The Chosen Mate

CHAPTER 18 |

Mavis' POV

"Explain this clearly, I want answers and I will get them tonight", the wind is blowing my hair harshly and I still see with this blue tone. My voice is echoing through the trees, I can hear everything. The owls, the insects in the bushes, the animals, rodents, the lapping of the river stream. Everything is so clear and so overwhelming at the same time, I feel like I'm in a trance. I hear everyone running towards where I am standing, but they stop at the limit of the tress, where the circle is like there is some kind of barrier. "Serena, speak now!", I scream, panting. 

"Mavis! What are you doing?! Stop now!". They all scream at the same time, I slowly turn around to see their frightened faces. I feel my eyes turn grey, then white. The two colors are mixed up and I don't fully understand what's happening. Serena takes possession of my body, she speaks softly, but strong enough for them to hear it, "Hush, for now. Mavis is fine." Serena lifts my index and places it in front of my lips, making her point clear. Their eyes get bigger and their lips are now shut like they can't move them. Henry is walking all around the circle, trying to find a way to get close to me. Dad is silently asking me what's happening with his eyes, Ethan is trying to force his way into the circle, through the light. Anna is crying and Nate is holding her, preventing her from falling to the ground. Stella and Marc are watching me, concerned all over their faces and checking if Henry found a way in. But their efforts are all in vain, that I am sure. They won't be able to do anything. This is something only I can face. 

I feel like my head is going to explode, there's so much going on. We're not the only ones anymore, Serena and I, someone is forcing their way up in my mind. "Child...Child... Hear my words..." My body tenses up and Serena is sending a wave of warmth toward my heart, she seems more relax and I don't know if I should trust her or follow my fear and continue to panic. 

"My dear child... The Crone is close, don't let her take your heart." I want to ask this voice who is she, what is The Crone, what is happening, anything, but nothing. My lips are shut, my body still, I am in the back of my mind, with Serena. All I can do is listen and pray to the Moon Goddess nothing bad will happen. 

The voice lets a beautiful and eery laugh, "There is no need to be scared or to pray, I am here, child." The Moon Goddess? But... 

"Listen carefully", she cuts my stream of thoughts abruptly, "The Crone is closer than ever, don't let her take your heart. Do not let her scar your heart further, your mate is there. He never rejected you, my child." A pause, her voice sounds farther every word she speaks, but I need more, I have to know! "I allowed two mates to reject each other, on one condition only, it is the say the exact words I taught your ancestors. Both of your words were incomplete and wrong. What you thought was lost forever is still there. But be careful... The Crone...is closer than ever and... you must sa-"

I am suddenly pushed into the ground, my eyes find their normal hazel color, the cold of the night bites me all of a sudden sending a chill down my spine, the numbness of my body going away and letting the tiredness come back. The power that took me down was very different from what I felt when the Moon Goddess was talking to me. It was loving and fresh to the skin, but this felt cold and dark. But I can only think of what She just told me.

"No... wait, please... I don't understand... What is The Crone?" I whisper, more to myself.

I'm panting hard. The moon's rays suddenly fade slowly and lose their divine powers, simply being the light of a star. "...vis! Mavis!" Their footsteps are getting closer, but I can't take my eyes off of the Moon... So that is why the bond is still there...? Our words were wrong? Still, that doesn't change the fact that he still tried to reject me. And what about the pain I felt? What about the way he looked so indifferent to the pain he caused me, the love he felt for Isabella cannot explain and excuse his bad actions towa...

I don't have time to finish my thought that all I hear around me are gasps. My eyes are still this mix of grey and white causing this very strange tone in everything I look at. I get up quite easily, the pain I have felt since my birthday is now all gone and I feel...good? The weight in my chest, the soreness in my muscles disappeared. It feels so nice... Like I can finally breathe again, it's incredible! As I turn to tell them that my pain is gone, I am surprised to see that they are no longer walking towards me. They are standing a few meters away, breathing heavily. "Honey, you-... your hair... it's...", never in my life have I heard Dad stutter like this. "There's another one, you have more white hair!"Anna shouts. What? 

I run to the river and look at my reflection in the water. Another streak of white hair is now on the other side of my head, on the right, at the exact opposite of the one on the left. It's glowing, almost translucent now that I look closely. I see Dad's worried and concerned face in the reflection next to me, putting his arm on my shoulders. The tear that was rolling down my face hits the water and breaks our reflection, making us all blurry. The need to curl up in a ball and cry hits me again, but I have to be stronger than that. I swallow the lump in my throat and lift my face to look at Dad. The rest of them are behind us, still looking shocked, but the worry is what I can read the best on their face. 

"You have to explain yourself, now," Dad says after letting a sigh. "I thought I could wait for you to be ready to talk, but this, what we all witnessed tonight cannot happen. Ever. I'm sorry honey but you have to come clean about what happened, and what you discussed with Cole yesterday." This icy blue shade gets mixed with a hint of yellow. I know how sorry he is to put me in this kind of situation, but he also warns me that it cannot wait anymore. "What? Did you talk to him? I thought you said you didn't want to see him?", Henry finally talks and reminds me of the secret I held from him. Well, so much for waiting for the right moment... "I wanted to talk to you about that, believe me! But I had to sort it out first by myself before telling anyone..." 

Nate clears his throat, "Alpha I think we should perhaps get back to the house. You could all discuss this near the warmth of the fireplace, don't you think" He looks at me with a soft smile and continues, "Mavis can sort it out and then talk about it once we are all safe." Dad nods, it looks like he's having a conversation with his wolf. 

We all walk back to the house when we hear Dad's phone ring, he tells us to just go and that he'll come after he gets this call. Even with wolf hearing, I can only hear him say "Yes, Alpha Oliver...", so he's talking to Cole's father. I wonder what's so urgent to call him in the middle of the night... The Owens are talking about an issue at the southern border, Anna and Nate are back to being the usual lovebirds they are and Ethan is oddly silent next to me. I didn't tell him either about my encounter with Cole, I know how he hates him. I could feel his angry aura whenever someone mentioned Cole, he was almost as mad as I. "Why would you want to talk to that piece of trash?". It's almost a whisper, I can feel disappointment and genuine confusion in his voice. "I...", he cuts me, "He doesn't even deserve to look at you. I mean... look what happened to you, you've been in pain every second since...well, since he rejected you, so why would you give him another chance?" I let out a frustrated sigh. "Ethan, it's not like an official meeting him. It kind of just happened. Yesterday I couldn't sleep again, I was having a hell of a headache because of the pain, but suddenly I caught his scent. I sensed him, he was there. What did would you expect me to do, I'm the only reason he would come at night to our pack. And even if he rejected me, Ethan, I still loved him. He brought a little warmth to my heart, I didn't think properly, I didn't know what to do. Plus, Serena was howling like all hell broke loose and she would've never stopped unless she smelt her ... can I even say "mate"? 

Actually, yes I can. My Goddess told me so herself.

I stopped abruptly, how could I forget what She told me? She told me my bond with him was still there, intact I don't know, but present, yes. "Wait, I have to..."

"Everybody, we have to go back home. There is an urgent matter Alpha Oliver bought up, we will be meeting them early in the morning. You should all rest a little, we'll be leaving in three hours." He passed the door and let the cool air of the night in, making my hair get up. "What is it about, Dad?"

"It's about you, apparently. And a letter from the Council, I didn't fully get it but it's urgent. You will all be attending the meeting. Nate, If you have to go back to your pack I understand, but Anna will have to stay, she is still an important member of my family." 

"I will stay Alpha Richard. My Alpha told me to come back by noon, I'm sure the meeting will be done by that time."

"Okay then. Now..." He adjusts his stance and his powerful aura makes us shiver, "You are going to explain what happened back there, and what you talked about with Cole. I'm sure his father forbade him from meeting you and I did too." All of their gazes are now on me, I feel even smaller on the couch, like a little bug that's about to be dissected. 'It's fine Mavis, I'm here,' Serena sends a very needed wave of warmth.

I take a deep breath, "Yesterday, I couldn't sleep because of a headache, that's when I felt his presence on our land. And, maybe I should have told you Dad, but I couldn't control myself and just went to see him... I asked him what was his business and he told me that's he never intended to reject me, that he was one hundred percent sure that I was his true and only mate, that he loved me..." I control the tears that are threatening to fall, the c***k in my voice, "When he took me into his arm, my pain just disappeared and it felt...wonderful! It's been so long since I felt good and I wished I could take back me accepting his rejection."Anna interrupts me and asks, "When did you accept it?" 

"Back then when he came to visit me at the hospital, on my birthday, he told me the bond was still there, I accepted his rejection, it didn't do anything, I still felt everything." They don't say anything, so I continue. 

"So yesterday, after he told me that he loved me, that what happened was the biggest mistake he ever did, I said no. I thought... Even if it was a mistake, how could you treat someone like that? He threatened my bond with my pack, our relations with the allied packs, and made me, us, look weak. I thought that my possibility of being Luna was destroyed. That I could never be a Luna, couldn't help and lead people as you and Mom did. I told him that his love for Isabella was maybe so strong that even the mate bond did not affect him." Ugly tears are now making my vision blurry, my voice cracking here and there, I don't care anymore. They all saw me in a worse situation than this. "After that, I just told him that I was tired and needed to go back because we were coming here and he left..." 

"I see," is all Dad said.  "Now, what about what happened near the river? You do realize that your wolf shut us up simply by saying it, not even by Alpha command?" Now that I think about it, in my trance, I didn't see anything. I was too focused on what my Goddess was telling me. 

Ethan speaks carefully, "I don't think you were aware but you were surrounded by a light, in a sort of magical circle where we couldn't enter. Your eyes were blue and white at the same time-" Anna interrupts him, "White is a color I have never seen in a wolf's eyes. Is it even possible?" She turns to Dad and to Marc who looks very deep in his thoughts. He looks at his mate, Stella looks very focused and it seems they are talking through the mind link. 

"A voice was talking to me, it was... It was the Moon Goddess, please don't interrupt me." I close my eyes, trying to get this out at one time. "She warned me about something, she told me that I shouldn't let it scar my heart, and, that my bond with Cole was not severed and that he was still my mate. His words and mine were wrong, that only the words She taught our ancestors were strong enough to break it." I open my eyes carefully, and all I see shocked faces, some with their hands covering their mouth. 

"What else did she tell you ?" Marc and Dad spoke at the same time. "Nothing, but the thing she warned me about was The Crone. She was saying something else but the connection was cut, I didn't even hear her finish her sentence." 

"What"s that Father?" Henry asked, "How come the Goddess would tell that to Mavis, I don't mean to say anything mean, but you're not even part of the Council, you're still in school just like us!" 

"Calm down Henry, there are still things to clarify, for example", he turns to me, "Your white hair, it's not common, we tried to make some research about it and your rejection, but since the Goddess, herself said that it wasn't the right way, we'll focus on your other features. Your wolf has it too, we searched for it and the only person who might be able to answer, is the Great Priestess; She has a direct connection the Her. We will arrange an audience with her as soon as we come back home. Second, your father told me about what happened at the hospital, it's strange, and we didn't found anything about that either. Third, even if you didn't tell any of us, we know that your Alpha voice is stronger than a regular Alpha." I look at Henry with a very angered look and red eyes, he promised me not to tell anyone! "Don't worry, honey" Dad says," He didn't betray you, I felt it at the hospital and yesterday when you command him to calm down. I guess you were afraid that his aura would wake me. You are so much stronger than you think you are. I would have said that you were just a very powerful Alpha, even your wolf is bigger than normal, but what you did back there was very peculiar. You cannot command me, and yet you did, without even using your Alpha voice. I thought I could protect you and let you live as normally as possible until you graduate, but it seems I can't. I'm sorry, honey..." 

After that, I told them that my pain was now all gone. They didn't say anything about that, they didn't know about that either; When I asked them about "The Crone", they said that it was like a very old fairytale or something like that among the witches. Once we were done, I get up and walk toward my bathroom and see that the new streak of white has lost its glow. I don't want it to be seen by more people, so I try for an hour to try different hairstyles to hide it. I thought it would've been easier to just twist and turn my locks but it's harder than it seems. I finally manage to make it disappear behind my brown hair. I take a shower without making my hairstyle fall. Once I'm done, I can hear everyone tidying up and putting our untouched stuff in the cars. I gather my bags and hop in the car, headphones in; After the long night we all had, talking is the thing I don't want to do. They let me, just asking me from time to time if I need this or that. And twenty minutes later, we're on the way home. 

A few hours later, we are all ready, in the hall of our house, waiting for them to arrive. It's when I smell his delicious smell that I know, the show is about to start...