The Calm before the Storm

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Waverly's POV

I stood back and watched them revel in the moment they meet their mate for the first time. It was a beautiful sight to behold as Thomas stood smiling ear to ear looking at Bema. As if he was committing every detail to memory. They shared a short kiss before Bema started to speak again. "Thomas, I am so happy to have met my mate, I thought I would never have one as we light witches stay hidden to keep ourselves from becoming targets of the dark witches. To have been lead here to help your Luna and pack, just to end up meeting my forever as well. I couldn’t be happier that I decided to come here to help. I accept you Thomas Ferrell as my mate, I hope you accept me as well." Bema was blushing so hard and now looking at the ground trying to avoid looking Thomas in the eyes. With every word she spoke the love and happiness that he was exuding only became more prominent especially when she said she accepted him. Thomas picked Bema up and twirled her around in the air, her laughter filling the air around us. I couldn't stop smiling at the two of them, they looked so perfect together, just as the moon goddess intended. After placing her back on the ground Thomas looked down at her his smile has never left his face. "I Thomas Ferrell, accept you Bemiyrah as my mate. I am so honored to have you as my mate. My wolf Lyre was so happy that you accepted us and wants to meet you." She smiled up at him, the love they already have showing with every sparkle in her eye. "Thomas I would love to meet Lyre, but unfortunately I am here to help the Luna and it is urgent that I start helping her now. When I have finished could we pick up this conversation and maybe get to know each other and then go out to meet Lyre?" She looked at him hopeful, she did not want to hurt his feelings; and I for one know that the pull of the bond wanting to be close to each other now that they know they are mates will be hard to keep away when your soul is literally yelling at you to go to them. "I understand my love and I will be here waiting for you when you are finished. I am even more proud that you put my Luna before us as a true pack member would do. Luna I will be going to help the Alpha and will come back as soon as you are done to show Bema the pack and the territory." I smiled over at him, "Thomas that sounds like a good plan, I will inform Xavier when we are done and you can come back to escort her around. I am so happy for the both of you!!" I squealed a little bit, like a school girl at how happy I am at seeing them.

Bema and I headed inside the pack house where I lead her to my office on the fourth floor. My office doubles as the library as well, since I love to read and there was a small office that used to be Xavier's aunt's when she was Luna before she was killed. No one had gone into that room since her death, but it called to me like a lot of things have been doing after I woke up. The office was like a small light humming sound that whispered my name every time I came in here to look for something to read to learn more about the werewolf world that I was now thrust into. Eventually I decided to just go in, it was dusty but beautiful. The doors were stained glass they were made like French doors the glass had a snow white wolf sitting down and howling up at the moon. Inside the room was large enough for two bookcases on either side of the room, a fireplace with two chairs and a coffee table that looked as if this is where she would have tea. In the right corner of the room by the wall was a desk and a small loveseat that is just in front of the desk. Beautifully decorated with an antique rug that had deep blues and gold trimming to it. This rug covered the entire floor as a carpet instead of a rug. I loved this place, it was so comforting especially when the fire is lite and there is a fresh pot of tea waiting for you. I come here to concentrate when honing in my abilities and I think this would be perfect place for Bema to try and help me with the inner battle I will have to face soon.

"This place is beautiful, I see it has been given a new lease on life." I turned to her smiling but with a questioning look as well. "What do you mean by that?" Bema smiled back at me as she took a seat by the fireplace. "This place was once sealed away after a tragedy, it seems that it has found someone to bring it back from the shadows and breathe new life into it."

"Ahhh, yes it was actually the Alpha's aunts office before she was killed by her mate the Alpha at the time. I do believe that is the same Alpha coming for me. I heard this place call to me and since I discovered it I have made it into my office. I haven't changed anything in here just had it all cleaned up and polished to look just like new." I was now sitting down in the chair across from Bema by the fireplace, an Omega came in with some tea and sat it down in between us, she poured us each a glass and sat them down. "Luna, there is milk and sugar in the containers as well I will leave you to make it just how you like. If that is all I will take my leave." She smiled and gave a slight bow before heading back out.

"Bema, what do I need to do in this upcoming situation? I know that they are going to try and make me like them, so that they can easily take the light from me to help Ravannah. I do not want this to happen, I am utterly terrified that I will end up losing this battle with the darkness and kill my whole pack and my mate." I took a sip of my tea to calm my nerves a little. While looking at Bema she smiled and placed her cup down. "Well Luna, it is going to be a battle of strength of the mind. I am not sure how the darkness will come to you inside your mind but I do know that it will first try to bond with you, see if you are going to give in to it willingly. If you don’t give in it will push you back to the recesses of your mind, so far that you shouldn't ever be able to take back control of your body. The darkness will become a person of its own while using your body as its vessel, eventually you will cease to exist and fade away." Bema paused for a moment and took another sip of her tea before starting again. "During this time while you are pushed far away from reality, the darkness should put up walls to make sure you can't escape the cage it is stuffing you in, along with putting walls around the light within you as well to stop you from getting to it. I am going to hypnotize you and force you to the far corners of your mind. I will place barrier walls around the light to stop you from getting to it, and you will have to break them down to get to the light. Once we get you there I will explain to you what to do. Let's get started with the first part and work our way out from there." Bema smiled up at me, waiting for my response. "It sounds simple enough, let’s do this. I really don't want to be stuffed in a cage inside my mind for all eternity."

I started with a breathing exercise to get myself centered and clear my mind. Bema holds her hands out and I place my hands in hers and close my eyes. She hums a very soothing tune, that relaxes me even further. I could feel my muscles completely relax and I feel weightless as if I am floating on air. Suddenly I feel myself being laid down on a soft surface, my hands are no longer in Bemas'. I feel the fabric with my finger tips and notice that I am on the love seat. She must have moved me to make this easier. I can still feel my surroundings but I can't open my eyes, Bema's humming seems to increase and soon I feel myself being pushed father from reality and engulfed into the dark recesses of my mind. I can no longer here Bema's humming or feel the fabric of the love seat underneath me. I am now standing in the same place I was so long ago during my awakening, a place I never wanted to be in again.

The fear of being stuck in the void started to creep up within me, but I had to stay strong. "Bema, are you there?" I called out to her, she didn’t say anything at first. "Yes, Luna turn around." I could tell she was smiling by the tone in her voice. I turned around to see a misty looking Bema standing behind me. "Why do look like that? How are you in here with me? I thought you would be verbally walking me through this." I asked her a little confused but still really happy to not be alone in here. "It is a form of astral projection, instead of sending my consciousness to someone in the outside world I projected my consciousness into your mind to make it easier to show you what you have to do. I will be here every step of the way, then we will do this exercise again but without my help. That way you will know what to do when it is all left up to you to do it. If you are ready we can get started." Bema looked at me waiting for the go ahead. I took a deep breath after absorbing everything she said. Once I felt ready she began. "Bema, please since you are literally inside my mind, how about you just call me Waverly not Luna. I think the formalities are not necessary since we will be really close after this." I told this to her, just before she started again. I know the Luna thing will make me add extra pressure onto myself as well, since I will be thinking of my pack. I am going to have to concentrate on myself during this ordeal and only think of them if I get discouraged. "Luna, I mean Waverly, that is fine by me. Now I am going to push you farther back, we are still close enough for you to reach out and the path to the outside world will come into view. I want you to prepare yourself, there will be a feeling of pressure on your chest, this is me pushing back. Don't try to fight it, it will only hurt you more than help." As she was saying this she lifted her hands in front of her with her palms up in a stance that would look like she is surrendering. Slowly her eyes started glowing and she made a forward motion with her hands toward me as if she was pushing me away from her. The pressure radiated across my chest, just like she had said and I watched as she became smaller and smaller, the darkness of the void engulfing me until she was not longer in sight and the pressure on my chest was gone.

I felt like I did when I thought I had died and woke up being so far away from the beeping I really thought I was dead. This is the part where Eden came and brought me back out. I looked around but all there was, was darkness. The silence was deafening, and the fear of being stuck in here started creep up again, but this time I pushed it back. I will not break! I told myself. Soon Bema's voice filled the once eerily silent void. "Waverly, now that you are far out of the reach of the outside world you are going to have to center yourself and call out to the light. You have to find it and use it to help you gain control of your body again. Just like when you center yourself for the hypnosis you will need to do the same thing to feel the light beckoning you to it." With that her voice faded away again. I sat down and crossed my legs Indian style and took in deep breaths while exhaling slowly. Once I felt relaxed I tried to feel the light within me, listening to see if it called out to me. A warm feeling started to engulf me, opening up my eyes I stood and started to walk further into the void of my mind. The warm fuzzy feeling continued to grow and grow until I was stopped by a wall. It was a very large wall and it was thick as well. I could feel the warmth from the light pulling me to it, but the wall wouldn't budge. "Waverly, don't try so hard, clear your mind and hold onto the power of the light that is pulling you toward it. That little bit of power you feel pulling at you, use it to break the barrier wall down." Bema instructed me to relax and center myself again and use the power I am feeling as a weapon against the barrier. I nodded at what she said like she could see me. I took a breath in and let it out. Placing both of my hands against the wall I centered myself and started to picture a string that was connected to myself, going into the wall and ending up connected to the light. I focused on the power I could feel pulsing from the string, with that I put pressure against the palms of my hand and pushed forward. The blue string that I was seeing pulsed brighter until I could her a cracking sound, followed by lots of trembling. I opened my eyes and took a few steps back, as the wall crumbled to ground and disappeared as if it was never there to start with. I continued to do this three more time until I was finally standing in front of a big ball of glowing bright blue light. "Waverly, you are doing great. So far you haven't exhausted yourself while breaking the barriers, but the ones that you will be put up by the darkness may be stronger than mine. So remember to pace yourself if you can’t get it to fall the first time. Now that you have made it, I want you to reach out and take back the light." I do as she says, slowly walking up to the floating ball, and reaching out to it. As soon as my hands touched it, it slowly took me over. I watched it was it flowed up my hand, then my arm and until my whole body was covered in a layer of the bright light. The feeling of power washing over my made me close my eyes, as the warmth of the light spread throughout my body my eyes snapped back open. I was no longer in the void, but staring up at my office ceiling. "You did so great Luna. I mean Waverly!!" Bema was sitting on the floor beside me clapping her hands and smiling widely at me. "You did amazing, you're already very in tune with yourself and your mind. Let's try one more time but this time I will not be there. You will still feel the pressure against your chest as I push you to the farthest places in your mind. I will rebuild the walls while I am sending you away, you will have to come back to us one your own. I know you can do it. If you are ready we will start again." I looked over at Bema with a smile on my face as well, "Yes, let's try again and after it should be time for lunch." She nodded in agreement and we started again.

Just like last time I was just standing in the void, and soon a pressure was radiating across my chest along with the feeling of being pushed away even farther. Once the pressure was gone I knew to center myself and think about the pull of the light, the power that I was now missing and my soul was searching for.  Just like last time I could feel the pull of power calling me to it and I started walking in the direction that pulled at me most. Eventually I ended up looking at a huge wall stopping me from going any farther, I took deep breaths and let them  out slowly, focusing on the string of pulsing blue that was connecting me to the light. I placed my hands on the wall and focused that power into myself and forcing it out of my hands to break the wall. It took a little longer than before but soon a cracking sound and then the crumbling follow shortly after just like the first time. I did this again 3 more times until I was standing back in front of glowing blue ball of light. Reaching out just like before, I could feel the power slowly consume me and radiate all throughout my body. Within seconds my eyes flashed open, and the ceiling of my office once again came into view.

"Yes, yes!!" Bema was standing bouncing on her feet with happiness. "You did amazing! I have no doubt that you will be able to overcome the darkness. Now all that is left is dampening the spell they will use on you so that you are able to accomplish this and to stop anything else they may use to turn you against your mate and pack. Please hold out your arm that has the Guardian's mark on it." I did as she said, and she placed her hand over the mark. She started chanting something almost in a whisper, I couldn't tell you what she was saying but my mark started to burn a little just like when it was being placed there. Once the she stopped chanting, she removed her hand and the vines that encircle my mark glowed a light blue and gold swirled color before fading way. "That will now help dampen the effects of any spell they try to use on you including the ancient one that Ravannah has provided them. Without that spell they would never be able to accomplish what they have in your dreams. Now to disguise your eyes. Have you tried to alter your appearance in any way yet?" She watched me carefully as I tried to think back to the other training I have done and couldn't recall changing my outer appearance any. "No, I haven't tried to do that. To be honest, I didn't think that I could do that." Bema just nodded her head at me, "That is alright, and since you are bestowed the powers of Eden, you should be able to manipulate your appearance. This will be a defensive power that you will be using. Close your eyes and clear your mind." I laid back down on the couch and closed my eyes again and cleared my mind like she said. "Ok now focus on a mirror in your mind, look at the mirror and see yourself as that girl in your dreams. Envision yourself exactly how she looks, slowly let the mirror fade while still visualizing this appearance of yourself. Then open your eyes." I did as she said and watched as the women in the mirror changed into the evil version of myself from my dreams. I lifted my hand it so did my reflection in the mirror. I let the mirror slowly fade while still focusing on my appearance being like hers. I slowly opened my eyes to see my office ceiling for the third time today. Getting up I looked over at Bema, who smiled back at me and began to clap her hands. "Yes, you did it!! I think you are ready to fight back the darkness and save your pack!"

"That took a lot out of me, maybe we should head down and get lunch." I started to make my way over to the door thinking about lunch and all the yummy things the girls in the kitchen make. " Umm… Waverly, we were in here all day. It should be dinner time or well actually it is past dinner time." I paused at the door and looked over at the ornate clock on the wall. She was right it was just about 7:30pm definitely passed dinner time, since we normally eat around 6 o'clock. 'Hey beautiful, when are you coming down for dinner? I had the others eat without us and I am waiting for you to eat with me.' Xavier's voice filled my head making me smile. 'Also Thomas is waiting for his mate. I have been told that you were right when you thought it was him.' Smiling again and I looked over at Bema, "It appears that our mates are in the dining hall waiting for us to join them. They had the others go ahead at eat without us, but decided to wait until we could join them to eat themselves. How about we head down, I am sure you are missing your mate just as much as I am mine." Bema's smile that hasn't left her face since she first walked into our territory shinned ever brighter at the mention on her mate. "Yes, lets head down." She clapped giddily, and went ahead of me bouncing on her feet. 'We are on our way done my love. Bema is a ball of happiness, I think Thomas got really lucky with her.' I smiled thinking back to their little exchange earlier. I am happy that he gets someone as bubbly and happy as her.

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Marcus' POV

"Our Alpha wants us to attack the pack from the South border in the dead of night. Once we have started attacking leave no one alive that you come across, we need to do as much damage as possible so that when the time comes for Gideon to strike again using our weapon, our Luna. It will be that much easier to destroy them all. I will lead a team toward the pack house to subdue our Luna, if any of you that are with my team get to her before I do, you are NOT to hurt her in any way. She is our Luna and will be treated as such. We are not leaving this place until we have her, and if we aren't able to capture her we will all die trying to do so. Do I make myself clear!" I stood on a make shift stage letting the rouges know our plan, I watch as they all start to nod their heads in acceptance. "Yes Beta!" they all sounded and then took off to get into position.

Tonight will be the night, I have been stuck here for months since we were sent to bring that girl back to Alpha Gideon. I will not be stuck here any longer, I am tired of living the life of these pathetic rouges at least back in the Rouge territory we have a pack house with running water. Tonight we will have our Luna and no one will stop us from becoming the strongest pack in the world.