Filed to story: Confirming His Luna by Eyes Novel >>
“A mark? You’re going to have to be more specific than that, boy. Looking into the future is like remembering a dream. I can try to make sense of bits and pieces, but even if I knew what I was looking for, it’s no guarantee I’ll be able to find it.”
“It’s a birthmark,” I add. “The skin is lighter there, kind of like a scar. It’s shaped like a crescent moon, about the length of my thumb. Here… may?” I reach out and take her hand gently, and she nods to me as I tug down the neckline of my shirt with my other hand. Slowly, I guide her fingertips to the spot below my left collarbone where the mark is.
Sophie’s expression grows narrow with concentration as she presses her palm against my chest, covering the mark as if she could soak it up through her wrinkled skin.
“This isn’t a birthmark,” she says slowly, her voice suddenly somber. “I cannot see the stain on the surface, but I can feel it beneath. There’s moonlight flowing in your veins, girl. There’s something wrathful and divine wrapped around your heart.”
She pulls her hand away suddenly in a sharp movement as if the mark somehow bit her, but I didn’t feel anything. There’s no pain in my chest, no shimmery glow on my skin.
“What does that mean, exactly?” Tristan asks, leaning forward in his seat as his eyes dart between me and the Seer, concern apparent on his face.
“Honestly?” Sophie shakes her head, shoulders sagging as she shifts back on the couch. “I don’t know.”
“Is it tied to my parents?” I ask, shaken by the witch’s cryptic words. I’m not sure what sort of ‘divine wrath’ she sensed in me, but I need to find out. “Could it have something to do with why I don’t have a wolf?”
Sophie arches a brow. “Oh, you have a wolf. It’s buried deep within you, slumbering out of your reach.”
What? All my life, I’ve been considered defective, broken, and freakish because I never manifested a wolf. Now this woman is telling me that there’s been one inside me all along?
“I do not know how you can wake it,” Sophie goes on, “and you won’t be able to shift until you do. But it’s there, dormant and waiting.”
“Waiting for what?” Tristan demands, and there’s an edge in his voice that tells me that he dislikes this uncertainty as much as I do. Perhaps even more. He cannot protect me from what he can’t see.
“Mind your tone, boy. You know full well that I’m just the messenger. If you came here thinking you’d find easy answers and a clear path, then you haven’t been paying attention.”
Tristan lets out a low, unhappy growl, and Sophie’s expression softens. Her face crinkles with affection when she turns toward him.
“You are a great Alpha and a good man. I have seen you take on one challenge after the next, but whatever is plaguing your mate will only be revealed with patience.”
He shifts in his seat, and I find myself instinctively reaching out for him. I rest my hand on his knee and give him a small smile, which seems to melt some of the worry in his golden eyes.
“We’re now aware that the mark is magic and that I have a wolf,” I say, surprised by the steadiness of my own voice. “That is more than we knew when the day started.”
His hands move to cover my own, and he squeezes them softly.
“We don’t need to figure everything out at once,” I tell him, lashes fluttering as I look down at our entwined hands. “I’ve never been given a chance to know myself. You were the first person to ask me what I want. You’re the first person that has cared enough about my past to look into it. You swore you would never harm me, and I promise I will never run away from you. So we have time. The answers will come.”
Tristan closes his eyes for a moment, his thumb brushing over the back of my hand in a way that sends goosebumps across my skin. At last, he looks back up at the Seer, seemingly remembering that we’re not alone.
“If there are no more answers to be found today, then perhaps some advice,” he tells Sophie. “We don’t understand the powers that are at play here. But this girl isn’t a vision anymore.” He nods toward me. “She’s real, she’s here, and she is my guest. My responsibility. One way or another, I intend to keep her safe. How would you suggest I do that?”
Sophie smiles, tilting her head to the side in a curious little motion as if she were listening for the answer before she spoke it.
“My advice? You aren’t just an Alpha and a king, my boy. You are a warrior, and the wisest warriors know that the best way to protect someone in the long term is to teach them how to protect themselves. It’s how you’ve built a kingdom out of ruin and a pack out of outcasts. You give people what they need to thrive.”
Sophie turns back to me, and even through the scars, I swear I can see a glint in her cloudy eyes that screams of hope and resilience.
“You want to keep your little flower safe? Then do what you do best— help her blossom.”
Tristan
As it turns out, my little flower takes the matter of blossoming very seriously.
Since our meeting with Sophie, the girl has dedicated herself to growing, as if she could nurture the power hidden within her until it becomes strong enough to spill out.
When she first arrived at the Villa du Lac, she was all skin and bones, but after just over a month with the Rovers, the changes are already visible. She is still slender and small, but the sharp edges and skeletal frame have softened. Her pale skin has a warmer hue after working so much in the gardens, her cheeks plump and rosy rather than hollow and sunken. Weeks of proper rest have wiped away the dark circles under her eyes, and even her golden hair seems silkier than before.
I tasked Amara with teaching her basic self-defense. I want her to feel safe and strong, especially while she cannot manifest her wolf to defend herself. I thought about training her myself, but after seeing her old pack’s handiwork, I was not sure if she’d feel comfortable with a man in that kind of physical situation. Besides, Amara has softened up to the girl. She’s developed a fondness for her that I did not expect, graciously taking her under her wing.
Every morning at sunrise, she trains with her on the villa’s patio overlooking the lake. Just because Amara likes the girl does not mean she goes easy on her. I insisted she start slow, with stretching and basic strength-building first. Still, by the second week, Amara was teaching her how to get out of a basic chokehold.
Perhaps that is also why I tasked Amara to train her. I trusted her to know when to hold back and when to push. From what she’s reported back to me, the violet-eyed girl has taken everything Amara has thrown at her with grace and determination, moving past her uncertainty and fear to learn how to roll with the punches.
Literally.
Sophie has also started tutoring her a few times a week, teaching her the ways in which science and magic have shaped our lands. My mate visits her frequently in the Seer’s little cabin, often taking potted plants and vases of flowers as gifts and returning with baskets of cookies and other treats from Sophie.
When she’s not listening to Sophie’s stories and histories or tending to the garden, she accompanies Lucy and Nico on errands downtown. She’s learned her way around the Rovers’ village, and when she walks through the cobbled streets, several pack members smile and wave at her in greeting.
Apparently, she’s developed a habit of bringing everyone flowers.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?