This was our mighty Moon Goddess? I almost shake my head, I have no idea how she is here standing in front of me, and I am pissed at her but also in awe of her.
“What is the price?” Mateo asks.
“I am,” she replies, “I am the price that she will have to pay, and Katya will never be free, she will forever be cursed like me,” she admits.
“Cursed like you?” I parrot, confused.
“Yes, you think being a Goddess is a blessing.” The Moon Goddess erupts into a fit of giggles like what she said is the most hilarious thing ever spoken. I must have missed the joke because I found this no laughing matter. “You watch everyone you have ever known and loved around you die! You live on and on while being forced to decide who you pair together, who you let live, and who you let die. Everything is a choice. I chose this like Marabella chose the curse. I thought it would ease the burden a little with her tempting fate, only it gave me a headache while trying to take the damn thing back, trying to show them how to break it and restore the power to me. The curse should have died out when Katya did,” she says, rubbing her temples like she has a headache.
Even while angered and moping, she still has this regal air around her, like she is untouchable and above all of us, and she is. It was hard to believe the Moon Goddess was puzzled so by my little mate, that she could have such an effect on her.
The Moon Goddess walks over to me, taking Kat from my arms like she weighs nothing, and places her on a bench. It would have to be the only one left standing in the school.
She strokes Katya’s hair from her face, brushing her cheek gently. “When you were born, I knew you would be great from the moment I heard you scream, such a way to be brought into this world, and you fought with everything to make it out alive. Only a true Goddess would give it all up for her people, just like I did to save mine a long time ago,” she tells Kat.
I couldn’t move or believe what I am seeing as a tear slips down the Moon Goddesses’ cheek. She truly loves Kat, she was special to her for some reason.
“And for that, I give you a piece of me. I bless you, my Gemini wolf, and I gift you with your life, one you never deserved to have taken by me, you shall be my first Alpha of Alphas, and with it comes great responsibility, you died like a Queen. Now I make you one,” she whispers to Kat before she bends down and presses her lips to Kat’s. Light so bright it’s like staring at the sun, makes me squint. I can feel the touch of her powers as she uses them on Kat.
The Moon Goddess stands to look back at Mateo and me before the bond snaps into place, and I clutch my neck. Her mark returns with a burning sensation I welcome, and ours appears on Kat’s neck. A calmness sifts through the bond, a sense of home, the void closes, and I can breathe again.
“Now I think Seline is a good enough payment,” she announces, and my brows furrow in confusion.
“Excuse me?” I ask, confused.
“A middle name for your daughter,” she suggests with a smile.
I look at Kat before turning back to look at her, but the Goddess is gone, just vanished into thin air. Kat sits up, her eyes wide open as she inhales a massive lungful of air and everyone’s eyes snap to her.
“Kat!” Mateo shrieks, rushing over to her and tugging her to him.
She looks around stunned, clinging to him. I clutch them both, shocked at what happened.
She is alive.
I hang onto them like they are my lifeline, and they are because no life is worth living without them. After all, they are exactly that, my life.
Katya
“I have gifted you great power, Kat. I know you will use it wisely,” the Moon Goddess tells me, her voice rings with laughter.
“What do you mean?” I try to ask, but no words escape me, but she answers my internal thoughts.
“I gave you a piece of my soul. I made you a Queen and Goddess in your own right, you are the first of many great rulers. You are my Gemini Goddess, my Gemini Queen blessed by me, so breathe, breathe, Kat, and take back your life,” she whispers, and am forced to breathe.
I suck in a lung full of air, feel my soul being forced back into the real world, and never in my life did polluted air taste so sweet. I open my eyes to see Mateo clutching me to him, and his and Ezra’s emotions smash against me like a tidal wave, making me touch my neck.
“Kat!” I hear them say, while I am shocked I am alive, and they still love me even after I rejected them. Relief rushes into me from them.
Ezra’s lips press to my temple as he holds both Mateo and me, and I could smell the saltiness of their tears. Their love is like a warm buzz growing within me.
“You are in so much trouble when we get home, don’t you ever leave me again,” Ezra growls at me, and I reach up, touching his cheek that was pressed to mine. He leans into my touch and presses his lips to my fingertips.
Mateo and Ezra finally let me go, allowing me to sit up. I am shocked to see hundreds of faces standing around us. My heart stutters with relief when I spot Andrei and my father amongst them, perfectly safe, and even those that died on the ovals. Their faces peer back at me.
“Hey, pumpkin,” my dad greets, and I get up, racing toward him. I throw my arms around his neck, hugging him close and inhaling his scent. Andrei also comes over to me, wrapping his arms around both of us and smothering me between them.
‘Oi, settle, don’t kill her. Let her breathe,” Mateo protests, tugging me out from between them. Andrei chuckles but steps away.
“Darian?” I ask him.
“In pieces. Could probably put him in a jigsaw box if you want to try to put him back together. I could find other ways to kill him that would be more creative,” Andrei muses, his eyes darkening slightly at the idea.
“Nope, dead is good enough for me, come on, let’s go home,” I encourage. I step past them toward the oval, still smoldering with little fires, when everyone takes a knee.
I gasp at the sight when they all bare their necks to me, even Alpha Nicholas.