By the Light of the Silver Moon

Chapter 24 Marigold

"We thought it would be in your best interests."

"Why?" I asked.

"Well...."

"Ferra!" Stone shushed her again.

"What? She's going to find out eventually." Ferra snapped.

"Just tell me." I sighed at the bickering couple.

"Fox has always valued the mate bond. He made it very clear that he would never take a chosen mate. But, he is an Alpha. After his 18th birthday came and went, and he wasn't mated, things started getting worse. It's so rare for Alphas to go more than ten years unmated, so the unmated she-wolves just started to assume he was going to pick someone. They started throwing themselves at him relentlessly. There's a particular group of ranked she-wolves who think they are entitled to the position." Ferra sounded disgusted. Her words caused a strange feeling to build inside my belly.

"Okay...." I didn't know what to say.

"Fox never dated any of them or entertained their fantasies, but, I mean, he is a guy." Stone shrugged.

"What does that have to do with it?" I asked innocently. Stone and Ferra exchanged another look

"He had sex with them, Mari, but nothing else." Stone answered plainly. I blushed, avoiding eye contact with either of them.

"And we were afraid that they would keep coming after him, even in front of you, and hurt your feelings. This way, if those bitches try to do anything, Fox has already given them a warning." Ferra explained.

"Mari, are you alright?" Stone asked me suddenly. I followed his gaze to my hands and realized that they were glowing.

"Woah, your eyes." Ferra gasped and I felt my face getting warm as my eyes twitched with power.

"That's not good." Stone mumbled, having seen me in this state before. He started shaking my shoulders,

"Mari! Look at me."

"I can hear you, I'm not deaf." I growled between my teeth.

"Well I don't know how this magic thing works." He whispered loudly,

"There are humans around, you have to keep your cool." He hissed.

I looked around the cafeteria and focused on the sound of a dozen different voices chattering away, the smell of cooking oil and donuts, and the hoards of humans sitting around the tables. I took a few deep breaths, calming myself. My hands stopped vibrating and my cheeks stopped pulsating with power.

"Your emotions are connected to your abilities, just like werewolves." Ferra observed.

"I guess so." I mumbled in response.

"Is this what angry Mari looks like?" Stone chuckled, waving his hand around my face. I glared at him and earned a snort from Ferra.

"I'm pretty sure angry Mari can kick both our asses." Ferra said,

"You don't need to be jealous of any of those girls, they're old news." She added, rolling her eyes.

"Come on, ladies, let's go before our Luna burns down the mall." Stone laughed, standing from the table.

"Solaris is the fire fae, not me." I clarified.

"Solaris?" Ferra asked.

"My brother. Solaris means the sun." I grabbed my trash and followed Stone to the garbage can.

"Is everyone in your family gifted with an element?" Ferra asked.

"My other brother is Bayu, which means wind." I shrugged.

"What? No water?" Stone joked as we walked back through the mall. I looked down at my hands, twisting them nervously.

"Kai, it means the sea. He was stillborn." I whispered. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ferra aggressively elbowing her mate at his insensitiveness.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mari." Stone mumbled.

"I get it if you don't want to talk about it, but Fox told us what happened to your mom and why the King doesn't want you back." Stone said.

"Don't be made at Fox, he just wanted us to know in case there was any retaliation from the King." Ferra added quickly. I looked over at them,

"I'm not mad, of course Finn told you," I shrugged,

"My father killed my mother after Kai was born and they realized he wasn't alive. He was already pissed because I was born a girl, so that just added salt to the wound. My father was promised four sons of nature." I recognized that my voice was more emotionless than it should have been but I had spent years trying to desensitize myself to the situation so I could survive.

"What do you mean he was promised sons of nature?" Stone asked as we all climbed into the black SUV.

"A prophecy was given to my father when he married my mother that he would have four sons of nature, as in four sons who each had an elemental ability. They were to be the pillars of strength and power of the Fae Kingdom. It was the only reason he married my mother. He was told that she would bear the strongest heirs." I explained.

"I've heard that the Fae take prophecies very seriously." Ferra said, raising her eyebrow in question. I nodded,

"That's putting it mildly. The Great Fae are a council of fae that all have the gift of prophecy. They're like a million years old and stiff as a board, but everyone still relies on their wisdom."

"So, what does it mean when they're wrong?" Stone asked, looking in the rearview mirror.

"They're never wrong."

"Unless there's something you want to tell us, Mari, I'm pretty sure they got the four sons thing wrong." Stone said with a smirk. I looked at him with an ominous expression,

"Or there's more to the prophecy."

"Is there?" Ferra asked.

"My mother and father are the only two who heard the prophecy straight from the Great Fae's mouths. When Kai was born, I was the only one in the room. Before my father came in and discovered that he was dead, my mother said that it was all up to me now. She said that I had to find the peace," I shrugged,

"I never knew what she meant, but I got the feeling that she knew she was going to die that day." Ferra and Stone looked at each other but said nothing. I stared out the window as we drove back to the packhouse in silence.