Filed To Story: Destined Bond with My Forbidden Alpha Novel (Alpha Alexander & Selene)
Lily nodded.
“The Dark Queen used your brother’s blood to finish her foul experiments. She has turned the remaining wolves of Autumn and Spring into strange and disgusting beasts. They have the worst of the fae and no humanity left in them.”
“But… you said the wolves, their souls are trapped inside?”
Lily nodded again.
“Screaming,” she repeated. “These creatures are crudely stitched together with scraps of the power from the ley lines. They do not hold a spark of life on their own. The wolf was killed, his soul trapped inside and used to fuel the body.”
Selene felt sick.
What Lily described… was horrendous and evil. How could anyone be so cruel?
“We have to save them,” Selene demanded. “There has to be a way to cure them, to reverse what has been done to them….”
“Do you want to?” Lily asked. “Most of these people, they are… broken, disturbed.”
“No one deserves what you’ve described,” Selene insisted.
Lily nodded.
“If you truly believe that, there is one way to save them,” she replied.
“What is it?” Selene asked excitedly.
“Kill them.”
Selene furrowed her brows. She swallowed, staring at Lily and waiting for her to say she was joking.
“That’s not….” Selene stuttered when she realized that Lily was serious. “That is the exact opposite of saving them!”
“You have a very narrow view of salvation,” Lily replied.
“I’m sorry but killing someone is not saving them!”
“Selene,” Lily sighed, “I don’t think you were listening. These wolves… are already dead. There is no saving them. But their souls, if you kill the body, will be freed. At least whatever is left of them will be reborn. But if you do nothing and let them live. Eventually, these stitched-together bodies will die. But only after they have consumed the entire soul, a life that will never be reborn.”
Selene was quiet.
“So, Irina, she was tortured and driven mad by the Dark Queen,” Selene said, “and then she tried to kill herself to be rid of the influence, only to end up possessed and consumed? And after all that, she won’t even be given a chance for another life?”
“No,” Lily replied sadly. “Irina was devoured by the Dark Queen. She will never have another chance.”
Selene clenched her jaw.
“And what about the Dark Queen? When she is defeated, will she be reborn?”
Lily thought about the question for a moment before answering.
“She will.”
“That is unfair!” Selene shouted. “She is eating people’s souls but gets a chance to try again while those people are just gone, forever?”
“The ley lines don’t care about fair or unfair,” Lily sighed.
“What about their mates?” Selene asked. “What about the other half of their souls? The people that will be reborn and spend their lives waiting for that other person… but they’ll never come?”
“In Irina’s case, there won’t be anyone waiting,” Lily replied. “Gorn was her mate, and his soul was also consumed.”
“But what about everyone else this happens to? What about the wolves trapped inside of those creatures?”
Lily swallowed.
“In those cases, yes, the souls are already connected. Whether you find each other during your lifetime, you have only one mate. If they have been consumed, they will never be found again.”
Selene took a deep breath. She thought of Myka and Peter. While she had never met Myka, from what she had been told by Axel, Peter was quite distraught about what was happening. If Myka wasn’t cured, his soul would eventually be consumed, and Peter, in this life or any other, would never find him again.
Her heart ached at the thought. There had to be some way to bring them back.
“No,” Lily whispered. “There isn’t.”
Selene lowered her head. The only way to ensure that the people left would have a chance at another life, a chance to find happiness, was to kill them before they were devoured by the beast’s magic.
There was a long silence between them. Selene was thinking and wishing for another option. At the same time, Lily patiently waited for Selene to process what she had already been told.
Lily let out a soft gasp. Selene looked up to see her eyes wide and a pained expression.
“Lily? Are you all right?” she asked.
But Lily didn’t respond. Instead, she stared forward, her eyes glistening with tears while her expression held a sorrowful pain.
Selene remembered what Lian had said. Lily must have been listening to someone’s final words. Whoever it was, at least they were able to be reborn.
Lily took a slow deep breath and closed her eyes, hugging herself tightly.
“Lily?” Selene called to her
“I’ll be all right. Just give me another minute,” Lily replied quickly. “Please.”
Selene nodded and stepped back, trying to give Lily the space she requested.
It was almost ten minutes before Lily’s mood seemed to ease. She took a deep, cleansing breath and then looked at Selene.
“Spring has fallen,” Lily said softly, “I already told you that.”
Selene nodded.
“But now, so has their mother.”
Selene gasped.
“Talis?” she asked. “But we just saw her not long ago.”
“Not long for you,” Lily smiled. “Who knows how long it was for her.”
“What happened to her?” Selene asked.
“It seems she expended her magic,” Lily replied. “As you saw with Lian, using their abilities in the world forces time on them.”
Selene nodded, thinking of how different Lian had looked in just a few months.
“Talis aged rapidly, and then when her magic was almost entirely spent, she performed a miracle,” Lily smiled with deep sadness. “A miracle that used every last ounce of her.”
“What kind of miracle?” Selene asked.
“It’s not for me to reveal,” Lily smiled. “But you’ll find out soon enough.”
Selene looked at her with curious eyes but decided not to push further. There was a concern that was much more pressing in her mind.
“What does that mean for the others?” Selene asked. “For Lian and Solana. Didn’t they need her to help maintain the magic inside the ley line? To keep the Goddess, your mom, or whatever, alive?”
Lily nodded.
“Yes,” she said. “Each provides the magic that keeps the environment safe and hidden. As well as what sustains my mother’s suspended animation.”
“Then what will happen?”
“I suppose the timer has been started.”
“What does that mean?” Selene asked.
“My mother wanted to separate your world from direct access to the ley lines,” Lily began. “She knew how dangerous it was. She wanted to ensure there was no chance someone could gain access to the raw power.”
“Yea… I remember them saying something about that.”
“Right, but when she died, they freaked out,” Lily shrugged. “They didn’t let her go and didn’t do what she asked of them. So now, the power is at risk, and there is no choice. You will manually sever the open connections from this world to the ley lines. And they are going to… let go.”
“Let go?” Selene asked.
Lily nodded.
“They’re going to allow nature to take its course for my mother and themselves.”
Selene furrowed her brows, and then she gasped when she understood what was being said.
“They’re going to kill themselves?!” she shouted.
Lily chuckled.
“You make it sound much more dramatic than it is,” she said. “Solana, Lian, and Talis have lived in that pocket for millennia. They have watched time fold in on itself over and over.
Experiencing the same beautiful memories and heartbreaks as if they were only yesterday or as though yesterday was hundreds of years ago.
“Over the years, they have connected with the modern Lunas, offered aid and advice where they could without making too big an impact. But in all truth, their lives ended the day they built that place. They are tired, and they deserve a chance at something new.”
Selene sighed. She couldn’t fathom living so long and lonely. Being away from loved ones, friends, and her pack.
“Things will be different,” Lily continued. “The Alphas and Lunas, they will find that their abilities, the magical charms they possess, will begin to fade. They will no longer be able to make sacred oaths. Your natural strength, extra sensory abilities… your wolf. These will remain as always.”
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?