Of The Moon

Chapter 8: Family Reunion

Angel's POV:

After the altercation in the hall with my family, I took Daxton's hand. My nerves are at an all-time high. I'm not sure how to tell my family all that I have learned in the last week. With my hand securely griped in his, I could almost feel Dax trying to lend me his strength. As the mate bond worked its magic, helping me calm my racing heart, Dax led me to the sofa. I sat next to him, my parents took the couch opposite of us. My mother sat directly across from me and Sam sat on a chair between us. As we sat, I removed my hand from Dax's but I shifted toward him so that our legs were brushing against each other. I could still feel the tingles of the mate bond and it helped keep my nerves at bay. I wiped my sweaty palms on my jean-clad legs, hands trembling slightly. Dax cleared his throat "I am so glad to finally have you all here. Angel and I have a lot to tell you, as I said before. What I would like to make sure everyone knows before we begin is that Angel just woke up today. Her mind and body have been through a lot." He turned to look at me and continued. "If this gets to be too much for you, if you need a break, you just let us know. It's okay to need some time." He returned his gaze back toward my family, almost challenging them to argue. My father actually looked a bit less angry with him. I don't know what my dad has against Dax, but he has seemed peeved since I introduced them.

The sound of Dax's voice seemed to remove the rest of my nerves. I have never been one to beat around the bush. I was just going to say what I had to say. State the facts. Shew, this is harder than I thought. (Just talk Angel. You will find the words, this is our family, our pack. They will be okay. You've got this!) Bay's encouragement is what I needed to snap me out of my thoughts. (Thank you B. You're right! They are our family and this is going to be fine!)

"Momma, do you want to tell Sam and I anything before I begin? Or do you want me to do it?" I raised my eyebrows at my mom. She stiffened. My father reached for her hand, "Go ahead, Raya. I think it has been long enough." addressing my mother, my father gently brought her to his side by wrapping his arm around her. I smiled at her as she began to relax into his hold. They have always been this way. My mom can be a bit of a hot head. While my dad has always been more of the calm, collected one. Everything she wasn't, he was and vice versa. They complemented each other impressively, perfect mates. I think I want that. Woah, where did that come from?

Crap, I can feel Dax's eyes on me. Now my hands are sweating again. I am embarrassed by my thoughts, but I do glance at him. He smirked at me and grabbed my hand that was closest to him. I hadn't noticed, but I had been rubbing my hands on my legs again. I can't help the habit, my hands get sweaty sometimes. "Are you cold?" Dax whispered to me. I wouldn't have heard it without my wolf hearing. "No, actually my hands are always hot, they sweat and it drives me crazy. I'm always warm." My reply was also barely a whisper. Dax held his other hand out, asking for my other hand. I turned my body slightly to give him my other hand. "My mother, she was that way. I want to show you possibly why." As Dax finished, his hands turned almost ice-cold. Immediate relief flooded me. This felt like heaven! "Oh...that's amazing!" I felt like my eyes were telling him just how much I enjoyed this. "I don't know why we could do it. As far as I know, no one else can do it, just my father and I." He was looking me in the eye and I could barely hear my mother had been speaking in the background. "....I....I lost my wolf..." she said, just as I tuned into her words. I choked on my breath. "What? You..what? How? I'm sorry..." I burst into the conversation. Bay is pushing her emotions forward because of our mother's loss. "I'm surprised she didn't tell you herself." My mom said, looking at me before she began her story again for me.

"Eight years ago, the awful night when we had to leave our first pack. That was the worst day of my life in so many ways. My Wolf traded her life to save your father'. He had been left for dead by Alpha Maverick. My wolf had the power of resurrection but the balance demands payment. Where there is death, there must always be death." She spit out the last several words like they were acid on her tongue. "I am so sorry momma!" Sam and I both spoke at the same time. She smiled at us. "I know that I should have told you both, but I just didn't want you to think of me as weak! I am still strong." She looked between Sam and I as she once again continued her heartbreaking story. "My wolf, Trinity...." I felt Dax flench next to me. "....She was also a white wolf, not an Alpha...but white none the less." My momma smiled a brilliant smile as she spoke of her wolf. "Don't be sad...both of you stop it." She scolded my brother and I, like we were little children. Sam chuckled and shook his head. "You're the strongest woman I know, Ma!" Sam looked her in the eye, "you don't need a wolf to prove your strength! For eight years you wrangled two full-grown pups. I know I wouldn't challenge you!" We all began to chuckle at Sam's words. He was right! My Momma was not the one to take on in any warrior type of way. We would only end up with a bruised body and hurt feelings. Not that she beat us or anything, nope, we would ask her for it. We were kind of crazy as kids, I guess. She has always been a force to be reckoned with. Now, knowing what all she has been through, it proves that point even more.

Dax has been shifting in his seat next to me since my mom mentioned her wolf. I wonder what that's about? I peered in his direction to find him looking at our intertwined fingers. He must have felt my eyes, as he made eye contact with me. "There's more to this whole thing than I had known. I'd rather talk to you first about how to approach it if you don't mind?" Dax's eyes told me he was concerned. "Can I still say everything that I know? Or no...?" My question made him begin to nod almost immediately. "I don't see the harm in that. You and I will talk about it after we're done here. I'm sure by morning we will know what to do." Dax smiled at me. It's now or never. Here goes.

"Okay, so I'm going to tell you everything I've learned since I was taken. Please don't interrupt, I'm still confused, myself." Everyone nodded to me as I continued. "The man who took me, I don't know his name, but he was a wizard. I'm guessing that's how he got me out of there, without you or anyone noticing. A beautiful fairy named Claire came and rescued me. She was sent by the moon goddess herself. Apparently, our moon goddess is also Momma's mother. We are the grandchildren of The Goddess herself." As I say these words, I watch as Sam tries to make sense out of it. His mouth kept opening and closing, his eyebrows working overtime. I know that's the look I gave Selene in the meadow that day. "So here's the hard part....I...we...yes we.." I held Dax's hand tighter and he began drawing circles on my hand, somehow it's extremely comforting. "I'm just going to say it. We have a child. Her name is Fate and she is four years old. Our moon-goddess-grandmother blessed us. She wanted me to tell you, Momma, that it was time. Whatever that means. She said you would know and soon I would too. She also said we needed to contact the coven immediately, but not to put our trust in the witches. I guess they can be tricky to deal with." I let out a breath in a huff and looked around the room.

"You mean I have a granddaughter?" My father was the first to speak. His smile grew as he thought about it, "is she here? I bet she's asleep by now. I can't wait to meet her." Good dad took that well. "That's probably who Sargent and I smelled on you in the hallway. She smells a lot like you. I thought....I'm sorry for my reaction, my King." My father's eyes were wide now. I think he's trying to fully process everything. Dax shook his head, "completely understandable, I knew what made you think what you did. Also, please call me Dax, all of you. I have waited for my mate, Angel, for years. I have done my best to raise our daughter with a bit of help from my Beta and my twin sister, of course. Fate is amazing, she is very excited to meet you all. I'm actually surprised Max got her to sleep fairly easily." He chuckled. I found out earlier that Fate isn't a huge fan of bedtime, normally. Evidently, today was just too much for her. I wonder if it had to do with her helping me wake up? The thought made me feel slightly guilty.

"She made your daughter, and then left her here? My mother and I will be having a discussion about this! I guess that makes me an absent grandmother and Angel, an absent mother. Poor child didn't get to have her family. That's just like Selene. To create and abandon a child without her mother!" My momma wasn't taking this well. I know she's mad at Selene. I guess she wasn't a great mother? How would I know though? It's not like Momma even spoke of her. My daughter didn't do anything wrong, she isn't going to speak of her, or how she exists this way. I raised my voice. "Don't you be upset about my daughter. You're the one who has been keeping huge goddess-sized secrets! Fate is a wonderful child. Dax and his family, have made sure she knew I would be here as soon as destiny allowed. She knew I hadn't abandoned her! How dare you imply that! You don't get to be mad right now. If I had known who I was, hell who you were. Had I known, maybe I would have been here sooner! Maybe I wouldn't have missed so many of her firsts!" I was shaking and tears were threatening to fall as I finished yelling at my mom. Dax had put his hand on my back, once again rubbing circles. Sam reached over and put his hand on my knee. "I know I cannot wait to meet my niece. I bet she is as amazing as her mother." Sam's words helped me ease the weight off my chest. I've never yelled at my mom like that. "She is going to love her Uncle Sammy!" I said with a small smile. "Oh no you don't. Please don't teach her to call me that! What did I ever do to you?" Poor Sam was whining. He hated it when I called him Sammy, but he never made me stop, so growing up that's what I called him.

My mother was practically vibrating in her chair. "I'm sorry Angel. You're more than right, I was out of line. That woman gets to me sometimes. I've never been able to not love her, but I've sure gotten good at not letting her occupy too much of my heart. What I did, pushing her away, was wrong. I shouldn't have hidden who we are from you. She was around when you both were children, but mostly stayed hidden for your safety as well." She was looking Sam in the eye now, "would you like to meet her Sam?"

Sam straightened in his chair. "I...I guess I do want to meet her. There are a lot of people I'm anxious to meet, as it turns out." Sam looked at me with a wink. "Bring on my Goddess-Grandma!" Sam readjusted in his chair to look at Momma. He had this way about him that immediately made everyone around him feel lighter. He was always a jokester. Momma called him a handful. Daddy called him spirited. I just called him Sammy, my big brother, protector, and friend.

"Who are you calling Goddess-Grandma?" The melodic laughter of Selene herself rang out. Sam's eyes widened as he turned toward the new voice. "Ah...Samuel Whyte, born Beta and Royal Guard. Your story is hardly finished though. I, myself, even wonder how many more titles you will come by in this life. You have been such a joy to watch. I do, however, want to know why you never went to the Mate Ball's you were invited to by the Kingdom?" Selene was now standing next to Sam's chair. She had reached a hand out to touch his shoulder as she spoke in a soft tone. Sam looked her in the eye and replied, "I couldn't find my mate. If I found her, how would I protect Angel? Jagger and I couldn't be distracted. Even when we were focused, we lost Angel. How would we ever protect our mate?" Sam shook his head. He had lost his confidence, now staring at his hands that were folded in his lap. How did I not realize he was avoiding his mate because of me? My eyes teared up, I opened my mouth to speak, only to be silenced by the wave of Selene's hand. "I was afraid that could be the reason. My boy, you are plenty capable, and your mate, she may just rival you in strength. Only the best for my favorite grandson. I truly believe she will make protecting Angel much easier. You will have little choice in meeting her here soon. All I will say is that she lives in the area and it will be so much fun to watch you try to win her heart. Especially when she realizes how long you have made her wait for you!" Selene let out a snort and clapped him on the shoulder once more before directing her attention toward momma.

As their eyes met, I watched as my Mom's eyes began to shine with unshed tears, once again. Selene spoke first, "Raya, my beautiful girl! When I heard your call, I thought I was dreaming. I am so sorry for all that has gone unsaid between us. I respected your wishes to stay away until recently. I hope you know that I didn't have a choice. I cannot protect you all from behind the veil any longer." Selene looked upset as she spoke, sadness practically seeping from her pours. My mother now stood, tears visibly streaking her porcelain cheeks. As she crossed the space between Selene and herself she opened her arms to her mother as a sob sounded from her lips. Embracing one another, the two women cried. They seemed to be putting each other back together. Selene held my mother and stroked her hair. She was whispering to her, things none of us could hear. As my mother's body began to relax she finally spoke to Selene. "All those years.." She choked on her words but started again. "All this time, I have been angry at you because it was easier to think it was all your fault. I know that it wasn't. Hell I think I knew it back then. I'm so sorry for all the hateful things I said that day. I have been a coward, I should have called for you sooner." "Oh, Raya. My daughter, you are so much like me, stubborn and strong. I have heard your heart call for me. I knew you didn't hate me and that was enough. I also knew that eventually destiny would bring us here. I only hoped that you would be ready to see me. I know the loss of Trinity was more painful than anything I could possibly imagine. I wish I could have given her right back to you, but I couldn't. Trust me, we tried. Sadly, I need to apologize for the headaches I caused you for several months following the incident. Your father, made me stop and promise him that I would let you live the life you chose until the day I couldn't any longer. So, that's what I did. I waited but we can wait no longer, baby. I need you to unlock your powers and for you to do the same for your children. The time is now, I need my family to keep destiny in line." Selene directed the last sentence to the entire room, "but first, we have a little hunter problem to deal with..."