Chapter 131

Olivia POV

“What an exceptional Pack Lunaris is,” Emma enthused after the meeting had adjourned and it was just she, I, and Ines in the room.

“We should withdraw so the staff can clean up,” I said with a smile as I stood up.

“The WPI will benefit greatly from your participation,” Ines told Emma as we walked together from the chamber.

“I hope so,” Emma said. “I will certainly do all I can.”

Right on the other side of the door, the she-alpha turned to me with a dazzling smile that showed her fangs. “I was talking with Alpha Elroy just this morning, and he encouraged me to help all I can. You are so fortunate in your mate, Luna. It takes my breath away.”

Something squeezed my heart, but I made sure my smile stayed in place. “I’m sure he recognizes just how much you are an asset to the Pack. I would hope he would encourage you.”

She laughed, and Ines joined in. I didn’t find anything funny and let my eyebrows raise up slightly.

“You are truly a Luna,” Emma said with a not-so-hidden note of condescension in her voice. “A perfect match for our Alpha.” She gave me a little bow. “Now, I promised Ines I would meet with the rest of the people she wants on our Steering Committee.”

And when did she ask you that? I wanted to know.

But the next moment Ines and Emma were walking away together down the hall, chattering in excitement.

I turned and walked the other way, up a set of stone steps, around a turn, and finally down a hallway that led to my mother’s suite.

She opened the door herself when I knocked, and I realized she had sensed me coming.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as she stepped back and ushered me inside her front room. “Would you like some coffee?”

“No thanks,” I said. “May I sit?”

“Of course, child. You don’t need to ask.”

We settled on a settee and armchair, and then I tried to figure out the words I needed.

“Is this about Emma?” Mother asked.

I almost started weeping, or snarling, but I pushed it all back as I nodded. “I don’t trust her, and I don’t like how everyone is just taking her on like a long-lost daughter.” I looked up at my mother’s concerned eyes. “But is this just jealousy talking? I can’t trust my own instincts, and now I’m feeling lost.”

“Of course you are,” she said before she nodded. “I don’t like the way everyone is taking to her so quickly either, and as I have never wanted such unbridled popularity, I know it’s not jealousy.”

I closed my eyes and sat there for a moment just appreciating the relief of having someone else confirm something was wrong.

“How much do we really know about this alpha?” I asked next.

Claudia shrugged. “I’m Sam has put together a report. He’s too good a beta not to. I can ask him about it.”

“That would be a start,” I said. Then I thought occurred. “Have you chosen your Beta yet?”

“I had thought of Orlando, but he’s too young.” She sent me a sly look. “I don’t suppose you’d let me have Jordan?”

“Over my skinned fur,” I said.

She laughed, then she sobered. “After I speak to Sam, I’ll ask around. The problem is that we have so little reliable information about her. She seemed to target the most exotic locales during her travels.”

I heard something unsaid in her words and raised my eyebrows.

She shrugged. “If she didn’t come from an impeccable background, I’d say she purposefully targeted places where she knew it would be difficult to track her, let alone see what she was doing while she was there.”

I frowned. “What reason could she have for that?”

Claudia spread her hands out palms up as though waiting for the answer to drop down from the ceiling. “Goddess knows because I certainly can’t figure it out, especially since she seems to prefer the spotlight to anything.”

She paused then and looked down at her hands.

“What it is?” I asked.

“I talked to Iris, and she told me she spoke with you about the prophecy about the merging of Moonshadow and Eclipse.”

I nodded.

“And she told me you asked if that were why Elroy made a pup with you.”

I nodded again. “She said almost all the Eclipse alphas have had children with someone from Moonshadow hoping their child will be this special wolf.”

“Yes, but did she tell you the prophecy in full?”

“No, she didn’t.”

Claudia nodded. “One of the most senior High Priestesses of our original Stormhowl Pack chose not to join any Pack after the split into Eclipse, Ravencrest, and Moonshadow. She lived for many years and passed away only thirty years ago, and it was she who left behind a Moon Goddess prophecy before her death.”

She took a breath and recited:

“At the place where Moonshadow and Eclipse meet

With love and sorrow, joy and pain,

The Dark Moon Wolf King will take his seat,

And all shall prosper under his reign.

“Strong will be the Pack that greets this King,

Strong in deed, stronger still in unity.

Each wolf shall to the Goddess sing.

Each wolf shall glory in his dynasty.”

I was frowning when she was done. Seeing my face, she laughed lightly. “I hear it sounds better when one is in one’s fur.”

I nodded.

“And you think Elroy might be the Eclipse wolf whose son is this Dark Moon King?”

To my surprise, my mother shook her head. “I don’t really believe in prophecies, dear. It’s one of the reasons I didn’t share it with you before I was poisoned. But I do recognize the power prophecies can have with others believe in them.”

I mused aloud, “Emma is of Ravencrest Pack, not Moonshadow.”

Claudia looked surprised. “Surely don’t think Elroy is considering having a child with Emma to make this new super-wolf?”

I held up my own hands. “I don’t know! I can’t understand what’s going on in Elroy’s mind or his heart.”

I hesitated, then told her, “Sometimes I feel he loves me deeply, but never do I feel he loves me completely. There’s always been something there, something in his eyes or the way he kisses me that says he’s holding something back. Is Emma that something? Is it the prophecy? How do I fight against either?”

Claudia reached over and took my hand.

“Someone, some midwife, told my mother a prophecy when I was born.”

“That you would be Alpha?”

She shook her head. “That I wouldn’t.” She smiled and again recited:

“The alpha from this womb shall know naught but duty,

However she may delight in form and beauty.

“To her will no one bend their head.

To her side will they stand instead.”

“I’m guessing that one sounds better when in fur too?”

She chuckled. “I suppose.” Then she squeezed my hand. “But my point is that the so-called ‘prophecy’ seemed to say I would never rule, though that was my mother’s deepest wish. But if you read it a different way, then ‘duty’ could refer to the duty of an alpha, and ‘never bend their head’ could mean they would be proud to see me as Alpha.”

She shrugged again. “That’s the nature of prophecies and such things. They have very different meanings depending on what you want them to mean.”

“And if I want the prophecy to mean Emma will go back to where she came from?” I muttered.

Claudia laughed outright this time. “Now, that would be a prophecy I could believe in.”