The Oralei

Six; The Past

***20 YEARS AGO***

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*Third Person POV*

It was finally here. The day everyone had been waiting for. Alpha Wyatt of ‘The Golden Moon’ pack and his Luna, Arabella, were expecting their first child and she had been in labour for the past six hours. Unbeknownst to them, this turn of events had been passed on to another pack - despite Alpha Wyatt ordering the few people who knew, - to keep it a secret when the time came.

Alpha William of ‘The Black Moon’ pack was furious to say the least, when word of this revelation reached him from an unknown source. They had been rivals for many years. War had always been threatened against Golden Moon by Black Moon due to greed and jealousy, hence Wyatt and Arabella keeping their news as private as possible.

Once Alpha William had calmed down enough to function effectively, he mulled over the different courses of action he could take.

“We should attack tonight, while Alpha Wyatt is vulnerable,” Axel, his Beta suggested.

“DO NOT CALL HIM ALPHA IN FRONT OF ME!” William growled back at him. “He is NO Alpha, that position and pack is rightly MINE!” He slammed the table with both fists and rose to his feet, triggering his wolf to come forward. His eyes swirled between black and grey, anger coursing through him at his Beta’s insensitive words. Even hearing his nemesis’ name sent him into a furious and jealous rage.

“I apologise for speaking out of turn Alpha,” Axel muttered, his head bowed low in respect. “I was only suggest…” Axel was cut off mid sentence as William flew towards him in a split second and slammed him back against the wall, his eyes wild and black as the midnight sky. The Alpha’s wolf, Ozul, was now in control.

“Well, I suggest that you no longer make any suggestions my good friend. Do I make myself clear?!” Ozul snarled at him, ferociously.

Struggling for breath with the vice like grip around his throat, Axel nodded his head slightly. Ozul released his hold and he dropped to his knees, coughing and gasping to inhale as much oxygen as possible. Once he had caught his breath, Axel stood, avoiding the Alpha’s gaze and kept his mouth firmly shut.

“Tell the warriors to prepare to move out. I think it’s about time I go and pay the little traitor a visit,” William commanded.

“Y-Yes, Alpha,” Axel murmured in return, his voice still hoarse.

As his Beta exited his office, William proceeded to walk over to a chest in the corner of the room. He collected the key from its hiding place behind a photo frame and opened the secret inner drawer at the top. He pulled out a photograph of his younger self, along with two others.

As he gazed upon it, he could feel the anger bubbling up in his gut once more. “See you soon…brother.”

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***LATER THAT NIGHT***

Alpha Wyatt and his Luna were absolutely smitten with their perfect baby girl, who was sleeping peacefully in her mothers embrace, a head full of brown hair and beautiful, big brown eyes.The labour had taken around 10 hours and they both received the most unexpected surprise when she was born. The moment they both touched her tiny hands simultaneously, they started glowing. Dimly at first, growing brighter and brighter, until the baby’s entire body was bathed in a brilliant, golden aura.

The parents couldn’t believe their eyes, speechless with what was happening before them. Thankfully, only the pack doctor was in the room at the time this took place. Alpha Wyatt used his Alpha command and made him swear to keep this quiet unless him or his Luna said otherwise. Of course, the doctor wholeheartedly agreed and swore to take this secret to his grave, unless instructed otherwise.

They knew there was a chance that their child would be special, blessed, but physically seeing something so mesmerising still left them reeling. You see, Alpha Wyatt was a pure blooded Alpha from a continuous line. All of his ancestors, grandparents, parents, had pure Alpha blood running through their veins. Arabella was in fact, a ‘Golden Witch’. The purest, highest ranking light witch possible, well, one below the Mother of all Witches, Helena. Arabella had been blessed with the golden witch powers by Helena herself. She had more than proven herself worthy to receive them after performing an utterly selfless act.

Arabella had always loved and shown kindness and compassion to everyone and everything, as did they to her. But, there was one who, in the end, did not. Lilith used to be Arabella’s closest friend. They grew up together, played together and practised their witchcraft together. Arabella first met Wyatt when they were 18, before he had officially become an Alpha, and they instantly knew they were mates. It was unusual for two different species to be mates, but not completely unheard of.

However, Lilith didn’t like this, not one bit. Her best friend, the woman she grew up with, had become smitten with her mate, naturally. Lilith allowed jealousy and bitterness to get the better of her, for her biggest kept secret was that she was in fact, in love with Arabella.

Now, she knew that they were not mates, but a part of her had hoped that her feelings would be reciprocated in time. All of the hope she had held for so long was shattered, the moment the word ‘mate’ left her friends’ lips.

As soon as Lilith saw that the pair had mated and Wyatt had marked her, she couldn’t control herself. She flew into a jealous rage and told her friend to never speak to her again. Arabella was extremely confused with her friends behaviour at this point, but put it down to disappointment and envy that she had yet to find her own mate.

That evening, the couple had decided to go for a drive out to the nearest beach to watch the sunset. Little did they know, they were not alone. After Lilith’s furious outburst earlier that day, she had decided that her ex-friend would pay, for what she believed to be a ‘betrayal’. She had overheard them mentioning their plans before she left, so Lilith snuck her way into the garage where Wyatt’s car was parked up unlocked and sabotaged the alternator used to charge the car battery. Moments later, she heard footsteps approaching and jumped into the boot of the car, closing it behind her quickly.

The main garage shutter door opened and the voices of Wyatt and Arabella echoed through the vast space.

Lilith continued to lie there silently underneath a thick blanket as they entered the car, started the engine and pulled out of the garage. Around 10 minutes into the journey, she heard Wyatt’s voice. “F*ck! Damn car!” He exclaimed. Before long the engine suddenly cut off, leaving them coasting before coming to a full stop.

Lilith’s plan was now fully underway. She was going to catch both of them off guard and take the thing Arabella now loved the most, considering he had taken the thing she loved the most. In her eyes this was a fair exchange. But nobody, not even Lilith, could have anticipated what would happen next.

A huge truck came hurtling up the secluded road from the opposite direction. Wyatt and Arabella were still sat in the front seats, discussing what they were going to do and failed to notice the truck veering into their lane and coming towards them head on.

Arabella noticed the truck in her peripheral vision and screamed at Wyatt to get out the car. He grabbed hold of her, used his werewolf speed and jumped out onto the dirt path bedside the road, holding Arabella tightly in his grip. Lilith held her breath and dread filled her stomach as she wondered why they were panicking so much. She hadn’t even made her presence known to them yet.

Seconds later, the truck smashed into the car and sent it flying towards the woods at the side of the road and colliding into a huge tree. Wyatt and Arabella stood there, speechless for what felt like an eternity, when in reality it was only a few minutes.

“F*CK!* Wyatt exclaimed.

“Oh. My. God.” Arabella murmured under her breath. She could barely even form the words.

Both were stood, transfixed on the wreckage of the car that they were sat in just minutes before and Wyatt thanked the moon goddess they were alive and unharmed. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for their unknown third passenger.

A muffled sound began to erupt from the car wreckage and Wyatt picked up on it instantly with his werewolf hearing. He stopped moving and stood completely still listening for the noise again, trying to decipher what it could be. The sound came again, this time more clear and it sounded like someone was crying out.

“Sh*t! Someone else is in the car!” He rushed over to it and tried to prise the boot open, but it was severely crumpled and jammed shut. He channeled his werewolf strength and ripped the boot door from the car, throwing it into the trees beside him. “F*ck! It’s Lilith!” He shouted to Arabella and she instantly came rushing over to help him with her friend.

Lilith’s face was bloodied and bruised with a huge gash down one side of her face. Her leg was broken and it looked as if her collarbone had snapped, the bone protruding from the skin below her neck. They were both hesitant to move her in case they caused anymore damage as she didn’t have fast healing abilities. Arabella’s mind was blank seeing her friend in such a state, preventing her from being able to cast an effective enough healing spell and she didn’t have anything with her to aid her healing either.

“What happened?” Lilith spluttered to them, coughing up a bit of blood.

“The car broke down and a truck veered into our lane and smashed into it,” Arabella replied. “Try not to move! We’ll get some help!”

Lilith then did something that neither of them expected, at all. She started laughing and laughing and eventually looked at Wyatt with hatred in her eyes. “Well, that certainly wasn’t part of my plan, but things change I guess,” she paused to cough up some more blood then fixed her hate filled gaze back upon him, “Goodbye Wyatt.” Suddenly, she lunged at him with a silver blade, despite her broken bones, aiming for his heart.

Arabella instantly snapped out of the shock of seeing her friend in such a state and dived in front of her mate, without any hesitation. The blade plunged through her chest wall and into her heart and she gasped at the pain. It all happened so fast that Lilith didn’t have any time to react and change the blades’ course. Realising what she had done, she snatched her hand away from the knife, eyes wide in shock. “No,” she whispered to herself.

Arabella fell to her knees and Wyatt realised what had happened. He fell to his too and wrapped his arms around her, cradling her body as if she were the most precious thing in the world - which to him, she was. They looked into each others eyes with love and seconds later, Arabella’s went blank and her chest fell and stilled with her last breath. Wyatt felt like his heart had been ripped from his chest and his body was being pierced with a thousand silver blades. He couldn’t breathe through the pain and tears streamed down his face.

“NOOOOOO,” he roared. His furious, yet heartbroken gaze snapped to Lilith who was also crying silently, staring at her friends lifeless body on the floor.

“WHY?!” He roared at her, causing her to flinch in fear. In a flash, Lilith disappeared into thin air before Wyatt could even act. He dropped his gaze back down to his mates lifeless eyes and tenderly closed them with his fingers. “I love you my beautiful Arabella, with everything I have. If you’re not here, then I can’t be here either,” he whispered.

Wyatt’s hand reached for the blade protruding from his mates chest and he pulled it slowly from the wound. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and said a prayer to the moon goddess that they would be reunited in the afterlife, to spend eternity together.

As he brought the blade down towards his chest, a warm hand grabbed his arm, preventing him from moving it any further. Confused, he opened his eyes and looked down to see Arabella’s breathtaking face gazing up at him with concern. He couldn’t believe it. She was lying in his arms dead just minutes ago. He checked her chest for the knife wound, but it was completely healed.

“H-H-How?!” He whispered. Arabella smiled at him in return and replied with just one word, “Helena.”

Due to receiving the gift of these powers, Arabella was a sought after woman. Worry only slightly tainted their indescribable happiness, but they both knew they would do whatever it took to protect their daughter if the need should arise.

“Which name shall we call her?” Wyatt asked his mate, while staring lovingly at his tiny newborn daughter.

“I don’t think any of the names we have chosen are good enough for our special girl,” Arabella whispered, “I think I have an idea for a new one though.”

“What is it, my love?” Wyatt asked, turning his gaze to his beloved. Arabella continued to stare at her daughter in awe with the biggest, brightest smile on her face.

“Welcome to the world…Avianna.”

“I love it,” Wyatt said, “it’s perfect.”

A sharp knock on the door broke them out of their tender moment with their newborn. Frowning, Wyatt walked over to the door and cracked it open slightly. “Yes? What is it? Your Luna has just given birth!”

“Yes, I am aware Alpha, congratulations. I sincerely apologise for the interruption but we have a problem.” The guard replied, head bowed in respect.

“Well? What’s this problem?!” Wyatt was becoming impatient.

“Umm, you have a visitor Alpha, it-it’s Alpha William.”

Wyatt felt his face drop and his heart started beating wildly in his chest. He wasn’t afraid of him, not by a long shot, but he was afraid for his mate and his new daughter and wasn’t sure why he would arrive on the very day she was born. It didn’t seem like it was coincidence.

Wyatt turned to his mate and sleeping baby and let her know he would be back shortly. Arabella nodded her head and proceeded to look back down upon her peaceful child.

Walking to the front gate, Wyatt caught sight of the army of warriors stood outside. He was sure it was just to try and unnerve him. He spotted the face he was looking for, walking through the crowd just as he walked down towards the gate.

Their eyes locked and Wyatt couldn’t hide the scowl of disgust on his face.

“Brother, long time no see,” William chuckled.

“The longer the better William. What are you doing here?” Wyatt growled in return, allowing his wolf, Oregon, to come forward slightly.

William laughed once more and locked eyes with Wyatt.

“A source tells me that your beautiful little mate has just had a baby,” he smiled knowingly. “I’ve heard the rumours on what could happen and I’ve spoken to a higher power myself who has indeed confirmed the possibility. Now, hand over them both, I’ll leave and you’ll never lay eyes on me ever again.”

Wyatt couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This man must be insane. He was no brother of his.

“No,” Wyatt growled.

“I’ll give you one last chance but make sure the answer is the right one this time, little brother. Hand them over to me and I’ll spare your entire pack and maybe even you.” William looked at his fingernails as he spoke, as if he was bored of this conversation already.

“Over my dead body,” Wyatt roared, venom in his voice.

William turned his gaze back to him and didn’t say anything for a few moments.

“So be it. I’ll be back, little brother. Make sure you’re ready,” he hissed. With that, he turned on his heel and shifted into his wolf. The guards followed suit and all of them bounded off into the night.

Wyatt stared after them, even long after they’d gone and mulled over whether his older brother was serious with his threat. Either way, he couldn’t take any chances. He mindlinked his beta, gamma and head guard and asked them to meet him in his office, now. Turning his attention back to the darkness in which William had just disappeared, he muttered to himself quietly, “If it’s a fight you want brother, then a fight you shall receive…”

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***PRESENT DAY***

*Avianna’s POV*

I could feel myself coming round from what felt like a deep sleep. I’d had the strangest dream and it felt like it went on forever. The bed I was in wasn’t the comfiest and I could hear muffled voices around me as I tried to regain my consciousness. I frowned and attempted to open my eyes. I managed to open them slightly but quickly closed them again when they were met with bright, blinding lights from above me.

The events from the club came flashing through my mind and I started to worry. Am I dead?!

“She’s waking up!” I hear a deep voice call out.

“Avi, Avi? Are you ok?!” Morgan’s concerned voice reaches my ears.

I open my eyes once more, allowing them to adjust from the darkness. Morgan’s face comes into view next to the bed I’m in. As I look around, it seems as if I’m in some kind of hospital room.

“Wh-Where am I?” I manage to stutter out.

I see Morgan glance over at someone. I follow her gaze and I’m met with Jaxon’s eyes on me. I start to feel nervous, but strangely, not as much as before.

“You’re in, um, hospital,” he says cautiously. “You passed out and we were worried, so brought you straight here.”

I mulled over this for a moment. “Which hospital am I in?”

I see Morgan and Jaxon exchanged panicked looks before Morgan replies “You’re, erm…you’re in our family’s hospital.”

Their family’s hospital?! My head starts to spin again from all of the recent revelations and I feel my heart rate starting to speed up again. I take a few deep breaths to calm myself down and compose myself.

“Oook…and where is this hospital?” I question, hesitantly.

This time, Jaxon replies. “Don’t worry, we’re still in New York…we’re at our home. This is our private hospital for our family members.”

“Oh, you mean your werewolf family?” I ask, suspiciously.

“Um, yes,” he says, prematurely flinching for my reaction.

To my surprise, I don’t start to freak out, at least I am still in New York and not another country. I glance at Jaxon and Morgan’s faces, preparing to ask my next question.

“Who are Wyatt and Arabella?”