Legend Has It Book I ~{COMPLETE}~

Chapter 19 The Necklace

GENEVIEVE

My sides hurt from laughing and if I were being honest, probably from s*x, too. Luna Stella was a hilarious woman and almost everyone at lunch had tears of laughter in their eyes.

“Genevieve,” she began, taking my hand as the staff started clearing away the dishes. “I hope I didn’t embarrass you too greatly. My oldest son caused every single gray hair you see starting to show and I couldn’t resist!”

“It’s was great, Mrs.—,”

“Call me Stella,” she interrupted, “or whatever you’re comfortable with, dear. I’m so happy you’re here and want to officially welcome you. I’m sorry my husband is a bit of an ass,” she laughed.

I wiped my eyes and looked at her soberly. “Thank you, Stella. I feel very welcome.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I caught the scent of a...skank was the only word I could think of.

“Well, well, well,” a shewolf’s voice came from the doorway. “Looks like I’m interrupting something.”

Stella leapt from her seat, fangs bared. “Not today, b***h,” she growled.

Fear briefly crossed the shewolf’s face, but she just as quickly hid it. She glanced at me and threw back her head in laughter. “Wait til my uncle finds out his little agreement with Alpha Khane has been broken.”

I realized Phoenix was on his feet. “What little agreement?” He demanded.

“You mean you don’t know?” The b***h rather snarled while trying to be coy. She held up a folder stamped CONTRACT in bold letters.

“What little agreement?” Phoenix demanded again.

Everyone was on their feet, except me.

“Have a little look see for yourself,” she cackled and tossed the folder on the table. “Don’t worry. It’s a copy.”

She turned to me. “Don’t get too comfortable here,” she was still cackling. “I’ll see myself out.”

I don’t know what came over me, but I shot off my ass and had her in a rear naked choke hold in no time flat. “You will not speak to my Alpha like that,” I growled into her ear. She went limp in my arms, a trick humans used to try and escape, but I was ready for her. “Don’t even try whatever it is you’re thinking.” I assumed that if she knew who I was, she might think I was weak with no knowledge of how to injure her since I’d been raised on earth.

Phoenix now had the folder in his hands. “Well done, my love,” he looked pleased and I wondered if he had used the phrase “my love” intentionally, before he frowned and turned to his mother. “Did you know about this?” He asked Stella, who looked very ashamed right then.

“Yes. It’s why your father’s gone. To renegotiate.”

“ARE YOU f*****g KIDDING ME?” My mate bellowed. What the hell could be so bad? I felt the b***h tense the slightest little bit and decided to bounce her head off the concrete wall of the dining room for good measure. I did it again after what he bellowed next:

“HE f*****g BETHROTHED ME? To HER?!”

After the second slam of her head in the wall, I dropped her. Before I killed her. This probably wasn’t her fault, but then again, she’d had the audacity to rub it in my mate’s face like that. Maybe I should kill her.

“Conrad,” Phoenix nodded to his Beta. Conrad then put her in a similar hold I had used. But I was too shocked to compliment him. I must’ve been white as ghost because Phoenix’s anger fled and was replaced by instant concern. “Get that b***h out of here,” he ordered Conrad, and flew to my side.

“Babe,” he said softly, searching my eyes. “I’m so sorry about this. I didn’t know, but I’m going to fix it, ok?”

“Can I kill her?” I asked just as softly, as Conrad left the room with the intruder.

He crushed me in his arms, breathing relief. “Yes,” he chuckled. “You’ll probably have to if her little performance was any indication.” He set me back down and looked at me in awe. “Babe, you were f*****g fantastic the way you leapt into action and,” he lowered his voice, “if there weren’t so many people staring at you in awe right now, I’d f*****g ravish you right here.”

“Kiss me,” I ordered him and he obeyed. Applause broke out and he tore himself away.

“Gentle and Shewolves,” he announced to our audience. “This courageous beauty right here is your future Luna. Not that devil’s niece!” More applause erupted and I made a mental note to send gifts, if that were possible, to all of my martial arts instructors.

{~>*•**•*<~}

GENEVIEVE

My last name: Triplett.

It took me a minute.

The Triple Goddess?

“One of the things I brought back was a necklace of the moon phases like this,” Stella quickly drew the moon cycle symbol that showed a waxing moon, a full moon, and a waning moon. I’d seen it before: )0( ???

Stella then rifled through the file before finally selecting a piece of paper with an image of the necklace. The page had been copied from a book of legends. One that graced many a child’s bookshelf that parents would read bedtime stories from.

“Many stories throughout time, but particularly among the human pagans,” Stella continued, “often use this symbol to represent the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone. I only made a couple of trips to Silver Moon, but on my second visit, a young child brought me this necklace. Now it could just be a coincidence, but when I touched it, the metal was warm and my instincts told me this was something special. Metal is generally cold to the touch unless it’s been near a heat source. It hadn’t been.”

“So I assume,” Phoenix interjected, “that the port of entry guards wouldn’t dare search you?”

Stella nodded. “I was only going in to assist with the orphans. Not to sort through the rubble.”

“But James obviously found out about the necklace somehow.” It was more of a statement than a question.

“I’m thinking a young Candace saw me put it on. I figured wearing the necklace on my person, as the Luna, would be the safest place. I hadn’t been inventoried when I entered, so just in case I was searched when I left, there was no proof I wasn’t wearing it when I entered. At the time, all I knew was that Candace was one of the orphans from the attack,” Stella explained.

There were no Silver Moon survivors, but villages beyond its borders had been severely damaged, too.

“Candace would’ve only been about 3 or 4 then, so I never thought anything about it until after we traced her next of kin back to Alpha Johnson. Several months passed after the necklace was well hidden here before Johnson sent this photocopy from a book and claimed that his Elders valued it at half a million dollars. Your father, of course, denied having it and it wasn’t until about 2 years ago that James sent a drawing,” she pulled out another page from the folder, a hand drawn image of the necklace.

“Johnson threatened your father with a court ordered search warrant. The necklace would have never been found, but the hassle would have been quite the distraction.”

Pausing in her story, Stella asked Conrad to make her a drink before continuing.

“Anyone could have drawn the necklace from the book image, but if you take a look at this drawing, it has markings not seen in the image from the book,” Stella took a long drink. “The girl who gave me the necklace said I was the only person she trusted it with and that no one else knew about it. The really weird thing is that the girl was never listed as an orphan. I couldn’t find her again. All these years that James has been trying to manipulate a quarter of a million dollars for it, I thought that girl child was how James knew. Until I saw a Mindlink image, that is. Through your father from Conrad and Phillip’s briefing to him. Genevieve, the girl that gave me the necklace resembled Mary.”

I should have been shocked or at least suspicious, but I wasn’t. I felt safe and protected on Phoenix’s lap. “What else was there?” I implored Stella..

“A small dagger, also like the one Mary had, but James never mentioned it. This is why I think Candace must’ve seen the necklace when I put it on. The dagger was in my pocket.” Stella motioned towards the photocopy, “Maybe this story was read to Candace and upon seeing the picture, she recognized it.”

Maybe I could torture the truth out of her, but maybe, she was a victim here. Orphaned young, treated like an outsider as she grew up. This was one of the many reasons Juanita had started Willow Tree. I’d just have to see if I was allowed to speak with her, but I wasn’t worried about Candace at this moment. My new family had a few things from my parents and I was dying to know what there was!!

All in all, there was a 3 piece cast iron bistro set, monogrammed with the initial T, a sterling silver serving set, also monogrammed with the initial T, a jewelry box, a photo album Stella hadn’t seen—but remembered being told it contained photos of my parents’ wedding—and my mother’s Luna dress. All but the bistro set had been found in a hidden vault that had probably been my mother’s and the items preserved there had probably been wedding gifts. The bistro set had probably survived due to its composition and structure.

I felt tears well up in my eyes. Would I get to see pictures of my parents? Oh, goddess, please.

“That’s not quite all,” Phoenix said gently, wiping a tear from my cheek. “It appears approximately $30,000 was recovered from throughout the village and deposited into the bank. If my mental math is right, it should have more than quadrupled. You are also the sole heir of Silver Moon lands, which isn’t overly large, but when Alpha James is gone, I’m sure territory lines will be redrawn to your advantage,” he smiled at me wickedly and added, “I might know a guy.”

I couldn’t speak. I was too emotional at the moment, so I hugged him tight in thanks.

“I think the necklace and dagger should stay where they are, at least for now, but I can have the other stuff brought here. Actually,” Phoenix contemplated, “let’s go to town tomorrow and see it. You need to do some shopping and I want to show you around.”

Again, I just hugged him. Tighter this time.

Back at Willow House, Mary smiled approvingly.