Serena
As we stepped inside the fanciest cabin that served as the queen’s residence, words tumbled out of my mouth. We were facing the feast they had prepared for us, yet my appetite couldn't appreciate it. Ashford and I remained silent, observing our surroundings as we waited for the truth about my past to unfold.
Finally, Queen Minerva addressed me, asking, "Where do you want me to start?"
"If you can, at the very beginning," I replied.
Queen Minerva took a sip from her glass and began to unveil the secret of my past that had been hidden from me until now.
“Asteria is a pack unique from the others. Our pack doesn’t adhere to nature's dependence on male wolves, putting our trust solely in the spirits of nature and ourselves. It has been our way of life since the beginning of time. We do not need a mate, and we procreated through casual sex. As a result, Asteria is given the gift to be connected to nature, and though we do not have magic of our own, we can control and manipulate it more than regular werewolves can.”
I swallowed hard as we continued to listen to her words. Now, I was beginning to understand the nature of Alicia’s gift. It wasn’t magic after all but a skill to control nature to fit her needs.
“A few years before your birth, a prophecy was made to the strongest alpha of the land. The prophecy stated that a woman from our pack would be the cause of his death, leading him to disperse his men and a few skilled assassins and hunters to hunt us down and erase our pack from existence. That was the reason why we migrated to this floating island—for safety.”
“And my mother? What happened to her?” I asked. Queen Minerva’s eyes glistened with tears as she remembered my mother.
“Claire, together with her wet nurse, Alicia, was successfully kidnapped by one of the assassins.”
I turned to Alicia, who was now crying as she recalled her past. “Princess Claire pleaded with the assassin to spare her life as she was already carrying you inside her belly. Knowing that he wouldn’t let both of you live, I cast a love spell on him, making him believe that the child was his, and your mom was his mate. The assassin brought your mother into his pack, married her, and kept you both safe from harm until her death. Unfortunately, the love spell broke, and the assassin’s memory of how he met your mother flooded back to him. As he couldn’t bring himself to kill a baby, he kept you under his wing.”
I cried as I heard the story. So, that was the reason why I always questioned my ‘father’s’ affection between me and Tori. I wasn’t his, after all, and was only forced to take me inside his roof to pay for his sins.
I felt Ashford’s hand on top of mine, offering comfort as this ugly past unfolded right before my eyes.
I turned to Alicia, still with a lot of questions in mind. “Why didn’t you rescue me from Beta Janus and Mathilde? Why did you let me suffer in their hands? Don’t you know what I’ve been through because of them?”
Alicia looked apologetic and tried to convince me with her reasons. “I couldn’t go against fate, Princess. My hands are tied. I couldn’t go against the plan of nature.”
“So, you let me suffer at their hands, huh? Even if you knew that you could do something to help me, you chose not to because of my fate? What kind of explanation is that?!”
Tears welled up in my eyes once more, and a familiar sense of abandonment crept in. Why was it that people consistently chose not to extend help when they could? First, my father, then Alpha Craig, followed by Damon, and now Alicia.
Queen Minerva approached me, offering a comforting hug. “I know it's hard to accept everything that has happened to you. But it's all in the past now. Finally, you are home. You can't imagine how much I longed for this day to hug you, my grandchild.”
Feeling Queen Minerva’s genuine love melted my heart. Suddenly, the bitterness and hatred I had been harboring inside vanished. I found myself crying in her arms, grateful for her presence. Finally, I experienced the warmth of a parent’s love—the genuine kind.
Then, I remembered the Alpha that brought misery to us. I pulled away from my grandmother and asked her, “The Alpha that hunted our pack, who is he?”
Anger registered in her eyes as she remembered him. “The Alpha of the Blood Rose Pack.”
I was shocked to hear, and almost immediately, I recognized it was Romin’s work. I turned to Alicia and uttered, “Now, I understand what you were trying to tell me earlier, about these things needing to happen in order for me to fulfill my fate.”
Ashford finally shared what was on his mind. “What’s your plan now?”
I faced Ashford with determination lingering in my eyes. “To give Romin the nightmare he is desperately running away from."