His Blue Moon Princess
Chapter 70

He raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms, surprised. Even I am a bit surprised by my own words, but those just came out on their own. What was I thinking? An Oath of Peace? But the Alpha seems to take it rather seriously, as he observes me very intensely.

"And why would his fated mate come to seek peace with us? Why should I trust you, or that man?"

For a few seconds, I was feeling better seeing that he was willing to listen, but now, I have no idea what to answer to that. He is right, I came here totally empty-handed, with nothing but my thoughts and no way to prove my good intents. I sigh. Why does all of this as to be so complicated? Come on Nora, think of something. This man cannot be as harsh as his father earlier.

"Because I'm concerned. Not only about the Blood Moon Clan, but about everyone in Silver City. A witch is threatening all of our packs. This is all linked to the attack. We have confirmed that those vampires were controlled by a witch, and she will try again. I came here, because if inner conflicts arise within the packs, we might be too weak to defend ourselves next time, and that is something no one wants."

He stays silent for a while, and leans on the desk, staring straight at me. I can't decipher what he is thinking, if he believes me or not. I want to ask him many things, like why does he have the same eyes as me or who is this woman, but I can't for now. This is more important.

After a while, he sighs. "We already know a witch was behind the attacks. She was nice enough to send us multiple threats over the past few years."

What? The Sapphire Moon Clan received direct threats? This is totally new!

"What kind of threats?" I ask.

"Dead birds, mostly, and some of our sources of water were poisoned. It started a few years ago when I was not even ten. We handled it as we could, so far, but the vampire attack was a first."

"Why didn't you tell the other packs?! They could have-"

"Helped us? Should I tell you how the Sapphire Moon Clan was treated for years?"

Right... Back then, Damian's father was still the Alpha King, and the other packs were all struggling for their own survival. None of the neighboring Clans, even if they had been willing, would have helped. This is sad, but he is right. They were on their own until now. "So, this is why you didn't help when the vampires attacked?"

"Not exactly. My father forbids our warriors to go help the other packs, but I was mostly concerned about how the vampires would move. See, all these years, that witch tried to steal something we never had in the first place, attacking our territory only. But now, she suddenly sent vampires on several turfs away from ours. I was curious to see what her aim really was, so I let it be."

"Wait, so you already know what she was after?"

He slowly nods, looking very serious.

"We knew it, but we never believed it. For years, we thought she just wanted something she thought we had. Turns out, what she wanted was really there, but she was looking in the wrong pack all these years."

My head is buzzing as I start to understand what this all means. Pieces are falling together, and I look at the portrait once again. I remember the attack, what those vampires said. What the witch wanted, she thought the Sapphire Moon Clan had it. Why would she have thought that in the first place? And as to know why she suddenly understood she was wrong, the past few weeks made it all too clear, too.

I feel my legs going numb, and for a while, I need to lean on Bobo to support myself. William is watching my reactions, too, and we both already grasp what is going on. But we are still missing some clues.

A silence of a few seconds follows, but the thoughts are only too loud in my head. He sighs, and his eyes go to the portrait as he starts talking again. "You said you were the Blood Moon Alpha's fated mate, right? Is this the truth? The Moon Goddess paired you with Damian Black?"

"Yes. He knew of our bond ten years ago, but I only learned it very recently when we found each other again. I have been staying with his pack ever since."

"You are not mated or marked yet."

He is right, but I shake my head. At another time, another place, I might have been embarrassed, but not now. I push my curls onto my shoulder, not caring about exposing my neck. "That's right. But we are fated mates, I swear."

William Blue scoffs, shaking his head and muttering to himself. "Moon Goddess, sometimes she is playing cruelly with our fates... Or is this her way to show us the way, I wonder?"

Those questions are not addressed to me, and moreover, I don't know what he means to say, so I stay silent. He takes a few steps, walking past Bobo, and I to go sit on the couch. Elbows on his knees, fingers crossed, he raises his eyes to the portrait. He observes the woman for a long while, completely ignoring us. I don't feel any threat coming from him anymore, and Bobo has stopped growling along with my wolf. We just observe his lonely figure facing the painting.

"I've seen this portrait a million times since I was born. She has been here for fifty years, in the Sapphire Moon Alpha's office. Yet I never get tired of watching her."

I step away from Bobo a bit to come closer, watching the painting, too. William Blue keeps talking, his eyes never leaving the woman.

"Her name was Diane. Queen Diane, my great-aunt. She died long before I was born, but my father talked about her so often, I feel like I know her better than I knew my own grandmother."

Queen Diane. I have heard that name before. Some unknown man I came across at Damian's hotel called me by her name. How could he confuse me with a woman that has passed away so long before I was born?

But the answer is clear. She does look a lot like me. Or should I say, I'm the one that resembles her? I thought so the first second I saw this painting.

"My family is a descendant of Royals. The Alphas before me were always so proud of their Royal Blood, but I always thought this didn't mean much nowadays. Just a few droplets, how much more of the Royal Blood could have been conserved after centuries? But that woman..."

He points at the portrait, with a faint smile.

"Among our Clan, Queen Diane is a living legend. I don't know how much of what I heard about her life is true, but if half of it is real, she was a walking deity for our kind."

"A walking deity?" I ask, a bit confused.

He nods. "They say she was a doctor, but she could heal people just with her hands. Her wolf form was just as represented here. Completely white, with blue eyes like a newborn. A blessed child of the Moon. She feared no Alpha, and any wolf obeyed her words. She never had to fight a single fight her whole life, all she had to do was talk, and it was as if the Moon Goddess herself spoke."

All of this sounds all too familiar, and I start shaking unconsciously. I feel Bobo's fur pressing against me, but no warmth can help me. He keeps talking, unaware of my present condition.

"Everyone thought the Moon Goddess had been reincarnated, but she just wanted the life of a simple she-wolf. Her younger sister, my grandmother, adored her, too. She had Royal Blood and was called Queen Cynthia, but compared to Diane, that was nothing. But those two were as close as sisters can be. My grandmother was much, much younger than Diane, but her older sister aged very slowly. When Queen Cynthia turned thirty, with a husband and children, Queen Diane was almost fifty years old, but she still looked exactly like this painting: young and beautiful."

My eyes are fixated on the painting, trying to imagine the life of a woman William is talking about. As I listen, a feeling grows inside me, and I say it out loud without thinking. "She must have felt lonely."

He looks at me, a bit surprised, and nods before turning his eyes to the painting again.

"That's exactly what my grandmother said. Diane was always alone. She dedicated her life to others, to her pack, but she never let anyone in, as if she had some secret she could never share. But one day, she suddenly revealed to her sister that she was pregnant." William suddenly gets up, and steps closer to the painting.

"When Cynthia asked about a father, Diane said there wasn't any. She always said the very same thing no matter how many times she was questioned. Queen Diane was preparing her last miracle, a pair of twins growing in her womb without any father. Do you believe it?"

No father? How could this be? She couldn't have conceived them on her own... right?

"She had a boy and a girl. DNA tests didn't exist back then, so I guess there was no way to know if they had no biological father or not. I guess we will never know. But back then everyone knew about what Queen Diane could accomplish, so when she said she carried children all by herself, they believed it. Children conceived as if Moon Goddess had carried them herself, about fifty years ago."

"What happened to them?"

William sighs, and turns to me.

"When Queen Diane had her children, she said this birth would endanger the whole pack. According to her, her children would have the same characteristics as she did, but that meant they would also become prey for some very dangerous people. Sadly, it turned out to be true. As the children grew, more and more attacks came. From vampires or witches. Dark creatures who were lurking after the power of Moon Goddess' blessed children. The pack protected them as they could, but it was endless. So, Queen Diane, worried for her children, asked my grandmother to seek somewhere safe, somewhere her children could grow in the middle of werewolves, and be protected. My grandmother, Queen Cynthia, listened to her and left, taking half of the pack with her."

So, this is the story of how they came here. Looking for a new place to live, they came from the North, as the Sapphire Moon Clan. As sisters, Diane and Cynthia had equal Alpha ranks, but Diane was the oldest and a blessed child of the Moon Goddess. She was the one with the purest Royal Blood. So, when Queen Cynthia came here, with half of their pack, she could not pretend to be the Alpha of the main Clan. Naturally, this part of the pack that had come with her became a branch Clan, the Sapphire Moon. I close my eyes. Something indescribable is growing in my stomach, and I can barely breathe. When I open them again, he is waiting for me to ask, as if he could read my mind.

"What was the original name of your Clan?"

"...The Blue Moon Clan."