Trinity (A Werewolf Novel) ✔

Chapter Twenty-Two

I didn't know where I was running to until I was already there. I collapsed just in front of the hidden entrance to the temple, pulling on it desperately before climbing down wildly. I stumbled as I tore through the passageway, knocking over preserves of food, and pushed forward anyway.

I ran into the temple, straight towards the stage before the row of pews, and turned blindly. I couldn't see her. I lifted my hands to my head in a panic, my chest rising and falling before I cried out.

"Cynthia!" I yelled, feeling like I had run out of time completely. I forgot about keeping quiet. I couldn't think of anything beyond my panic. "Cynthia!"

I felt her hand on my shoulder before I saw her and turned blindly to bury myself into her arms without even taking a moment to glance at her. It was similar to how I would do my own mother in my most desperate of times. I felt her hand stroking my hair down to my back and over again as I stood shaking in her grasp.

"I can't stop it," I finally said, shaking my head back and forth.

"You can," She answered softly.

"I can't. I've seen it. Even now, after everything, he's going to kill them all," I lifted my head, looking into those dark sable eyes that were wise with knowledge I couldn't dream of gaining. She grasped my face in her hands delicately, peering at me adoringly as though I were her own child. It comforted me.

"You have to be patient, Mila. The Hunter's Moon is still months away," She reminded me easily, patting my face before grasping my shoulders and rubbing them gently.

"It's so close," I denied her logic, the anxiety biting at my soul fearfully. "I won't be able to stop it. I can't."

"You can," Cynthia continued to argue against me warmly. "And if you can't, then so be it. This cycle will end and perhaps a new one will begin, don't you think?" I was struck by her words, as though she had heard Diana speaking to me just a few hours before in the lake. I was also struck by how, despite her past seemingly desperate pleas for me to help the werewolves and humankind, she suddenly didn't seem so bothered by my own ideas of failure.

"I don't want this cycle to end," I frowned unhappily, much calmer now in her presence than before. I turned to look around briefly, noticing the cool emptiness of the temple, as though she hadn't expected me at all. "You didn't know I was coming?"

"I was speaking to the Crone," Cynthia admitted simply, lowering her hands from my shoulder to her sides. Something seemed off about her, but I couldn't pinpoint it.

"When you say speaking..." I hesitated, remembering Diana and I calling to the Crone in the night. Was it different for oracle wolves? Could they hear directly from the Goddess themselves? I wasn't an oracle wolf myself. I had lied about it to protect Cynthia since the beginning, even though I did see visions... but maybe that had been a onetime thing. I didn't ever hear any Goddess speaking directly to me.

"Yes, she was speaking to me through a vision," Cynthia continued, a little hesitant as though she hadn't wanted to tell me this. "About things that may come to pass and things that may not... it's a bit too soon to discern the meaning, so it's nothing for you to worry about now. Are you feeling better?"

I inspected myself slowly. I didn't feel the panic as I had before, but the worry was still there. The pressure was heavy on my shoulders and I wasn't sure I could succeed. However, the warmth of Cynthia's arms had been enough to ease some of it so that I felt sane again. I relaxed further with a sigh.

"I think so," I answered finally.

"Don't lose faith in yourself, Mila. The Goddesses are with you always. Nothing you do will disappoint them. Nothing." She told me firmly with conviction. I nodded mutely, swallowing heavily under her words.