Mated to the Alpha and His Beta (Lanie Stanton) novel Chapter 469

Chapter 469
Stella

I’d come to accept the will of the Moon Goddess, even if it meant I only had a short time left here in Constantine, and in this world as a whole. I’d pushed aside my sadness, not so much at the thought of leaving my family, since I knew that wherever the Goddess took me would be the place I was meant to be. My sorrow was focused more on the knowledge that my loved ones would grieve for me, and there wasn’t anything I could do to ease that pain.

But now…now, my Abba was grinning at me with a wild light in his eyes. He squeezed my hand, a little too hard. It didn’t hurt, but it surprised me enough to tug it out of his.

“You deserve a life, Stella. A real, true life. Celestial or not…in fact, maybe even more so because of that,” he said. “If the Moon Goddess expects you to be her servant, surely she also has to give you some kind of rewards.”

I thought about this. It wasn’t like me and the Moon Goddess had heart to heart chats or anything like that. She gave me visions of what must happen, or what was to come. She guided me.

“I think she might intend my reward simply to be…here,” I said after a second.

My father frowned. “See? This is why I’m not religious.”

I laughed. “Oh, Abba.”

“Look. I know you didn’t become a Celestial because of anything that came through me. But you are my daughter as much as if I’d sired you.” Abba looked grim. “I’ve seen you do wonderful and terrible things. I know what you are, but more importantly, Stella, I know who you are. And I refuse to believe that your destiny in life includes being lonely.”

In Brightsky, I’d been friendly with the other children in the school, but none of them had truly been my friends. My closest companions had been my sister Alaina and brother Isaac, but even though they’d grown up faster than most other wolf pups because they were hybrids, they were still much younger than me, both in physical and mental form. I loved them dearly, but we weren’t in the same place. Besides, they had each other.

I’d always been set off. Different. Alone.

My chin lifted, and I tried hard to keep the wobble out of my voice. My father could hear it, though. I hated that this was causing him pain, even though at the same time, I was kind of desperate to hear what he had to say.

“Sweetheart, I don’t say this to embarrass or shame you, but you’ve never really been like anyone else,” he began, then stopped.

I laughed, shaking my head. “We’ve already established that I’m weird, Abba. I’m not ashamed of it. I am who I am. What I am.”

“You’ve also never really been able to just…be,” he said.