preview book 2

Vanessa’s pov,

A FEW MONTHS LATER, NEW ZEALAND.

My breath was rasping, and my lungs felt like they were on fire as I held on to some of the stones ahead of me. We were climbing a large mountain and if I wasn’t so scared of heights, I would have looked around to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the New Zealand landscape. I had never thought I would ever have the pleasure to visit this amazing country. But after Andrei told me about his special mission there and the other Moon-souled wolves he found there it was inevitable for me to go there. I gasped when the stone I was holding started to crumble under my hands but immediately a strong hand pushed my butt higher so I could reach another stone. Andrei lifted me with one hand like I weighed absolutely nothing. I looked down at his muscular arm holding me up and his bright blue eyes that twinkled back at me. With his blonde beard and long braided hair, he really looked like he had time-traveled out of the Viking age. He looked dangerous and manly, but his personality was quite the opposite. He was kind and only used violence as a last resource. He didn’t need to use it anyway because he radiated authority by just looking at people. Most importantly he respected me and always treated me like I was a queen. He respected my boundaries and the fact that I was not open for love or lust right now. He just stayed by my side and helped me in any way he could. I had grown rather fond of his company in the last months.

When we finally reached the top, I saw the cave we had been looking for. The other moon-souled-eyed wolves had told me about the Moon goddess cave, and I instinctively felt that I had to go there. To get there we had to walk through a small lake. It was not deep, so the water only reached my waist. As I made my way through the water, I couldn’t help looking at my reflection. I hardly recognized the pale, skinny woman with dark circles under her blue eyes that looked back at me. The last months had taken their toll on me. Chaos had erupted through the countries when tales spread about my magical overtaking of the Russian pack. We had to constantly be on edge while we were attacked from multiple directions. Besides that, my most loyal pack member Tomasso had gotten ill with some mysterious illness we couldn’t seem to cure. I had spent every free minute of my day trying to figure out new ways to cure him, but he grew weaker every passing day. The thing that hurt the most though was something I didn’t even want to think about. I did not want to replay what happened after Andrei said I was his mate. I had played the disaster conversation between Colin and me over and over again in my mind and I did not want to do it again. The Irish bastard had abandoned me when I needed him most and ripped my heart out in the process. He did not deserve even a minute of my thoughts because it was too painful to think about him. But there always seemed to be something that reminded me of him wherever I went. I could hear his cocky comments in my mind imagining what he would have said in certain situations. I gritted my teeth and focused my eyes on the cave ahead of me instead. That was how I got through the days by focusing on one thing at a time.

When we entered the cave, we were both soaked but I did not feel the cold. My eyes were fixated on the statue in front of me. It was a beautiful marble stone statue of a gorgeous woman surrounded by wolves. As soon as we walked closer the statue seemed to light up and Andrei gasped when a see-through shape of a woman glided towards us. She was beautiful in a breathtaking and creepy kind of way. The ground was shaking, and dark clouds gathered in the sky bringing thunder and lightning with them. The moon goddess vision looked at me with cold eyes and a shiver went through my spine when her voice thundered through the cave, “THE HOUR IS LATE CHOSEN ONE. WITH EVERY PASSING HOUR THE EXTINCTION OF YOUR RACE COMES CLOSER. HUMASN HAVE FOUND OUT YOUR EXISTENCE, YOU ARE ALL IN DANGER, TIME IS TICKING.”

I wanted to ask her what the hell I should do about that, but I quickly closed my mouth again when I saw the furious look on her face. She pointed at me and continued, “I HAVE GIVEN YOU A TASTE OF MAGIC BUT YOU WILL NEED MUCH MORE IF YOU WANT TO SAVE YOUR SPECIES. ONLY WHEN YOU ACCEPT YOUR MATE BOND THEN YOU WILL UNLOCK YOUR FULL POTENTIAL. I HAVE GIVEN YOU THE RARE OPTION OF A CHOICE IN THIS MATTER. DON'T WASTE THIS GIFT. CHOOSE WISELY AND SAVE US ALL OR CONDEMN EVERYONE TO CERTAIN DOOM.”

A loud blast of lightning entered the cave, the whole mountain seemed to shake when the thunder exploded. With the blast of light, the moon goddess disappeared, and I got slammed through the air from the explosion. Andrei jumped in front of me so I would crush him instead of breaking all my bones against the wall of the cave. I got up quickly to see if I didn’t hurt him but he seemed to be unharmed. My body started trembling uncontrollably and tears dripped down my cheeks. “Sshhhh, it is okay. We will figure it out.” Andrei said as he tried to calm me down. But his words and his arms around me did nothing against the panic I felt surging through my veins. I came here looking for answers, but I felt more confused than ever. I had so many things to figure out and so much depending on my decisions. I had no idea what to do and I felt like I was about to choke. So, I did the only thing I could think of and let Spirit take over. Let her take me far away from here, let her take me somewhere my problems would not follow. Let her take me to the edge and jump into the pool of sweet alluring nothingness.