MATED TO THE ALPHA AND HIS BETA - Season 5 Episode 69

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. Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

“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.”

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“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.

I pondered this. “When I was a baby—”

“Even when you were a baby,” he said.

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We sat in silence for a few minutes. A soft breeze caressed my face, bringing with it the scent of the blooming roses and other flowers in the garden. I closed my eyes and let the sunlight make patterns behind the lids. I reached out to the Moon Goddess and felt her presence, but she was quiet. Listening? Waiting for me to make a choice?

How could I know which was the right one?

“I do want friends, Abba,” I said finally and opened my eyes. “For however long I have in this world, I don’t want to be alone.”

I wanted to laugh with girlfriends over silly outfits. I wanted to be asked out for coffee, to join a book club, to do one of those paint and sip wine things I’d overheard my grandma talking about once on the phone.

I wanted a boyfriend.

A mate, children…I shook my head, not wanting to get too far ahead of myself. I told myself the Goddess would provide what I was meant to have.

But oh…how I yearned to have a life.

When I focused on my father, he was staring at me intently. I loved all four of my parents, of course, but Abba was the one I sometimes felt most alike. My Papa Zane and Dad Xander had each other. My mom had all of her mates, plus her pups. But Abba and I always seemed to stand a little outside of everyone else.

“You’ve always been special, Stella. Even before we discovered you’re a Celestial. The pack here in Constantine isn’t really going to have the chance to think of you as anything other than that. Something to be marveled at, be curious about…”

“Maybe even a little afraid of,” I added, and Abba nodded.

“That too. But there is a way for people to learn about who Stella the person is. Not Stella the Celestial.”

I frowned, feeling disheartened. “But how?”

Abba grinned. “I’ve just thought of the way.”