Chapter 8
Effie Harlow
To say I was nervous was more than an understatement, and not just because of the imposing way this castle stood above us, looking down on us as we entered through a three-story set of wooden and metal doors that creaked open on the guards’ commands.
My brows raised as Ruby and Reaper led us through a wide hallway with statues nearly the height of the ceiling lining the sides, each of the sentinels holding a gigantic lantern in its outstretched stone hand.
“These are the shadowland guards,” Reaper explained. “In times of battle they can be pulled from sleep to defend the castle, but most of the time they appear as statues.”
My eyes snapped up again, the cold, stoneless gazes of the statues taking on a new meaning. This…this was both really interesting and very different than I expected. I felt like I’d been transported right into a fantasy landscape, and I supposed I sort of had.
It only served to make me more nervous, though.
It seemed like this story was growing more complicated by the moment, and Reaper’s information hadn’t helped.
I didn’t know who to classify as the ‘bad’ guy in this situation—at first I thought it was the dark god, but now that I knew he may have closed the gate to protect the lykos, I really had no idea.
“Preciosa, just say the word.” Julian’s familiar voice steadied me as he approached my other side, he and Dakota insulating between their two large frames.
Something that helped distract me from the guards at the end of the hall, their assessing gazes evaluating us as threats rather than because of simple curiosity.
Luckily, Reaper and Ruby were handling all of the talking, and it was very clear how comfortable my friend was here.
“I need to do this,” I said to Julian quietly.
“I need to get the key, but I also need to figure out what else is going on. I don’t enjoy feeling like a pawn for Mona, which is what this feels like even though we agree that there’s a problem.
I don’t like feeling like my life is out of my control—I dealt with that enough in the Whitepaw Pack. ”
Julian examined my expression, understanding clear in his gaze.
I was thankful to have my mates’ support in this even though they were hesitant about involving ourselves with Mona.
They had been by my side through our travels and all of the danger that had come with it, so no matter what this brought, I knew they would be there with me to face it. The security in that was indescribable.
I would admit, though, that I felt guilty knowing how on edge my mates were.
Tore was directly behind me, and I could feel the tension rolling off of him, much like Julian.
Dakota’s hand was wrapped around my own, and I knew that while he seemed calm, there was a lethality that could surface at any time, especially if he felt there was a threat to me.
Caedmon seemed oddly the calmest out of my mates, along with Ryder, his cautious gaze holding mine as I looked back at him and tried to offer a reassuring smile.
I wasn’t positive it helped.
Ryder wouldn’t even meet my gaze because he was trapped in thought, staring at the ground, making me think that Reaper’s story had affected him. I wanted to know his thoughts on it, but when his gaze suddenly snapped up to glare at the guards ahead of us, he seemed more angry than anything.
“Ryder?” I asked, letting go of Julian and Dakota and taking a spot between him and Caedmon. “You okay?”
“Yes.” Ryder gently touched my back and sighed. “I just have a feeling that we’re about to learn a lot more about my family than I even knew, and none of it good.”
I had a feeling he was right.
Before I could ask him his theories, the final set of doors opened ahead of us, the sound echoing through the passageway.
We stepped into a four-story dining hall nearly double the height of the hall we had just come from, a huge chandelier casting a warm light on the long, empty wooden tables.
Four gigantic fireplaces also ran along each of the side walls, causing the floors to glint with a dangerous light and casting shadows everywhere else, including the front of the room, which soon had my complete attention.
The dark god.
I knew without a question that the ten-foot man sitting on a large black throne with a curious expression on his face was the dark god.
First off because he looked just like Reaper but with silver in his hair, but also because of the power he radiated, shadows filling the space behind him like a living organism.
“Father,” Reaper called out.
“Son! It’s good to see you—and you brought Ruby,” the man said as we came to a hard stop in the center of the room, his voice a deep rumble.
He offered Ruby a bright smile, his gaze turning critical on her other mates behind her before moving to the rest of us.
“You said you were bringing others, but I find myself confused by the magic coming off of them—who are they?”
“The magic is their blood-bonded pack bond,” Reaper said, motioning to Ruby’s BBP and then ours. “I can explain all of that later, but I know it’s the middle of the night—so before we do anything else, Effie has requested to speak with you.”
“And please be open-minded!” Ruby chirped. The man offered her an amused arched brow before moving his attention back to me. His gaze was dark and critical, enough that my wolf sparked underneath my skin, before something like realization dawned in his gaze.
“Anyone who Ruby considers a friend, I am open to hearing,” he said, sitting forward and offering me a knowing smile. “But I’m already aware of who you are, Effie—you’re Mona’s daughter.”
The breath whooshed out of me as I stood frozen momentarily, seeing the blatant truth on his face.
I shifted on my feet. “Yes…well…at least that’s what she’s saying.”
How did he know Mona? I mean, she was from the divine realm, so it wasn’t impossible I’m sure…but the way he spoke about her was unusual. There was something I wasn’t understanding about it.
“But you’re hesitant to believe her. Smart.
She’s not lying though.” The dark god said it so easily, as if it were absolutely nothing—as if it wasn’t the life-changing confirmation I’d been looking for.
“But before we get to that part, tell me what you need to first. The name is Alcuin, by the way.”
“Alcuin, it’s nice to meet you,” I offered, happy to have a name because I didn’t really feel comfortable calling him ‘dark god.’ “This is a bit complicated, but I’ll try to explain the best I can.
” Looking back at my mates, they all offered expressions of encouragement, understanding my silent plea for aid in case I forgot something.
Knowing they’d speak up and help went a long way to ease my mind.
“I promise I can follow.” Alcuin chuckled, not in a mean way but seemingly actually amused.
So I explained. It was a story I was growing used to telling now, beginning with the moment I arrived at Silver Falls University to Hastain admitting that he had purchased me from the Whitepaw Pack.
I gave a simplistic explanation of blood-bonded packs and even how I had landed myself with the Whitepaw Pack to begin with—at least what I could remember.
I told him how Hastain had planned on separating us and how that led to Mona appearing to us, Alcuin’s attention riveted from the moment I said her name out loud.
I even explained my frustration with her and the journey we had to go on, taking out the pendant to show him as I explained the visions it had given me—the darkness that was quickly taking over Earth.
The small smile that had appeared on his lips at Mona’s name disappeared quickly at that.
“To put it simply,” I said, “if we don’t open the gates, which she believes you have the key to, then the balance will never be restored and men like Hastain will continue to hurt women.”
After a long moment, Alcuin’s gaze moved from me to Ryder. “Yes, there have always been men—much like Ryder’s extended family—that have taken advantage of those they view as weak. Not just them, though, humans and wolf hybrids as well.”
He sighed, and I squeezed Ryder’s hand. Alcuin wasn’t blaming Ryder, but I had no idea how he knew who Ryder was. Maybe it was just that kitsune were that rare, or maybe his family had a recognizable magical signature?
“But no matter; you’re not wrong about the problem. It seems as though it’s escalating past what I could have expected…what I had hoped would never happen again,” Alcuin finished.
“So…so you believe me?” I asked, immense relief invading every part of me.
“Of course I do,” Alcuin said. “You don’t lie, and if you tried I assume it wouldn’t go well. But before we talk about the key, I think we need to address something that would naturally lead me to be hesitant to open the gate again.”
“Why it was closed in the first place?” I asked, feeling more comfortable as the conversation went on. The dark god was much different than I’d expected him to be—than Mona had made him out to be.
“Exactly.” Alcuin said. “And more importantly, why I recognize you, Effie. I can’t justify moving forward without you knowing the truth.”
I would gladly take more information, even if it was going to be hard to swallow like Reaper predicted.
“Okay,” I said, leaning back into Tore’s large chest and straightening my shoulders.
“Right.” Alcuin’s gaze went momentarily distant.
“Long before anything else existed, there was just the three of us—the moon goddess, myself, and Samson, the sun god.
The latter was distracted for eons, completely focused on the growth and expansion of our universe, leaving me—the darkness—and the moon goddess on our own.
As time went on, the two of us fell in love and began to create a life together in our small pocket of the universe, ignoring the fact that there was another one of us out there—until he returned.
“Samson and the moon goddess began to spend time together, and I didn’t fault her for wanting that connection.
It was a lonely existence, and I even craved to have a friendship with another power.
But then he chose to claim her for himself completely.
He trapped her, cutting off her ability to see me.
At least that was what it felt like…I’m positive my vision was skewed by hurt and anger at the time, especially once they started creating lykos and kitsune.
“I grew so angry and decided that to counter their creations, I would create my own—humans. Beings to tempt theirs. I hadn’t meant for it to turn so ugly, though, and when I realized that a force from the divine realm was persuading the kitsune to hurt the lykos as punishment for mating with humans, I quickly tried to correct the issue.
I shut the gate. I shut out the divine realm because despite helping in many ways, I couldn’t risk the continued death of the beings created by the woman I loved. I couldn’t even justify kitsune death.”
My chest seized. Something in my gut told me that everything he had just said was true, and I really didn’t know how to feel about that.
“I realize now, centuries later, that it didn’t really help.
Not truly. That there wasn’t some godly influence, it was just one particular line that was set on destroying the lykos.
” He paused, taking a deep breath and steeling himself for the rest of the story.
“But it was too late. I had already locked the divine realm, blocking anyone who wanted to cross to Earth to help. All I could do was hope that the situation would settle itself, but clearly that never happened.”
“And how does this relate to Effie?” Tore asked.
“Well, because Mona is Effie’s mom…”
“And how is Mona part of this—”
“She is the moon goddess.”
My mouth dropped open. “Wait, like the one from the story?”
“Yes, and you are the product of her and Samson, just as Reaper is the product of Mona and myself.”
There had never been a more intense silence than in that moment as the world shifted around me. Mona was not only my mom but the legitimate…moon goddess? The one that had been around since the start of the universe? I was the child of the sun and moon gods…
My knees almost broke, Tore tightening his arm around me to keep me from collapsing.
“How is that possible? The gate has been locked for longer than either of them have been alive,” Dakota demanded.
“Of course, that requires a bit of explanation,” Alcuin admitted.
“After centuries passed, Mona and I found that there was a singular way to still see one another—much like how she visited you at school. She came to visit me, and that was how Reaper was brought into the world. She brought him to me the next time she was able to visit.”
Reaper swore as I continued to focus on Alcuin, only one thought crossing through my mind—Mona could have visited and contacted me a lot more than she had.
“You, on the other hand, were born in the divine realm and lived there with Samson and Mona behind the locked gate…until everything went wrong, that is.”
“Wrong?”
“When Reaper began to ask about his mother, I got frustrated at Mona not being here to be part of his life. One of my advisors took personal affront to her actions, that she chose to raise her child with Samson but not with me. I’m sure at the time I wasn’t saying the kindest things…
Effie’s birth announcement caused me to be…
angry,” he offered with a sad smile. “Still, the advisor took it into his own hands to arrange for one of our ambassadors, who had been stuck in the divine realm for centuries, to use magic to remove you from the equation. To drop you onto Earth. Of course I immediately gave Samson permission to kill him, but it didn’t change that you were stuck on Earth without a way to get back home.
I felt horrible. No child deserves that. ”
My temples throbbed as I closed my eyes and tried to sort through the story. The one thing I did know for sure? I was a child of the moon and sun—a child of gods.
“Yes, you are,” Alcuin said, clearly having heard my mumbled words. “Just like your half-brother, Reaper. A child of darkness and moon.”