Chapter 20: ""...messages...Moon Goddess.""
Lillian didn’t know why it happened, she was a centuries old Witch, but for some inexplicable reason, she felt her cheeks heat up in a blush at the words Dominic and Atlus said jointly. He wasn’t her mate, and he was young, not even half a century old yet.
“Thank you.” Lillian managed to say after a moment.
Taking a deep and steadying breath, Lillian picked herself up off the ground. A pat to her robes and all the dust fell from her cloak and gown. With that, Lillian looked at Dominic, and noticed that he too was in need of healing.
Dominic, who had been observing Lillian’s shifting expressions, saw the moment she was about to mention his injuries. Injuries Rebecca had given him this morning when he refused, once again, to sleep with her. In retaliation, she had chained him to the post in the middle of her bedroom suite and whipped him repeatedly with a silver tipped nine tailed whip.
Not wanting his pup to know of his injuries, he subtly shook his head. Lillian’s eyes filled with sadness and understanding, her gaze shifting in Rain’s direction. Lillian nodded, then she walked in his direction, she stopped in front of him. What startled him was when she ran one of her soft warm hands gently along his jaw.
He had this intense urge to rub his face against her hand, then he felt it. It wasn’t showy, but he felt her push healing energy into his body, easing his pain and jump starting his own natural healing ability. Then her hand was gone and Lillian was walking out of his cell. He almost whimpered at the loss, just barely swallowing the sound.
“We’ll make our escape during the ritual.” Rain said suddenly.
Rain and Hope had been going over the details of her half sister's conversation together. It was then that Rain had come to this decision, because the absence of a large group of Witches and Warlocks could account for the disappearance of several slaves.
The Ritual however, wasn’t attended to by the slaves, in fact, it was expected that the slaves would be locked up during the entire several day event. There wouldn’t be a better time for the escape, it would be another hundred years before an opportunity like this would come again.
Lillian, now outside of Dominic’s cell, looked at Rain, her expression grim. “You sure?” she asked Rain.
“Yes.” Rain said, her tone certain.
Lillian thought about it, contemplating the wisdom of attempting the escape at that time. After a moment Lillian came to the same conclusion that Rain had. “Okay, I’ll get everything together on my side.” Lillian told her.
“I’m glad I completed my work for my staff already, we shouldn’t have to do much, everything has been mostly prepared over the last three years.” Rain said, sounding exhausted.
“Rest tonight sweet girl, I’ll come for you on the morrow, you have plenty of time to think about everything then.” Lillian admonished gently, her tone full of worry and care.
Rain let out a small laugh. “Your age is showing.” she teased Lillian.
Lillian gasped in mock outrage. “Don’t make fun of my old speak young pup.” she said, trying not to sound amused.
Dominic smiled, he was very sure the only reason his pup had any sense of humor was because of Lillian. Lillian was very proficient with modern day dialect. However, every now and then, she would slip up and revert to the older ways of speaking, having spoken that way for so many centuries.
He wondered if Lillian would insist on wearing her usual gowns and cloaks once they were free of the Coven. He had a feeling she would, he was actually quite attached to the way Lillian looked in them. Though Dominic did wonder what she would look like in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, or leggings and a tunic.
Dominic shook his head, dismissing his thoughts and ignoring the attachment he developed toward Lillian. The one that started so many years ago, when he first witnessed her caring for his pup. Lillian soon disappeared up the stairs and out of the basement.
“Dad…?” Rain asked.
“Yes baby?” Dominic asked back.
“What does Atlus think about me?” Rain’s question startled Dominic.
“I think you are a strong female, and that one day when we are free, I would love to run and play with you and your wolf.” Atlus said for himself.
Rain, not expecting that from Atlus looked in their direction. “I'm glad.” She said, her voice hoarse with emotion.
“Sleep pup, we’ll be in the fight for our lives in another few days.” Atlus said.
Rain nodded, then she slumped exhausted into unconsciousness, the healing had taken much of her stamina. Dominic laid down too, but it took him longer for sleep to find him and Atlus.
As Rain slept, she dreamed, she dreamed of a blond haired Werewolf with dual colored blue eyes. He was fighting…no…not fighting, he was training. His movements were fast and powerful, his muscles were glistening with sweat under a bright sun. He looked like he glowed internally, as if his body was made of the sun he trained under.
Watching him in her dream, made things stir inside her, made her feel things she never had before. There was that whisper in her head again, one that kept telling her this was her mate. As many times as it whispered it, she couldn’t believe such a beautiful being was fated to be her mate.
Even if he was, Rain very much doubted he would ever accept her as his.
****
This time when Matt was knocked to the ground by his Uncle Brock, for the tenth time, he just laid there gazing up at the sky and the dark grey clouds gathering above. It looked like they could expect a storm soon, they were quite frequent this time of the year.
A mountain range like this one had a very unique and diverse ecosystem and weather patterns. The Volcano the Pack lands surrounded on all sides, was a hundred miles wide. The Heartsongs took up the entire west side of the Volcano, spanning out from the base for seventy five miles.
At the peak of the volcano was around twenty two thousand feet up, with a massive lake in the creator the lake sitting only about twenty thousand feet up. There were several hot spring caverns inside the mountain, and crystal caves. The volcano wasn’t active per say, but it wasn’t dormant either.
The Volcano produced enough heat all year round that even when its peaks were covered in thick layers of snow and ice, the lake remained unfrozen. The lowest temperature the lake ever got was around forty one degrees.
The weather was changing, the hot winds from the south were combining with the cold temperatures at the peak of the Volcano, trying to erase the last vestiges of winter. The combination made for frequent storms at the base, the storms varying in intensity depending on which side they started on.
Brock looked down at Matt just laying on the ground where he put him, and realized Matt wasn’t going to get up for a moment. There was something bothering Matt, he had been distracted all morning. It was not a good thing to be distracted while training, it was a very quick way to get severely hurt.
Matt was always very focused when it came to training, especially so since the spell he had been under was broken. Brock knew that for Matt to be this distracted, whatever was weighing on his mind was heavy. With a sigh, Brock sat down next to his nephew.
“Want to tell me what’s bothering you?” Brock asked Matt.
Matt was strangely soothed when his Uncle asked him that question in his deep growling baritone. That his Uncle could tell something was bothering him, made it easier for him to start talking.
“I’ve been having dreams, ones I think are messages to me from the Moon Goddess.” Matt said, keeping his voice low, so their conversation wasn’t overheard by the others using the training grounds as well.
Brock knew that Matt wouldn’t be talking to him about this if he wasn’t sure that he was truly getting messages from the Goddess. Matt wasn’t the kind of pup who would lie about something so serious and life altering. Brock was also a big believer in listening to the Moon Goddesses messages.
So Brock, knowing the Goddesses messages came in all sorts of ways, but most often they came in dreams, asked, “What has she been showing you in your dreams?”
Matt was truly grateful now that Lauren told him to talk to his Uncle. “There’s this she wolf, a Werewolf Witch Hybrid actually, and in the dreams she’s being abused, tortured, and used as a slave.” Matt tried to keep his voice calm, but describing what was happening to Rain, made him tense, and it could be heard in his voice.
“Has the Goddess said who this female is to you?” Brock asked Matt.
Matt was quiet for a moment, before he whispered painfully. “She’s my second chance mate.”
Those words explained to Brock exactly why his nephew had been so distracted. He, better than anyone, knew the pain of one mate was intolerable to the other, and this was Matt's second chance mate.
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