Fated To The Alpha
Chapter 257

We had just got to this bloody camp in the wilderness, surrounded by men barely clothed and reeking of were-bear. Shake my head at how crazy this shit was. Of course, I knew of their existence but to be frank, when I looked into the fountain of past? Honestly, there were too many fountains to keep track of. I thought for sure, it was a trick of the light. The fact they knew who I was shocked me.

Mateo sat next to me, sitting around this campfire as I watched the chaos ensue.

"Did you know?" Mateo asked me, nodding toward a group that was huddled around Casen. Every move he made had them on edge. I can't believe the mess we found ourselves in because of my niece. I love her, but I would also love to kill right now. "Yes, Celeste cursed them; I didn't think literally, though. They were a rival village or something, and they stole her bear skins, so she cursed them, she had a temper," I tell him.

"You can fix it, right? I think that is what they want in return for Rose," Mateo asks, and I scrunch my face up at the thought.

"Do I look like I am running a damn circus? Not my circus, not my monkeys. I have enough shit to worry about without chasing after Winnie the Pooh because they stole someone else's honey. They need to figure it out themselves; I didn't curse them. I sure as shit can't un- curse them."

"Woah, settle love, just asking. No need to get your panties in a knot."

"I'm not wearing any for them to be in a knot." I hissed. Mateo wiggles his eyebrows before I hear a gagging sound, and my eyes narrow in on my son.

"I do not want to hear about your panties or your private bits," Eziah whines.

"You came out of my private bits," I growl at him. Hands fall on my shoulders, and I look up to see Ezra and sigh as Maddox comes forward.

"Lose the mood. You have been insufferable lately," Maddox snarls.

"Well, if you and Mateo here didn't chase our daughter off," I snap at him.

"How many times do I have to apologize for that? She freaked us out. We didn't realize how powerful she was," Maddox said, bending down and nipping at my neck.

"Cut it out, or I will feed you to the bears," I tell him. Maddox sighs, and I feel the change in the air as he handed control back to Ezra, his aura lessening.

"Have you found out anything remotely helpful?"

"Yes, they keep calling Casen the mate killer, something about Celeste and if we want Rose back, you need to help them."

"They are holding her hostage?" I huff.

"Kind of, not really Rose wants to stay," Ezra explains.

"Not my monkeys, not my monkeys," I mutter when I feel Sage's aura getting closer. I smirk. Hell has no fury like a woman scorned or, in this case, a mother. She was a raging inferno. I had never, ever seen her so goddamn angry. She almost made me scared until I remembered who I was.

"Why are you smirking?" Mateo asks, nudging me.

"Sage," I chuckle. Eziah, Ezra, and Mateo look at me, and I notice And rei spins around and looks in the direction I feel her coming from.

"Now you have done it," Andrei tells Rose.

"She has done it al right; I don't think I have seen an angry bone in that wo mans body, and she f*cking livid," Eziah chuckles and smiles. That boy has a warped sense of humor. Enjoys watching people's horror. I glanced up just in time to see Rose's eyes look past us. " Mum?" she says, obviously shocked.

"You little brat, you wait until I get my dam n hands on you," Sage was furious, pulling leaves and twigs from her hair as she stomped toward her daughter.

Her clothes were torn from the forest. Rose yelps and jumps up, and I roll my eyes when she dans behind Casen.

Didn't want him before and now wants to use him as a shield, he pushes her away. Also, clearly not happy with her. Andrei tried to intervene when Sage grabbed her by the ear. The tribe elder or chief, whatever the heck they call themselves, stood up but quickly sat back down when Sage pointed a shaking, angry finger at him.

Wow, he backed down plenty quick enough, sitting back on his log- like scolded the boy. Eziah cackles and kick him as he laughs at Roses's embarrassment.

"You brat, how bloody dare you. Do you have any idea how many people are looking for you? This is no behavior for a future Alpha," Sage scolds, dragging Rose away while she tries to pry her mother's fingers off her ear.

"Hours, bloody hours spent negotiating with them, and she just walks in no care in the world rips her out by her ear," Andrei puffs out his chest, and I see the leader get up.

"Sit down," Andrei and I both snap, and he does. "Seems Sage spooked him,"

"More like bluffed him," Andrei says and I snicker.

"Sometimes that is all that is needed," I tell him, and he nods before looking over at Casen.

"I know you're upset. Don't blame him. Rose will see it too,"

"You sure about that?" Andrei asked.

"I kept my mouth shut, didn't I when Vince's wolf returned to the fountain?" Andrei nods.

"Sage?"

"I would hate to be you when you got home," I warned him, seeing how that was playing out the moment she stepped into the clearing.

"More about Rose or Vince?"

"Vince," I tell him, and he nods before calling Casen over, who gets up off the ground when I feel the familiar cold rush of a message in the Moon Goddess realm.

I click my tongue, annoyed, always right when we are in the middle of something. Eziah suddenly gasps, and I look over at him to see him doubled over before he staggers, and Mateo tries to grab when he throws up against a tree. "Eziah?" I shrieked, rushing to his side when I felt the realm sucking me in. I reach out for him when he grabs my arms.

"Marabella," he chokes, and we are ripped through the realms. My surroundings fade and I am pulled into an extra dimension and replace myself in front of the fountains.

Eziah still held his stomach one hand on my arm. He let go and rushed to the fountains, swirling his hands in the water while I went to check the bonds. Looking for what pulled me here, when I noticed Kora floating around in the abyss of mist, in limbo. I race back to the fountain of past that Eziah was sifting through when he stopped. His thunderous growl was blood-chilling, and I saw the black tendrils sliver up his arms, darkness tainting him, and his hands glowed.

"Eziah?" I whispered, knowing what he was about to do, yet I couldn't bring myself to stop him.

"I can feel her dying; I can feel it," Eziah gasps.

"I know,"

"I am bringing her back," I swallowed, having seen it, but I didn't realize it was linked to Marabella. I always thought his mate brought out the darkness in him. Eziah shoved me before reaching for the dagger off the gold desk. My brows pinch. "Eziah, what are you doing?" I ask, this wasn't pan of it.

"Making sure he f*cking feels it," Eziah snarls and disappears before I could stop him.

"F*ck!" I turn to the fountain, peering in and moving to the present. I watch as Eziah portals into the room. Trying to focus on what I know, I know he becomes dark, but how. And why the dagger?

"Hang on, Ko ra, he will bring you back to her," I whispered when I watched Eziah stalk toward Kyan and Jonah. The true meaning of the Gemini Twins was revealed to me at that moment.

Power shared between my twins was balanced with one gone Eziah was absorbing it all. I felt sick, feeling the rage emanating out of the fountain. What I was not expecting, though, was what he did next.

"I will make him feel it," Eziah said. My eyes widened when he stepped over Mara's body in Kyan's arms, and Kyan looked up at him, confused before his eyes widened. It happened so quickly I almost didn't believe it. I felt sick to my stomach when Eziah plunged the knife into Lucas's neck before kissing him.

He turned, dropped to his knees, and kissed his sister while Lucas swayed in shock, clutching his neck. Eziah gasps and falls backward on his hands when Lucas crashes to the floor behind him.

Marabella lurched upright, looking around while Jonah just blinked in horror. I watched the darkness leave Eziah like mist in the air, going back to Marabella as it seeped into her when I felt the cold rush of a life returning to the fountain. I peered over it to see Kora was go ne and in her place was Lucas's wolf.

"He killed him," I gasped, turning back to the fountain only to see Kyan explode in rage and attack my son.

Tears slipped down my cheeks, knowing I would have to tell my brother he had just lost his best friend. Whoever thinks being the Moon Goddess is easy has no idea of the crap I witness, the choices I get wrong every day. This was one of them.

Wandering over to the fountain of life, I move Lucas's wolf into the fountain to re-home him when an appropriate vessel comes through.

It was sad to think I had become desensitized to death at this point. Gripping the fountain, I stared down at Dominic's wolf, his dark mystical aura swirling around in limbo.

No matter how much I had tried, I couldn't pull him from this state between shadows and light. For sixteen years, he has been trapped here, never going home like he was waiting for something.

"You wanna have a plan, Dominic, because I can't see a future out of this," I tell his wolf.

"I trust you do," I tell the mystical aura floating in the mist. I have kept this secret for sixteen years, and I was sick of carrying it.

No wonder she gave up, no wonder she wanted to rest. I had barely done a smidgen of the time she did, and I was exhausted of the choices, exhausted of being the Moon Goddess. Exhausted from living with their deaths.