Chapter 65 Chapter 65
“What the hell are you talking about?” Brendan boomed.
Erin sighed, “The story follows a witch, a powerful one, centuries ago, who prophesied the ending of magic and all those who descend from magic – witches, werewolves, everything supernatural in this world, destined to meet their demise.”
“How?” asked Suki. “What does that have to do with me having two mates?”
Erin sighed. “Back in the day, a lot of people who believed this story to be true said that once anomalies began occurring in various packs, that would be a sign of the beginning of the end.”
“Okay… But as far as we’re aware, this is the first anomaly, so we have time.”
Reynard exhaled, “No, it’s not.”
Everyone looked at him, confused.
“Silver Moon – they have the first-ever female Alpha in history. It’s not exactly a bad thing, but it’s out of the ordinary for packs, which must count. Here in Moonstone, we know what’s going on. Nighttide experienced a human invasion, meaning someone, for the first time in werewolf history, betrayed their own kind and framed a kid for it.”
Brendan swallowed. “Do you believe that?”
Meeting his gaze, Reynard noticed a small broken piece of innocence in Brendan’s eyes. He sighed and nodded. “I believe you got screwed over, but you’re not fully innocent here.”
Erin furrowed her brows. “I’m sorry, am I missing something here?”
“It’s too much to explain now,” Suki chimed in. “These are only three oddities that have happened.”
“The other warriors in the pack have heard rumours,” said Reynard. “I don’t know what is true or not, but almost all of them sound far-fetched to be true.” He crossed his arms and shrugged. “Unless they’re not.”
Suki asked, “What were some of these rumours?”
He hummed, thinking. “There were loads but… One was a youngling who was able to shift before they had turned 18, another was a werewolf who experienced a bond with a human, and the craziest one I heard was two siblings experiencing the bond.”
Erin yelped at the last one, slapping her hands over her mouth. “Goddess save our souls. How could such a thing happen? The Moon Goddess could never–”
“The Moon Goddess always has her reasons; she can see what we can’t. Whether that’s real or not, we don’t have time to judge,” Suki ranted. “Erin, tell us more about this old story and the witch.”
Wrapping her arms around herself protectively, Erin chewed her lip. “That witch went crazy, she…” She breathed, “As the story was passed down each generation, they said she ended her own life after seeing that future. Many witches say it was a sacrifice to stop it from happening, but others say her death only sealed the fate.”
Brendan huffed, “What could be powerful enough to destroy magical beings?”
Reynard’s eyes shifted, as if scanning his own thoughts. “Humans.”
“What?” Erin snorted. “You realise humans have no real power against us, right?”
“Exactly. Humans don’t care to make peace with us. When they see things they don’t understand, they see it as a threat; they want to control it, and if they can’t control it–”
“They destroy it,” Brendan added in the weakest tone anyone has ever heard from him.
Suki sat on her bed, feeling a wave of nausea take over in the pit of her stomach. “So the attack on Nighttide, the attempt to kidnap Rey when he was younger… The humans are planning something to destroy us, but what?”
Taking a seat next to Suki, Rey put his arm around her to settle her anxiety. “Whatever it is, we will make sure we’re ready for it.”
“Who is going to believe us, though?” Erin questioned. “This is all speculation. We’re pulling this from thin air and assuming that it all connects.”
Suki cleared her throat. “We’re all trusted in our respective fields. The least everyone can do is listen to us.”
“Speak for yourselves,” Brendan sighed, crossing his arms.
She furrowed her brows at him. “Give it time, we’ll work together.”
Erin nodded. “I’ll speak to the witches, see if I can get more insight about that old story. Maybe we should start taking it more seriously since the missing witch had a very similar vision. I’ll search for tales and research as much as I can for it.”
“That would be amazing, thank you,” Suki praised.
Reynard tightened his grip around Suki. “I’ll speak to the warriors, see if anyone has heard any other rumours that could be useful to us, and most importantly, ensure we have enough guards at our borders.”
“Perfect. Brendan, maybe you and I can speak to Zale, get him to help us convince the Alpha about all of this?”
Brendan swallowed thickly. “That means telling him the truth…”
“Only if you’re willing to do that. Think about it for now.”
He nodded.
Erin looked around, confused, then exclaimed, “Okay, I’m going to head out. Suki, text me any updates.”
“I will. You too, please.”
After Erin left, Suki huffed, “When will all this drama end?” She stood and grabbed her bag off the floor, needing to do something – anything – to keep her mind from spiralling.
“Don’t worry, love,” Brendan hummed, moving behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. “We’ll get through this together, like you always say.”
Reynard teased, “You’re such a softy.”
Brendan flipped him off.
She smiled, rummaging through her bag to unpack her things. Slowly, she pulled out item after item, ready to organise everything back into its rightful place. Diving a little deeper into her bag, Suki yelped and withdrew her hand.
“Are you okay?” Rey enquired, concerned.
“Yeah, something just scratched my hand.” She pulled out the item and held it in her palm – a small metallic beetle, looking almost robotic with a pale pink gem in the centre. “This isn’t mine,” she whispered.
Then, as if on command, the beetle moved, biting down on her palm, and the pink gem lost all its colour.