Filed To Story: Destined Bond with My Forbidden Alpha Novel (Alpha Alexander & Selene)
Instead, she was on a mountainside. The snow was thick and heavy. She turned and saw a white wolf lying in the powder; beside her lay a dead rabbit.
Selene took a step forward, and the wolf lifted its eyes to her, its bright, hazel eyes.
“Who are you?” the soft voice asked again.
But this time, Selene recognized it.
It was strange to realize that she had not recognized her own voice.
“I am… you,” Selene replied.
The wolf growled.
“Who are you?” It asked again, with less patience this time.
‘She doesn’t recognize you,’ the memory of Lily’s words whispered on the wind. ‘Do you still recognize yourself?’
Selene swallowed.
The scene before her changed. Still on the mountainside, and still the white wolf. Only now, the wolf was trudging down the mountain, limping and stumbling along the way.
Selene remembered this. It was painful, excruciatingly so. She didn’t know at the time what was broken or damaged in her body, only that she would get down the mountain. She would complete her task.
When she returned home, she was in treatment for almost two weeks. But she had fought for every step she took down that mountain. She had held herself upright until the moment she stood before her father, and he told her she had finished her task. Only then did she let herself go. Only then did she allow the pain to overwhelm her.
Selene swallowed at the scene.
How long had she allowed her pain to rule her thoughts and actions?
She heard his laugh and clenched her jaw.
Selene looked up to see images all around her. Happy moments of her time with Jackson. His smile, his touch, his kind words.
It made her sick.
Now, she heard the small lies in his whispers, the need to control her in his ‘loving’ attentions. She saw the jealousy in his eyes, the claim in his touch.
“What a fool I was….” she whispered.
She had fallen for his lies for so long. Even after she chose Alexander, he still managed to trick her. To cause harm to so many because of her and through her.
“Who are you?”
Selene turned to see the white wolf standing beside her.
“I don’t know,” Selene whispered.
The wolf looked at her and huffed, padding forward through the memories of Jackson, making them fall away as though they were nothing.
Selene followed after the wolf.
‘When I put you down, run to the tree, and then run to the safe zone. Do not look back, and do not listen. Just get up the hill and into the safe zone.’
Selene turned past a tree as she heard the words. Before her, another memory played out.
She saw herself whispering to Abe, the small boy from Fiona’s test in Summer. She watched as she put him down and turned to fight Fiona.
The match between them jumped from scene to scene. She saw herself flung like a ragdoll. She heard the sound of the bones in her shoulder snapping as Fiona crushed them between her fangs.
Selene remembered waking in the hospital, broken and trapped for several days as her body recovered from that attack. But she had won. She had won because she no longer tried to prove herself and no longer wanted to show she was the strongest.
Selene had won because she believed in doing the right thing, even if it cost her something she wanted more than anything else.
‘We all lose sight, we all make mistakes, and sometimes we get dragged down by them,’ Wyatt’s voice called out from memory. ‘But you can’t stay in the dark. You can’t listen to these poisonous lies. No one, alive or dead, can tell you who or what you are except for you.’
The memories fell away. Before her was a scene of fire and smoke. Holden stood over Alice, holding the knife high above him, ready to strike her down.
But to Selene’s eyes, Alice was changed. No longer the spy, the traitor, the liar. Instead, before her, she saw the girl from the picture. The smiling child with the twin braids.
No matter what Alice had done in the past, it hadn’t been her choice. But what she had done today, saving the children, sacrificing herself. Those had been her choices.
Selene didn’t know what kind of Luna she would be. She didn’t know what kind of leader she could be. But she remembered now who she was.
Selene was the child in the mountains that accepted help and wouldn’t give up. She was the woman that wanted to save innocent people at the cost of her own life. Selene was someone who believed in redemption and, at the same time, justice.
She got to her feet and focused her gaze on Holden. Clenching her jaw, she took a step toward him. The fires around her bit at her skin, the smoke burned her eyes, and she was almost forced back.
Selene growled, pushing herself to move forward. Determined she would save Alice.
A howl in her mind echoed loudly, and Selene was suddenly filled with a strength she had never known. She took a deep breath, but instead of smoke, she tasted the cold air of the mountain and the sweet, crisp scent of the lilies.
Without seeing it, she already knew her eyes carried that glow of moonlight; for once, she wasn’t afraid of it.
Selene charged forward, and Holden’s hand came down, only inches away from Alice.
Selene focused her power on him. To her surprise, he flew back and hit the wall with a satisfying thud.
She reached Alice, standing between her and Holden. She looked down at the weasel as he gathered himself to stare back at her.
Holden gasped as the smoke around her moved away, and he was faced with a vision that filled him with dread.
A layer of spectral armor appeared to form over her body. Steel with golden accents and fur lining at the shoulders.
A circlet of gold and steel adorned with a set of small wings at her temples.
In her hand, she held a great sword of steel and gold.
And that haunting glow of the moonlight in her eyes.
Holden scurried forward and grabbed the knife that had fallen from his hands. He got to his feet just as Selene moved forward.
He quickly tried to block her, but she was faster. Finally, her knee found its target against the side of his body. He let out a groan as he stumbled to the ground.
Selene’s fist came down at him, but he managed to roll away. Holden got to his knees and tried to quickly stab back at her, but she succeeded in knocking the knife out of his hand.
He got to his feet and tried to run from her. Instead, Selene grabbed the knife and threw it at him.
Holden screamed as the knife went through his hand, pinning him to the wall.
Selene started to move toward him, but another explosion drew her attention.
Alice let out a soft cry as a chunk of debris hit her back, sending her crashing to the floor.
Selene rushed over.
“Alice!” she called out as she got on her knees and pulled Alice into her arms.
“Selene?” Alice whispered, narrowing her eyes up at Selene. There was a moment of panic. “The children?”
“They’re outside,” Selene assured her, “they’re safe. I promise.”
Alice nodded and then looked up at Selene again, letting out a soft laugh.
“You’re shiny….” Alice whispered weakly with a gentle grin. “Just like you used to be….”
Selene laughed.
“It’s… good….”
Alice’s words drifted away as she grew heavy in Selene’s arms. Her head sagged to the side, and Selene’s smile fell as her eyes widened in fear.
“Alice? Alice!”
There was no response. But Selene could feel a faint heartbeat from her still. She quickly grabbed the pin at her chest, removing her armor, and placed it on Alice. The chords shot over her body, sealing her wound temporarily.
Selene gathered Alice into her arms and stood from the ground. She took a moment to glance back where Holden had been pinned to the wall. He was, of course, gone.
Selene growled but turned to the door. She had made her choice, and she didn’t regret it.
She hurried through the room and out into the stairwell.
The smoke was everywhere, thick and black. And even Selene was beginning to feel disoriented.
Holding tightly to Alice, she hugged the wall as she climbed the stairs and reached out to Alexander.
And for the first time, she knew she could reach him.
‘Alexander, I need you!’ she called out.
‘Where are you?!’ he called back with worry.
She knew he could feel her disorientation, the weakness in her lungs, as she climbed higher and higher up toward the surface.
Selene told him where she was and gave him directions to the hidden lab.
‘What the hell happened?’ he asked.
‘Bring a medical team. Alice is hurt…badly,’ she replied. ‘There are children, fifty of them. Please, hurry.’
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?