The Blessed Reborn Lycan

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

The lake was still, a mirror of moonlight and clouds. Asha stood at the edge, arms folded tight across her chest, eyes distant as the wind played with strands of her hair.

She didn’t know how long she’d been there long enough for the silence to settle deep in her bones, long enough for her heartbeat to quiet.

Then she heard him.

Footsteps, too deliberate to be Jason’s, too familiar to mistake.

Rowan.

She didn’t turn when he stopped a few feet behind her. His presence was like pressure, like heat rolling off his skin even though the night was cool.

“I saw you leave,” he said, voice low. “Figured you’d come here.”

She nodded once, still staring ahead. “It’s quiet here.”

A beat passed. “You see, it happened when she was 18, you get that right?”

Asha didn’t answer, she didn’t need to. The whole pack had felt the shift when Farah and George found each other. A ripple of something sacred.

Rowan stepped closer, just enough to feel too near.

“You know… maybe it’s time,” he said carefully. “Time to try.”

Asha turned her head, brow furrowed. “Try what?”

He looked at her, eyes burning with hope that made her stomach twist. Rowan stepped closer, speaking as he moved.

“To awaken it. The bond. Maybe we don’t have to wait until your birthday. Maybe if we, if we get close, if you just let me,”

He quickly grabs her waist and brushes his lips against her ear.

She quickly steps away as if burned by the touch.

“No.” The word was sharper than she meant, but she didn’t take it back.

Rowan flinched, barely, but it was there.

“I can’t,” she said, softer this time. “I don’t even know for sure if I have a wolf. You’re holding on to something that might not be real.”

His jaw tightened. “It is real. I feel it, Asha. Every time you’re near. I’ve waited for you. Protected you. Believed in you when no one else did.”

“I never asked you to!” Her voice rose with the frustration she tried to swallow, echoing across the lake like something broken. “I care about you, Rowan, I just don't think so in that way. I won’t lie to you just because you want this so badly.”

His chest rose and fell, breaths coming too fast. He stepped back, the hurt in his eyes impossible to miss.

“I’m not trying to force anything,” he said, quieter now. “I just… I just want to know. One way or another.”

Asha closed her eyes. “So do I. But I won’t gamble your heart, or mine on a maybe.”

Silence stretched between them.

Finally, Rowan nodded, jaw clenched. “Then I’ll wait. But not forever.”

She opened her eyes, met his gaze. “That’s all I can ask.”

And then he left her there, by the water, with the moon watching overhead and her reflection rippling in the waves, blurred, uncertain, shifting.

Over time, things go back to normal, George and Farah get closer and she starts to let him in.

One morning, Farah runs into Asha's bedroom squealing to high heavens that she has GREAT news. Asha who is now unfortunately fully awake rubs her eyes and says voice dripping in sarcasm, “Well good morning to you too Farah, thank you I slept well thank you so much for asking.”

Farah giggling non stop now rolls her eyes and shows Asha the ring on her finger.

Now Asha jumps up and is also squealing “No way no way no way for real??” Farah nods happily and says “I want you to be my maid of honor, please Asha?” Tears now falling from her face and a bright smile on her face, how could Asha say no to her.

“You will officially be a part of the family soon, of course I will.” They start squealing more when Jason rushes in and jumps on the bed. “So ladies, when do we start on planning this party?” The three of them laugh and talk about every detail of Farah's wedding.

Down the hall, Ned, Garrett, and Amy all talk about what this means for the future of the pack. Ned begins, “Soon after the mating ceremony was when I received the Alpha mark, a sign to take leadership of the pack. It may take time before the leaves show, we may have to wait for Farah's wolf to make an entrance. They feel the bond, but her wolf won’t come forward for them to mark each other.”

Amy nods her head and looks deep in thought. “Maybe he needs to mark her first, then her wolf will fully awaken to the bite of her mate. A sign to her wolf that she is safe now. We shall see after the ceremony, he will take her to the forest on his back since she cant shift, and see if maybe alone she will come forward after he bites her.”

Garret silent as always, leaning against the wall, asks the other question that he knows Ned has been circling for days. “And what if George is ready, and Rowan is not?”

Ned grunts heavy, he knows exactly what that will do not only to his and Georges friendship, but grow the tension between him and Asha.

Garret continues, “Do you think he will blame Asha for not being given the full mark? To bring up their bond again?”

Ned shoots up and looks at Garrett with confusion, “You don't think they’re mates?”

Garrett looks to Amy, still with her head down in thought. He says, “No I don't think so, I think its pure infatuation with the mysterious girl he grew up with. His wolf maybe made her his chosen by sheer want, but they are not fated. The bond isn't real. The way Asha acts around him compared to Farah around George? Miles apart from each other.”

Amy finally speaks up, “If Asha chooses him it will be just that, that she chose to be with him and truly wants it, bond or not. But I don’t see it, she has never had any reaction to him and has told me time and time again that she feels nothing for him. We will just have to keep an eye on him if the time comes that George is ready to lead the pack. And Rowan is not.”

The three of them stand in silence for a moment. Garrett stealing a glance at Amy as usual, but today, just for a moment, she smelt of milk and honey. He shakes it off and announces that he must go, he must help with training since the Alpha house may be a bit busy for a while.

The next day, Jason, Asha, and Farah all head to town to pick out a dress for the ceremony, simple, flowy, and crystal white. Asha also got her dress, a simple light blue, and Jason a dark blue tuxedo.

Laughing down the street towards the path in the woods that lead to the packhouse, the trio don't register someone following them.

Once deeper into the woods, the stalker speeds up and pulls out a dagger, “For the coven!!”

Asha reacting first spins around last moment and screams “Watch out!!” as she walks in the way of the dagger meant for Farah.

Jason cries out “NO!!” His wolf, Eydan, emerging for the first time. He shifts immediately and tears apart the stranger within seconds before turning back and seeing Asha's unmoving body bleeding out on the ground as Farah tries to stop the blood crying uncontrollably.

Still in wolf form Jason howls and sends a mindlink to the Alpha and the clinic. In a mindlink he reaches to Farah.

...Farah get up you have to put her on my back, get on too and hold her up, I’ll take us to the clinic...

She can’t move. So much blood. She gets flashbacks of the night she lost her pack.

Still not moving watching the blood on her hands, Eydan loses his patience.

...FARAH!! SHE WILL DIE SHE CAN NOT HEAL WE MUST HURRY!!...

With that she finally springs to action, Eydan bends forward to let her climb on with Asha and he sprints off quickly.

Back at the packhouse, Ned is in the office signing papers with Garrett when he hears the howl. Confused he says, “Who is that? I think he is one of ours but I've never heard him before.” Next second the link comes through

...I am Eydan, Jason’s wolf. Someone tried to kill Farah and Asha took the blow, silver, they were making sure Farah died. They didn't get too deep but Asha is still bleeding out. We are headed for the clinic...

Ned growls and jumps up, “Asha is hurt, someone tried to kill the future Luna and she protected her. Mindlink Amy to meet us there.”

“Yes Alpha.”

Eydan bursts through the clinic still as a wolf carrying Asha and Farah. “She’s bleeding help me!!” Farah says through her tears. After the nurses approach and bring her down gently, he shifts back into a human with his shorts in shreds and shirt gone.

Soon after, Alpha Ned and Beta Garrett appear with Amy trailing not too far behind.

Ned roars out “What’s the status?!”

The nurses turn and talk to the alpha about what they saw the wound looked like but don’t know how she will be.

“The stab wound was not deep and if she had a wolf and it weren't a silver dagger, she’d just be able to sleep it off. With no wolf the silver doesn't effect her but the bleeding won’t stop until the doctor sews the wound close, then we wait.”

In a low tone, Garrett speaks of a different take on this attack. “What if they weren't after Farah? Think about it, what about Farah would be so dangerous to the coven? She and George aren't even mated yet. I think they sensed Farah’s power and Asha’s lack of and believed she was the target. Especially with what you and Amy saw that night.”

A shiver runs down the back of everyone there.

Before walking away, the nurses all gasp and Farah's jaw drops as she looks where their eyes are pointed.

They’re all staring at Jason’s arm now.

He follows their gaze and now sees why they stare.

On his arm, now holds a branch with no leaves etched into his skin...

The next Gamma has been chosen.

***

It was quiet in the forest.

Dappled moonlight danced through the trees as Asha walked barefoot along a narrow, winding path. The air was cool, the kind that kissed her skin and whispered of something ancient. Her fingers brushed over the bark of each tree she passed, grounding her in the dream, though some part of her knew, this wasn’t the real world. And she was okay with that.

The dirt was soft between her toes, moss cushioning each step like a lullaby. Birds didn’t sing. Wind didn’t stir. The whole forest held its breath.

Then...water.

Faint at first, like a memory surfacing. The sound of waves crashing gently. Calling her.

Asha followed it, drawn like a tide herself, until the trees parted and gave way to the cliffs. She knew this place. The ocean below churned with silver light, the stars hanging impossibly close overhead.

But she wasn’t alone.

A figure stood near the cliff’s edge, cloaked in white, long hair shimmering like moonlight made flesh. She radiated warmth and stillness all at once. Asha knew her without needing words, she has met her before.

The Moon Goddess...

The woman turned, eyes like galaxies locking with hers. Asha’s heart clenched, not in fear, but awe. She stepped closer, and the goddess opened her arms.

“You’ve come far, child,” the goddess said, voice soft as waves but carrying infinite weight. “But your journey is only just beginning.”

Asha felt tears sting her eyes. “I’m tired,” she whispered. “I don’t want to go back. It hurts.”

The goddess cupped her face gently, thumbs brushing away those tears.

“I know,” she said. “But you were never meant to sleep forever. Your people still suffer. Your light hasn’t yet touched the darkest places. There is work to be done.”

Asha’s chest ached with something deep and unnamed.

The goddess pulled her into a hug, one that felt like home, like warmth, like a thousand lost memories falling into place.

“You must wake, Asha. It’s time.”

Then...

A howl.

Loud and fierce, piercing the air, splitting the sky like thunder. It brings an ache to my chest, it almost feels, familiar.

Asha and the goddess turned together, looking to the mountain ridge beyond the forest. The palace.

A tall figure cloaked in shadow stood at its highest balcony, watching silently, waiting.

Then, their eyes met.

Asha inhaled sharply, and the world cracked like glass.

***

The machines beeped steadily.

Amy stirred in her chair, eyes weary, her hand wrapped gently around Asha’s, when she felt it.

Asha’s fingers twitched.

Then her eyelids fluttered.

And for the first time in a year, her chest rose with a deeper breath.

She’s awake.