue,” the Goddess spoke into the prolonged silence.
Grandfather shook himself and nodded. “You can imagine how much this hurt our Goddess. While Nicromja postured and threw hissy fits, our Goddess continued to negotiate to save all wolves. Recognizing there might be some value to the plan the Goddess and I developed, they forbid the creation of more breeders. They mentioned that to you that day.”
Silas nodded.
“What they didn’t share and forbid to be known was the deal set in motion with the Goddess. Impressed with the BlackWolf Clan, they demanded an Alpha from the same stock as Angus create a new line of full-bloods. Which meant finding two full-blood BlackWolves to lead a Pack that can never mate with breeds. The deal was struck. The Goddess agreed to the bargain to save breeders and half-breeds. Today, 11 days before the deadline, the conditions were met!” Grandfather said in a loud voice with a wide grin, clapping his hands.
When Jasmine and Silas stared at him without responding, his smile dimmed. “Don’t you understand? Lucian and Zoe met the requirements with Raven and Thiago as a backup. Both Zoe and Raven are pregnant which pleased the Shershrine representative more. Now you and the others are all safe,” Grandfather said with a wide grin before falling to his knees. “Thank you, Goddess. On behalf of the BlackWolf Clan, thank you.”
She nodded and looked at Silas and Jasmine. “You’ve served Me well and I approved of Jasmine for you. How could I not fight for you? ... Or the others?”
Silas fell to his knees. Numb, Jasmine followed and kept her head down as he took her hand.
“Thank you, Goddess. My den, Pack, Nation, we all thank you for our lives and for loving us enough to do this. Words fail me,” Silas spoke in a ragged whisper, choked with tears.
“You are My champion, Silas... and I am yours,” the Goddess said in a soft voice.
“Is this why you were so insistent on Lucian becoming Alpha, remaining focused, and increased his territory?” Silas asked into the silence moments later.
“Yes. There were so many variables, time was running out. The abilities were in Lucian all along. The Saldivar line is an honorable one, Ricardo and the human dirtied it but Lucian will find his way and restore its integrity.” She paused. “There were a lot of pieces to be moved into place, but it is now done.”
“Now I understand why you sent me to terminate Clell before he could infect the BlackWolf Clan, he would have destroyed the basis of your bargaining chip,” Silas said.
“Indeed. However, his action showed another side of full-bloods, Shershrine took note of it as well.”
“Queen Miriam? You sent Zoe to her?” Jasmine asked relieved that death wasn’t imminent.
“No. Humans flew Zoe out from the military base to a lab on the continent where the one called Roderick agreed to work on her and Suri. They wanted BlackWolf pups to experiment on and ran tests on her for a few months. The only reason she wasn’t damaged more was that he lacked funds and support. Eventually, he went to Lyrill and kept her in a small house in the woods. When he didn’t return she broke free and ran. Pack was supposed to rescue her but Miriam found her first.”
Jasmine wondered why the Goddess didn’t have Alpha Barticus take Zoe from Roderick.
“Barticus searched for Roderick but hadn’t caught him,” the Goddess said.
“You took her memories?” Silas asked.
“Like She took yours?” Jasmine didn’t look at Silas and hoped the Goddess couldn’t listen through their link.
“Yes,” he said.
The Goddess smiled at him. “The pup didn’t need to remember what was done to her.”
“What made you choose Zoe for Lucian?” Jasmine asked, taking advantage of one of the few times the Goddess answered questions.
“When they demanded the couple be from the BlackWolf Clan to preserve the line, there weren’t many single full-blood BlackWolves left,” the Goddess said
“Thiago is BlackWolf but left Honduras very young. He’ll be elevated to Alpha in South America, but it will take longer to develop him into a strong Alpha. They want pure full-bloods who can lead,” Grandfather said. “Zoe was raised to be Queen and is a smart Bitch. If we didn’t need her to seal the deal, she would’ve been a great ally for our Nation.”
“You orchestrated Raven’s kidnapping?” Jasmine asked the old man.
“No. I had no idea of any of this. I was told after Shershrine agreed the Goddess met the requirements of their deal and left,” Grandfather said in a faint voice.
“There was too much at stake to share the terms of the agreement with anyone. The BlackWolf Clan was under attack, fragmented, Lucian was becoming distracted with old Liege technology, rebellions, poverty... once Razor and Storm were in place and the BlackWolf Clan stabilized, it was time to bring Lucian and Zoe together,” the Goddess said.
“One last question,” Jasmine said. “Did you orchestrate Raven’s kidnapping?” she looked at Silas.
The Goddess smiled and the room brightened. “I may have helped a little. You cannot share anything you’ve learned.” She clapped her hands with joy. “The important thing is this, you, your den and Nation are now safe.”
“Thank you,” Jasmine said with heartfelt gratitude as she met the Goddess’ gaze.
“You are most welcome, dear Jasmine.”
The next moment, they were back in their suites. Silas stared teary-eyed at Jasmine and pulled her close as she wept.
“The next time I say something about Her, remind me of this moment,” Jasmine said.
Silas chuckled. “You can count on it.”
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