Chapter 42: Secrets of the Silver-Haired Goddess

Aurora

I was sitting in my living room, looking through the book Remus gave me. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read it, but I needed answers.

So I gathered all my courage, picked up the book, and began to read.

~Thousands of years ago, the great titan, Hyperion, espoused his sister, Theia.~

~She gave birth to Helios, the God of the sun, Eos, the Goddess of the dawn and Selene, the Goddess of the moon.~

~Selene was a gorgeous deity, with silver-blonde hair that cascaded to her feet, and skin so white it looked almost translucent, and eyes that shone like gold.~

~She was in charge of the moon, and was granted the power of creating the lycans, which were creatures that had the ability to shift into wolves.~

~These lycans were bestowed with incredible power, and were trusted to protect the gates of Olympus from mortals.~

~One day, while patrolling and supervising the lycans, Selene came across a curious human. She fell madly in love with the mortal, who was named Endymion.~

~He, who was after the love of Hera, begged Zeus to allow him eternal sleep, to be ageless, just like the gods.~

~Zeus agreed, and put the mortal under the spell. He then told Selene that she would be the only one responsible for guarding him.~

~Selene was pleased with the duty bestowed upon her, and took care of the sleeping mortal night and day.~

~One day, she could not help but wonder what it would be like to kiss the man that had stolen her heart, and decided to take advantage of his sleeping state.~

~Little did she know that a kiss would break the spell. The mortal woke to find the beautiful, silver-haired deity kissing him.~

~The mortal saw this beauty before him, and forgot about his infatuation with Hera. He fell deeply in love with Selene, and proposed to her, wanting to spend the rest of his life with her.~

~She accepted right away, and they ran to Zeus to beg his permission for her to stay on Earth with her beloved mortal.~

~Zeus accepted, under the condition that she never forget her duty as the guardian of the Olympian gates.~

~Selene and Endymion returned to earth, and had a normal, happy life. Eventually, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, who was known as the descendant of the moon.~

~Selene lived alongside her beloved Endymion until he died of old age.~

~Once he had perished, Selene returned to Olympus and carried on with her duty as the Moon Goddess, but her descendant remained on Earth.~

~Selene’s daughter had a family of her own, mating with a lycan alpha.~

~They were named the king and queen of the werewolves, and ruled over every pack on earth as royals.~

~They ruled over the lycans, and were respected by all the packs.~

~In each generation, a she-wolf would be born. She would take over her parent’s duty, after she’d imprinted and mated.~

~They ruled for generations, until two hundred years ago, when hunters began chasing the lycans.~

~They discovered ways of weakening the werewolves, and little by little they hunted them down, until there were no royals left.~

~The remaining werewolves were forced to go into hiding, remaining in their human form, hidden in the human world.~

~But proof has been found that the royal blood is still among us, and one day a new queen and king will rule over the packs again.~

“A new queen and king? Royals? This has got to be a joke.” I said aloud. I turned to the next chapter, and was shocked to find an illustration of a wolf.

~The true form of the descendants of the moon.~

What I saw shocked me to my core. The illustration showed a wolf, with white fur and purple eyes.

~“Rhea…that looks just like you.”~

My wolf was as shocked as I was.

~What the hell is this all about?~ I thought. ~Why does the wolf in this book resemble my shift?~

~“It does, but I don’t know why. What’s all this about royals and the Moon Goddess descendants?”~ Rhea asked.

~“I don’t know,”~ I said to her. I flipped to another page.

~A Descendant’s Abilities and Powers.~

~Even though a daughter of the moon hasn’t been seen for the last seventy years, there are known traits of her abilities and powers, which made her unique and powerful.~

~Below you will find a list of her abilities and powers.~

As I looked down to read the so-called list, I groaned in annoyance when I saw that the page had a huge ink stain on it, which covered the entire list.

“Damn it.” I closed the book and put it down on the coffee table with a loud thud.

“This is so frustrating. Why did Remus give me this book? Yeah, the picture of the wolf resembles my shift, but that doesn’t mean I am a descendant of the Moon Goddess. Or…am I?”

~This is completely crazy.~

The next day, I ran back to the mansion with the book tucked under my arm, looking for Remus.

I met Aspen on the way in, and she told me he was in the alpha’s office, so I marched directly there.

I knocked once before entering. I knew Wolfgang wasn’t there, so I could relax.

“Remus, I need to talk to you…” I said as I walked into the office, shouting without thinking.

I came face to face with the puzzled looks of Max and the elders. Remus looked at me with his usual poker face.

“Rory, is everything okay?” Max asked as he stood up from his desk. I blushed, embarrassed by the way I’d barged in without thinking.

“Hey, Max. Yup. I’m totally fine.”

“Lady Aurora. What a pleasant surprise. Have you finally decided to move back into the mansion?” Elder Leto asked me.

“No. I am never moving back here. I just need to have a word with Gamma Remus,” I said sternly to the old man, who sighed in distress.

“If you wish, you can wait for me in the library,” Remus said. I just nodded, then left the room.

I walked down the stairs and headed straight to the library, as Remus had requested. I sat there, rereading the first chapter once more.

“Royals…yeah right.”

I was so busy moping that I didn’t realize Remus had come into the room until he cleared his throat.

“Oh, Remus. You’re here.” I looked up at him.

“I’ve been here for quite a while now, but you were busy grumbling about royals. I see you’ve read the book,” he said as he took his glasses off and wiped them clean.

“Yeah, but I need more. I need you to tell me what Wolfgang and you have found so far about my mother,” I told the gamma.

“I know nothing about her except that my father met her in Buckland. I’ve never met—or even know if I have—my grandmother or grandfather, or aunts or uncles from her side. I need to find out more.”

I said it all in one breath, feeling anxious.

“Very well.” He sighed. “But Alpha Wolfgang gave orders that neither the beta, nor the elders, should know about this.”

I looked at him, confused. Why was he keeping it a secret from the elders and Max?

Remus noticed, and answered the question before I could ask it.

“He thinks it’s better to get the information first, before saying anything. We both do.”

For once, I agreed with my so-called mate, so I just nodded.

“So what have you found?” I asked the gamma. Just then, I noticed a file he’d placed on the table before me.

“There wasn’t much to find in Buckland. The elder there said that your mother arrived at the age of three, along with a witch who said her name was Eleanor. They were on the run from hunters, and sought sanctuary there.”

As he spoke, I opened the file and looked through the papers.

“She had claimed to come from the pack in the western cities, but…” Remus trailed off.

“There aren’t any packs in the western cities,” I said. He nodded.

“This witch. Is she alive?” I asked, hoping that she was. Witches had ways of keeping themselves together for as long as they wished.

“We don’t know. The elder said that after your mother mated with your father and left Buckland, the witch left shortly after. They haven’t heard from her since.”

He looked at the file. “That is why Alpha Wolfgang went to the western cities…in hopes of finding something about this so-called pack.”

I looked again at the papers and found a page showing my mother’s photograph.

~FIRST NAME: Rebecca~

~LAST NAME: Craton~

MAIDEN NAME: BLANC~

~Deceased~

~PLACE OF BIRTH: Unknown~

~RESIDENCE: Buckland and White Village~

~LIVING RELATIVES: Unknown~

~AGE AT THE TIME OF DEATH: 29 years old~

~CAUSE OF DEATH: Complications during childbirth~

~MARITAL STATUS: Married~

~SPOUSE: Rodrick Craton~

~CHILDREN: One~

~NAME OF CHILD: Aurora Craton~

~PACK POSITION: Mate of the gamma~

I couldn’t help the tear that ran down my cheek. I quickly wiped it off and cleared my throat before speaking.

“When is Alpha Wolfgang coming back?” I asked Remus.

“He said he’d be away for a couple of days. I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”

“Very well. Once he is back, I want to speak to him. I need to know what he found out,” I said.