Gray Valley

s e v e n t y - f o u r

"YOU DON'T KNOW THE FULL STORY."

It was not the Wolf Guardian but Luna who answered me.

"The full story?" I repeated. "You told me that Lykos cursed you for loving him. That's not the full story?"

"I cursed her so that she would be protected."

Protected?

My gaze returned to him.

"If I hadn't cursed her, she would have been punished by the other Angels. But I protected her from that."

"Your love is mutual?"

"Yes."

I stared at the two beings in front of me.

"Why would the other Angels punish mutual love?"

"A Guardian is as powerful but not as divine as an Angel. An Angel may love an Angel. A Guardian may love a Guardian. But, in the other world, all other love is considered to deserve divine punishment."

"Besides..." Luna hesitated. "I was promised..."

"To an Angel?"

"The Angel of the Sun," she replied. "His name was Aelius. And the Angel of the Sun punished Angels by death."

"So... I cursed her. And Aelius believed the love between us was unrequited. So... He thought that it was punishment enough for Luna to be cursed by me. But... He believed her children should also be punished. So..."

"The War of the Hearts."

He nodded.

"I gave the Soulmate Curse because of Aelius."

"But..."

"I did everything so she would be protected." I had never seen someone look as genuine as him when he spoke of her. " Everything."

"I understand. But..." I thought to when they were summoned. "You haven't been together for 500 years... Right? I don't understand that."

"The alternative to not being together would have been death."

"But... Death is not the end. Right? You would have been together."

"Death." She laughed. "You know death is as strange as life. We fear both, but we hate one and love one. And death? Well... We hate death. Even though, after our death, we have consciousness, we hate death. If we had been punished, with death, our consciousness would have been together. But... Not our minds, bodies, hearts. Not us." Her silver eyes me the bronze eyes of Lykos. "We would not have been together. But... We lived. And, if we lived, we could have hope. We lived with the hope that we would be together."

Hope.

In the end, it was all for hope.

I glanced at the Wolf Guardian.

Now, that I knew the full story, I could understand why he wanted to help the Werewolves in Gray Valley.

"I'm grateful, Lykos, because we need your help."

"What do you need?" he asked.

"There is interference to fate when the Angel is summoned. And, from this interference, there is destruction. Can you balance that interference to fate?"

"I can."

He turned to the Angel.

"Luna." He reached out to touch her. "Can we?"

Their hands and their eyes closed, as they were at the entrance of the cave.

Luna started to speak in Latin and Lykos repeated.

"Mors ultra."

"Mors ultra."

A silver light flashed throughout the cave and the forest.

"Praesidio liberos meos."

"Praesidio liberos meos."

I did not know what it was but everything seemed different.

"Fatum non mutare." His eyes opened. "Fatum non mutare. Fatum non mutare.

There was, now, a bronze light emanated from them.

Luna also opened her eyes to look at Lykos. "Fatum non mutare."

They remained, there, with their hands touching.

Then, they as well as the light that emanated from them, started to fade.

"We did what you told us to do, filia mea. However, as an Alpha, it is your duty to end this War and to fulfil your promise. And, filia mea, what we did and what you do, will fulfil your wish." She smiled. "There will be hope."

"Thank you, Luna."

And with that, she, the Angel, was gone.

"I know you will give your people hope, Weslyn."

"Before, you go, Lykos."

He glanced at me.

"Yes, Weslyn?"

"Why? I'm not an Alpha. But... I have the Alpha Marks. Why did you choose for me to have the Alpha Marks?"

"To be honest? I don't know."

I looked at him incredulously. "You don't know?'

"Well..." His voice trailed of at that. "There is a reason why I decided to choose you to be an Alpha. But..."

"Please."

"I don't think you want to hear it, Weslyn."

"It doesn't matter, Lykos, but I want to know... Please."

"Your death was to happen by fate. But... You reminded me of my Angel. So... I didn't want your death to happen. You have the Alpha Marks because I thought they would change your fate." He paused. "And they did."

"Oh."

"That was not the reason you wanted to hear... Was it?"

"No." I smiled at him. "It was not."

"Maybe... But the reason doesn't matter. You have the Alpha Marks. And maybe, now, you don't consider yourself to be an Alpha. But... That doesn't matter. You have the Alpha Marks. You can change what you consider yourself to be." He smiled. "You can be an Alpha."

And I believed him.

I was not an Alpha.

But...

The future.

There was a future where I could be an Alpha.

"Thank you, Lykos."

"No... Weslyn. Thank you."

He was gone.

Now, it was my duty to end the War.