Chapter 4

The pack spent the next month getting ready for Charles’s arrival. Everyone that is except for me, I spent my time training both my human and wolf form. Elvis helped me move the gym equipment back into the gym, and he had his two best warriors help me train. It was grueling and hard work, but I honestly loved it. Once the pack heard my story, though Elvis edited most of it, they accepted me as well with open arms. Elvis didn’t tell them that my ex-mate was Charles Brook.

The day before he was to arrive, I packed a couple of bags with everything I would need to last me a week. I made sure that Elvis would make sure my scent was nowhere in the house once I left. Walking out of the door, I turned and faced Elvis. “If you need me for anything, just holler. I’ll be here in seconds.” I jogged to my secret spot and started to unpack most of my things.

I had brought a huge sleeping blanket and a few blankets to place under it, along with my pillow. In my bag where clothes, shoes, my iPod, a sketch pad and several books as well as my hair brush, tooth brush and tooth paste. In the other bag was enough food to last a month, but considering how much we werewolves eat, by the time Charles and his men left, I’d be just about out of food.

That night, I didn’t sleep well. I was Elvis’s best warrior, but the pack also saw me as his personal shield. The cover story he told the pack was that he sent me on a secret mission for him and that I would be back in a week or two. It was late that night when I went to sleep so I slept in. By the time I awoke, Charles and his warriors were just pulling into the pack yard. Listening to some of the conversations my pack was having, I could tell that he didn’t change.

A sudden idea climbs into my brain. An idea that Elvis would call reckless started to flash before my eyes. Picturing a small bird in my mind, I felt my body shift smaller and smaller until I was a sparrow. It took me two hours to get used to the new form, and another two hours to get the hang of flying. Making sure my scent was hidden; I flew out of the cave and started towards the pack house. I wanted to see him just once; mainly for Jess than myself. It was just a five minute flight instead of the thirty minute jog back to the house and I loved it. Jess wasn’t too keen about the distance from us to the ground however.

Landing on a tree pretty close to the house, I scan the crowd for Charles. The leaves on the branch hid me well, but I had a good line of sight. When we finally spotted him, Jess yipped with happiness, but she stopped the second we saw the femme on his arm. It was the she-wolf that bore his mark, the mark that should have been mine. She was beautiful, there was no denying that. Deciding that we’d seen enough, I take off heading back to my cave. He had chosen who he wanted by his side as his mate and Luna, and I wasn’t going to try and change that. It was his choice after all, and he didn’t choose me.

As I flew back towards the cave, three figures caught my eyes. Rouges! And they were trying to sneak onto our land. Glancing around, I couldn’t see any guards around. Sighing softly, I fly into the forest and shift into my wolf. Racing towards them, I wait until the first one crossed the border before attacking them. They weren’t much of fighters, but they didn’t give up easily. But still, within minutes the first two were dead. The third rouge was tougher. We fought hard, dealing blow after blow, bite after bite. He finally made a mistake and I lunged, snapping his neck in two. Throwing their bodies back across the border, I start to walk back to the cave.

I didn’t realize I had lost a good amount of blood by the time I slipped into my temporary home. Once I found my first aid kit, I cleaned my wounds the best I could and then climbed into my sleeping bag. The last thought I had before I lost all thought was that I should have showed Elvis where I planned on staying just in case something happened to me.

In the back of my mind, I could hear Elvis’s voice yelling. He sounded so scared and worried, but for some reason, I didn’t have enough strength to answer him. Once in a while I could make out my name in the pack chatter, but again I was too weak to answer them. I could feel both Jess and myself fighting whatever was wrong with us, but we seemed to be losing the battle.

The darker it became around me, the weaker I seemed to be able to fight. The voices of my pack became farther and farther from me until I almost couldn’t hear them. There were times that I wanted to stop fighting and give up to the darkness completely, but Jess wouldn’t let me. As I walked through the darkness, I spotted an open field before me. Stumbling into it, I froze when I saw both Elvis and Charles facing each other. I watched as they both shifted to their wolves and started to circle each other.

As they lunged at each other, they disappear. Confused, I look around until I see a woman standing in the distance. Running towards her, I gasped as I got closer. “Mom?” She turns around and smiles at me. “Ah, my dear Jessica. I’ve missed you so much.” She wraps her arms around me and I hear myself crying. “Alpha should have let me fight with you and dad. If I was there, then I would have been able to protect both of y’all. I wouldn’t be left alone.”

“Shh, baby girl. It’s not your fault. It was just our time to go. If Brook would have allowed you to fight that day, you would have been killed as well. Then you wouldn’t have met your mate.”

“Mom, I think I’d rather be with you and dad. My mate rejected me because I didn’t shift when everyone else did. He cheated almost every night and he finally marked someone else. What do I have to live for now? Elvis and his pack took me in and their almost like family. I want what you and dad had, but there’s no chance now.” Mom sighs softly and looks down at me.

“Jessica, I want you to listen to me and listen well. You were meant to be a warrior. I know you had your heart set on taking your father’s place as Beta when he stepped down, but deep down inside of you, you knew that you place was with the fighters. That’s why you excelled in the training. And your mate shouldn’t have rejected you. Everyone has their off moments, and losing us was yours. Who is he, your mate?”

“Charles.” I answer softly, turning my eyes to the ground. My mom lets out a happy squeal, but it stops after a few seconds. “You’re the future Luna of the Righteous Goddess. I’m so happy for you.” Stepping backwards I look at my mom. “I was the future Luna Mom. But not anymore, not since he rejected me, marked and mated another.”

“You accepted his rejection?” I could hear the disbelief in her voice. Mom and Dad raised me to think that rejecting your mate was the worst thing to do. She was wrong. Rejecting them and then cheating continuously was the worst thing you could do to your mate. “Yes I did. If I hadn’t accepted his rejection, I would have died the moment he chose another as his mate.”

“I’m sorry Jessica, I really am. Your father and I always thought that would never happen to our little girl.” Seeing the sadden look in my mother’s eyes almost broke my heart again. “Don’t worry about it Mom. I’m fine now. Jess and I saw him with his new mate and he looked happy. That’s all that matters to us…So, where are we?” “This,” my mom says gesturing around us,” Is Limbo. You’re halfway between death and life. You must fight Jessica, you must live. It isn’t your time to die just yet. Your pack’s on the way to get you right now. Just keep fighting until they get to you.” With that my mother disappeared and I was left in the darkness. But I noticed that the voices of my pack were once again sounding louder. They were coming for me, but would they reach me in time to save me?