Chapter 301 As For The Goddess
Leela let out a ragged sigh, her fingers gently tracing the edge of Iggy's soft blanket as Fennigan cradled him.
"And I get why she feels so fragile," Leela murmured, her voice thick with old ghosts and fresh guilt. "She had no one on the outside, either. For years, we were the only family the other had. And then... I left her. I know it was only for a few weeks before I finally called and invited her up here for our mating ceremony, but I still left her behind in that world. I will carry that guilt forever. I won't ever do that to her again."
She tilted her head, looking up into her mate's glowing golden eyes.
"Her whole life before this, she was thrown from foster home to foster home," Leela continued, a fierce, protective ache bleeding into her words. "And some of those places, Fenn... they weren't nice. They were cruel. Me? I always had a constant roof over my head. Even if the people under that roof hated me and made me feel like an absolute freak, I had some twisted version of stability. Ginny never even had that. She has always been entirely on her own, bracing for the next bad thing to happen."
Fennigan’s jaw tightened, a dark flash of Lycan possessiveness flickering in his eyes at the thought of his sister-in-law ever suffering. He easily shifted the sleeping newborn into the secure crook of his left arm, freeing his massive right hand to cup the back of Leela’s neck. He gently pulled her flush against his broad chest.
"But look at what happened the second she finally stepped foot on these grounds," Fennigan rumbled, his deep voice softening with the memory of that day. "Jax took one look at her in the crowd at the ceremony and completely froze. He knew she was his the absolute second he laid eyes on her."
"And she felt it too," Leela whispered, a small, amazed smile finally breaking through her lingering sadness. "That's the most beautiful part. Even being completely human, with no wolf to guide her... she felt the mate pull to him just as fiercely. She looked right back at him and just knew."
Fennigan pressed a heavy, lingering kiss to the crown of her head, enveloping her in his steady, grounding warmth.
"Exactly. She isn't on her own anymore, Leela," the Alpha King declared, his tone vibrating with absolute, royal finality. "She survived that world, and now she is here. She has Jax. She has you. And she is under my roof now. As long as she is part of this pack, no one will ever make her feel like an unwanted outsider again. I swear it to you."
Leela pulled back just a fraction, her hands sliding up to grip the thick cotton of Fennigan's shirt. The sadness in her elemental eyes hardened into something much sharper, edged with a raw, lingering panic.
"But it's not even really that, Fenn," Leela whispered, her voice trembling with the weight of her next words. "I think she was just like me. For the first time in our lives, we thought we were completely, untouchably safe because of the men who love us. We thought your strength was an absolute shield."
She looked down at the tiny, peaceful face of the baby resting in Fennigan's arm, a shudder running through her.
"And yet... your father still got to her," Leela choked out, the terrifying reality of it bleeding into the quiet hallway. "Even knowing that either one of you would have mercilessly slaughtered him on the spot had you known... he still got to her. He bypassed all of our guards, all of our magic, and all of your strength to get to her."
Leela looked back up at her mate, her eyes shining with unshed tears of frustration. "And that's terrifying. It makes us feel like nowhere is truly safe."
She pulled away slightly, pacing a few small steps down the hall before spinning back around, her voice rising with a desperate, bewildered anger.
"And I, for the life of me, do not know why we haven't heard from the Goddess," Leela demanded. "Why hasn't she come down to strike the evil dead? Or at least strip the High Council and Damon's loyalists of everything so they might as well be dead? She came before! She intervened twice through me when the High Council tried to come and lay claim to me. She proved she was watching and willing to act. So why is she silent now?"
Fennigan’s expression darkened, the heavy, agonizing guilt of his father’s sins carving deep lines into his royal face. He closed the distance between them in a single, silent stride, wrapping his free arm around her waist and pulling her firmly back into his space.
"Damon was blinded by his own twisted arrogance," Fennigan said, his deep voice a harsh, low rumble of barely contained lethal fury. "He truly believed he was smarter than the Goddess herself, and he exploited the one place we never thought to look—from within our own bloodline."
Fennigan lifted his hand, his thumb gently wiping away a tear that had escaped down Leela's cheek.
"As for the Goddess..." Fennigan murmured, his golden eyes burning with a fierce, unwavering intensity. "She intervened through you to protect you because you were the catalyst our world needed. But maybe she isn't stepping in now because she already gave us the power to finish this ourselves. She gave you your elemental magic, and she gave Jax and me the absolute authority to tear down the rotting foundations of this pack. We are her wrath now, Leela. And I promise you, any monster who still thinks they can touch you, Ginny, or these children will find out exactly how merciless we can be."
Leela inhaled sharply, her fingers curling tighter into his shirt as if she could physically absorb his conviction. The scent of pine enveloped her, steadying her racing pulse even as his words ignited something raw and vengeful in her chest.