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Elara's tears have long since dried, leaving nothing but a salty trail in their wake. 

And Bennett still had not returned to her. 

She has laid curled up on the couch for hours, staring at nothing, while Grace and Everett whisper their concerns in the other room. 

She hadn't eaten, hadn't said a word since Bennett left her on the field. It didn't matter that they whispered their concerns, Elara could hear everything as if they were standing next to her, but she didn't' care. 

Her foolishness had pushed away her mate. Despite what Bennett thought, Elara believed him, will always believe him. She had just hoped that the vampires wouldn't attack a pack of wolves again. 

She hoped that the warnings in her dreams were nothing more than an idle imagination, giving life to the past her mate had lived through. 

A large part of Elara knew that she was only kidding herself. That her imagination could never dream up something so complex and yet, she allowed herself a small sliver of hope because that was better than an uncertain reality that they faced. 

Elara cried in worry over her mate. What if a rogue wolf was roaming in the woods and happened upon her mate? What if he couldn't fight back? 

But the more her tears picked up their dried trails, the more anger began to course through her veins. 

How could Bennett not even give her the chance to explain herself? He just assumed that she didn't trust him and then ran away from her? Talk about an ego.

"I always knew the evil he was capable of," the raven-haired woman stood facing the moon, but Elara was quick to move to stand in front of her.

"Bennett is not evil," tears still streamed down her cheeks, but Elara quickly wiped them away as if she could hide them from the moons glow and the woman's emerald eyes. 

The soft glow of the moon radiates around the woman making her look like an angel among the garden, as her hand reaches out softly to tuck Elara's loose hair behind her ear.

"You misunderstand, little lightning bug," the familiar nickname sends a heartache rippling through Elara and if the woman notices her flinch, she doesn't stop to comment, "It is not your mate to blame, but another whose wrath I deserved,

"Whether it was a just punishment or not. They were my sins to atone for. but now he's going after innocents out of fear."  the woman did nothing to hide the disgust in her voice.

Thousands of thoughts flooded through Elara's mind but only one stood out in a voice that seemed to shout through the rest, "Who?" 

Elara wasn't sure if the woman heard her whispered question but found herself unable to voice it again. 

The raven-haired woman inhaled sharply, her emerald eyes darkening and Elara swore that even the once radiant glow of the moon that made the woman look like an angel among the garden, turned dark.

"Sethos," the woman spit the name as if that alone would curse the man. 

Elara's gasp echoed in the stillness of the garden as dark obsidian eyes appear in her mind. She stares at the woman, wondering who she really is and how the Sethos that Bennett had once been told about, ties to the woman she had been dreaming about. 

The woman's soft smile returns as she gently places a hand on Elara's shoulder, silently asking for her attention. 

"I can practically hear your thoughts, Elara," The woman straightens herself, her back facing the full moon, causing shadows to dance upon her pale skin.

"My names is Kamaria. I was banished to the moon and after that time, you and yours began calling me Moon Goddess," Elara can feel her eyes going wide as saucers as she absorbs the words the woman - Kamaria - had spoken. 

It's crazy. It can't be real and yet, there is a voice inside Elara whispering 'Crazy yes, but not a lie.'

The Moon Goddess. 

The woman Elara's mother had told her bedtime stories about. The girls who fell in love and had her heart broken.

"Woah," it wasn't the most elegant thing to say and nowhere near what she had wanted to say, but it was all that came out of her mouth. That was until something that the woman said, clicked into place.

"Wait, Banished?" Elara shook her head as her mother's voice rang in her ears, recanting the story that Elara had heard one thousand times. 

                           "The girl cried at the sky, begged for the heartache                               to be taken away. The moon saw her heartache                                   and answered her cries. The moon spoke to her,                                offering her the peace that the girl wanted. The                                    girl accepted." 

Nowhere in the story had there been anything about the woman being banished.

"Yes," Kamaria nodded solemnly as he eyes flashed with the past. A lifetime of memories compressing into a single tear that rolls down her moonlit cheek, it was my punishment. He banished me to the moon and -"

"What could you possibly have done to be banished?!" Elara exploded, horror coloring her features, not even realizing that she the woman off from what she was saying.

Kamaria looks towards the sky. There is nothing there that Elara can see except for the moon, but still, from where she's standing, she would swear Kamaria was looking at something specific. 

Another tear rolled down Kamaria's cheek, a light salt trail starting to match those dried trails Elara can still feel on her own cheeks. 

"You deserve the story, so I will tell you but it will use up what strength I have left," Kamaria sighs, turning from the sky to face Elara, "I won't be able to reach out for a while. Are you sure that's what you want?" 

Elara would have to be blind to not see the hesitation in Kamaria's eyes and for a moment she wonders the weight of the story she's asking for. 

But her curiosity aside, this goes further than just Elara and the Moon Goddess she's been meeting in her dreams.

"Please," Elara whispers, watching as Kamaria wipes her tears away softly, "What did you do?"

"I fell in love." 

<3 <3  <3 <3

Hi, my beautiful readers! I am so sorry for my absence! Aside from a few highlights, 2019 hasn't been that spectacular. Most recently, I have been forced to move from my home (We were renting) on short notice. I am finally in my new place, still getting settled and have found where my laptop charger had mysteriously disappeared to.   

You guys are amazing and I am so lucky for you all to stick by me <3 <3 


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