Escaping Rejection

41. Trust and War

Look who's posting after a long time. Yup. That's me. Hiiii. ^.^

*retreats back into shell*

Well, happy reading lads and lassies!

Ionora's POV :

"So how do I find Goddess Hecate?" I enquire, wanting to find my dad's weakness and end him once and for all.

"Like I said, she'll be visiting the temple of the moon on the night of the ritual. She will be there for as long as the moon is in the sky. She only reveals herself to other Deities and her followers. Which is why, you need this." She points to the chain which magically appears around my neck. It is a fairly long chain with a pendant which was a faintly glowing stone. It glows brighter as I touch it and I can't help but marvel at its beauty.

"That is a small piece of the moonstone that your father is after. Hecate gave it to me right before she gifted the bigger part to your mate's ancestors. It would inform Hecate that you are under my protection and she would hopefully grant you audience since you are also part-witch and she is after all the Goddess of the witches."

"Thank you, Luna." I utter, lost in the fact that I was now in possession of a piece of the very thing that was disrupting the peace in our world.

"You need to go now, my child. Your mate is worried sick about you." She tells me. I roll my eyes. Does she mean the very mate who didn't mind trading me off as bait?

Catching my train of thoughts, Luna says, "He is a good man, Ionora. You must remember that people would do anything for their loved ones. Just like you were ready to give yourself up, he thought he could protect his pack by giving you up, no matter how much it would kill him."

You're not helping my teenage hormones, Goddess Luna, I think sarcastically, choosing not to reply. I didn't know what to reply to that. Luna just chuckles, catching on my conflicting feelings. "But I never told you to let him off the hook that easy. Make him work for it." She adds, winking at me. "I think it's time for you to go back now, Nora. I'll see you another time. Say hi to Hecate for me."

In a blink, I was pulled, only to find myself on a bed. A hospital bed to be exact. I start to get up only to be pushed back down by strong hands. And the tingles running up and down my spine tell me who the owner of those hands was.

I wonder what else those strong hands can do.

Great. You're back.

I scoff at Liane. She flips me off with her tail.

I never left, try again.

She retorts, retreating to the back of my mind.

"Ionora? Are you okay? You need to rest and make sure-"

"I'm fine." I cut off the worried voice looming above me. "What happened?" I ask Zayden, the past few hours blurry in my head.

"You tried to choke your grandfather and then passed out once you heard about the blood moon ritual."

Ah. That blasted ritual! How on earth was I going to find Hecate, who had a grudge on werewolves and convince her to give up Jordan's weakness?

"I don't think you are okay. You need to rest." Zayden admonishes.

"I told you I'm fine, Zayden. What I need to do is find out more about this ritual and try to stop it because this is clearly causing more harm than good. Atleast for me." I throw away the blankets engulfing me and get up. Zayden doesn't stop me this time. I walk to the window and look out, the darkness telling me that it was already night. "Where are the others?"

"They left after making sure that you were fine. Your brother wanted me to leave too but the doctor told his annoying ass that mates speed up healing and help reduce pain." He says with a smug face.

I roll my eyes. He was my source of pain these past few days but I don't tell this out loud. There were more important matters to attend to. "Well, you clearly helped because I'm as fit as a fiddle now. So let's get moving. Do you know any temples of the moon around here?" I ask, getting straight to the point.

"Well, there is one just outside the northern borders of the pack. But the temple falls in the RedTribe pack territory and they are not known to be the friendliest of folks. They also do not worship the Moon Goddess as a deity but as a part of nature itself and hence don't believe in temples and idols. So the temple is mostly in ruins. Why did you ask? Is there something of importance there?" He asks with not so well concealed curiosity. I debate on whether or not to tell him and then remember Luna's words, Trust your mate. Once you begin to trust each other, not even the strongest of forces could break you apart.

And so I tell him everything, starting from how I saw my aunt and cousin in my dreams and even talked to them. I leave out the parts where I saw him negotiating with the other Alphas. That was a topic for another day. As I finish my tale, he looks at me wide-eyed and awed.

"You saw the Moon Goddess? Like, THE Moon Goddess?"

"So you don't believe what I just said?" I ask, with raised eyebrows.

"N-no, that's not what I meant. It's just very rare that a Goddess would reveal herself in such a way. It has happened before but never to a single person."

"So what should we do in order to get to the temple of the Moon?"

"We are and have been at a cold war with the RedTribes for more than a decade now and I don't think that that's going to change anytime soon. We could try negotiating but they do have a fondness for blood and gore so they wouldn't agree to anything peaceful as that would hurt their pride and culture."

"So what do you suggest?"

"I say, we sneak in. If we are successful, we could stop the greatest war in history."

"And if not?"

"And if not then let's hope we are fast enough in getting the hell out of there because this pack is also rumored to be cannibals."

Well then, if we fail this mission then I would at least be in some Cannibal's tummy and not in my father's clutches.

Right?

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Edited - 15/01/2019