Chapter Forty-Nine
The surrounding darkness was familiar. I was floating in the abyss of black that I had found myself in once before. I relaxed into it instead of fighting it this time. If I died this time, I only hoped that I had saved my parents.
“You did.” Selene’s voice floated from the distance, and I sighed in relief.
“Good.” I had nobody here, but I still felt my soul release. “Good.”
“Do you not care about anyone else?” Her voice was curious.
“I do. But I know that Rowan would have fought tooth and nail to save everyone once I was gone.” I chuckled. “He would be heartbroken, but he is a good king, and a better man. He’ll make sure everyone is safe before he allows himself to break down over my death.”
“Always so confident.” Hecate’s voice was amused. “I think we may have created a monster, sister.”
Selene laughed, her voice growing closer. “No.” I felt something behind me, but I couldn’t turn, couldn’t move. “We created a queen.” Her voice was next to my ear.
“Are you not sad you are here, daughter?” Hecate’s voice called from further away.
I shook my head, or what felt like my head. “No.” I leaned back into the abyss, allowing my soul to rest. “I did what I could to protect everyone. To save everyone. I did my best, and that’s all anyone can ask. If I have to die for my parents, I’m okay with it.”
“But you didn’t get to accomplish what you wanted to.” Selene’s voice was moving as she called to me. “You wanted revenge…didn’t you?”
I felt some anger bubble up. “I did…I do.” I corrected myself. “I didn’t get to avenge my pup.” I tried to touch my stomach, but I had no hands here.
“Which pup?” Hecate’s voice held a hint of playfulness that I didn’t understand.
“What do you mean?” I felt my body release, and I could move again. “Carly’s still alive. I don’t need to avenge her…right?” Panic gripped my heart. “Rowan would have protected my pup.”
“He has.” Selene’s hand patted whatever my soul was now, and I felt a jolt of power. “The shaman pup is still alive and safe.”
“I wasn’t talking about her.” Hecate chuckled.
“Then who. I only have my pup from my first life…and Carly.” I frowned, or tried to.
A soft pink glow pulsed from somewhere. A fluttering heartbeat filled the darkness. “Are you sure?” Something cupped my face, a hand I think, and another jolt of power ran through me. “Look, and see the truth.”
I felt hands turn me, and I saw a tiny pup floating in a pink orb off to the left. “Who is that?”
“Your pup.” Selene’s voice was a whisper as her silvery form stepped up next to me on my left. She waved her hand, and the tiny pup floated into her hand.
“My pup from my first life? The one from Brandon.” I opened what I considered arms here for him, and the pulsing orb flew straight to me. I clutched him to my chest. This is the first time I had touched him in years. “I’ve missed you, my love.”
Selene hummed before she answered. “Not exactly.”
“What do you mean?” I was confused, but for the first time since I had died, I felt complete. This was a piece of my soul I had been secretly missing all these years.
Hecate’s form stepped on my right, her green smoke drifting around her as she reached a hand out and ran her fingers down the pulsing pink ball protecting my pup.
“Yours and Brandon’s pup’s soul…in yours and Rowan’s pup’s body.
His second shot at life. A deal is a deal.
If you finish your task.” Her face held a soft wonder. “And if you survive.”
I tightened my hands around him. “Really?” I choked out. Silver drops fell onto the pulsing orb in my arms. “What’s that?” I watched as more silver drops fell onto him.
Selene’s voice was a soft whisper. “Your soul tears.” Her hand slipped around my back, sending pulses of power into me. “You don’t have a body here, not one like in the real world; it’s just your soul. When a soul cries, its tiny drops of your life force, gifted from me.”
“Hence the glowing silver drops.” Hecate mimicked Selene, wrapping her arm around me, sending more shocks into me. “I know it’s uncomfortable. But you unlocked a hidden power neither my sister nor I realized you had. It took too much out of you.”
Selene hummed again. “This is definitely something we will have to look into. But if you want your chance to leave like last time, we need to…” She looked at Hecate.
She shifted into her Maiden form. “Juice your soul up with power so you can get out of limbo, as my followers would say.” She grinned before she shifted again. Her forms become more and more unstable. “I’m using extra power to get you out of here.”
Selene cupped my cheek. “Your soul was ripped apart from the blast. Celestial powers can do that.”
“Celestial powers? Excuse me?” I was confused. “What the hell did I do?”
Hecate grabbed me and started spinning. “Why don’t you wake up and find out for yourself?” She said and released me to the white void.
My eyes opened to the sun shining directly into my pupils. I groaned, and my hands shot to cover them. “Welcome back to the living, Luna.” A voice, one I didn’t have the brainpower to identify, called from my side.
I cracked an eye, grunting again with the brightness of the lights, and waited for my eye to adjust before the form of the doctor took shape. “Doc…I’m alive?” The question slipped out, and he laughed.
“Yeah. You are.”
“Then, can you turn down the goddess bright lights in the room? I can’t see shit.” I groaned as I took stock of my body. Every atom that was in my body was brimming with power and pain. So much pain.
The doctor laughed, and I heard steps receding, and the room darkened. I peeled open my eyes to see that the doctor had turned off most of the lights, leaving a small lamp on the med cart still on. “How’s that?”
“Better.” I sighed and allowed both of my eyes to adjust to the room. “Where is everyone?” Worry clamped a fist around my throat. “My parents? Did they make it? Is the fighting over? How many did we lose?”
The doctor came back to my side and waved me down. His hand patted my shoulder in reassurance. “The Alphas, including the king, are directing the mess of the remaining packs we had here. Your mother, the Luna, is setting up for the ceremony, and the rest of the pack are helping with the sorting.”
“The sorting?” I questioned, and I saw his face pale. “You know what? Nevermind.” He laughed and helped me up when he saw me trying to sit up again. The whirl of the bed motor, and his arms, helped me into a better position so I could look at his face. “How am I?”
He snorted. “Better than you should be.” He checked my vitals and slid the blood pressure cuff on.
I groaned. “Are you really going to make me ask?”
He shook his head, but I saw the smile on his face. “What do you want to know?” He wrote a few things down on a clipboard. “How are you alive?” He leveled me with a look. “I honestly don’t know. I wasn’t there, but no one has stopped talking about what you did.”
“What did I do?” I rolled to my side so I could face him fully.
“The unimaginable.” His words were soft as he pushed me back onto my back. “Tell me if there is any pain where I touch.” He felt along each arm and leg and then pressed around my stomach. It hurt, but in an achy way. “Anything?”
I shook my head. “I’m sore, but I don’t feel like I’m dying. Which is how you’re looking at me.” He laughed again, and pressed lightly on my lower stomach. I felt a small ball there, and I remembered what I had seen in the abyss. I hissed, and the doctor pulled his hands away quickly.
“Did that hurt?” He looked back to the chart.
“No.” I cupped my lower belly. “I have to ask…”
He looked up from the chart, and his mouth was open. “Luna Amy…” He turned around and grabbed a cup. “I need you to go pee in this.”
I took it from him as he helped me off the bed. “Okay.” I had a feeling I knew exactly what he was double-checking. I was in the bathroom for less than a minute, and he took the cup from me with gloved hands. He pulled something from the cart and stuck it in.
“We will have an answer in a minute.” He whispered to himself. “How is moving around?” He went back to focusing on me.
“Better than I thought it would be.” I saw a change of clothes on a chair and grabbed them.
I needed to get down to the pack house; something needed to happen.
“I need to change…can you tell me what happened while we wait.” I nodded at the test, and after a moment, the doctor nodded.
I pulled the curtain around me, and leaned against the bed to put on some underwear.
“The battle was in full swing, and from what I gathered, you were a big part of this win. You helped funnel power into the rest of the pack as you fought, and it’s the only reason half of our wolves are still alive.
” I hummed, so he knew I was listening. “You saw your mother get hurt and shifted into your Lycan form and started to run through their ranks. You took out a lot of wolves, even the Royal Guards are impressed.” He hesitated for a second.
“And then the story gets a little hazy.”
“What do you mean?” I slid my pants on, and some socks. It hurt to get into my bra, but once I was dressed, I pulled the curtain back.
“From what I have pieced together…you saw your father go down, and then you…” He coughed.
“I what?” I was completely invested in the next part because it is the only thing I don’t remember.
“You called down lightning.”
The room was silent except for the ticking of the clock. I felt a tug in my chest, pulling me outside to the pack house. The first one was gentler, but this one made me gasp. I needed to get down there. Soon.
Then, a timer went off, scaring both of us and making us jump. “What do you mean I called down lightning?” My brain couldn’t wrap itself around that little tidbit.
He turned back to the cart, and he shook his head. “Like I said, the story has become more like a myth at this point. Everyone has been-” He stopped talking, his hand hovered over the strip, and I heard him swallow.