The Rise of Venus

The Warning

Song: chill 2 am playlist by sunsetdreams

I groaned as the pounding within my head intensified. Memories of pouring blood and death filled my mind. My link with Mother and Father sharpened the freshest wave of attacks for me.

Gamma Fray was so much weaker and paler than I last saw her. As the only White Witch helping to protect our Pack, I knew the weight on her shoulders was a great one. However, I had no idea she'd look so skeletal with the meekest green eyes I'd ever seen in my life.

It'd only been a week since our victory and the attacks were steadily rising. Flora's Pack recently lost their Luna and Sky's were scarce with their Healers. Leo's Pack was faring better since his Hybrid siblings had allies helping to protect their home. No one knew how Reign's Pack was doing considering he only talked of the Two Lovers. But it was safe to assume that their defenses were weakening too.

Today was October 1, 2120 and we were no closer to finding and uniting the Two Lovers.

The pressure was back. Only this time I felt its weight tenfold.

"Relax." Leo's fingers ran up the sides of my arms with a feather-like touch. His soft grip rubbed mindless patterns over my skin as he pulled me against his warm chest. Our naked skin pressed against each other and I groaned at the intimate contact. "What is it this time?"

"My Pack had another attack," I replied. Leo's fingers drifted towards my temples, dulling the ache with soothing circles. He pressed a small kiss to the back of my neck while I sunk deeper into his embrace.

"Mine had one yesterday," he mumbled into my flushed skin. "Marcus let Zev out, though. So the loss wasn't too bad."

Leo's youngest brother, Zev, turned out to be half Shapeshifter. He could copy other peoples faces and hold it for as long as he wanted. What used to terrify people when he was a kid turned out to be very beneficial for Leo's Pack right now. Zev copied the Dark Witches and Warlocks invading his Pack. Then, he tricked his enemies into falling for his mirage before killing them.

It was a genius battle strategy and I admired him for his wit.

"That's good." Leo placed gentle kisses across my shoulders. It didn't take long for the added stress of my parents' memories to fade away under the influence of his kind embrace.

I turned my head to the side, intercepting his incoming kiss in a sweet dance of unspoken love. My heart fluttered at the quiet intimacy of being in my Mate's arms. I loved the way his hand came down to softly hold my chin and keep me in place.

A sudden knock at the door caused Leo to growl, a bitter frown overcoming the lax posture of his petal-like lips. The vibrations from his deep rumblings of annoyance made me chuckle quietly.

"Yes, we're still reading. No, we haven't gotten closer to figuring out the Two Lovers," his irritated voice quipped. A line appeared between his eyebrows and I poked at it while he glared daggers at the door. A half smile graced his pretty lips as his eyes flitted to me for a split second before saying, "We're not hungry either. Thanks for checking in Flora but we're good."

"I know damn well you two aren't reading anymore," Flora teased. I could just imagine her red lipped smirk plastered over her doll-like face. "We have plans anyway so you're gonna have to chill with the sexy time, Alpha. Venus, hurry up so we can go! It's already 2 pm."

"What's she talking about?" Leo's warm gaze met mine, his arm tightening around my waist in the process.

"I was talking to Flora yesterday about Sky and we wanna take her out," I replied. "She's been different ever since we destroyed the ring and it's not like we can have her holed up in her room forever. We're in the endgame right now and we need all hands on deck."