Chapter Ninety-seven

Ajax POV

“She’s going to be fine, Delanie.”

We stared at our daughter. We were doing this for her. Delanie’s Dad was in the next room standing guard. I’d come to trust him like one of my soldiers.

“I’m worried if we’ll make it back. This is dangerous, babe.”

“Even more dangerous if we don’t do this, Delanie.”

“Promise me we’re done with deals after this?” she asked.

I chuckled. “I’ll promise it every day.”

Since we were hunting the moon goddess we needed to go out at night. The baby was asleep but we didn’t have much time. I didn’t trust that old goddess. After this, I never wanted to encounter another goddess again.

“Where do we find a moon cave, Ajax?” Delanie asked.

“Uh… there’s one at the Pack House.”

“Where is it?” she asked.

“In the basement.”

“Oh, I didn’t know there was a basement but it is a big house.”

I had some glorious nights in it. What if the goddess asks me about the many times I had sex in the moon pool? Fuck maybe this wasn’t a good idea. Worse, what if Delanie asks me about it?

She knows I have a past but it’s not who I am now. I never asked her if she had other boyfriends. I always assumed she was mine.

“Babe,” I asked when we got into the car.

“Yeah?” she replied as she stared out of the window.

“Who’s your first boyfriend?” Jealousy built inside me and I wondered why I asked.

She stared at me. “You are.”

“No, no, don’t spare my feelings.”

“I’m serious Ajax, no one wanted to date the human but you weren’t my first kiss.”

I gripped the stirring wheel and glared at her for a second.

“It’s just a kiss, Ajax.”

“A kiss is a serious thing, Delanie. I don’t want to think about my woman kissing another man.”

She laughed. “Then why did you ask, crazy? He was my friend and a rogue. It felt natural.”

“I’m sorry I asked,” I grumbled and drove to the front gate at the Pack House.

“Don’t be jealous if anyone should be jealous it’s me. You have a notorious reputation of being with multiple women.”

“Uh… that changed the day I met you.”

“Yes, I know. You’ve never given me a reason to be jealous.”

I nodded and smoothed her thigh. “I love you, Delanie. I mean it.”

“I love you too, Ajax. No crazy deals tonight.”

I parked in front of the dark house. Everyone’s gone to sleep, good. I didn’t owe anyone in this house an explanation anyway.

“Let’s go,” I said.

Delanie carried the bag of ammunition or in this case the Venus rocks. It cost me a lot of money to buy these on the black market. Cheryl was at the house making sure the huge plant stuck to the wall in Annika’s room was gone by the end of the night.

Ten minutes later my mate and I descended into the basement. Despite being almost abandoned the air down here was fresh and the moon pool was vibrant.

Here goes nothing.

I pulled out an army knife from my pocket and brought it to my palm.

“What are you doing?” Delanie asked.

“This is how we get her to come down,” I said.

“Are you sure?” she folded her arms.

“She appeared last time.”

I sliced my hand and held it over the blue water. The moon goddess and I weren’t on the best terms I hope she showed up this time. Delanie went about placing the Venus stones around the room. The rocks were purple so they’d blend in with the dark blue stones that made up the walls of the moon cave.

“Where is she?” Delanie whispered.

The blood of an Alpha always drew her out or is she being difficult because I’m the one calling her?

The blue water bubbled. I stepped back as the bubbles rose and the water got thicker.

Here she is.

“You! The audacity to summon me here!” she screeched.

I grinned. “Nice to see you too.”

“You insolent—”

“You can insult me later. We need to make a deal.”

She appeared as a woman old enough to be my Mother compared to the fiery vixen she presented herself as the other times. It could be because Delanie’s here.

She folded her arms over her crystal blue gown. “You need my help. Why should I give it to you?” she barked.

“Because one of your goddesses got out of line and they want my daughter! Annika is innocent.” My voice echoed in the cave.

“I didn’t know I made a deal with Nakara. Please, will you help us?” Delanie appeared beside me. I slipped my arm over her shoulders and kissed her forehead.

The moon goddess with her unearthly blue eyes sighed. “Of all the wolves I thought you would never accept your fated mate.”

“Now why would you think that?” I frowned.

“Never mind. Nakara is a vicious goddess. She likes tricks and coning people out of what’s theirs. Annika has a bright destiny and I don’t intend to allow Nakara to take her. Fine we can make a deal unfortunately you don’t have much to offer anymore and I’m not here looking for anyone’s life. I’ll be worse than Nakara if I do.”

“What do you want then?” I asked.

“I want this Pack. I want it to be a protectorate and to carry my values.”

“You know I’m not Alpha anymore I can’t give it to you,” I scowled.

Damn it.

“That can arranged just give it to me when it’s sorted. I’ll take away Nakara’s omen tonight and I’ll take her back to my kingdom tomorrow where she’ll be punished.”

“So we can go home?” Delanie asked.

The deity nodded and smiled. “Yes, take Annika home.”

“Well that went well. We didn’t have to use the Venus rocks,” I said.

The deity looked around the room and her eyes went wide.

“Why you little –”

“Goodbye moon goddess,” I smirked and dropped more of my blood in the moon pool. She vanished before she could murder me.

“Did you have to aggravate her?” Delanie asked as we left the basement.

“She wouldn’t have done anything to me, babe. We can finally sleep in our own beds.”

I needed to call Cheryl and make sure goddess dearest kept her word.

“Oh, why am I not surprised all the noise in the house came from you,” Reign said and rolled her eyes.

“We’re leaving,” I responded.

“No, wait. Since you’re here it’ll save me the time of finding you tomorrow.”

“Why?”

She cleared her throat and lifted her chin. “I’ve stepped down as Alpha.”

“Why would you do that Reign?” I gawked at her.

I waited for her to tell me it was a joke but she was serious.

“I come from a respectable Pack, Ajax. Your brother’s made a real fool out of me. I won’t let him make another woman Luna as well. I’m done.”

Oscar really pushed Reign too far this time. Despite our differences and there were many of them she had done a great job at running the Pack and what my brother did was shitty.

“What now? So Oscar goes back to being Alpha?”

She nodded. “He won’t last long maybe he’ll make his mistress the acting Alpha. I don’t care anymore I’m leaving first thing tomorrow morning.”

“You’re not going to do anything to Shaina are you?” Delanie asked.

“No, apparently there are laws for beheading someone carrying the Pack heir.” She rolled her eyes as if the laws were absurd. Yeah, she’d never change.

Once Delanie and I were in the car I called Cheryl and she confirmed Nakara’s omen was gone. We could finally go home.