“Because you need me to be.” Her smile was soft, but it comforted me.
I turned back to the path ahead of us and we continued. The trees grew darker the deeper we went. We walked for a long time before I worked up the courage to ask. “Why did they leave me?” It’s been the question that had been eating at me for months. The one I desperately needed an answer to.
The goddess slowed and grabbed my hand to pull me to a stop with her. “I don’t know. But I will help you figure it out and together,” She paused as she wiped a stray tear off my cheek. “Together, we will fix it.” She kissed my brow, and I closed my eyes. I shivered with need, but I was going to hold back. I swear I was. But then she wrapped her arms around me and my resolve broke. I dove into her arms and I sobbed. “Oh my dear girl.”
“They are the missing pieces to my soul and they left me to wither alone.” I crumpled to the ground and sobbed harder. “And I had no one I could tell, or turn to. Why would they do this to me?”
The moon goddess gripped me to her as she stroked my back. “Let’s go find out.” She pulled me to my feet. Gone was the aloof goddess that had watched over our race, and in her place was just another woman. Like my mom or grandma, loving and taking care of me when I needed it.
“Why are you helping me so much?” I swatted at a few more tears and her chuckle was soft.
“You haven’t figured it out, have you? I thought you had, from your last words of your first life.” She wrapped her arms around my waist and we walked again, deeper into my soul.
“What do you mean?”
“Do you remember what you said?”
“Yes.” I closed my eyes and pictured my last day. As Brandon stood over me. My declaration. “But we are all descended from you.”
She nodded. “All wolves are descended from my power. And you know Lycans are my descendants as well. Do you know how?” I shook my head. She gave a soft smile. “Before I had grown in power, I was cut adrift, much like you are now, young and confused. I had no animal to call, no direction, if you will. I was the moon, I was death, but I wanted to be so much more. Then I heard it.” She tightened her hand on my side.
“Heard what?”
“The call of the wolves.” She smiled. “But from the sky, I could not get close enough to see them. They were too fast, and I was too young to leave. But, high on a mountain, a man was attacked.”
“Attacked by what?”
The goddess shivered. “Something gone from this world.” Her eyes were dark. “Something I am trying to keep away.” She shook her head, causing the light to dance behind my eyelids. “He was dying, alone, and begging someone to save him. But he was alone, and I was the only thing above him, so he prayed to me. He was the first to call me Moon Goddess, the first to pay tribute to my status. The first to openly worship me, and he was the first to receive my blessing.” She waved her hand and the forest was gone.
The moon was glowing brightly, and this high up, it felt so close I could touch it. But then a man coughed and my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the land.
There, on the highest peak a man, broken, bloody, and dying. “Moon goddess. I know you are with me, and I will be with you soon. Please take care of my family. My children.” He coughed. And the world seemed to slow. A glowing drop fell from the sky like a tear and landed on his face. Then a second and another.
Her soft whisper came from beside me. “I was stuck in the sky, so I cut myself, blessed him with my blood.” His scream ripped through the sky, and he shifted. First into a white wolf, and then into a second form. “The first Lycan.”
The scene before me was wiped away with her arm. The screams that had shattered the silence of my mind were gone in an instant and once again, we were alone in the trees of my mind. “The first Lycan was born from your blood. The wolves were born from your power.”
“Exactly. But you, your line is different.” She walked a few steps. “You wolf line, your fathers, descended from the first wolf, and from a powerful line of witches. But your mother’s line. Her Lycan line came from me.” Her grip on me tightened again. “You see, I fell in love.” Her eyes were full of tears as we continued down our path, but her smile was bright. “The man I saved had a large family, who had children, and they had children until Wellin came.”
“Why has no one heard of Wellin?”
“Because…” She shook her head and I felt a slight burn as her tear landed on my hand. “Because I loved him too much, and when he betrayed me, I banished him.” A soft sigh escaped her. “He was my everything.”
“What happened?”
“I had finally grown into my power. And I could leave my sky and started to walk among the wolves down here on earth. I found my peace here, with my pets and I connected with the world.” She smiled. “I finally wasn’t alone. But from my position in the sky I watched over my Lycans, my first creations and made sure they flourished. One day I stumbled across Wellin walking and I knew he was one of mine. I could scent him, and he connected to me. But there were no mates back then, nothing that tied two creatures together except for their love, much like how the humans lived. He thought I was just another woman,and I enjoyed the attention. He made me feel beautiful.” She closed her eyes and I felt her tremble. “I came back night after night and found him waiting for me. Soon, we grew together. But he never told me of his nature. He kept himself apart from me, so I never told him of mine.” She looked at me and I watched the trail of her tears. Two trails of moonlight donned her face, and it took my breath away. “You have to understand, I was lonely, and he was my everything. He became my everything. We grew together, made a life. I turned my back from my goddess path and made myself almost forget who I truly was. We mated, a handfasting under my moon, and promised our lives to each other. And soon I had a babe. His babe. But all good things never last.” She pushed forward, pulling me with her, and her sorrow followed us. “Our daughter was strong, beautiful and like her father. But I was growing weak. I had to go back to the sky for a night to recharge, and that’s when I found them.”
She grew silent, and I knew, but I still asked. “Found who?”
“Wellin had another. While I raised our daughter, he went out and found a new woman. I watched as they handfasted under my moon, and my heart shattered. Our daughter was old enough that she was already looking for her husband and I made my decision to stay in the sky. But that’s when I created the mate bond. One soul made for the other. So that her father could never cheat on another. So that my child could never be broken, as I was broken.”
“He cheated on the moon goddess?” She nodded.
“So believe me when I tell you I know your pain.” She cupped my cheeks. “You are not alone in your pain. And together…we will figure out your wolves.” I nodded and turned back to the path again. The surrounding trees were dark, thick, and damp.
“How much further?” I searched for my wolves, and there was nothing.
The goddess lifted her shoulder. “This is your mind and soul. Your wolves retreated to where they feel the safest.”
