by G. Bailey
“Because some alphas lie,” he answers easily, and I nod. “When the five packs were alive, all of which once ran this world, we all had different gods that we worshipped. It was never just the moon goddess, as you were told, or the forbidden god. There were five different gods, and the gods feed off the power of our worship.”
“Our belief in them gives them magic?” I ask, and he nods.
“So if there ever comes a day where no one believes in any gods, there will be no magic for us to shift. It’s important that we have our moon marks to connect us to our god, to make us that much stronger, more than usual. It’s important that we believe in the gods. And that’s exactly how you’re going to shift. It’s exactly how you call shifter energy. You need to believe in the forbidden god,” he answers.
“Is the forbidden god strong?” I question. “Because he only has this pack, and it’s quite a bit smaller than the pack that worships the moon goddess.”
“Yes, he is stronger because of the connection we have with him. But I agree with you, we do need more numbers, but don’t worry about our problems with the pack politics. Just try to focus on the forbidden god,” he suggests.
“That’s the problem, I know nothing about him,” I reply.
“Yeah, well, that might be an issue I have an answer for,” he says as he pulls out a small book from his pocket. The small little book fits easily in his palm, and he hands it to me. I peel open the first page of the black leather book, which has nothing on the outside, and inside are detailed pages filled with writing and paintings of moons very much like the marks on my back. “Do you want to read it? It’s the history of the forbidden god, what he stands for.”
“Yeah. I mean, thank you. Did you write this?” I ask. He shakes his head, not saying another word. I look down at the book and start reading about this forbidden God.
“The forbidden god, like many of the gods, went by a million different names. Many knew him as Hades, many knew him as the brother of Zeus, but he has always stood for worshipping the moon and the changes it can bring. He stands for the darkness in the corners of the earth, the darkness which is always treated as evil when it is just misunderstood. The forbidden god was once exiled for his many, many crimes.”
I pause at this point and look up. “What crimes did he commit?”
“Many crimes that were very bad. Let’s put it that way and say no more on it,” he says, leaning back against the tree and stretching his legs out. “The forbidden god lost everything. He lost the only woman he ever loved and who loved him. All parts of his soul, and he knew he would never find her again.”
Henderson looks up at the beam of light. “For further punishment, the forbidden god was separated in four parts, never to be whole again.”
At this point, I realise I don’t really need to read the book because, in some way, it’s better that Henderson explains as he tells the story with so much passion, like he was there and he is simply telling me his past.
“What do you mean four parts?” I question, wanting to know more.
“His soul was separated into four parts. His soul was divided so that he could never have a pack following him. That was the idea, of course. Magic and shifters always seem to have a way around these awful little rules, just like the moon goddess found her own way.”
“How did she find her own way?” I ask.
“Well, she had to because she was also in exile and had her own punishment to escape,” he answers. I feel like my whole life has been a lie, every lesson I had in school, every book I read in the Ravensword Pack is nothing more than lies, and I was fed them for so many years. “The exiled gods made shifters.”
“I never knew that. It was not what we were told in school,” I reply.
“That’s not too surprising to me, but, yeah, all of the gods that were once worshipped, that shared shifter energy of the world, every single one of them was an exiled god. That’s why they are ruling down here and not in the afterlife with the other gods.”
I’ve always wondered what happens when we die, just like everyone has, and the Ravensword Pack never had an answer for me. They always said the moon goddess would decide...but now I’m seeing it wouldn’t just be her decision after all. Or if at all.
“So how exactly is it that the pack here is very clearly ruled by this forbidden god with four parts of his soul separated?”
“Well, that’s the biggest secret of all. No one really knows the answer. All we know is that we do worship him,” he replies...but I get the suspicion he is lying to me.
“But you are the first to worship him, right?”
“Maybe,” he answers, looking like he wants to change the subject.
“Does that mean that you’re keeping a secret from me right now?”
“Some secrets are kept for a reason,” he warns.
“Yes, but I want to know this one,” I reply.
“Maybe sometime soon. For now, I’ve told you most of what I can—” He pauses and looks to the left, hearing something I can’t, by the looks of it. While relief clouds Henderson’s face, a man walks into the forest. This man is small, shorter than I am, but he’s extremely muscular, and his head is completely bald. Despite his strong appearance, he has very kind eyes, and he’s dressed in strange navy clothes with a gigantic belt on with a big steel part in the middle.
He bows to Henderson before looking to me.
“Hey, you must be Marian,” he says, holding his hand out for me to shake. I climb up off the ground and shake his hand, and he nods once at me before looking to Henderson. “Alpha, we got a problem.”
He hesitates and looks to me, a clear question of whether he should talk while I’m here. Henderson nods his head. “You can say it in front of her.” Looking at me, he adds, “This is Beta George.”
Beta George clears his throat. “By the main houses, there has been a big fire. We’re not quite sure what’s caused it, but at least three houses have gone up in flames quickly. We’ve gotten everybody out, and we are working on the fire, but they want to see the alpha. And you’re the first one I could find.”
“Okay, thank you, George. Mai, I have to go. Stay in the house,” Henderson warns. I nod as they both step back, their eyes bleeding into red. They suddenly shift right in the middle of the air. They’re black wolves, but Henderson’s wolf is huge, twice the size of George’s. They quickly run through the forest, moving like shadows through the trees. I watch them go until I decide to walk into the house, feeling restless because I can’t help. I walk through the training room at the back and into the entrance area just as Trey comes running down the stairs. He slams straight into me, knocking us both to the floor, and I hurt my arm as I land.
“Trey, what the hell is wrong?” I ask, rubbing my arm. “He looks at me, and I see nothing but the frantic panic in his eyes that makes my blood go cold.
“I saw someone upstairs, and he’s not from this pack,” he tells me, grabbing my arm to drag me to my feet. “We have to escape!”
“What do you mean someone upstairs?” I ask, and I look up just as a massive white wolf appears at the top of the stairs.
I push Trey right behind me as I can’t hear anything over my fast-beating heart. “Trey, run and don’t stop running until you find someone.”
Instead of listening, the brave boy grabs onto my hand tightly. “Not without you. We need to run together!”
But it’s too late for either of us to do anything. The white wolf jumps off the stairs, and I jump to the side, missing its claw by an inch as Trey falls over his feet, and I stumble but manage to stay on my feet. I pull Trey back up and turn to the wolf, who is clearly here to kill me. The burning houses are the distraction, and this is Alpha Sylvester’s way of getting rid of me. He will kill me, but he doesn’t have to kill Trey. I stand my ground as this massive wolf looks at me, blood dripping from its mouth. I take a few steps back, and it growls, the noise making the ground vibrate. As my mouth goes dry, the wolf takes one more step forward, and at this p
oint, sheer panic slams into me. I’m not ready to die. I realised that when I was thrown off the cliff, and I’m certainly realising it right now.
“Who sent you here?” I demand, almost screaming the words out at him. Of course, the wolf doesn’t answer me. It just growls and steps forward once more. He’s toying with me, taunting me at this point, like a game. He could kill me if he wanted to, but I think he’s enjoying the hunt. He wants me to run like prey.
But if one of us is going down, it’s going to be me and not Trey. I have to save him.
I look to Trey for a brief second. “Run to the door and do as I told you.”
I kiss his cheek before I take off on my own, knowing the wolf is going to follow me, and I have to pray Trey listens to me. Looking back, I see the wolf chasing me as Trey runs straight to the door in the opposite direction. I head to the training room, hoping that I can get outside to the forest for some way to hide. I barely get halfway across the room when something hard slams into my back and I’m thrown across the room. The air is knocked out of my lungs when I hit the floor hard, and the wolf lands on top of me, his claws drawing lines of blood down my back, ripping my clothes open. I roll over, wanting to face my fate, and I look up just as he is about to bite my shoulder when a black wolf slams into his side, knocking him off me. All I hear next is the clawing of wolves being ripped apart, the snarling of their teeth, and the ground being torn by their claws. I feel hot blood spraying everywhere as I shakily stand up. The pain of the scratches on my back burns as I turn to watch every second of the wolf fight. The black wolf is so much stronger, so much more powerful. The white wolf, my hunter, didn’t stand a chance.
It’s over soon, and the black wolf stands up straight, red blood marking its beautiful fur coat, and he shifts back. Silas is stood in front of me seconds later, completely naked, covered in blood, and I couldn’t be more relieved to see stormy eyes. The storm saved me.
“Thank you,” I whisper just before I pass out.
The flickering lights of the room slowly wake me up as I confirm that I’m safe while the memories of what happened before I passed out rush into my mind. I’m in my room, lying in bed under the warm covers, looking up at the glass ceiling above me. The unmoving trees outside that I’ve stared at for so many days, for so many hours, are a welcome relief to see. My back aches but is nothing compared to the pain I was in when I passed out. Silas saved me. Having him save me is still so surprising, and I feel like I’ve dreamt it. Dreamt that he wants me alive for whatever reason, and I doubt it’s anything like the thoughts that I am feeling. The way I can’t stop thinking of his muscular arms, the look in his stormy eyes I just want to stare at. I’m addicted to thinking about the alphas in inappropriate ways. He was the last person I expected to run in to kill that wolf for me. And the very fact that wolf was here at all makes me more nervous of what’s to come for my future. At the end of the day, Alpha Sylvester is still hunting me. He knows I’m alive. The mating bond, even unfinished, means I can almost sense that he is alive as well, and I hate that there is any connection between us. I know deep down that this means he’ll never stop coming after me. I’m not sure how to face that. How to face a future where it will be me fighting him for the rest of my life and putting everybody near me in danger.
“You look sad.” Trey’s voice makes me jump, and I turn towards the door to see him come in. He looks a bit sheepish for making me jump as he comes to the bed and sits on the end. Trey offers me a glass of water he carried in, and I accept it, taking a long drink and knowing I needed that. He takes the empty glass and places it on the floor by his foot. “The intruder is dead, you don’t have to be scared or sad.”
I sit up straight and cross my legs on the bed, keeping the blanket around me as it’s slightly cold.
“I wasn’t sad because of that,” I start off and realise I can’t explain this to him. He is a kid. I shake my head. “Never mind, how are you?”
Trey looks straight into my eyes. “You saved my life. There are not many people who have done that for me outside of the alphas who brought me up. Thank you.”
“No problem, I’d do it a million times over. You know you talk like you’re a lot older than you actually are,” I tell him.
“Well, because I’ve grown up around these alphas, and I’ve always been treated as an adult rather than a kid,” he answers. There is something sad about that, about his lack of a childhood. I wonder why the alphas took him in and not a normal family.
“You’re really brave,” I tell him, feeling proud. “You tried to stay with me even though it was dangerous. I really appreciate that, Trey.” He looks really shy as he blushes and looks away.
“I was taught never to leave women in danger. I feel really bad for running the opposite way when you told me it was okay, but I thought maybe I could find someone to help you.”
“It was the best thing that you could have done, and I’m really thankful that you did. I couldn’t live with myself if you got hurt instead of me,” I tell him, making sure he understands he did the right thing. “You remind me of a kid in the foster home I was in. His name was Jesper, and he was about your age. Also brave and stubborn.”
“Hopefully you get to see him again,” he says, seeming to understand too much for his young age. I guess the trauma of his life, of his parents sending him as a rejected baby, has made him grow up a lot more than many adults. “The alphas asked me to come and watch you and make sure that you’re okay. There are guards around the house now. They’re pretty mad. Want me to show you where they are?”
“Yes, that’s like a really good idea. Let’s be quiet, though,” I suggest. He smiles as I climb out of the bed. Looking down at the nightdress that I notice I’ve been changed into, I don’t even want to think about who changed me out of my ripped clothes. I feel my back with my hands, noticing that there are bandages over the cuts that were there, but they don’t feel as deep as they once were. Some part of me is healing even without being able to shift. I’m changing. I can feel it, my body is stronger, and it’s nothing to do with Silas’s training. My connection to the forbidden god is growing, and I know it is magic healing me.
I grab a few of my clothes and tell Trey I’m just going to the bathroom to change. Once looking at myself in the bathroom mirror, I guess I must have lost more blood than I thought, because my skin is so pale. My green eyes look brighter, but I look really exhausted. I think I slept long enough though, and I need to get moving around. Every movement on my back hurts just a little as I drag my T-shirt and jeans on. I pull my hair up into a ponytail so the strands are not hitting against my back.
Once more I look in the mirror and stare at my green eyes, having no idea what I should do for my future. My plan to hide here is just not going well, and I can’t expect these alphas to protect me forever. They’d be crazy to do that, but they said they were only here to train me and then they were going to let me go out into their pack. But if I’m going to bring constant danger, how can I do that? I shake the thoughts away, knowing Trey is waiting for me, and head out into the corridor. The once silent mansion is filled with noises, and I soon recognise it’s the alphas arguing not too far away from us.
We get to the end of the corridor where Trey leads me, one I’ve not been down because I assumed it was just more bedrooms. There’s a room right at the very back of the corridor with large double wooden doors and a staircase off to the side, which I assume goes up to the attic where the washing is that I’m yet to actually explore because the door is locked and the alphas believe I need rest before doing housework. I tiptoe to the doors and press my ear against them, not wanting to disturb the alphas but also wanting to hear what is going on. Trey does the same thing as I do and smiles at me in a cheeky way as I overhear some of the alphas’ conversations.
I’m pretty sure it’s Ragnar who shouts. “They are clearly here for her, and Ravensword have made it clear they will kill anyone in our pack to get to her. Four wolves are dead, and we can’t stand for it
.”
“That’s one problem, but there is another. I couldn’t sense them. I couldn’t hear them. I was in the garage the whole time, and I didn’t hear any intruder. It was like magic protected them, and I don’t know what magic could do that. It was impossible. Very impossible,” Silas growls out.
“The Ravensword Pack are hiding something we don’t know, and we need to fucking find out what before they come back here,” Henderson states. They suddenly go silent.
“Come in,” one of them shouts, which I’m pretty sure is Silas. My cheeks go bright red as I push the door open, and Trey makes a run for it down the corridor.
All four of the alphas are staring at me as I walk into what I assume is their study. The room is littered with books on every wall, so many they are stuffed into the fitted bookcases. There are several bookends and ornaments littered around on the solo desk, and piles of paper look like some have fallen onto the floor. A big window lines the back of the room, flooding the space with light.
There are four red leather chairs, and Silas and Henderson are sitting on two of them. Valentine is leaning on the wall, a bottle in his hand as usual, and his dark eyes are watching me. Ragnar walks straight over to me and places his hand on my back which is mostly healed, guiding me into the room to a spare seat.
“You should sit down. You just recovered from an attack.”
I nod once as I sit down according to Ragnar’s advice, even though I’m feeling so much better than when I woke up. Ragnar looks straight at Silas. “Silas, if you give her your permission to shift, then all of this would be solved.”
“You know exactly why I’m not yet. She’s not ready,” he counters, his voice strong and firm.
“I do want to earn it from Silas, so that’s not necessary,” I put into the conversation as it is about me. I meet Silas’s stormy gaze. “Thank you for saving me, by the way.”
He doesn’t say a word in reply, not that I was expecting him to. He just watches me closely.