Children of the Goddesses (completed)

Dreams and Regrets

Ethan’s POV

            “Where is she, Meira?” I pleaded desperately with my cousin-in-law as she stared at the drop of my blood on the map on the table. 

            “Ethan, you need to calm down, ok? You’re giving Meira unnecessary pressure and begging every five minutes is not going to make the spell work.” Rationally, I understood the words of my cousin but there was no reason left in my head now. I despised reason. If I had allowed my heart to take over a few hours, then my mate might still be by my side now. 

            “Who is she, Ethan? Who is your mate?” Meira’s voice was laced with worry as she looked up to glance at me. 

            “Laila is a vampire, that’s all I know and I saw her basking in the sunlight. Her gunshot wound also healed very quickly, almost as quickly as a werewolf would heal. That’s all that I know. Now could you please tell me where she is?” 

            “I’m afraid I don’t know, Ethan,” Meira said softly. “But you said that she woke up over a week ago from a two months long coma, and she was taken just a few hours ago?” 

            I nodded in confusion, unsure why any of this mattered right now. Meira glanced at Jove nervously before turning back to me. “What I’m about to say might sound unbelievable to you but I need you to open your mind and think about anything else that you might have noticed about Laila. A week ago, something happened in the balance of magic that has never ever happened before. The balance of magic is a part of the natural world that witches tap into to get our powers and the magic in the balance flows from the moon through the earth to us and back again in an eternal circle of life. Magic could be light or dark depending on the intention of the user and the balance of magic is what keeps everything in the living world stable. A few years ago, when the prophesied Luna of the Gold Moon Pack rose to take her place, the amount of light magic expanded significantly, triggering forces of dark magic to rise up against us. A week ago, an entire new dimension of magic mirroring the balance emerged but none of my sisters, or at least none of the sisters that I have spoken to, were able to tap into it. And a few hours ago, that new dimension of magic began to diminish, and in this moment, it’s just a weak flame, flickering in the wind.” 

            My world spun as I felt my legs give way and my knees hitting the hardwood floor. Strong arms grabbed me by the shoulders and dragged me to lay down on something soft.

            “s**t, he’s burning up. Meira darling, I think we might need Dr. Heil!” The worried voice of my cousin faded into the background as I gave in to the burning pain that has been assaulting my body since Laila was taken. 

            The brightly lit room faded together with my cousin’s voice and in its place was a dimly lit windowless cell. On the floor of the cell laid a familiar figure but her face was obscured by messy blonde locks. 

            “Laila?” My whisper came out wobbly as I tried to take steps towards my mate but before I could reach her, the room spun again and this time, it was replaced by another windowless room with a red cement floor. I looked around before my eyes landed on my mate. Her face was drained of blood and her eyes were blank, devoid of any emotions. 

            “I’m here, Laila, I’m here! I’ll get you out!” I shouted desperately as I sprinted towards my mate but no matter how hard I pushed myself, I could never cover the distance between us, not even as I watched that despicable human snap her fingers until they broke. 

            “No!!” I roared as pain shot through my own fingers and the screams of my mate rang in my head. 

            “Ethan! Ethan!!” The faint shouts of my cousin became louder and clearer as the cell trapping my mate faded away. 

            “No! Laila! No!!” My eyes flew open as I sat up with a jerk. I blinked slowly and my vision focused again. I was back in Jove’s apartment in the pack house of his pack and sitting on a bed. Jove held me down by the shoulders as Meira wiped my face with a damp towel. Worry etched across their faces and I felt bad for dragging them into this. 

            “It was just a bad dream, Ethan,” Jove said to me gently. “Corin and Dillon are working with the warriors of our pack to retrace the tracks of those vampires and human hunters. I’m sure we will find something very soon.” 

            “They’re torturing her, Jove. I could hear her screams but I couldn’t do anything to stop them.” My voice broke as the sound of Laila’s screams echoed in my head again, and for the second time in my life, I broke down in front of my cousin. I had failed my mate and put her life in danger, because I had let my prejudices cloud my judgement. If only I wasn’t so quick to assume the worst. If only I had given her the benefit of the doubt until she trusted me enough to tell me the truth. If she were a werewolf and had things that she didn’t want to share with me yet, would I have reacted the same way? 

            I told you not to be a prick! I told you to trust mate! I told you, Ethan!! 

            Gower’s accusations made it impossible for me to hide from the truth, and the truth was simple. I gave Laila no reason to trust me, to tell me everything about her, and I had proven her right by assuming she was guilty simply because she was also a vampire, like those who had attacked us. 

            “Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t a dream,” said Meira pensively. “That new dimension of magic, it was a little stronger during the short time when you were out, not much but enough that I could feel it in the balance.” 

            “What do you mean, Meira?” Hope seeped into my voice as I clung on desperately to the words of my cousin-in-law like a drowning man clutching onto a straw. “Do you think that Laila is somehow related to this new dimension? And you can feel it? So you know how we can find her?”

            “I don’t know anything for sure, Ethan, but my guess would be that Laila is linked to the source of this new dimension or at least she’s able to tap into it like I’m able to tap into the balance. As for how to find her, I have theories but no guarantees. This is completely new for me too, Ethan.” 

            Meira’s explanation was like a bucket of ice cold water but I wasn’t ready to give up. “What about the spell earlier, with my blood? You said that it could show us where my fated mate was if we have already met each other.” 

            “Ethan, I said that it could work if you have already met each other. It worked for me and Jove when my coven tried to prevent me from seeing him again and I was able to locate Jove with that spell. But it doesn’t always work like this when supernatural beings are fated to a different kind. From what I know, sometimes it would only work if you have already accepted each other or mated. In any case, it wasn’t working for you and Laila.” 

            Mate hates us. That’s why it didn’t work.

            Gower’s whimper made my heart sink but I knew that at least our bond wasn’t broken because I could still feel her presence and her pain, faintly, but enough to know that the bond was still there. 

            “Ethan, I think we need to ask the Tahoe Coven for help,” Meira suggested. “Our warriors and yours are working on tracking down the vampires and human hunters but I think we could try to find your mate using another lead, this new dimension in the balance. It’d require a lot of power and I can’t think of a better ally to help us than the High Priestess herself.” 

            “I agree with my mate, Cousin,” Jove said before sharing his analysis of the situation. “We need an ally who’s willing to bend the rules and risk getting into trouble with the Union authorities. You mentioned that Laila isn’t a registered vampire so we can’t actually report this to the authorities, even though we suspect that she was taken by bounty hunters. We both know what that means, bounty hunters mostly work for the slave trade and if we have evidence, the authorities will step in, but it’s too great of a risk for Laila. If the authorities do manage to find her before we do, it might not end well for her as well. Our warriors can be trusted and I trust the witches of the Tahoe Coven, at least on the matter of vampires. The High Priestess has been a champion of vampire rights since they were awarded equal rights and even now, in this political climate, she’s still fighting for them.” 

            I thanked the Moon Goddess for my cousin and his mate coming to our rescue and taking us in after the attack. Their clear headed analysis was something that I was capable of on my own under other circumstances but right now, my mind was in such a mess that I could only depend on them. “Let’s do it then,” I said, “and thank you both, for everything.” 

            “That’s what family is for, Ethan,” Meira beamed at me before leaving the room, probably to contact the Tahoe Coven. As the door was pulled open, Bettis pale face came into view and guilt pricked my heart again. 

            Jove got up to leave as well, but not before raising his eyebrows at me as Betti came into the room. “I’m sorry, Betti,” I said apologetically. “It’s my fault that you got dragged into this. Are you feeling better now?” 

            A faint smile spread across her face as she nodded before sitting on the chair beside my bed. “I’m fine, Ethan. We should be worried about Laila now. The rest of our warriors are nearly completely recovered from the wolfsbane and will be out to join Corin and Dillon soon. I heard that you’ve already informed our Alpha and I believe Alpha Jove and his mate have also offered their help. If there’s anything that I can do, just say the word.” 

            “Thank you, Betti,” I said sincerely. I wished that Betti would at least be mad at me but knowing that my childhood friend was supportive of me, regardless of what happened between us, warmed my heart immensely. Goddess knew that I didn’t deserve this and at this point, I didn’t want to drag anymore people into this mess if I could help it. “Go home, Betti. Alpha Eldridge has allowed me to stay to look for Laila but everyone else has the choice to return to the pack. Jove and I have everything under control. I don’t want you in harm’s way anymore.” 

            “No, Ethan, we’re from the same pack and I won’t leave you to fight alone. Rest well now and I’ll go check on our warriors again,” Betti said firmly before squeezing my arm gently and leaving.