35| The Revelation

CEDAR BLAKE 

“I am the prophecy!” I howled as I started whispering incantations that sounded strange to my ears.

Thunder clapped through the darkening sky and the heavens opened up as it started raining, as if telling all wolves to find shelter and stop fighting against each other. As if washing away the stench of the past, the past they sneaked into my head and made me believe, and left me bare and new like a newborn.

“Yes… you're the prophecy.” I lifted my head slowly to look at the gleaming eyes of the luna. 

“Why did you show me this? Why now?” I asked, taking her outstretched hand and letting her pull me up.

The rain plastered my clothes to my body, making my skin cold even though I felt warm inside. Ever since the day my father was executed, I have never felt whole, the fire had lived in me. I had watched as they chopped off his head and hung it on a spike above Crystal Moon's gates, a warning to everyone who'd dare rebel against the throne.

Since then, the luna has never looked at me. She was my mother's friend—or so I thought—but she'd treated me and my brother like a pebble in her winter boots. She refused us entrance to the Alpha's house, banned us from attending the same school as the other wolves, making even the lowest ranked Omegas to kick us around because nobody would question them.

I couldn't give my brother a befitting burial when he passed because she'd not allow it. And I was told that my mother was killed and her body dumped into the dark waters. Anyone who mentioned my family name was a traitor to be punished by death.

But today, tonight, she's showing me visions of all the lies they'd had to tell and every unbelievable story that has just told me who I truly am and my purpose. My destiny. Saving the largest pack in the realm, a pack that had once wished I was never born.

“Because it is the right time. I can't watch my children die while a secret that could save us all remains hidden.” She replied, looking around us as if to indicate what she meant.

“That's the most selfish response I have ever gotten.” I snatched my hand from hers. 

We were still in the rain, getting drenched as it got darker. Save from the constant thunder strikes lightening the sky as the storm raged on. So many wolves had taken shelter, but Dominus still stood watching us, overtaken by surprise.

I felt the breaths of the Guardians shuffling my hair along with the wind as their huge frames cast a shadow across the ground. From the corner of an eye, I could see Adonis undoing the chains binding his twin brother to Dominus's car. 

“You didn't see everything?” She frowned, stepping closer to me.

“I saw what I was meant to see.” I said flatly.

Shaking her head sadly, she cupped my hand in both of hers. “I am your mother, Cedar.”

“What are you talking about? My mother was Charlene, and you are the Luna who accused her husband of killing your husband and sentenced her to death!” I stepped back and tore my hand away.

My mind spinned as the visions I had seen filled my head again. I could see everything, but not whatever she was saying. I saw the family I burnt alive with me inside in my past life. The family I was reborn into, only to lose again.

“You're the mother of the twin alphas who has done nothing but make life a living hell for me. Countless times, I almost committed suicide because of their cruelty!” I continued when she said nothing.

“I did all of that to protect you! If anything should happen to you, everything would go to waste again just like in your previous life! I knew you were the prophecy from the very moment you came into the world, so I had to give you away and erase your visions so you don't get to see who you were until you come of age. I didn't want you to be hunted down when you were just a—”

“If you are her mother, then who are we? Who's our mother?” 

I glanced at Adonis who now stood beside me, looking from me to the luna as if we've lost our minds. That's not far from the truth considering everything I have seen and what she's telling me which I didn't see! I've never felt so lost in my life. 

“She's your younger sister.”

“That's nonsense!” Adonai groaned, barely standing behind Adonis as he watched me over his shoulder. “You told us she was betrothed to us when we were still pups!”

“And I told you to stay away from her! Why do you think I stood against—”

“She's our mate! We both felt the mate bond, stronger than anything else!”

“It was all a lie, made-up to shield her from those who wanted to destroy her. I know this because I cast the spell. She has always had one true mate.”

“I don’t understand any of this,” I whispered. “I don’t want to understand. So let’s just forget it. Your children are safe. Crystal Moon is safe. That is enough.”

I turned away, raising a hand to silence her when she tried to speak again.

“You carry a paper hidden in your bra,” she said quickly. “Your true mate holds the other half. That will lead you to answers.”

Her words stuck in me like thorns because I had already forgotten about the paper I picked in the twin alphas’ office. How did she know about it? Who's my one true mate? 

I walked away without turning back, my whole body trembled. I wanted to scream. I wanted to claw at my throat until I felt something—anything. But I felt hollow. Like a ghost walking in an empty shell. 

“You can stop following me now,” I told the Guardians when we were far from the others. “I can protect myself. You saw it.”

“Sadly, no,” Vanus rumbled. His voice was deep and cold like the night air. “We take orders from the King. If you are who we think you are, then we will never stop following you.”

His words sent ice through my veins.

“I don’t even know who I am!” I spun around as tears stung my eyes. “I don’t know what I am, or when this prophecy will happen, or how! I don’t know anything!”

The rain was drizzling now and the storm was slowly subsiding. And deep inside, I knew that I had never been in control of my own life. Not once. And probably not in this lifetime.

And with every unanswered question and revealed secret, it became clear I had never been allowed to.