TWENTY-TWO

"I didn't expect Selene would choose you," That is what I heard the moment I stepped into the house with Hunter seeing Aiden and Scarlett in the living room.

"what do you mean by that?" I asked. If I am correct, she mentioned that moment she met me at the Border.

Hunter and I sat on the sofa facing, Selena seated on another couch, while Aiden and Scarlett stayed on the single couches.

"I am sure you heard of my visit to the rosemoon pack. Honestly, Selene ordered me to do it," Selena said.

"What?" Scarlett exclaimed.

I widened my eyes in surprise.

'The moon goddess,' I thought.

"Yes, she ordered me to do it. I had a vision of the Sacred beast coming to the lands. She told me to go to that pack and say those words of blessings," Selena said.

"So you lied," I asked.

'She lied about the whole blessing thing, right?' I thought

"No, I didn't lie, and That was true," She answered.

"Your bloodline was blessed, but I didn't see the connection to Artemis then," She added.

"When I told them, I knew they would not listen to me and try to find the blessed one. After many years of dealing with people, how could I not know snakes when I see one?" She sneered.

"I watched your pack till your shifting age, and I understood what Selene wanted to do," She said.

"You had a connection with Artemis when you were born, but sometimes to get the power of what you want, you have to suffer for it," She continued.

"So the moon goddess wanted Carmen to suffer to get her beast even if it was hers from the beginning," Scarlett exclaimed.

"Yes, and No," Selena said, looking at her.

"Do you know Typhon had escaped from the gods for a long time, probably before the creation of Artemis?" She questioned.

"So he is a banished god," I said.

"Yes, he was. But what crime he committed, I do not know. Selene did not tell me, but to prepare for the future, she had no choice but to do some things." Selena said.

"Typhon, to her, is like a demon. For someone to defeat him, she had to be sure of the person," Selena looked at me.

"She is sorry you had to suffer for her problems, but she didn't have a choice. She knew that Typhon would be after you and make use of your family in any way to get you, so she had to do this," Selena said.

'Even if the moon goddess had to do this, it does not change the fact they had greedy thoughts and put so many lives in danger.' I thought.

"That person is me?" I asked, changing the topic of my family to another one.

"Yes, and your mate,"

"My mate?" I was surprised to hear of him in this conversation.

"Yes, your mate, after you meet him, can you change into your second beast, a lycan," Selena said.

"A lycan," I mumbled surprisingly.

"That's why he sent his messenger to you, for you to change to his creature,"

'The lycan god,' I thought.

''Did you know of this?'' I asked Artemis in my head.

'No, but he won't do anything without reason,' She said.

That's why she was sure he wanted me to find my mate, a lycan.

"Do you know him?" I asked about my mate.

''That I don't know. You will find some things with their oracle when you go to the Lycan's kingdom.'' Selena smiled at me.

"Why is Typhon after Carmen?" Hunter asked.

"I don't know, but you will find out with the oracles of the Lycans," Selena said

"The only thing I can say is that he is after the one close to Selene." She continued.

'Close to the moon goddess?' I thought

I stared at Selena questioningly, but she smiled and said, "You will find more when you get there.''

"Anyway, I have given you answers that I knew, and hopefully, they will be of help." Selena stood up, intending to leave.

We stood up to follow her out.

She neared the door and exclaimed, clapping her hands, "Yes! I almost forgot."

She turned to me, "Your dreams of voices, you will keep on having them, Even I don't know when it will stop."

She turned back to the door and left with Hunter, who would guide her to the Border.

'It seems she does not know about those voices,' I thought as I stared at her back.

'Well, she said I could find out more in the Lycan kingdom, then I should be patient,' I ended my thoughts while Scarlett closed the door.

A month has passed since the oracle came to the goldmoon pack and today is the meeting for alphas coming with their Lunas.

I could feel different auras of Alphas from the moment they stepped into the goldmoon pack.

I trained till noon and slept for an hour before leaving for the meeting.

Aiden won't be attending, but all the Elders would.

The moment I stepped into the courtroom filled with Alphas and their Lunas seated on the chairs, the tables on each side of the high table, the murmuring stopped, and all the attention was on me.

I sat on the chair close to the high table.

"Carmen, you are on time. Since you are here, let's begin." Elder Marley said, drawing their attention to him.

"There are three things we need to discuss. Number one is about the Lycan king's invitation, Number two is about the new enemy, and Number three is the traitor in the rosemoon pack," As he mentioned in the last sentence. All eyes turned to the former generation of leaders and the present ones of the rosemoon pack.

Elder Marley coughed to get their attention.

"The lycan king requested a meeting with the alphas in two months. We do not know why, but we have to make not deepen his hatred towards us." Elder Marley said.

"How are we sure he is not killing us? I mean, the rumors about his hatred for werewolves seem correct given that we are the ones who received the first invitation, unlike other kinds who received more from him," An alpha asked immediately.

Words of agreement murmured before Elder Marley lifted his hand to stop them.

He dropped his hand and said, "That brings me to number two, Our enemy is not a rogue or a creature, but the situation involves the Lycans and possibly other species."

"The oracle came to verify the investigation carried out by our commander. But it seems the situation has become more confusing, that she said we need to accept the invitation from the Lycans to find out more from their oracle," He added.

"The Lycan's oracle must have received a prophecy about the enemy and knew something that involves our kind, so he invited us," Elder steven took over.

"Since the king can put his hatred aside, then we will put our suspicion aside and figure things out," He added.

"And Lastly, Number three, It seems there was a traitor amongst us leaders and was deemed useless by the enemy that he offered her to us.

"Former Alpha of rosemoon pack, did you know your son's mate is a traitor?" Elder Steven asked coldly.

"It was her mate who was high-ranked within the rogue. Let me ask you a question, Alpha of the rosemoon pack, Is Stella Knights your true mate?" He didn't give them a chance to talk after he asked the first question.

I looked at Derek, but he stared at me with a pale face before he clenched his hands and released them in surrender, "No, she isn't."

All the Alphas and Lunas gasped and murmured at the confession in the courtroom.

It was the first time a werewolf would ignore the goddess's will.

'It seems she punished their pack for it,' Most of them thought.

All packs were aware of the rosemoon pack's situation and thought the werewolf pack was pitful, but now it seems like a punishment from the moon goddess for ignoring her will.

"Honestly, we knew you were not true mates five years ago. We turned blind eyes to it, but your mate has a rogue mate and a high-ranked one," Hunter said coldly.

"If she had rejected him, given you chose her as your chosen mate, we would not do anything, but it seems she had done a lot of damage to your pack and the neighboring ones with the rogue situation," He added.

The Elders issued an arrest warrant for Stella the day after the oracle left my home, but she came during the month and checked Stella's history with her mate and found nothing apart from her mate ordering her to do his bidding. She did that to gain his love and a higher position since Derek couldn't give her that.

"I heard some things from our commander about the older generation of leaders in your pack, but it seems we can't do anything to your pack now with the enemy watching," Hunter continued.

"It was not our fault," Former Alpha of the rosemoon pack tried to reason with them.

"Yes, we know it is not your fault, but you had the thoughts, didn't you?" Hunter cut him off as he gazed coldly at them.

"Your Luna will stay in prison for her crimes, while we will pardon you, given the enemy was involved in scheming your family, according to the oracle," Scarlett said.

"Oh! Don't think about your real mate. The commander insisted on executing you all because she knows your mate, but we can't do that with the dire situation," Scarlett added.

Derek snapped his head to me with eyes filled with questions, but I ignored him and the others behind him.

"Yes, Elder," Derek said in surrender.

Since Stella is no more the luna, Derek's wolf can take the initiative to break the bond between them since there is an agreement between both sides.

The bond was created by them and not the goddess, so the wolf can easily break the bond.

I was wondering why there was no child between them. But Selena told me during her second visit when, looking into Stella's history, she saw that the moon goddess cursed her not to be able to birth a child as her punishment for not being satisfied.

Stella has been arrogant and selfish since she was young. She knew that Derek was not her real mate but was greedy for the position of a luna. She found her real mate but didn't tell her pack members about it and continued to be in touch with him.

She knew the rosemoon pack would be in trouble but did nothing and wanted to be beside her mate since his position was more efficient than Derek's.

Her greediness had no bounds.

'Anyway, if she brought this on herself, then she should accept the consequences.' I thought while listening in the meeting.

"Any questions or problems we should know about?" Elder Marley asked.

Silence.

"Then meeting dismissed, and don't forget the visit is in one month," Elder reminded them.

I stood up immediately and walked to the door without looking at Derek and his pack members, who wanted to speak with me or anyone else.

For me, Rosemoon pack and I have no relationship. They should know that I will not tolerate them.

Besides, the situation is more crucial than them.