Rejected Mate and Following Fate

Chapter 62: Sleep Little One

I sigh heavily, letting out a tiny noise, but Sierra is making sure I keep my eyes closed and I picture such a pretty girl with white hair, saddened with little pangs in my heart, that she was ended in such a cruel way. In wonder that a wolf can be both like me, and one of those creatures out there, mommy is fighting. I wonder if this story could be a little bit true and wouldn't it be sad that all these wars were because a bad man killed a little girl, because he was afraid she would take his crown away. What a silly man.

"Stories told are a funny thing, as they change and grow, and details are forgotten, or exaggerated, and soon that story of years gone by are lost among the wolves, visionaries too afraid to correct the tellers. We witches became enemies, because we held truth and sight, as alphas removed traces from our history and beheaded witches who spoke out. The wars raged on, decade after decade, for hundreds of years, until no wolf or vampire knew anymore why we came to hate one another with such passion. The witches still uttered the secrets though. All was to be forever that way, quiet secrets, until a visionary, a seer, saw something that changed everything, and she sacrificed her life by spreading a prophecy to any who listened. Neither side trusts the motives of the witches, but we have always been the peacekeepers and the healers among you all. Our hearts were open to love all kinds, and we only wished to serve the needs and cure the sick, but this hatred has pushed some of my own kind into a terrible darkness who use their gifts for bad. And we no longer tried to right the wrongs of your people."

Sierra again lifts her hands from my eyes, although I keep them closed, poised, and waiting for her words, and she returns to twirling my hair.

"This Seer, she saw an end to it all, in the form of a white wolf with the blood of a vampire running through her veins. A direct descendent of both blood lines, both ancients. The prophecy was clear, that only a femme could carry the gifts needed. She would rise up and lead her people…. not in war, and hate, and death, no, that was never the prophecy, but she was to unite and repair the bonds between the two, because a warrior she may be, but her truest gift will be the love she has inside of her, and her

power will be used to reset the balance. She isn't going to wipe out the vampires… she's going to find something among them that will show her how to fix the rift. They possess something she needs from them. She's a healing balm." Sierra sighs heavily, fatigue overtaking her voice, and a sense of hopelessness dulls her tone.

"A new King was rising among the people and his bloodline, that of the king of old, was not willing to relinquish his throne either. That same power madness infected his mind and he began to purge the lands of any white wolves he came across on his battlefield. Not that there were many, as the flaws in our kind make their birth almost impossible. He broke the laws, and killed his own, and to hide his secrets he killed all that were linked to them and purged the packs of any trace. You see, losing our kind in battle raises no questions, and he knew he could never let a white wolf rise. Such is his need for that power, that he married a witch wolf, and hid her identity because he thought she would make him rise as the chosen one."

I wonder if our Alpha Santo is that king? If Sierra is the magical witch in the story, then maybe she means Juan Santo is the evil king. How silly. Juan isn't a bad man, he's the one my mommy went to war with. He is our people's king now.

"There was one who shone bright and started to lead a better way. Turn the battles in our favor, but all too often she was letting the vampires live and showing mercy. She believed she could end things if she was allowed to meet with the Coven King of darkness and put an end to it all. She said she had a way. A future with peace. The Alpha king was furious, but the witch Luna had affection for the white wolf, and she begged him to leave her be. The king knew the white wolf was too strong for him, and that his witch mate would try and intervene, so while he pretended to allow her to travel alone to find this leader of the vampires for a solution to the fights, he struck down her family, and her mate, putting an end to her own life too. He used the bond link to his advantage. He thought he had ground down to dust the prophecy once and for all, with no more traces of white among our kind. There was devastation in the air, and a broken witch wolf in heartbreak. The king, however, was reminded of a

child, who stayed behind, and had not yet come to turn and show her true colors. A femme child with the possibility of her hybrid mother's gifts. But you see, the king's mate…. she is a witch, bound by a bond to him yet she does not support his actions. That wolf was her sister in friendship, maybe not in birth, but she adored her as though blood, and her heart was broken by what he'd done. The betrayal of his people, and the murder of his own, the betrayal of his bond to her in hurting her closest. That witch, she knew that he would come after the rest of the white wolf's pack and end any chance of another rising ever again. She chose her people over her bond, she chose her love of the white wolf's child, and it brought me to you." Sierra stops stroking my face and her words make me jump. So caught in the wonder of her tale that it's a surprise for her to say that.

"Why me? What am I to do?" I try not to open my eyes, as she said not to, and screw them shut as hard as I can while holding myself still. My little heartbeat rising again, with awe, and yet excitement for this amazing story.

"You are the last white femme, Alora, so I could not stay behind and let you die too. I had to come, and protect you, with the gifts I've hidden for so many years. Don't be afraid, one day when this comes back, you will know what to do. My son, Colton, he's a good sweet boy, and I must leave him for a little while even though it kills me to do so. You'll be what he needs when the time comes, and you'll be drawn to him by the fates. I've seen it, the fates have deemed it so. Saw the pairing of my child and my Marina's, as a resolution to the binds we find ourselves in. Our children will be the unity our three kinds need, and together they will rebalance what nature intended of our people. The berry I gave you, it will make you sleep, and all that you know from the moment you woke at my appearance, until you wake in morning, will be gone. Until such a time when we three touch, and I can lift the binds I'm about to place on you. If something happens and I can no longer be found, or help to undo this, then your mate bond to my son, the finalizing of the union will restore this memory and the gifts I'm about to bind. It will break the spell, and you'll shine, sweet girl, with my son by your side. My aura ebbs around and through you, weaving its path as I have given you my words, and our souls have become so completely entwined within my magic. Look now."

I flutter my eyes open, now with her permission, a little slow at first and can see what she means, with a quiet inhale of surprise. I'm completely encapsulated in blue glow, all around me and somehow inside of me, and lift my one free hand to see there is not a single piece of me that is not illuminated as it pulsates from every pore. Making traces in the air with my small movements.

Sierra takes both of my hands in hers, holding my entire little fist inside her palms and firmly squeezing until I can't let myself free. Her eyes glow brighter, the room becoming light with the power of the glow we are both emitting, and I'm transfixed to her face as she locks her eyes on mine.

"I 'm binding my life to thee… willingly our souls entwined.

My air is yours, our heart beats in rhyme, together we are one until the end of time.

By blood we may not be linked, but in love, and bond, by magic synced.

We now are forever to die as one, for you my child, this spell will be done.

I bind thee gifts, until a time predicted, when the world and all within shall be shifted.

When love breaks the ties, I place upon thee, and your mind, and power, shall be set free.

We shall meet again, in a time, and place, that the fates decree."

Sierra utters these words in an almost song like manner, as everything between us pulses, and hums, with a static that electrifies the room, and we glow to an almost insane level of brightness. I screw my eyes shut, body energized, and almost fit to bursting with the sudden rush of adrenalin coursing through me. I feel like I'm standing in a wind tunnel, yet nothing moves, and almost as quickly as it overwhelms me, it stops dead, and drops back to a dim glow as only Sierra's hands remain blue and those two piercing eyes return to dark, and her natural brown color. I blink my eyes at the sudden

darkness of the room, acclimatizing as it all comes back into focus, and look at her with question. Her eyes are filled with tears, and little rivulets stain her pale cheeks as she smiles at me softly. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

"He's coming and soon this family will die too. They're killing what is left of the Whyte pack as we speak, and they'll tell those of the mountain they chased vampires into our lands and couldn't get to them in time. You'll be a thorn in his shoe, as I have become, and he'll have no choice but to now put you somewhere in the hopes you'll be forgotten. My fate will be whatever he decides, but I doubt it'll be here with my people. If you die, I die, and he dies too. That will be my homage to your mother, so her death was not in vain. Sleep now, sweet girl… before the horrors come to this room. I don't want that memory for you, of this innocent family's demise, and I will stay here until he knows he can't touch you, for now, or eternity, if he wishes to live. My sleeping berry is strong. You won't know of anything more, my angel, only peaceful slumber before tomorrow, they break your heart and tell you of the saddest moment you'll have to live through for the next ten years. I'm not a warrior, I'm a healer, or else I would have done more for her, for all of you, and I'm so sorry. I truly am. My son though… he has so much fire within him, just waiting to be unleashed, he's going to be a great warrior one day, your protector, your love, but you will show him the way. I had to bind his witch gifts as a baby for fear others would see it in him, or that Juan would see him as a threat, but he possesses sight, and abilities that he has no concept of. I bound him, and much like you, he will unbind his gifts when he marks you as his mate, or I'm returned to you both to do it myself. Whatever comes first. You two are our future." Sierra strokes my face one more time, the sleepiness becoming overwhelming, and although the words she says alarms me, and pushes a fear into my heart, a pain so deep because she said my mother is dead, the effects of that berry are pulling me into darkness and I can't fight them. Tears bite my eyes, and I make a painful sound in response, yet it falls almost like a breath, and fades away as I succumb to this power.

"I want my mommy." It's a soft utterance as I try my hardest to out win the effects, but my eyes drift closed, and Sierra's voice is all that gets through, her tone low, and husky, and torn, as she cries through her words.

"I'm so sorry. I really am. I want her to come back too. You are all I have left of her…. I only wish I could stand in her place and shelter you now, but he won't let me be with you. Our time will come, I will see you again. Sweet, sweet, Alora." She sobs a little under her breath, and then seems to swallow it down and push herself back to calmer. "I'll sing to you, the wolf song. Such a pretty lullaby which'll help you go to sleep. Your mother said she used to sing it when she nursed, and it was always Colton's favorite melody to fall asleep to…. shhhh now."

Sierra gently starts to sing, her voice wavering with emotion, but yet still lovely, so quiet, hushed in volume, so as not to disturb anyone else. The words of the Nordic song of old, that we sing at the Awakening ceremonies, according to my mom, because I've never been allowed to go just yet. They're for the grown-up wolf's who have something special beginning, and I hope one day that will be me too.

The notes and melody fill the air, like a beautiful serenading ghostly echo, calling on our ancestors to help pave my path to slumber, and I black out completely as voices begin to invade the room in which I lie.