Rejecting The Future Moon Goddess [Amazon Edition]

Chapter 11 - Truth

Chapter 11 - Truth

The days passed in a blurry haze as the slow rhythmic hum of the engine and light tunes from the radio soothe me in and out of sleep. Every now and then I hear the host announce what day it is when the burning in my body eases and I am conscious long enough to hear. Sometimes my skin feels like it was rippling, like the waves on the lake with a soft summer breeze.
Sometimes, it feels like my bones would break with every bump Alex's truck hits, only to realign without warning. Sometimes, I can smell the tang of blood in the air and wonder if it is from me or a poor animal hit on the side of the road. Sometimes a lullaby that is so familiar but hard to remember where I heard it from is sang to me and in my moments of consciousness and asking Alex about it, I learn that no one in the pack has ever sang it to me. I remember one night on the long drive the sound of a dying animal howling filled my ears, it wasn't until Alex pleaded for me to stay awake and bite down on a towel that I realized that animal was me.
"Hang on Gem, I'm taking you to the temple of the Goddess. They should be able to help you." My brother assures me in as calm of a voice he could muster. But even through the haze of pain and blackness surrounding me I could hear the tremble of fear in his voice. I knew he was trying his best to help me but in the moment of alertness and lucidness all I wanted was the sweet relief of death to take over.
Time slipped by once again while my mind has a hard time trying to decipher reality and my own pain induced hallucination before the world around me stops. Something cool kisses my burning skin and a sense of peace and tranquility calms my racing mind until blackness seeps in once again. I pray that this is death taking me away once and for all from the agony I have suffered.

...

"Are you sure its her?" A voice whispers, one I recognize as Alex. The sweet dream I was having now forgotten as the conversation filled by hushed voices bring me back to consciousness,
"Yes I am positive. Geminie has the mark on her right shoulder and her name is even the same as the pup we have been looking for these last eighteen years." A woman replies, her voice light and musical like Lizaria. I force myself to open my eyes, wanting to catch a glimpse of this woman only to groan from the light filtering in. Someone rushes from the other side of the room to were I presumably lay in a bed and places their hand on my forehead.
"You can open your eyes now; the lights were dimmed." Alex coaxes me, his familiar scent giving me a sense of comfort and security. With his encouraging words I try to open my eyes again, his face filled with relief.
"Your fever is finally gone." He sighs out, leaning back on the chair that sits by my bedside as he runs his fingers through his already messy hair. He looks haggard and guilt fills me knowing that my brother must have worried for my well being while I had preyed for death.
"Anyways, how are you feeling Gemmie?" He asks me, his smiling growing after he yawns. I take a moment to stretch my body under the covers, feeling each and every muscle stretch with no pain and, finding new found muscles I had no clue I have. My body felt amazing, like all the beatings and fatigue from sleepless nights never happened.
"For some reason I feel incredible. No pain at all." I answer honestly, sending a questioning gaze to my brother. He sighs, handing me a glass of cold water that I quickly down and motion for more, which Alex obliges and fills the glass quickly. After two more glasses of water and one I now slowly sip from, Alex sighs once again and runs his fingers through his messy hair.
"The best explanation I can give you Gem is that when Mika rejected you, it kick started the process of your shift." He begins, his face looking as if he aged ten years within the last few days.
"You aren't really my sister and you weren't supposed to shift for another two years." Alex continues, shoulder slumping in defeat as he looks to the ground at his feet. Confusion washes over me as this statement as I wait for my brother to continue.
"What Alex is trying to say is that you are not in fact a Blake." A musical voice continues after a long pause of silence reigns over the room for a moment to long. My head turns to see a women standing by the door, her long straight black hair and pale skin standing out against the beige behind her as she sends a smile my way.
"You are Geminie Starlite, Daughter of Maverick Starlite Alpha of the Pack and Lisandra, our current Moon Goddess."

...

"Let me get this straight." I start, running my fingers through my greasy hair and cringing at the feel of my locks. I am in desperate need of a shower but with my mind racing a million thoughts, I needed to sort out the information I had just learnt.
"Eighteen years ago Alex's parents decided to kidnap me." I continue, seeing the look of guilt flash through my brother's eyes as he looks outside the window. I reach out, taking his hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. He had no knowledge like me until today and I could never hold a grudge against him.
"Yes. Their reasoning from what we could gather is that a week before you were born, the Blakes suffered a miscarriage. Their pup would have been a little girl like you. Their goal would have been to kill you but clearly, something changed." Ira, the black haired she-wolf, repeats this information once more to me. Information that was hard to grasp. Alex had explained that a month before his sister was supposed to be born, his parents sent him to summer camp. By the time the Blake's would have had their daughter settled in to life at home, Alex would be just arriving back from camp to start his role as a big brother. Instead, he came home to me.
"I always felt something was off with you, especially when I returned home from camp and seen you crying in the crib but no one cared about helping you." His voice brings me out of my thoughts as I turn to look at Alex, sadness deep within his eyes. Knowing we aren't related must be killing him, but knowing his parents kept the death of his baby sister from him must be destroying him even more. I carefully climb out of the bed, happy that before our discussion started Ira had given me a long nightgown to put on, and close the gap between me and Alex, wrapping my arms around him and pulling him in for a hug.
"Alex, no matter what you are my brother. You've been there for me since meeting me. You protected me to the best of your abilities and gave me food and familial love. We are sibling no matter what happens." I whisper, feeling the tension in his body slowly leave as he buries his face into my shoulder. His body starts shaking and the feeling of a wet spot where his eyes rest clues me in that the strong wolf before me was sobbing silently. Reality is cruel and harsh. Knowing that the day that Sorus and Reena were killed was because of the Blakes. That Alex never learned the truth of his biological sister because the Blakes wanted revenge on my mother for something that unfortunately happens and was out of her control. That I was ripped away from my own birth parents and blamed for many things all because I was the physical target for the Blakes rage and not knowing nor able to prove my innocence. Tears of my own began to fall at the injustice that had been given to me for eighteen years and before I knew it, I find myself clinging to my brother as we both grieved in our own way at the life we have lived until now. With our emotions now spent, and the flood of grief now open, I felt like the weight on my shoulders that I have been carrying since being disowned from the Blakes finally fade away. My mind felt clearer and body lighter by the time the tears ran dry and left taking deep breath with Alex.
A box of tissues is placed in front of the two of us, causing Alex and I to look at Ira with surprise and thanks as we each dry our tears away and I find myself sitting back in bed. Today would mark the start of my life not as Geminie Blake, but as my true self Geminie Starlite.
"Ira, what happens now? Where do Alex and I go and what am I supposed to do?" I ask, giving this she wolf a determined look. It was time for me to change my destiny and take my life back. I couldn't just sit there and do nothing and allow what the Blakes did to Alex and I to go without justice. But I need to grow stronger before I could take any revenge.
"You train Geminie." She starts, giving me a smile as another member of the temple walks in with a cart full of what I assume are necessities for our stay.
"You, as well as Alex, will train here for a week. We will get you in contact with your father and at the end of the week, you can decide whether you want to go to his pack and train there or create your own pack." With that, Ira bids us a good night and leaves Alex and I to our thoughts.