***A/N Hi readers. I originally wrote this chapter after experiencing the first of three close loses in my family. Like recently, after that lost, i had to take a break from writing and uploading. On September 21, I lost my 17 year old niece. She died suddenly and my axis tilted. Then on October 9, 2021, we lost one of our dearest friends. Please be patient with me as I go through this process. I don’t want to post for the sake of posting. I want to continue to provide you all with the same quality that I started with.
On another note, I have a sneak peek for you on a character who before now was going to play a very insignificant role where she would just be mentioned as a mate, but she started speaking to me and demanded that I tell her story. She demanded her place in the overall plot. She will be Trevor’s second chance mate. I had a couple alternative endings with Trevor. I thought abut making him Seleste’s second mate, but decided that would take away from the story, so then, I thought about leaving him mateless, but the pack would suffer, so I decided to give him a second chance mate in the end. Last night Lacey came forward and told me her story and asked to be Trevor’s second chance. Here is a Sneak Peek of Lacey’s Story.
***
“Wake up Seleste, we have something to do.”
“Really T, what time is it?”
“Its about 4 in the morning.”
“OMG, training doesn’t start for another couple hours, why am I up.”
“Like I said, we have something to do. There is a soul I need to heal. The goddess has a plan for her.”
“Healing souls is a thing. I didn’t know you could do that.”
“There is a lot we still don’t know about our powers, but the goddess herself told me to do this. So get up and stop asking questions. There is a wolf soul that needs us. There is only a limited amount of time before she is lost forever so get to moving.”
I get up and put on some work out clothes and head out of the packhouse. We head into the woods and keep walking. I’m not sure where we are going, but T knows the way. As we keep walking, I realize that we are crossing the pack border.
“Um T, we just left the pack border and entering a different pack territory.”
“Don’t worry Lette, I’m masking out scent and hiding us from the patrol.”
We keep walking deeper into the forest. We’ve been walking for more than half an hour and looks like we still have a walk. I need to let Alpha Clark know I probably won’t make it to training this morning. I link him and give him the basics about the mission Tamaska is on. Well as much information as I have. Alpha Clark is understanding, He has come to realize that there is more to Tamaska and I than just being the protector. My wolf seems to have a direct line to the goddess. In the last couple weeks, Tasmaska has shown am affinity for more than just the elements. She also has the talent of a seer and can use magic in wolf form as well as in human form. Her strength is limitless right now.
Tamaska keeps leading us forward. After about another 20 minutes of walking, we begin to hear what sounds like crying. I can’t quite make out what is being said. Tamaska cautions me to proceed with caution so we don’t scare the wolf away. I’m guessing that is our target I hear crying. As we get a little closer, I can finally make out the words. She is crying and praying to the moon goddess, “please don’t take Jena from me. I was not my choice. Please moon goddess have mercy on me”. She said that over and over again.
We finally made it to where he shewolf was located. She is sitting on a log, near a stream in the direct line of a bright moonbeam. This place feels similar to the clearing in my pack where I go to re-energize and commune with the goddess.
I walk out and call to her so that I don’t scare her. Tamaska made contact with her wolf so that they know we don’t mean them any harm. Her wolf told Tamaska that her name is Lacey and her wolf’s name is Jena.
Tamaska asked to let us merge so we can speak to Lacey and Jena at the same time. Jena is very weak and is fading. We need to move quickly to save her.
“Hi Lacey.” Tamaska and I say together. “I’m Seleste. My wolf is Tamaska. We mean you no harm. We were sent here by the moon goddess. She heard your prayers.”
“What. Who are you? How do you know my name and why are you on our pack lands? You should leave. The patrols will be through this area soon.”
“Don’t worry, I have put a protective bubble around this area. No one can see or hear us. As to who I am. I am the moon goddess chosen protector. She also sends me on missions to help special supernaturals such as yourself. Selene wants to help you and Jena, so she sent us to you.”
Lacey begans crying again. “I can barely feel Jena now. I don’t know what you can do for us now. I think I have lost her.”
“That’s why we are here. Tamaska is going to work on bring Jena back to you. She is going to be talking directly to Jena. You and I won’t be able to hear their conversation, but Tamaska will bring her back to you. You will feel her as she is coming back to you. You may also see me glowing and feel slightly warm. Don’t worry, its all part of the process. Now why Tamaska is working on Jena, why don’t you tell me your story and what happened to Jena.”
I can tell, Lacey is still a little nervous and is not sure if she believes us. I tell Tamaska to have Jena reassure Lacey that we are here to help her.
After a couple seconds, I see Lacey visibly relax.
“Jena trusts you and told me not to worry, so I will trust you. Thank you for giving Jena the strength to be able to communicate with me again.”
“Don’t worry Lacey, Jena will be back to herself soon,” Tamaska says through me and goes back in my mind to focus on her task of bringing Jena back.
“So Lacey, tell me your story. How did you come this close to losing Jena?”
“It’s kind of a long story, but I will condense it. You see, I am the youngest child of the beta couple of the Fierce Moon pack. My father, the beta only wanted boys. He had four boys and he and my mother were very happy. My mother got pregnant a fifth time with a baby girl, me. While my mother was happy to finally have a girl, my father was not. He taught my brothers that girls were useless outside of being mates. So they treated me like trash, all except for my brother Gregory. He is just a year older than me. He and my mom are the only ones who ever showed me love. My mom told me to hold own and wait till I was 18 to meet my mate. She told me that my mate will love me unconditionally and I believed her.” Lacey talks a moment to compose herself before she continues. I am already feeling angry with her father and fearing that this story is about to take another bad turn.
“So as I continued to grow, I did everything I could to gain my father’s approval. I was always at the top of my class. I became the strongest and best warrior in our pack. I became a top ranking hunter and one of the king’s top guards, but none of that changed they ay my father looked at me. All he saw was a girl. My brothers gained respect for me and my accomplishments, but they still think a lot like my father. My mother continued to encourage me. She celebrated every victory with me. I was beginning to find my place and be happy with my life. I was just missing my mate. On the week of my 18th birthday, I traveled to the royal pack. My brother Gregory, who is also a hunter was traveling with me. We stopped at this dinner about 30 minutes from the Royal pack border. As we were eating, I smelled the most amazing smell I have ever smelled and I knew it was my mate. I followed the scent and I saw this human family eating together. I made eye contact with the male and I knew he was my mate, but he was human and from the look of the table, he was married and had a child. He made eye contact with me and I could tell that he did not want me to approach him, so I went back to my table.”
“Wait, are you saying that your mate is human? How is that even possible? I have never heard of anyone having a human mate.”
“ I had not either. I asked Jena if she was sure he was our mate and she confirmed it. I was shocked and didn’t know what to do. After a few minutes, my mate left with his family. Jena was so sad and was whimpering in my mind for her mate. I just sat there in a daze. My brother noticed that something was wrong. I finally told him what happened. He was shocked as well.”
“I’m guessing that this story did not have a happy ending. Did you ever get to speak with him or find out who he was? I’m not sure how it works with a human mate.”
“While I was sitting there with my brother, my mate came back to the diner and sat with us. He had taken his family home and came back to talk to me.”
“Ok, now I’m confused. He came back. Does that mean he knew you were mates? But how is that possible if he was human?”
“He did know that we were mates. You see, he was not fully human. His great grandmother was a werewolf. Something happened with her pack and she left her pack and lived amongst humans. She mate his great grandfather who was human and fell in love. They got married and had a family. The family has passed the story about mates down to every generation. His grandmother has always told them that since they had wolf blood, they could possibly have a wolf mate. A couple of the children of the his great-grandmother did have werewolf mates. They mated and lived with a pack. He said that every generation, someone finds a mate. He met his wife in high school and they fell in love. They got married after graduating. He told me that when he saw me, he felt an instant connection and the look in my eyes confirmed that we were mates. The mate bond was not as strong for him as it was for me. Although he felt a connection, the love he had for his wife and son was much stronger then the pull he had for me. He explained that his wife is pregnant with their second child and he could never leave her or his children. He said that he is releasing me to find another mate.” Lacey gave a humorless laugh.
“I guess his great grandmother did not explain that there is no second chance for us wolves and I did not want to put that guilt on him, so I thanked him for coming back and let him go back to his happy life. I got his name from him before he left explaining that I needed that information to properly reject the bond. My brother suggested that I wait to do the rejection because we were on our way to the Royal pack to get a special mission from the king himself. Although I wanted to get it over with and not have to experience the pain of my mate being with his wife, I knew I need my wolf at near to full strength to finish my mission.”
“So how long ago did this happen?”
“This happened about six months ago. I finished the mission about three months ago and returned to my pack to be with my family. I thought that being surrounded by the people who were supposed to love me would help me retain Jena and give her a reason the fight to stay with me, but that did not happen. When I officially rejected him, I was in bed for a couple days. My father came to see me. I made the mistake of thinking that he finally cared for me as a daughter, but all he did was blame me for being a weak female who didn’t know her place. He said that I couldn’t do anything right and it serves me right. He said I didn’t deserve my wolf and he was glad I was going to lose mine that maybe then I would learn my place.”
“It’s hard to believe a father would say that to his daughter. A beta is supposed to care about the pack members, not look down on them because of their gender. He is the one that does not deserve a wolf. He especially does not deserve to be the beta of a pack. I’m guessing that was not the end of it.”
“No, my father declared me to be an omega and our alpha allowed it. Most omegas are treated fairly, but my father was trying to teach me a lesson, so he made my life a living hell. He kept doing things to make Jena weaken fasters. My older brothers just watched and did nothing to help me. Gregory tried, but there was only so much he could do. My mother separated from my father because of his treatment of her pup. That just made him worst. Over the last month, Jena has been getting weaker and fading away. I can feel myself losing her. I have been praying nonstop to the goddess to not take Jena from me. I did not want to reject my mate. I had no choice in the matter. I didn’t want any of this. I tried to serve our kingdom and stay faithful to the goddess.”
“Be at ease Lacey. The goddess heard your prayers. You should already be feeling stronger and notice that Jena is more responsive to you.”
“Yes! I can feel her again. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, thank the goddess. This is her will. She has a bigger purpose for you and I have a question for you.”
“Ok, what is your question? I owe you everything for saving my wolf.”
“You awe me nothing. My question is, will you be willing to come with me to Alpha Clark’s pack. I am there training my elemental gifts and will be going to Mystic Coven in about a week. I would like for you to be on my inner Protector team. The goddess has selected special wolves to serves as part of my inner circle. Tamaska told me that she has bonded with Jena and that you are meant to be with us, at least for now.”
“I would be honored to serve with you. But what do you mean at least for now?” Lacey asked.
“Well Lacey, that part will be revealed to us in time. The goddess has a plan for you and serving on the Protector team is only a part of that plan, not the full plan. It has not all been revealed to me yet, but it will all be known to both of us when the time is right.”
“Ok, that sounds good to me. Can I tell my mother and my brother Gregory that I am leaving?”
“Yes you can and you can let them know that they I will ask Alpha Clark if they can visit you while we are still at his pack. We will be traveling over the next year for training, but you will be able to keep in touch with them. I only ask that you do not reveal that I am the protector. For now, you can tell them that we are working with the Council of the suernaturals.”
“Ok Seleste. Thank you. I will link my mom and brother now. I don’t have much at my pack, so I have no need to go there. I can leave with you now.”
“Ok, while you are linking your family, I will link Alpha Clark and let him know,”
We both finish our task and start the walk back to the pack house. I’m curious if Lacey is Alpha Clark’s mate. Tamaska did say that he will meet her within the year. So its possible. Wouldn’t that be awesome. They are both incredible people.
“Stop trying to match mate Lettie. No she is not Alpha Clark’s mate, but she will get a second chance mate. Before you ask, yes I know who it is, but No I will not tell you. The goddess will reveal it in due time. I will say that they will meet through her traveling with our team.”
“I’m just happy she will have the chance to be happy. I hope it will not take long for her to meet her mate.”
“Honestly Lettie, it will depend on how long the healing process takes. There are a couple hearts that need to heal before they can move on.”
We walk the rest of the way in silence. The trip back to the packhouse seemed to take less time. Alpha Clark and Beta James were waiting for us when we got back. I had explained everything to Alpha Clark when I linked him from Lacey’s pack. Alpha and Beta greeted Lacey warmly, I figured they knew each other since they were neighbor packs. Alpha Clark told us that he will contact Lacey’s alpha and let him know that she has been recruited by the council and will now be a member of the council’s elite pack from here forward. He said that he has already contacted Councilman Bari and let him know about Lacey. Councilman Bari will do a conference call with us around 11:00 am to officially accept Lacey into our elite pack so that she can server her pack bond without going roque. Once I come into my full power, I will be able to link my team members to me. But for now, my team will be a part of the council. We did not have to do that with the wolves from my pack, because our alpha works with the council, so they were able to have what could be called dual membership. In Lacey’s case, we don’t want her to maintain ties to a pack that would treat her like that. They do not deserve to benefit from the strength and protections she will acquire from being in my inner circle.
Alpha Clark asked Gamma Francis to show Lacey to her room. Since Lacey is a Beta by birth, she will be on our floor. I’m excited to have another female on our floor with us. As of now, the females out number the males. We let Lacey get settled. Yvette gives her a few clothes to change into. We plan to go shopping after we meet with Councilman Bari.
At exactly 11am, we all meet in Alpha Clarks office to conference call with Councilman Bari. The call only lasts a few minutes. Council Bari accepts Lacey into the pack and then gets an update on my training. Apparently, my training is going better than expected. I have mastered three elements in two weeks. All of the elemental wolves are amazed at the control I have of the elements, especially since I can control more than one element at the same time. They have not realized that Tamaska and I work together. I see the look of surprise on Lacey’s face as they discuss my progress. I guess her hearing about my training from the others makes this real for her. I can’t wait for her to start training with us and realize she is stronger and the things she has had a small affinity for in the past will be more pronounced now.
Lacey, Yvette, Gamma Francis and I spend the rest of the day at the mall. You would think with all of us being hard core warriors, we would go to the mall, get what we need and be back at the pack house, but No, shopping with Lacey and Gamma Francis is like shopping with Rose. I swear, there is one princess in every group. In our group, there are two. It’s a good think Gamma Francis will not be traveling with us for now. Yvette and I should be able to keep Lacey under control. After shopping for hours, we make it back to the packhouse in time for dinner. The gang wanted to watch movies, but I suggested an early night since tomorrow will be the first time Lacey trains with us. Tamaska is feeling stronger since she is bonding and building her inner circle. Now we just have to get Lacey and Alpha Clark with their mates, which will make our team even stronger.
“Don’t forget, our mate out their. We will be exponentially stronger when we get our second chance mate.”
“So, T, do you know who our second chance mate is?”
“No Lettie, I don’t. The goddess won’t tell me. She knows I would drag you to him if I knew and you are not ready yet.”
Well, that gives me something to think about. I don’t know when I will be ready, but the thought is growing on me. Right now, I just want my team to be mated and happy. The happier they are, the stronger we are as a unit.