Chapter 3: Moon's Gift
Nora's Point of View
There was a flash of Elena's eyes right next to mine. Even though my heart was beating fast, I kept a calm face. She finally pulled back.
"Well, Aria," Elena said. Her voice was as sweet as honey, but still had a metal tone to it.
"Welcome to our pack. I am Elena, and I am the main healer here.
Head doctor. Not Moon. That showed a lot.
Kai told me to "come on," and he put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Let me help you get settled. It looks like you are going to pass out.
I was, but I was not because I was moving. Fighting the anger that was building up in my chest as I stood just inches away from my killer took all the self-control I had.
Kai led me down a path I knew very well. Down the hall past the big living room, where I would been reading for a while. It was down the hall past the dining hall where I had eaten with the pack. It felt like I was reliving memories that were like knife cuts with each step.
"Here," he said, moving toward the door at the end of the hall. "This will do for tonight." We will find something longer-term tomorrow.
I almost laughed. Eleni and I shared a guest room here when we first came to live with the pack as teenagers. Someone had killed my parents and Elena's parents in what everyone thought was an attack by a stray soldier. Alpha Marcus took us in out of kindness.
What happened with that little white lie.
"Thank you," I said out loud.
Kai stopped in front of the door. "My room is just down the hall if you need anything." You can ask.
I fell asleep on the bed and hid my face in my hands as he turned and left. The smells of the pack house made me feel better, and a wave of emotions that I thought were dead and buried came over me.
This was home. This was my home. They did not do anything to stop me from dying; they just stood there and watched.
I looked up when there was a light knock on the door. Elena stood in the hallway with a hot mug on her head.
"I brought you tea," she said as she walked in without being asked. "My own unique mix." It will knock you out.
These red flags went off for me. Elena asking me to get a drink with her was the exact beginning of this nightmare the first time I had it.
I said, "That is very nice," to be safe. "But I am not that thirsty."
"Oh, no, I insist." Elena smiled, but her green eyes had a cold sparkle to them. "You have come a long way. "You need to be dry."
I could smell what was in the mug when she held it out to me. Honey and chamomile, but under something else. Something that my wolf did not want.
Wolfsbane. Not a lot—maybe not enough to kill—but enough to make me unable to do anything. As much as to make me easy to hit.
It was the second time my sister tried to kill me.
"Come on," I said, yawning as I stood up. "I would rather take a shower first." "Wash off the dirt from the road, okay?"
Elena's jaw tightened so barely that you could tell. "Okay. There is a bathroom to your left at the end of the hall.
Once she was gone, I washed off the tea and splashed cold water on my face. The white face of myself looked back at me from behind the mirror above the sink. Purple eyes, silver hair, and the face of a dead girl.
I had no business being here. What did I plan to get done?
I closed my eyes and got into bed, but I could not fall asleep. I felt tense every time I heard something in the house. Every sound of the old floors could be Elena coming back to finish what she started.
Eventually, I was too tired to keep going, so I slept in fits and starts.
There was no such thing as a clearing on the moon where I was standing. The grass shed silver light like water on the surface, making the whole scene glow. There was a woman in the middle of the area who looked like she was made of stars.
Goddess of the Moon.
I knew her before, when I had died. She was standing there when I left my body and lost my soul. Her face showed sadness and something like guilt.
"My child," she said, and her voice was soft, like wind chimes whispering in the wind.
"You have questions."
"Why?" I almost did not say the word. "Why bring me back to life? "Why now?"
"Because the balance has been disrupted." As the Goddess moved forward, I could see that her eyes held all the information of all time. "Elena has done a lot worse things than what you did wrong." Moon-blessed wolves have been drained of their life for years while she killed innocent people.
I made fists. "Then kill her for me."
"Is that really what you want?" "Vengeance?"
The easy question hit me like a ton of bricks. Yes, I did scream in some ways. For Elena to feel the same way she made me feel. I wanted her to feel what it is like to be hurt by someone who was meant to love her.
But I had a voice inside me that made fun of the strange woman I was before I was poisoned. This voice seemed to be telling me that getting revenge would only make things worse.
"I do not know," I said.
The Moon Goddess gave a sad smile. "That is why Aria's form was given to you instead of your own." Even after everything she went through, she was still pure in heart. Even after she died, her soul chose love. "You need to do the same."
"Elena killed me. Elena killed our parents. She poisoned me when I was a child. My voice broke. "How can I possibly forgive that?"
"I did not tell you to forgive. I told you to love instead of hate. There is a difference. Her fingers were as cold as the moonlight as they ran along my cheek. That is not the same thing as getting even, my child. One gets better. "The other one hurts."
The edges of the clearing became less clear, but the Goddess's words cut through clearly.
"You have been given a second chance, but you have to choose to use it. You can use your new life to hurt the people who betrayed you or to heal the wounds they caused. Choose carefully, because it will affect not only your own life but also the lives of all the Moon-blessed wolfs that Elena is trying to hurt.
I yelled, "Wait!" as the image went away. "What am I supposed to do?"
But I was already awake because the moonlight was coming in through the guest room window. As I got out of bed, the Goddess's words kept going through my head.
Justice or vengeance. Either healing or harm.
I heard a low sound coming down the hall. Steps moving silently past my bedroom door. I got out of bed and put my ear against a piece of wood.
"Yes, she is here," Elena said in a soft voice. She does not know yet, no. In three weeks, tonight will be the full moon. That length of time will make her weak enough.
There was a pause, like hearing someone on the other end of the call.
"Trust me," Elena said next. "I have not taken any chances for too long now." When I get her Moon gift, nothing will stop me.
My heart stopped beating. Elena was no longer trying to kill me with poison. She was going to take away all of my skills.
In other words, she finally knew who I was.
I heard the soft click of Elena's bedroom door as the footsteps went down the hall. My mind was going crazy as I stood there in the dark.
Elena knew who I was at that point. It was all a show to make me think I was safe while she got ready to finish what she started ten years ago.
She had another thought coming if she really thought she was copying the same stupid and ignorant Luna who had died on Wolfsbane.
I went to the window and looked up at the bright full moon. The Goddess told me I could choose between doing what is right and getting even.
There could be a third choice she had not thought of.
I put my hand on the glass and felt stronger than ever energy moving through me. Elena asked me to give her my Moon blessing.
Give her a chance.