Chapter 56: A Secret, A Sacrifice

“I don’t understand,” I say, staring baffled at the picture.

It’s the drawing of Marcel and me standing under the light of the Moon Goddess before the pack. It illustrates the prophecy that changed my life all those years ago. Or rather, it’s a version of it. In this drawing, I’m wearing the moonstone necklace my father gave me, and it glows as I hold hands with my mate. My mate…

The figure standing across from me in the drawing is blurred. It looks like coffee was spilled over half of the picture, smudging the illustration of the man that’s supposed to be my other half. However, the paper appears to be several years old, as does the damage caused to it.

“What’s this supposed to mean?” I ask, staring up at my mother. She takes the red journal and flips through some of the pages.

“I didn’t understand it either at first. I had to read through your father’s journal to make sense of it. That’s Angelica’s prophecy. It’s the vision she had of the future Alpha and Luna of the Lobo Pack, standing together as mates under the blessed moon of the Goddess.”

Yeah, I figured that much out. What happened to it? Why is it different from the drawing Marcel and I were shown? And why did my father have it?

“But it’s different. It’s a damaged copy,” I say, trying to make sense of what this might mean.

“That’s the original,” my mother says slowly. “Jacob found it in Angelica’s house one day. He was helping her fix a light bulb or something; I don’t know. Her husband was always a lousy handyman, and your father’s journal doesn’t really talk about the details. Anyhow, he was in her study, and he found it. She told him she had trouble remembering it when he asked her about it. She had a vague idea that she’d drawn it on the same night she drew the picture of you and Marcel, but her memories were foggy.”

That much makes sense. Angelica’s visions came to her while she was in a trance, and she could never remember what happened during it. That’s why she practiced psychography and subconscious drawings. When she’d come out of the daze, she’d be confused and disoriented, as if woken halfway from a dream.

“He realized there were two drawings of the same prophecy, and one of them was damaged. Anthony was supposedly there when Angelia originally had the famous vision, so your father went to speak to him. He figured Anthony would know what it meant. When confronted, Anthony said Angelica knocked over a drink during her trance. He claimed that he’d been lucky enough to see the whole picture before Angelica accidentally destroyed part of it. He said it depicted you and Marcel as Alpha and Luna, so he ordered Angelica to recreate the drawing while she was still coming out of the trance. She must not have fully recovered because she barely remembers any of it. It probably happened so fast; she didn’t even have the time or sense to question it.”

Of course. She would have had no reason to. Angelica wouldn’t have been in control during the vision, so it’s perfectly plausible that she spilled some coffee on the drawing. There would be no apparent motive for her to doubt the word of the Alpha, especially when the undamaged half of the drawing lined up with what he was saying. As far as she knew, it was the same prophecy, just without the coffee stains.

Even if her judgment hadn’t been impaired from her seance, she was the Pack Elder, and he was the Alpha. She would have been honor bound to trust his word. Without knowing what we do know, it would have seemed perfectly reasonable to recreate the drawing with a clear image of Marcel. After all, why would the Alpha deceive her over her own vision? Why would a father lie about his son’s mate?

Back then, she didn’t know of Anthony’s hunger for power. None of us did. She had no reason to suspect he had ulterior motives for saying his son was the one she envisioned as the next Alpha. There was no indication that he would manipulate something as holy as a prophecy from the Moon Goddess about two mates in his pack.

“Emily told me that she overheard Dad and Angelica fighting the night before my birthday,” I tell my mom, thinking out loud. “He confronted her about something involving Anthony, but she wasn’t sure. She wanted to wait and trust the Alpha.”

My mom nods, her grip on the red journal tightening.

“Jacob wasn’t convinced by Anthony’s lies. He suspected that something else was going on. When he tried talking about it, Anthony just dismissed him and threatened him to stop digging around. Your dad realized the Alpha manipulated Angelica and used her vision to secure his legacy. His suspicions only kept growing from there. He worried about what Anthony might do to you if things didn’t go according to his plan.”

In other words, he did it for me.

Anthony wanted the title of Alpha to pass on to his only son, but the Moon Goddess had a vision of someone else mating with me and leading the pack. If his lies were uncovered, it wouldn’t be long before the people of Greywood started to wonder what else he was hiding, and they would have discovered the Wolf’s Bane. His entire rule was built on secrets and manipulation, and I was the biggest threat to it.

I think back on every time I interacted with Anthony before my father’s death. He was always hostile and domineering, like he was testing me. And I would always bend to his will. I’d bow my head and do as I was told, eager to please my Alpha and future father-in-law. In hindsight, my submissiveness is probably the only thing that kept me alive this long. I’d wanted so badly to be the perfect bride for Marcel. It kept me from seeing the truth. Unlike my father, I was desperate to fit in and please the Ernoufs. He had no reason to kill off someone who would be so easy to manipulate.

But my father fought back. He may not have known about the Wolf’s Bane, but he saw Anthony’s corruption long before anyone else did. He realized Anthony was unworthy of his authority, so he challenged him for it.

“He did it to protect me,” I say, my shoulders slumping under the weight of my sorrow. “Anthony was interfering with MY destiny, so Dad fought him to protect me.”

My mom strokes the back of my head lovingly.

“He loved you so much, pumpkin. He would have done anything for you. Sure, he could have talked to us about it first,” she says with a sad smile, and I half laugh, half sob at the comment. “But he did the best he could. I’m sure if he had to, he would do it again. He loved you so much, honey.”

I don’t know what to say. I feel like all this time, we loved each other so much, and we never really knew each other. Maybe if we had, he wouldn’t have felt the need to go against the Ernoufs alone.

But I can’t think like that. I have no right to regret a choice I didn’t even make. All I can do is feel grateful that he cared about me so much. In his own way, he tried to do the right thing. It’s all any of us can do. And I’m proud of him.

I hope wherever he is, he’s found peace and that he is proud of me too.

My mom hands me the journal with a sad smile.

“I bookmarked a page in here that I think you should read. It’s about the necklace he gave you. You don’t have to read the rest of the journal if you don’t want to. It’s a lot to handle, and I certainly wouldn’t suggest doing it right now. Give yourself time. But maybe one day... you can read about all the wonderful things he thought of you, and perhaps you can finish the story he started to tell in those pages. You can write to him. You can write about all the things you’ve accomplished and all the adventures still to come. Or you can throw it at me,” she says with a slight chuckle. “You’re a strong, capable young woman, and you can do whatever you want. It’s your choice. Whatever comes next, it’s all up to you.”

Speaking of choice…

“Wait. If Marcel isn’t my true mate from Angelica’s visions, then who is?”

It’s a stupid question, and I realize it as soon as I’m done voicing it. I know my mom doesn’t have the answer. At the end of the day, neither did Angelica. No one knows.

No one, except for me.