Wolf #2: The Beast Within [COMPLETED]

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Orion is weak.

And most importantly, he just needs to Mark me in this world to make it to the Goddesses. There always had been more to killing them though. Zemira had said that he needs 'the Gold and the Silver' to complete this insane ritual. They obviously were key elements...but what if there is more? Why had Orion not come straight for me, Mark me, and hidden me away until he had gotten everything else he needed. No...he's biding his time with me too...

The old High Priestess, Mirabella, had said something similar to Zemira about Orion. That Zemira had just as much advantage over Orion because they had become fully Marked...Does a completed Nexus make Orion stronger or weaker? Or is it both?

Gold and Silver...what does that mean? I don't if told that to Zemira because he didn't trust her to know, or he didn't know himself.

I've gathered a lot of this riddle had much to do with Greek mythology. The Moon is named after all three moon goddesses. Orion is a warrior in the ancient stories. Even the term that Zemira used to describe our powers was connected to the River Styx.

But Gold and Silver? I had absolutely no idea what that meant. It's as much of a dead end as everything else.

My hand hovers over the notebook while I stare at what I've written. It's the notebook I have jotted down all my notes down since Steph had been murdered. I had detailed all the information I had gathered, but over time it's become filled with more details about the Wolves and my visions. I've so many that it's been hard to keep up with them all. So I began to write them down.

My most recent visions have my mind clouded. Between my conversation with Cynbel and reliving Zemira's past with Orion, I've had so many questions and so few answers.

When I had woken up, my face lay in a puddle of blood. My nose and my ears had bled throughout my dream, and I had been queasy for days afterwards. I'm still suffering from the energy it had sapped from me and haven't been able to reach The Plane of the Dead for two months now. Not even taking Lupinus Oreganus has helped, and Mallory and Nancy had few herbs that could help me fully recover.

There aren't any lycanthrope in the pack who could advise me, and the only other people who might know how to help are the exact people I'm hiding from.

Regardless, my sleep is still plagued with the nightmares and whispers that regularly came ever since Iphigenia had awakened inside me. So since I can't directly contact Steph or any of the other spirits to guide me to the answers, I've taken to old-fashioned research again.

I had started with Cynbel, which Eamonn is more than happy to help me with. She had mentioned to me about her bloodlines and my own. She said that Orion had an easier time tracking hers than mine. Hekate too had mentioned something about certain bloodlines carrying the new Prophets more often than others. If I could track Cynbel's then perhaps I can find a Prophet of Artemis who knows what happened between their Goddess and Orion.

The search for Cynbel's family line wasn't at all difficult. Like Jace and Aiden's predecessors, her ancestors had stayed in the pack she had been born in, Arianrhod. It was the largest of the three Irish packs, spread between Galway and Mayo, and according to Eamonn it was one of the oldest packs. But nothing had stood out to me. Usually, I have a gut instinct about a clue that I come across, like Iphigenia is guiding me. It's a proverbial game of Hotter and Colder, but this time my Guide isn't playing. She's resting just like my soul is.

After spending weeks tracking Cynbel's lineage—and as quietly as possible, given the sensitive topic the would-have-been Luna was—I had almost given up. But then Eamonn came across a name that stuck out to him.