The Moon Goddess

Questions

ROSE’S POV

I woke up with a killer headache. I remembered what happened last night and felt my bed for Apollo, but I couldn't find him. I groaned and sat up. I looked around my room but he wasn’t in there. I swung my feet over the bed and stumbled out my door when I started hearing laughter. I went down the stairs to see my friends laughing and eating breakfast. Lia saw me and gave me a hug. I looked over her shoulder for Apollo but didn't see him.

“He’s not here.” She said pulling back and giving me a look.

“Where is he?”

“Him and Dom had to go pack for that trip they’re taking us on, remember?”

She raised her eyebrows at me so I went along with it, but I didn’t remember any trip.

“They told us all about it this morning.” Darius said from behind the kitchen counter. He was making eggs with Andy right behind him resting his chin on his shoulder.

“Sounds romantic.” Jake said, raising his eyebrows at me while he sat down at the table.

“I’m sure it’ll be great.” I said, still a little confused.

“Where are they taking you?” Andy asked Lia and I. We exchanged a look before she said, “It’s a surprise. They’ve refused to tell us anything.” Good thinking Lia.

“Speaking of which. Lia, do you want to help me pack? I’m not sure what I’ll need.” I asked, putting on a smile, though I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

“Sure.” She said, returning my smile. I grabbed her hand and ran up the stairs to my room. When we got up there she shut my door and turned to look at me.

“Apollo told you what happened to Alpha Beaty right?” She said cutting to the chase. I nodded, waiting for her to continue.

“Well, as king he needs to go meet the new Alpha, attend the funeral, things like that. But he’s mostly going because the Alpha’s heir is only 16 and Apollo wants to help her transition. Plus he has to take care of the humans who killed Beaty.”

“Take care of, as in…”

Lia had a sympathetic look on her face. “This life isn’t always glamorous.” She said rubbing my arm soothingly.

“Come on, let's get you packed up. The guys will be here soon.” I nodded and grabbed a bag down from a shelf in my closet, and turned to lia.

“So what exactly will I need?” I asked. Still confused as hell as to why I’m even going on this trip.

“Oh well their pack is in Nevada so it’ll be pretty cold since it’s the fall. I recommend bringing long sleeves, pants, sweats, things like that.” I nodded and started putting things in my bag as Lia sat on my bed and carefully watched me. I sighed and threw the shirt I was holding into my bag.

“What?” I said looking at her.

“I’m not sure. You seem off.”

“Yeah well I feel off.” I said returning to my packing.

“Do you think it was the alcohol?” She asked.

“I’m really not sure. I’ve never been drunk before. I just feel so drained, like something came while I was sleeping and sucked all the energy out of me.”

“Hm.” she said thinking.

“Hm? What, Is there some kind of supernatural being who can do that?”

“I’m not sure, but with everything that's happening to you it’s worth looking into.” She thought for a minute. “Are you done? The guys are here.” She said, snapping out of her thought-trance. I was about to ask how she knew until I remembered wolf hearing. Within seconds Apollo was at my door.

“Hey.” He said, walking over to me with his brows knit, but a soft smile.

“Hey.” I said, trying to muster a smile. He seemed to understand that I wasn’t okay, and what I needed because he didn’t say anything but instead wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled his face in my hair. I buried my face in the crook of his neck and inhaled his scent. He smelled so good.

“It’s going to be a bit of a long trip because we’re driving, but it should be comfortable because we’re taking a party bus.”

“A party bus?” I said, raising an eyebrow.

“It sounds silly, but it helps not to raise any suspicion among our enemies.”

“Right, I forgot you were royalty for a second.”

“Because it doesn’t change who I am. Now come on, the bus is outside. I want to get this trip over with as soon as possible considering with me, dominic, and lia gone, the council is in charge. “

“I thought you liked your council.”

“I do, and I trust them, but it feels wrong to leave them in charge without knowing how long I’ll be gone.”

“Yeah about that, why am I coming?”

“It’s a long story that I’ll tell you when we’re on the bus. I am sorry though to be dragging you into all of this.”

“Stop.” I said cutting him off. “Where you are, I am okay?”

He smiled and nodded before grabbing my bags.

We said our goodbyes and got into the bus. The thing was so big it had two rooms. ROOMS. And a bathroom. It was a lot like an RV. Just with more comfortable seats and a stripper pole. Finding out the drive would be 15 hours made me want to cry. But after around 3, Apollo finally took me into a different room and explained what was happening.

“Last night, right when you fell asleep my dad called.” He started right away. “I didn’t want to wake you, so I took the call in your bathroom. I swear I was only gone a second, but when I came out, I saw this winged shadow looking thing standing above you.”

“What?” my breath hitched in my throat. “Do you think it was the winged man?”

“I’m not sure. It saw me and ran off. But it made me realize that you are in much more danger than we thought, and it’s worse because we don’t even know why.” He cursed under his breath and sighed. “I can’t help but feel that this is all my fault. That if I hadn’t dragged you into this, you would be living a normal life.”

“Oh stop. Clearly my mom and dad were involved with this long before you came into my life.” My words surprised me. “Wait a minute. You don’t think my mom was attacked by wolves do you?”

“It’s possible.” He took a moment to think before looking at me. “We WILL figure out what happened. To your mom, to your dad, and to you.” He kissed me gently as a seal to his promise, and then left me to sleep. I fell asleep surprisingly quickly and woke up to a heavy arm draped around my waist. I smiled and turned but it was not Apollo who I saw. It was a shadowed figure with a long slimy body and sharp nails. I looked to it’s face but all I saw was a toothy smile made up of white, razor sharp bone. “It’s time you joined us Rose” the faceless creature screeched. I let out a scream and jolted up. I opened my eyes and saw that the bed was empty. I felt my forehead and it was glistening with sweat. 2 seconds later Apollo was in the room.

“What happened?” He demanded, looking around the room for a threat. I grabbed his hand from the bed and brought the back of it to my face as I took deep breaths. “Just a bad dream.” I managed to say through labored breaths. I dropped his hand and wiped my face.

“How long have I been out?”

“6 hours.”

“6 hours?!”

“Yeah. You missed a lot.”

“Like what?” I said frowning. He laughed and let out a breath as he sat next to me.

“Nothing too serious. Just Dominic being an ass.”

“I can hear you, you know!” Dominic shouted from the other side of the door.

“I know you can.” Apollo called back. He turned back to me. “We’re about 6 hours out. You want some food?”

I let him take my hand and guide me from the room into the main one. I looked out the windows to see the sun was beginning to set. What time had we left? I couldn’t remember, but I definitely felt better than I did this morning.

“We’re gonna have to work on that tolerance of yours Rosie.” Dominic said with cards in his hand. “Oh leave her alone, you’re just as bad.” Lia said, placing her cards down on the table and giving Dom a smug look. I didn’t know what they were playing but clearly she had just won. He scowled and tossed his cards on the table.

“Why are you so good at this?” he scowled at Lia from across the table.

“I just am.” She said proudly. Apollo brought me hot chocolate and orange chicken.

“Odd combination.” I said, raising my eyebrows at him. “Strange, yes, two of your favorite things? Also yes. And I give my queen anything she wants.” My breath caught and I looked at him. He’d called me queen. I’d forgotten about that part. I feel so normal with Apollo, HE feels so normal. Our relationship is somehow the most normal thing in my life, while the things surrounding it are the most abnormal. I took the plate from him smiling and he sat down next to me.

“We should go over our agenda Apollo.” Lia said as Dom shoveled food into his mouth.

He nodded at her and she grabbed a folder sitting next to her and took the spot on the couch across from us, crossing her legs as Dom came and sat next to her.

“First is the funeral. The events will last a week in total, and I think we should finish the funeral before we do anything else.” She stated.

“While I agree with you Lia, I’m afraid we don’t have that luxury. We can wait 2 days at the max to deal with the humans. Which gives us enough time to sleep, and attend the funeral. We can still participate in all of the events, but Beaty cannot be fully put to rest until his murder’s are caught. We will wait a week before we start helping the new Alpha assimilate, and looking for Information about Rose’s past. Janel should be done, or close to done learning the academics and politics of being an Alpha, the only thing she lacks is experience, from what I hear though, her father’s Beta is a great man, and his son is on track to be a great Beta, so I don’t doubt she’ll be in good hands.”

I sat quietly and listened to them discuss. It felt so official and I didn’t know what my place was. I wasn’t sure why I was even going other than for my safety. The truth is, I was Apollo’s arm candy.

“What do you think Rose?”

“Huh?” I had zoned out and apparently not heard a question.

“Would you be alright if I present you as my Luna?” Apollo asked with a slight blush on his cheeks. Maybe I would be more than just arm candy. I smiled.

“Of course.” My face fell and I looked at my sandwich. “Lets just hope it’s the truth.” No one spoke. No one reassured me. Because we all knew I didn’t say anything unreasonable. Apollo and I have been living on a wing and a prayer, and it felt our luck would soon run out. After games and food and sleep, we finally arrived. It was late at night and Apollo shook me awake. We got off the bus and were greeted by who I assumed to be Janel by the way she stood. Even as young as she was, power radiated off of her. Only 16 and she suddenly had all these new responsibilities. It made me frown. Beside her were an older man and younger one, I assumed the previous Beta and his son.

“Hello your majesty.” Janel said with a bow, soon followed by the men at her side.

“Alpha.” Apollo bowed back. The girl tensed. Clearly she wasn’t accustomed to her role.

“Not yet.” She said with a smile.

“But soon.” Apollo reminded her, and she frowned. “What is it?” A new gentleness had entered his tone.

“It just feels wrong that it’s happening this way. Being Alpha used to excite me, but now…” She sighed. “I know my father wasn’t a perfect man.” She turned to me. “I know he kept a lot of secrets. But he was my father.” I nodded. I understood more than anyone how that feels. I stepped forward and embraced her. Her fathers Beta looked like he wanted to object, but she wrapped her arms around me and let out a breath, and he stepped back. It was clear he cared for her. A moment later she let me go and smiled at me.

“Janel, this is Rosaline. My Luna.” He said smiling. I smiled back.

“It's nice to meet you, your majesty.” She said with a curtsey.

“Oh no, don’t do that.” I said, grabbing her hands and bringing her up. “And please, call me Rose.”

“She’s just like violet.” The older man said with a sad twinkle in his eye. “And your mother.” He said regarding Apollo. I wasn’t sure who violet was. I assumed his step mother. He hadn’t told me much about his family. I would ask him later.

“I apologize it’s taken so long to introduce myself.” Said the man again. “My name is Paul. And this is my son Sam.”

“It’s nice to meet you both.” I responded.

“You must be tired.” His son, who I now know as Sam, said. “Let us show you to your rooms.” He nodded to someone behind him and people dressed in uniforms took our bags inside. We followed Janel as Dom and Lia followed the Beta’s. Paul had insisted on walking with us but Janel insisted we’d be fine with the guards. A guard walked behind us, and one in front of us. I imagine they were really on edge. We got to our room and she told us where we could find breakfast, and not to worry about being up at a certain time. We finally got a chance to get a good look at the room and it was regal. Not quite as grande as Apollo’s palace, but the room was certainly fit for royalty. It was huge, with separate rooms for separate things, and a huge canopy bed. Apollo smiled and took my hand leading me to the bed, our bags were placed beside it. He sat down and pulled me into him so his face was in my chest. He let out a sigh and I rubbed his hair.

“Violet, or Viola, my stepmother, was originally from this pack. Beaty and My father used to be quite close and he would often visit, it's how he met Violet. Paul is her brother. They haven’t seen each other since Violet and my father got married 15 years ago. My father forbade it. The bastard. It killed me to be coming here without her, but until my coronation, I don’t have complete power.”

“Wait a minute, does that mean she knew my father?” He gave me a look.

“I hadn’t thought of that before. I’m not completely sure why. But yes, probably.”

We stayed there for a while before climbing into bed. I was still getting used to sharing a bed with someone.

“I need to call the school and tell them I’m sick so they don’t think I’ve completely dropped out on them.” He just grunted in response, I think we were both tired.

We awoke the next morning to the smell of decadent breakfast food coming from somewhere in the house. Apollo had made a cute remark about how waking up to me in his arms, and the smell of food was the perfect combination. He was such a dork. We made our rounds and socialized, I found it surprisingly easy to engage in much of the conversations we had about the kingdom. It made it easier that Apollo had been so honest with me, but truthfully, it felt wrong to be socializing with these people before I got to know the ones back home. I feel like things have moved so quickly with Apollo, and I have no complaints, but his world is so much bigger compared to the one I grew up in, and the adaptation has been difficult. Especially when we have none of the answers we need.

Later that afternoon Apollo offered to help with some of the last minute funeral arrangements. I wanted to as well but I had caught a cold and wanted to be better for the funeral so I went to rest in our room. If anyone had any thoughts about my seemingly mundane human mortality, they didn’t say a thing. These were good people. I’m sure they were curious, but they kept it to themselves. Which was nice, as it made me feel less of a freak, and it made it easier to enjoy time with Apollo. I mean, don't get me wrong, I fully understand how shitty the situation is, but it felt nice to get away from our confusing lives. We should go on a trip, just the two of us. Boy would that be nice.

I woke up to the sound of the door to our room open and close, before I had much of a chance to stir, Apollo walked in with messy hair and tired eyes.

“Hey you, how’d it go?” I asked, turning to face him. He only grunted and plopped face first next to me. “That well huh?”

“I need to talk to you.” He mumbled into the pillows.

“Okay. Now? Or maybe after a power nap?”

“No, now. This is important.”

“Okay.” I said sitting up. “Is everything all right?”

“I’m not sure. I think that’s for you to decide.”

“What do you mean?” He finally turned his head so he was talking to me and not the comforter.

“I called violet. About your father.” He whispered quietly, seriously.

“Mh, okay.” I said slowly as I processed. “And?”

“She didn’t want to give me details, as she wanted to talk to you first, but she said she remembers the day you were found. Vividly. And Rosie, not to freak you out, but she didn’t make it sound like her remembering was a good thing. In fact, she almost refused to tell me that she was even there.”

“I see.”

“I want you to prepare yourself for anything.”

“Guess we’re finally being forced out of our little cocoon, huh?” I said with a sad smile which he returned as he sat up and faced me.

“Look, this is all going to be really hard as soon as the s**t hits the fan, but eventually the s**t has to fly away and everything is going to be so much better when we have actual answers.”

I sighed and leaned my forehead against his. “You’re so good, you know that?”

“Let’s wait until after I go and murder people.”

“Hey, you have no control over that.”

“Does this not bother you? This part of me.”

“Hey.” I took his face in my hands and made him look at me. “Nothing you can do will scare me away. I know this isn’t easy for you, and I know you’re a good person, just as I also know that this is necessary.”

“I guess I just…” He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I don't entirely accept this part of myself, and the job, so it’s hard for me to believe that you do.”

“I hope you know that it’s a good thing this isn’t easy for you. If it was, we’d have much more to worry about.”

“Yeah, I know.”

I laid down and brought him with me, laying his head on my chest and stroking my hand through his hair. “We are going to get through this week, and this year, and this decade, hell, we’re going to get through this century, because we have each other.”

“I love you.”

"I love you too."