Filed to story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
“What would have happened had I not chosen to be with James?”
I asked.
“Thankfully, we do not need to worry about that,”
the Moon Goddess answered with a smile. “Although I can say you may have had the same destiny, but perhaps it would have been framed a little bit differently.”
The Moon Goddess stood. We did as well.
“You need to go home now and take care of your pack and the council. Once those are taken care of, you will need to begin to work on the other packs in the United States and throughout the world. Your wolves will be able to guide you. I will see you again in the future. In the meantime, know that I am only a prayer away.”
The Moon Goddess gave each of us another hug, and then paused.
“Lily, could you do me another favor please. When you see Evelyn, I would like you to give her a message for me.
After giving me the message, the Moon Goddess waved her hand in the air. A puff of silver smoke exploded, and then suddenly James and I were back in bed in my apartment.
But for the golden piece of paper in my hand, I could have easily believed the whole interaction with the
Moon Goddess was a dream.
James kissed my forehead as I opened the paper again and began reading.
(The Prophecy)
(As given to a seer 300 years ago)
In 250-300 years, a special Mission Wolf will be born. When she comes of age, this wolf will have both the coloring of a Mission Wolf and a crescent moon symbol on her rump. This symbol will indicate that this wolf is the most special of all my wolves, and that her mission will be the most near and dear to my heart.
Her early life will likely be difficult but!
will persevere. Her powers will be fully realized when she marks her chosen mate. No one should interfere with her ability to choose her mate; those that do will be punished.
If necessary to protect the destined wolf, the wolf counterpart may give the human half limited powers prior to marking her mate.
Care should be taken to limit the she-wolf’s knowledge of her destiny. Her human side is still subject to free will. If and only if the human half proves herself to be worthy, she will become the most powerful she-
throughout her lifetime. This peace will ensure that she is able to fulfill the mission that I have assigned to her, although that mission itself may include dangers.
Upon marking, her mate will receive most of the same powers that she has.
If the she-wolf and her human side are compatible -and if the she-wolf uses her free will for good-she will also become the leader of the werewolf council. She will have authority, vested by me, to remove and replace members of the council who have strayed off course. She will also have the authority to free wolves who are trapped with human counterparts who refuse to follow basic werewolf laws and who surround themselves with evil. These are the only powers that her mate will not receive; these powers I reserve solely to the destined one. In addition, these powers may not be given to the destined wolf until her mate has been marked and approved by me.
If I am satisfied with the mate chosen by my destined wolf, this will be symbolized by a full pink moon and clouds shaped like crescent moons. These will appear on the night of the marking.
If I am not satisfied, only those powers the wolf half has deemed necessary to give the human to protect her prior to marking will be transferred to her mate. All other powers will be forfeited. This will be symbolized by a pink sky and moonless night.”
(Lily POV)
“Rise and shine, beautiful,”
James said as he came into the bedroom and opened the blinds, flooding the.
room with sunshine.
groaned and put my pillow over my face. “Ten more minutes.”
James gently pulled the pillow away from me, earning him a low growl.
Now, let us back up for a second. Normally I am a morning person. I do not even bother to set an alarm clock half the time, because I do not need one. However, yesterday was not exactly a normal day. I quit my job at the girls’ home, fought with Brady, fully marked and mated with James, and met the Moon Goddess. Then, once we “got back,”
James and I spent half the night talking through everything that we had learned and everything that we wanted to do.
Meaning, I had barely slept and I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I could not understand why James did not feel the same way. Instead, he responded to my growl by laughing at me.
“Come on, sweetheart. Our flight leaves in three and a half hours, and we still have to get you packed.”
I ignored him, choosing to cover my face with my blanket instead.
“Darling…
I groaned again. “How are you so happy this morning? You got less sleep than I did last night.
James sat down on the bed next to me. “Well, let me see… I woke up next to the most beautiful she-wolf In the world, who happens to be finally wearing my mark, and soon I get to take her home. Not only that, but together she and I will be able to kick some a&& and start righting some wrongs that have been allowed to go on for far too long. I think I have every reason in the world to be happy this morning, don’t you think?”
I sighed as I realized that I was not going to win this battle; his sweet words were my undoing. I could not be irritated with him when he said things like that. I stretched, sat up, and looked at him. I then reached my hand out and rubbed his cheek.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
James asked me curiously.
“I am just taking it all in. Taking YOU all in. It has been a very long time since I have seen you look this happy and relaxed. It reminds me a little bit of when we were younger.”
I
“Well, I hope my happy face is just as s**y as my grumpy face,”
James teased, “because I have a feeling
I smiled. “All of your faces are s**y,”
I responded honestly.
“Good answer. Now get up.”
I moaned yes, again- but I allowed him to pull me to my feet. After one very…um, “engaging”
… shower, James and I packed up the apartment and prepared to leave. Thankfully, my apartment came mostly furnished, so I did not have to pack much more than my clothes and personal effects.
Soon, we were ready to go.
For a few different reasons, James and I had agreed to start by going back to Black Moon. Now that James and I had marked each other, being there was far less dangerous for me. In addition, Dr. Hyder had been working around the clock to improve security, and with our new powers- James and I could help him identify the remaining weak links.
After the recent fight with Brady, we knew that being there could lead to some additional awkwardness.
However, all things considered, it was still the best option. We needed to be where Dr. Hyder was -he had become not just my mentor, but James’ as well; we needed to get to the bottom of the remaining (
current) threats against me; and we needed to relay the Moon Goddess’ message to Evelyn.
Moreover, being at Black Moon would give us a little time to regroup with our allies and test out and learn our new powers. This was really important to do before we started the showdowns with our parents,
Stephanie, Sheila, and the others at West Mountain.
Anyhow…
Once we had everything packed, James and I did a final check through the apartment to make sure that we had not missed anything. As I grabbed my phone off the counter, I realized that I had not heard from Charlotte since yesterday morning. She typically texted me at least a few times a day. I decided to send her a quick text.
Me: “Hey, Char. Just checking in. James and I are going to be heading out soon; not sure when we will be back. Are you doing okay? I did not hear from you at all yesterday.”
No sooner had I hit “send”
than my phone began to ring. I showed the phone to James so that he could see the caller ID, and then l’answered it.
“Charlotte?”
“Hey… um…. I have a lot to tell you…”
Charlotte was speaking in a hushed whisper, and I also heard water running in the background.
“Why are you whispering?”
“Because I am in the bathroom.”
“And?”