Alpha Markus
Chapter 42

Celeste P.O.V.

There’s no describing the feeling of being hugged by the moon goddess. It was like every crevice of my soul was lit up with love and light. All the pain, physical and emotional, seemed to disappear. The exhaustion, the feeling of failure, of not doing enough and not being enough, while in her arms, all went away. All I felt was peace in my soul and love in my heart. As much as I loved my parents, I knew, this was all of our mother.

She pulled away and I wanted to pout. She grabbed my hand and took me to sit on the bench.

“I have so much to tell you both,” she said as Kara came and laid at her feet. “We don’t have a lot of time. Markus and Atlas are going out of their minds without you. You’ve been gone too long for their liking,” she giggled, “You have them wrapped around your fingers, you know? They fell for you from the moment they tasted your food.”

I blushed, “I love them too.”

She smiled at me. “I know you both do. Not to toot my own horn, but it is one of my better matches, so Toot Toot.”

I laughed and the smile slipped off her face slightly. “I wish your life wasn’t so hard. I wish I had been able to stop all the pain you have gone through my child.” A tear slipped from her eyes. “It all started when my mother, Coatlicue(koh-at-lee-kway), became pregnant with my brother Huitzilopochtli(weet-see-luh-powch-tuh-lee), the Aztec god of war and the sun. We all go by many names. I am Selene, but back then, I was known as Coyolxauhqui (coh-yohl-shau-kee), the Aztec goddess of the moon. When my mother became pregnant, me and my brothers built Huitzilopochtli’s temple across from mine. We were excited to meet him. However, as my mother’s pregnancy progressed, we became concerned with her actions. We realized too late that Tezcatlipoca(tes-kaht-li-poh-kah), the god of darkness, had been influencing my mother and our unborn brother, hoping to sway him to the dark side and take control of all the creatures on earth. We mounted an assault, hoping to capture my mother and remove the influence of Tezcatlipoca before my brother was born. Unfortunately, we were too late. As we attempted to take her, Huitzilopochtli was born and my mother told him that I was trying to kill him and her.”

Kara meowled and rubbed herself against Selene’s legs, sharing her pain. I was holding her hands and gave them a supportive squeeze. She paused for a moment, silently crying and looking away, as if lost in the memory, “We fought for 100 years, stuck in a perpetual fight. At one point, I realized the amount of loss my people, my brothers and our wolves were suffering.” She looked back at me and her eyes were glowing, “I made the decision then. I gave up my physical life. I fed as many as I could with my life force but I knew it wouldn’t be enough, so I got creative,” she laughed a little at this, “I merged the life force of my wolves with my brothers and warriors. 25000 female werewolves and 25000 males. Among them, my 400 brothers and sisters.”

She looked at me with sorrow in her eyes. “I knew there was no saving my mother, I had to kill her, lest the world be plunged into chaos and death. My brother, believing us to be evil, swore to kill all of my brothers and sisters, vowing to make me regret my sacrifice. I scattered them all across the globe, erased their memories and renamed them, in the hopes of saving them from his wrath. I have watched for a millennia as he hunts down the descendants of my brothers and sisters. There’s only a handful of them left. Each of my brothers and sisters has been systematically eradicated from the earth. Their deaths are slow and horrendous. Each done under a full moon so that I may watch,” I gasp as tears come down my face, unable to imagine seeing 400 of your siblings die at the hands of your brother, unable to do anything.

“You, Celeste, are among one of the handful of descendants of my sister Chantico, the goddess of fire. Kara was the wolf that originally merged with her. She is only reborn every 100 yrs to one of my sister’s descendants. You were blessed from birth, as has every woman in her line, but being paired with Kara activated more powers than even I knew. You have always had the power of sight, she has awakened the power of fire in you. When I sent Kara back down to you, I also imbued her with some of my power. In rare occasions, you can both work together to heal but it only activates when it is meant to. When someone is between life and death, that should not have been.”

“Like Maya. She was too malnourished to shift on her own,” I nodded in understanding.

“Yes, Maya, yourself and all of the females in your pack should have had a normal life. What happened to you, was catalysed by my brother attempting to destroy your line. I cannot give you more information on him as it is forbidden. It is a journey you must discover for yourself. I was only able to give you snippets of the past for you to decode on your own and to provide you with some tools for your journey. I know you can bring an end to this suffering, my child. I trust you to make the right decision when the times comes,” she said. She looked off into the ether, then smiled.

“Markus and Atlas have almost found you. There’s just a few more things I can do for you both. I have given Markus and Atlas the ability to share your many blessings. He should be able to tap into them as he is the other half of your soul. He will slowly figure out how to do this, but you must both remember that the more power you display to the world, the more you will attract those hungry for it. Use them wisely, my daughter. My next gift is one you’ve complained about for many years,” she laughed as I scrunched my nose and c****d my head, confused. “Your sight did break when your mother passed. I will fix it. No more migraines,” she smiled, “Now you will sleep, as this trip has taken a lot of energy. Kara, you will have to explain to Markus while Celeste regains her strength. A storm is coming, he needs to trust in the bond so he can unlock her gifts. The stronger your bond gets, the stronger you will all be. I love you my daughters.” She said as she leaned forward and kissed my forehead. Once more, I felt her light fill my soul and my body, healing the scars of my past.

Suddenly, I heard Markus’ voice far away.

“Find your allies, my daughter. Those who are closest to you and Markus, I will make sure they replace their mates soon. It will make them all stronger for the fight ahead. Go to where this all began. And do me a favor. Have Gillian practice his Spanish. Don’t tell him why, but it will make his mate very happy,” she laughed as my body felt the sparks of the bond and Kara and I suddenly fell from the platform as she continued to speak. We screamed as we looked down, only to see Markus and Atlas on the platform below. “Mate,” we both said, and suddenly I felt myself in his arms, the sparks of the bond lulling me into a calm and dreamless sleep.