Raizelâs grip on my hand tightens.
âLuna was a wonderful woman. Kind, soft spoken and well, different. She wasnât what Romanuv was looking for. The man had ambition- he had goals, desires, thirst for power and with Luna⦠he couldnât have that. Well, at least, thatâs what he thought. Luna was the first mate to have ever been. rejected.
She had been abandoned. Something completely unheard of at the time. The Goddess. couldnât have foretold that Romanuv would reject his mate. She makes the dots, but she doesnât connect them. We do.â
Her words resonate in my mind. The question lingering in my head making it so that I felt anxious.
âAnd youâre telling me that this⦠Luna, is my ancestor?â
I ask her, pinching my brows together. Goddess, just how problematic is my bloodline? Two wolves rejected by their mates and essentially being replaced. I couldnât stop the soft laugh escaping me.
I guess it runs in the family.
Ivory nods, smiling at me as she tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear. I can see a penny sized blue tattoo of a small dragonfly rest at the side of her neck.
âYes. You are her descendent from your motherâs side.â
âIf thatâs so, how come Iâm not cursed? If Raizel is cursed because his ancestor mated with another, how come Iâm not?â
âThatâs because Luna didnât have a choice. Romanuv did. She didnât choose to defy the Goddess like her mate had. She had no fault in this. All the blame rests on Romanuv. The Goddess may be overbearing at times but she isnât entirely cr uel. She allowed Luna to meet another wolf. A wolf whoâd lost his mate to illness. Ah-â
She snaps her fingers when a thought struck her, âThatâs another thing. Illness and death is not something the Goddess controls. When one loses at mate to either one way too early, she can choose another who also had a similar fate and pair them together. And so, she sees what Romanuv has done. She sees how the poor girl was left behind and she gives her a chance. Granted, her fate was already sealed. The Goddess cannot undo the binds she created between two souls. She canât just snip it off like its a thread, especially since Romanuv, her true mate, was still living. Though they couldnât be real mates, at least Luna wasnât lonely in her life.â
âBut donât you think its unfair? To curse a bloodline for the mistake of one person?â
Weston asks, a deep frown on his face and a bite in his tone. Clearly he didnât approve of what was his Alphaâs fate, much like everyone else in the room. He folds his arms across his chest and leans against the wall. A look of slight annoyance crosses his features.
Ivoryâs smile falters at the question as she glances at Raizel and Stefan.
âYes⦠it is. She was angered that a Bloodline was forcibly created out of her reach. She took is as an insult and so she punished all of you. It was unfair for Bennett to bear the sufferings Locksworth put her through. The life she shouldâve had as a strong Luna by his side was no more. The good she wouldâve brought to the world was gone. Romanuvâs betrayal forced the Goddess to rearrange mateships that hadnât been established yet. The woman that Analisaâs mate took lost her true mate so the Goddess had to find one for him. Itâs a domino effect, Iâm afraid. Mixing and matching everything over again.â
âAre you trying to say every Locksworth since Romanuv mated with someone they werenât supposed to? That the mate they had was simply a ⦠substitute because the mateships were The Tamala Alubaâs Sanctuary rearranged?â
Stefan speaks up, angered by the insinuation that Laura wasnât rightfully his. Laura herself looked a little crestfallen, so much that it actually stung in my chest to see her make such a face.
âNot exactly. The âcurseâ was the price to pay for their mate. In exchange for the mate she saw the bloodline unworthy of, she would take part of them away. Sight, a leg, an arm, hearing⦠Itâs give and take. It wasnât entirely because she was being petty. The Goddess cannot control you but she can bestow âgiftsâ or âcursesâ. I never said the Goddess was kind. The mates your bloodline had after Romanuv was your true mate. The Goddess made it so. That leads us to the rogues once more.
Rogues are usually descendants of those from rejected bloodlines. From DNA we consider to be ant abomination. They become even more immune to the Goddessâ will because of the fact they were born out of her plans, hence their desires to rule over her.â
I bite my bottom lip when I finally ask her, âAnd what has this got to do with Raizel and I?â
Ivory gives me a warm grin as she looks between us. The unmistakable joy in those eyes renders me silent.
âIt means that you were always fated to be. If Iâm being honest, Iâm not sure if she planned for this to happen butâ¦Everything is coming into full circle. Your bloodline was always supposed to intertwine with Locksworthâs. This doesnât mean your mother was supposed to be Stefanâs mate. For a long time, the Goddess forced your two families apart. I donât have an answer as to why she stopped that now.â
The Female Alphaâs Sanctuar