Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 623

Chapter 123 : The Night God

*Lena*

“Easy now, not too fast. That's it–"

The Night God patted my back as I gulped for breath, shivering in the stunning cold that was embracing me like a wet blanket. I opened my eyes, sucking in a shallow breath as I looked around.

“What's going on?" I cried, rising to my knees.

The withered old man pursed his lips, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his khaki trousers as he looked down at me with a fatherly look of disapproval.

“You offered yourself to the sunstone in exchange for Xander's life, remember?" he quipped, shrugging his shoulders.

I blinked up at him, then looked around once more, taking in the familiar space.

I was in the ancient temple of the White Queens, the one tucked inside an ice-covered cove only accessible in the dead of winter, the same temple we'd passed through to journey between Andromeda's realm and my own.

“Why am I here?" I looked toward where the doors should be, one on either end, but found none. The walls were cold and empty, covered in cobwebs.

The Night God plopped down in one of the dusty pews, stretching out his legs in front of him as he sighed audibly. He didn't move like an old man at all, I realized.

“Because I didn't think it was very fair to give up your entire mortal existence to save someone's life when he shouldn't have been in that position anyway," he answered calmly, almost casually.

“So this isn't the realm of the gods?"

“Of course not. This is just another pocket between the realms the gods created to play house, Lena. You can access the realm of the gods all you want without a sunstone, you know. So can your mother, and every… what do you call them? Dream Dancer? Ha, such an odd name for what it really is."

I was genuinely stunned into speechlessness. I stared up at the man, the god, who looked more like someone I'd run into at the grocery store than a being with unlimited power.

“Xander is one of the good ones, Lena. His powers of shadow are not weak like he thinks; he just has a better grip on them than his relatives and ancestors. He could have saved himself. He could have killed my good-for-nothing son without so much as touching him. Do you know why he didn't?"

I shook my head as he leaned forward, his hands resting on his knees.

“Because Xander knows what he's capable of but refuses to accept that he's dark at heart. Does that make sense?"

“Barely–"

“All of the descendants of Lycaon have been the same," the Night God breathed, shaking his head. “Lycaon wasn't a bad person, not totally, not until paranoia and greed took hold of him and twisted him into what he became toward the end of his life. That was the curse he passed down through his line, you know. It was fear–fear of his family, fear of his own powers, fear of what was to come when he passed across to the spirit realm. Xander was the first person ever born of Lycaon's line to never fear or doubt his powers. He was the only person to ever rein those powers in and render them obsolete with only the power of his will. He didn't let his powers consume him, heart and soul, like his relatives. He never needed you to save him from himself, like those that came before."

“Why are you telling me this?"

“Because it was incredibly stupid of you to doubt him, Lena."

I blanched, then glared at the god, who only chuckled beneath his breath and crossed his ankles.

“I'm supposed to become the Moon Goddess. That's my destiny, the reason I was born. The gods wanted me back, and I made the decision to give myself to them so Xander could live–"

“I created the Moon Goddess," he said flatly, leaning back against the pew. “The gods don't have a use for you, not in their realm. Not yet. You would have just been another soul drifting through space and time waiting for a home. You were meant for your own realm, Lena. One day, when you're old and withered and wise, you will return to the gods and sit atop your throne in the sky and play house and gossip with them all, alright? But not now."

“Gossip?"

“Yes, gossip. What do you think prophecies are, Lena? They're not some cemented plan, that's for sure. I knew there would be a war like this one. I only knew that because I could see the beginnings of it in my own realm when my children were young and unruly. They wanted more, always, like all children do, but I couldn't give that to them, not all of them. I would have bent the world to Narcissa and Andromeda's whims. I would have done the same for my son Typhon but–" he heaved an uneasy breath, shaking his head. “Nikolas wasn't as powerful as the rest of the children of the night realm. When I created the lower vampires, he saw an opportunity to rule them like he believed I was ruling him. Then, Andromeda and Morrighan…"

“Tell me about that," I said quickly, sliding down from my knees onto my bottom. “Tell me how my realm plays into all of this."

“There's not much to say–"

“But that's wrong," I argued. “You created the Moon Goddess, who created my realm–"

“I gifted her your realm," he corrected, sniffing indignantly.

“Why? Didn't that cause you to be banished by the other gods?"

“Who told you all of this?"

“Your daughter," I said, raising my brows.

He exhaled through his nose, shaking his head.

“Before your people were wolves, they were just human. They had no powers, no religion, other than pagan instincts to worship things that gave them life, like food and water. They followed the wolves because the wolves led them to food, you see. They began to worship the wolves like gods. Leto was one of those early people, but she was different from the rest. She had a… natural talent for healing. She was never afraid. I watched her stare death in the face many times, and she never once backed down. A blight swept through her village one winter and killed almost everyone. Even gripped by the illness, Leto never once gave up caring for the sick. She buried all of the dead, every man, woman, and child, until her hands were raw and bleeding. Then, she started to succumb to the illness, and I couldn't–I wasn't ready–"

“You loved her?"

“I did, very much so. I came to her village in the form of a black wolf. Everyone assumed I was death itself, coming to take the rest of them. But I knew Leto wouldn't fear me. I lured her out of her village into the barren, snow-covered tundra. I gave her a moon stone, a sacred gem tied to me as the God of Night in particular. She took the stone, and through it I gifted her the powers of healing so she could save the remaining villagers. She would live, and for me, that was enough."

“And…"

“And, I underestimated her, Lena, if you must know. She drew every power from the stone she wore around her neck over the course of her young life. I came to her often as a wolf. I came to her more than I should have. Once, I changed from that wolf to man, and she was… obsessed with that transformation. She wanted to do it, to be like that. And so, she was."

“But, didn't the moon stone grant her immortality?"

“No," he said quickly, his eyes downcast. “That's not the truth."

“Then what is the truth?"

His eyes fixed on mine, violent and flaked with stars. “Wolves follow a hierarchy. They mate for life. When Leto blessed her people with the mate bond I knew… I knew what she was trying to accomplish. She wanted to keep her people safe. The villages were constantly at war over countless things. Being like the wolves, being a pack, that kept them loyal and safe. The people who found their mates tended to stay in the village; they tended to breed and grow families, which meant the villages prospered. She found her mate, and it nearly killed me. She had her twins and I felt like ripping the world in two. Her mate grew old, her children grew… but she didn't age with them. I'd selfishly kept her as she was when I first gave her the moonstone, because I wanted her. I loved her. And I loved her so much that my last gift to her was something I knew would have me cast out of the Realm of the Gods for good."

“You made her and her family immortal–"

“I made them gods," he finished, shaking his head. “You know the rest. You know her mate's treachery. You know how her son betrayed her. You know of Morrighan and Lycaon's battle across the pack lands. I gave them their own realm, you know, your realm of light. I gave Leto that power, but she never used it. Lycaon was the realm builder, the only one to tap into that power. Like me, that was his last gift to his people before he met his mortal end. The powers of the stones aren't forever. He lived for hundreds of years and fought for more time until his dying breath. He was the one who instilled fear in his line. Darkness wasn't his curse; it was fear."

“And Morrighan?"

“Morrighan had a mortal life and death because love was her reason for living," he said quickly. “She loved and lived and loved some more, until the day she died as an old woman. That is the gift of her line, love. And love is the reason I stopped you from throwing yourself at the feet of the gods. One day, Lena, you will return. You'll return to me, and we'll look out over our creation and laugh about this war. But now, you need to live. You need to raise your child and rule your lands. Your gifts are enormous. You were born with them. Leto was given them. Do you understand the difference?"

He got to his feet, his eyes searching mine for understanding.

“You're saying Leto wasn't a true Goddess?"

“Only in name–she was a Goddess only in name. It's her legacy that people worship. It's the residual powers that seeped into your realm that gift your kind with their mate bonds and magic."

“But Leto went back to the Realm of the Gods–"

“When she broke the moon stone out of anger, she relinquished her powers. She aged rapidly, and was on the brink of death when I came to her. I offered her… I offered life, and she refused. Her last wish, her last use of those failing powers, was to turn her people into wolves so they could take care of themselves. She died a mortal, her bones are dust, ash."

Mortal. I felt my stomach tighten around the word, like everything I knew about my world had just been a fairy tale, a lie, a myth.

But I was born this way. My powers weren't given. He'd said so himself.

“What am I supposed to do?" I cried. “I've never known. I've never known why I am the way I am and what I'm meant to do–"

“You're meant to live," he breathed, extending a hand.

I took it, and he helped me upright and led me to the back of the temple, where an altar rose from the floor. He pointed to the base of the altar, where a carving of a flower was etched into the stone. I recognized it immediately–a moonlight lily, clear as day.

“You were born as one of us, Lena. Maybe it was Leto's final gift, possibly a gift to me, if I'm being honest… someone to rule the night with when the time comes, because it couldn't have been her, despite how badly I wanted it. But it's not your time, and I won't rob you of the same life I desperately wanted for myself."

My heart broke around his words. The God of Night wasn't a monster. He was lovesick and grieving over a woman who couldn't reciprocate his feelings, still to this day.

“Your uncle found Lycaon's altar, but he didn't know how to access what was inside. He didn't have the blood of Lycaon. You have Lycaon and Morrighan's blood." I felt a sharp pain on my palm, and before I could blink he'd sliced through my skin. I bristled, but he motioned toward the carving. “Place your hand on it."

I did so without hesitating, and the altar immediately began to glow, its flat surface turning to a well of sparkling blue-hued light, like a pool of water.

I looked into the water, and what I saw brought tears to my eyes.

“You're not the only one with gifts," he smiled. “And I think you owe it to him not to have done what he had to do in vain."

I closed my eyes as tears fell down my cheeks.

“How do I get home?"