Chapter 44

Malachi Andrews, the Alpha of Lindersay, looked out through the open windows of the infirmary at the two figures lying on two separate beds on opposite sides of the room.

Gazing at the star-crossed lovers, he wondered for the thousandth time…could love really conquer all?

This wasn’t the first time he had seen a pair, who weren’t mates, be drawn to each other like magnets…or perhaps, the better notion would be, ‘like moths to a flame’? Their love was always ill-fated, would perhaps always remain so.

But this was the first time someone had been able to break the mating bond and come out of it alive.

The Goddess Selene hadn’t been pleased.

It didn’t surprise him all too much since Gods weren’t used to defiance. They believed themselves to be the most supreme beings in the universe. He knew that better than anyone.

“Your Lordship.” A moon maiden came to bow before him, her midnight dark hair braided into a thousand braids around her head; the colour of her skin a dark mocha.

“Yes?” Malachi smiled politely at the woman before shifting his gaze back inside the room. “Has the male been healed?”

“Yes, Your Lordship.” The woman didn’t raise her head from the floor as she spoke. “His injuries weren’t as much physical as they were mental. He has no past recollections and neither does the female healer. Our healer has confirmed as much.”

“Very well.” Malachi’s expression turned stern. “Leave him out in the middle of the forest. He can decide his own path from there onwards.”

“And the female?” The woman asked hesitantly.

“She is to join the Lunar Maidens as a healer as soon as she wakes up.” He ordered. “That is what she’ll be told, that she was sent here by her pack as an offering.”

“As you wish, Your Lordship.” The woman bowed and went back inside the infirmary.

Malachi gave a final inspecting look at the male before walking away from the infirmary and towards his private chambers. It was late at night and he was expecting a special visitor. And he had much to discuss with her.

The doors to his chambers were locked, but when he entered, his guest was already waiting for him.

Selene turned away from the window momentarily as Malachi came to stand beside her. Her beauty was otherworldly; even for his, looking at her graceful form for long strained his eyes. She was luminescent, just like the moon.

“Have you made the arrangements?” She asked in her melodious voice that had been a muse for many a musician.

“As you wished,” he bowed to her before looking out the window where the alpha male was being carried out to the forest, his fate changed forever. “Don’t you think it’s a little harsh? No matter how many you separate, there’s always a pair that defies your rules.”

“And I will keep separating them until there are no longer any such pairs born.” Her silver eyes narrowed on the male as his form disappeared into the horizon. “Until destiny no longer keeps challenging me.”

“And if they succeed in your test?” Malachi didn’t want to provoke a Goddess, but there were some questions that needed to be asked.

Selene threw her head back in a laughter that was equally enchanting and menacing. After all, how can Gods ever be wrong?

“Are you afraid that I would go back on my word?” Selene’s piercing silver eyes met Malachi’s endless blues. “Then are you willing to be the judge?”

“Only if that is what the Goddess wishes.” Malachi bowed his head in respect. He had played his hand cleverly. He had indeed wanted to become the judge this time; because this pair had struck a chord somewhere in his mind and he wanted to know the end result. He wanted them to win.

“Very well, then.” Selene looked back out the window, at the moon that shore bright in the night sky, illuminating the path for the supernatural. “Remember what I tell you next and remember well. It will be the only criterion for the judgement.

“If she is unwilling, no force shall take her. If she is willing, no power will stop her.”

Malachi bowed his head once again, knowing well what he had to do next.

“I’ll leave the rest up to you, my Malachi.” Selene gave him a fond smile as her form frayed around the edges. “Now I must go. The night awaits me and so does my beloved.”

The figure of the moon Goddess dissipated into millions of tiny sparkles that blew away with the wind, like star dust dissipating into the night as Malachi turned away from the open window. But in his mind, the words spoken by the moon Goddess kept reverberating until her voice was the only thing he could hear.

“As you wish…mother.”

-----To be continued in Healing The Rogue Alpha-----