Chapter 55

Flora’s P.O.V

“W-wh-at?” I stuttered.

“You are our blood, Flora.” Malachi smiled at me like a loving father, his eyes glossed with unshed tears. “It was a knowing deep in my bones the instant I set eyes on you. We have been waiting centuries to find you.”

I shook my head, trying to make sense of it all. “If you are my ancestor…that means…the Goddess…”

“Yes,” they nodded. “You are the descendent of the Goddess as well. You are our grandchild’s child.”

I shook my head in denial…but how could I deny the connection? I had always felt comfortable around Malachi and Ezra. I had always felt like they were my guardians, my blood. Now that they were saying that I was actually their blood…it did make sense, but at the same time, it seemed like a farfetched fairytale.

“How is that even possible? My parents…they are your descendents too?”

“Yes,” Ezra nodded. “One side of your family comes from us. I cannot tell who our blood is unless we see them, but either your mother or your father is our descendent. You are possibly the fourth generation.”

“But wolves can live up to a thousand years…then what happened?”

As far as I knew, my grandparents on my father’s side were still alive and belonged to a neighbouring pack, but my mother had been-shit! My mother had been an orphan! She had been found by Alpha Nicolas inside the woods and he had assumed it was a rogue attack that might have killed my grandparents and thus, he had given her a new family. We always avoided talking about my mom’s family like it was a taboo subject to prevent her from feeling hurt. So it had completely slipped my mind.

“I think it might be my mother,” I told Malachi now. “She was found in the forest by our Alpha.”

“Then our child had survived,” Ezra gave a sad smile. “Our daughter had been taken away from us the instant she was born, by the Goddess herself. We had thought it was the end of her life. We had been hoping to be wrong for centuries, but it wasn’t until we saw you that we realized our child had survived….long enough to keep our bloodline alive.”

“And now we want to retire from our duties and spend the rest of our days together.” Malachi took Ezra’s hand as he spoke. “That’s why we called you here today; to hand over our duties and leave Lindersay in your capable hands.”

“Leave Lindersay?”

Clay and I spoke at the same time, exchanging worried looks.

“It’s fine.” Ezra shook her head with a smile. “The Goddesses gave you permission to be together. They revoked the law where a wolf can only accept the mating bond. So now, Lindersay must change along with the changing times. And who better to bring these changes than the ones who were the harbinger of that change?”

“I’ll hand over the title of Alpha over to Clay.” Malachi confirmed. “And Flora will take over the Shrine. Flora will also be in charge of building the new Shrine for Goddess Artemis.”

“Malachi…I’ve always known that I was born to be the Alpha. But to be the Alpha of Lindersay is too big a responsibility.” Clay spoke this time, his voice filled with emotions. “I’m not sure I’m ready for this.”

“When I took over Lindersay, I was the same age as you.” Malachi told him. “I had just met Ezra, a warrior from the enemy pack and fallen head over heels in love with her the instant she shot her first arrow at me.”

Both Ezra and Malachi laughed at our bewildered expressions.

“I know it’s strange, but at that time, it was love at first sight with my warrior.” Malachi and Ezra shared a secret smile. “We had struggled to make our packs accept our love as well, but eventually we did and Ezra and I started our lives together. Soon we found out Ezra was pregnant and I was over the moon…that was until my mate showed up.”

“Malachi told her that he couldn’t feel the mating bond and ended up rejecting her.” Ezra continued. “But the rest is history. We can finally be together now. The curse of Selene has been lifted and love has prevailed. Now, we can finally spend the rest of our lives the way we want to. We will always be near you, but Lindersay had been our prison for far too long. We want to be free, explore the new world together, meet new packs and grown old together…I hope you understand.”

Clay and I exchanged nervous looks. Yes, we did understand them, but the responsibility they were putting on us was huge. Would we be able to live up to their names?

“Don’t worry,” Malachi reassured. “We won’t abandon you just yet. We will help you until you’re well settled into your roles. Your packmates are also having difficulty adjusting after spending so many years in the wolf form and you need to stay by their side to walk them through these changes.” He told Clay.

“I have faith in them.” He nodded. “Thank you for giving me this opportunity…I could never have gotten to this point if it weren’t for your help.”

“I didn’t do anything to help, just nudged you in the direction you would have eventually found on your own. But I am glad I have a worthy successor to Lindersay.” Malachi looked around the room as if trying to memorize every detail. “Take good care of this land. I had spent most of my life building it, now it’s your turn to cherish this place as your own.”

“I will always cherish Lindersay.” Clay bowed to Malachi, kneeling on the ground in front of him. “This had been my home for ten years and if I hadn’t left my heart back at my previous pack, I had every intention of staying. You have given me an opportunity of a life-time.”

“You earned that opportunity yourself,” Ezra placed a hand on Clay’s head. “You saved us all by going against a Goddess. You made us proud. Lindersay now belongs to you.”

*

*

Hours after we returned to our room, Clay and I stood in front of the windows, looking out at the forest drenched in the light of the full moon.

There were no rogues in the forest any longer, no more red eyes staring back at us. Every single one of them was now sane and healing, adapting to their new life and coping with the lost time. And they were now being watched over by not one, but two Goddesses.

“Everything still feels so…unreal.” I told Clay, looking up into his beautiful emerald eyes. “Like I had just woken up from a bad dream.”

“In all this time…did you ever think that maybe it would’ve been better if you had chosen Ruth as your mate?” It was a question I had to ask. If people thought I was a superficial person because of it then so be it, but to me, words mattered just as much as actions. Clay had showed me multiple times that he would die for me, but I still wanted to hear him say it. Still needed that verbal confirmation.

“Maybe it would’ve been for the best. It would’ve made the entire pack happy.” Clay said and I felt my heart beat a little faster. “But how could I have made Dorothy happy if I wasn’t happy myself? I would’ve always had regrets and I would’ve come to resent Dorothy. A failed mating was no better than a prison with no escape route. So, yes, I had thought about what would have happened if I accepted the mating bond and just how miserable the three of us would’ve been.”

Clay turned to face me, cupping my cheeks in his hands. “I knew it sounds creepy, but I had always felt this bond with you ever since you were young. At first it was nothing sexual, only a fierce protectiveness. I would stand in the way of anyone who tried to hurt you, no matter what the cost. But when I came to Lindersay, that protectiveness turned to longing. I spent night after night thinking about how you were growing up and how every boy in the vicinity would want to stake a claim on you. It made me angry, but I kept waiting for the day I could finally return to ReedStone and see you again.”

“The first time I experienced true desire was the day I saw you once again, in that classroom, sitting at the back and avoiding my gaze at all costs. I had put off going to see you because I knew my obsession with you wasn’t just obsession, it was so much more. But at that time, neither of us was ready to face the true power of our connection.”

And then Clay knelt down in front of me, making all the air in my lungs gush out in a single breath.

“Fifteen years ago, I made a promise to a child that one day, when she is all grown up, I would marry her.” He pulled out a ring from his pocket, sans the box and held it out to me. “Today, I want to ask that same woman…will you, Flora Argentine, do me the honors of becoming my wife and making me the happiest man alive?”

Tears flowed freely from my eyes as I saw the ring. It was a simple diamond and yet, to me it was the most precious gem in the world. The words seemed stuck in my throat and no matter how I tried; I couldn’t say it past the swell of emotions, so all I did was nod my head, trying my best not to start wailing.

But thankfully Clay understood and slipped the ring into my ring finger and picked me up into his arms, spinning me round as his laughter reverberated across the room.

“I love you.” We both said at the same time, sealing the deal of this lifetime, with a kiss.