Chapter 188 BENEVOLENT GODDESS

Chapter 188 BENEVOLENT GODDESS
UNKNOWN'S POV

The forest fell silent in an instant.

Not the natural type of silence or the peaceful stillness in the forbidden forest, this was something else entirely.

A suffocating and choking kind of quiet.

The kind most people experience right before they die.

The goddess still stood radiant inside the pillar of white surrounding her with her pale hair drifting around her like it had life on its own.

And suddenly or rather gradually, the clearing felt too small and delicate to the conscious humans present.

As though reality itself could split apart if she even merely breathed too hard in their direction.

Dax remained on his knees beside the altar stone but inside him, something else had begun to unravel and shatter.

Because the goddess looked at him as her silver eyes settled on him with soft amusement.

With recognition like she knew something he's forgotten.

And in that instant–

Dax paled with the realization.

She knew. Oh by the gods above, she knew!

Not pieces or bits of what happened, she knew… everything.

A cold sweat dripped down his spine making him shiver.

The goddess tilted her head slightly at him with a fine smile in his direction.

“You loved her very much, even if you didn't know her,” she said softly.

Dax’s breath caught in his throat as he knew who she was talking about.
His dead mate.

The memory struck him so violently it nearly made him collapse.

The blood that had come out from her lifeless body.

His wolf howled inside the forbidden forest until its throat bled and turned hoarse with a grief that had nearly killed him.

He had gone hunting afterwards after seeing an ancient transcript here in the forbidden forest that used black magic to revive dead people.

Three hundred Rogues.

Three hundred dead bodies piled under abandoned shrines while he performed the ritual and even went back out to add more dead Rogues when it didn't work.

He remembered every scream and plea in their eyes before he killed them.

At the time, they hadn’t felt like wolves to him, they had been obstacles to him reuniting with his mate.

They had been necessary.

His stomach twisted violently because now?
Now that he knew they were still sentient, he remembered each and every one of their eyes right before he killed them.

The goddess’s smile widened slightly as Dax finally understood the gravity of what she meant regarding prayers.

She was probably harvesting years of power from his act alone.

And prayers don't have to be in a straightforward way, desperation, fear and pain was a form of prayer anyway.

Forget Ragnar and his accidental killing of his mate, he was the true monster.

For the first time in years, genuine fear snaked itself through him.

Not fear of death, but the fear of being exposed for what he had done.

And the goddess saw everything and knew of them all.

Every corpse and every blood of the Rogues spilled in his madness and his grief.

Dax took an unconscious step backwards and the goddess merely watched with too much visible amusement.

Beside him–

Lance had gone deathly pale as unlike Dax, Lance had understood immediately where this conversation was going.

And that terrified him more than anything.

His mind raced violently through the several memories he had buried twenty years ago all leading to today.

Poison experiments with Rogue captives that were chained underground.

He had watched on with a calm detachment as their bodies failed and they died while he merely adjusted the ingredients in his drug before replacing the Rogue and dumping the dead body.

Some had died foaming at the mouth whilst others died convulsing but he was actually calm because he felt like he was doing the wolves a favor to get rid of a Rogue.

All to weaken the former Alpha long enough for Lance to strike, he had made use of hundreds of them, oh gods above–

Maybe even thousands by now because even after becoming Alpha, Lance never stopped his experimenting on Rogues.

He simply became better at hiding it.

The goddess looked between both men quietly like a proud woman admiring her good children.

“You’ve both served me beautifully,” she murmured.

Lance’s expression twisted.

“No!” he said after finally finding his voice. “No! Don't speak like we did this for you!”

The goddess blinked slowly as Lance pushed himself to stand.

“You manipulated us!” he hissed. “You used us.”

Something sharp passed her eyes, but she still smiled.

“Oh did I?”

“Yes!” Lance snapped as he lost his composure. “You encouraged bloodshed! You pushed wars and suffering–”

“Like you wolves even needed any encouragement,” she interrupted softly as Lance froze.

The goddess stepped forward slightly still in the light.

“You killed even long before I ever spoke to you,” she continued gently. “Both of you did.”

Neither Alphas spoke because they couldn't deny it.

“You mortals are fascinating,” she said with a small laugh. “Always blaming gods for the monsters most of you become willingly.”

Lance’s jaw clenched hard.

“You’re simply pure evil.”

The statement rang through the clearing as Dax flinched slightly.
Has Lance gone mad?

But the goddess, contrary to his expectations, the goddess only smiled even wider.

“Well duh? Of course I am.”

The answer came so easily that both men went still.

“I have never claimed otherwise.”

The silver light around her shimmered faintly.

“It was wolves who decided I must be benevolent.” Her smile grew after she said that.

“Idiots who saw my silver hair and soft light and immediately assumed kindness.”

Her shoulders trembled slightly as without any warning, she burst into laughter.

Not a soft one, it's real and wild laughter that's almost hysterical.

Dax stared in horror as the image of the serene Moon goddess in front of him cracked as birds scattered from her mere laughter.

Right now she looks insane.

“How could the goddess of misery and suffering suddenly become a good goddess,” she gasped between laughs, out of breath.

“Just because one idiot saw silver hair?”

Lance felt ice flood his veins as Dax instantly looked sick.

The goddess wiped beneath one eye delicately while still still chuckling softly to herself.

Then she looked at them again as her smile grew maniacal.

“Oh,” she said lightly, “and the funniest part?”

Neither man spoke or rather they dared not to.

“I’m not even related to werewolves in any way.”

Silence from the both of them as the both of them were thinking of they made a good choice.

“So tell me–”

Her silver eyes gleamed with a bright smile.

“Why exactly do werewolves keep on praying to me?”