ASPEN VESPER
“Oh!” Aspen exclaimed when no one else in the room replied to the nonsense Lance had just uttered. “You are still talking to me?”
“Is your name not Aspen anymore?” He eyed her. “You heard what I said.”
“You must be high on something,” she replied with a chuckle. “If not, you’d not be saying nonsense. What the heck do you mean by the seal is with me? And, which gift are you talking about?”
“The Lycan Queen said you’d deny it. I should have knocked you unconscious and dragged you out when I had the chance.”
“That’s why you came here? To kidnap me so that you can drill me about things I have no clue about?”
“Aspen,” his face reddened, he could not hide his pain anymore, “I see you still don’t remember.”
As she folded her arms, she contemplated walking to the Alpha and knocking his st
ASPEN VESPERA few days later, Aspen was well adjusted to the palace and the pending affairs in the pack. She had also met with Ezra and Rolis who expressed joy and relief on finding out that she was not dying. Within all that, she learnt about her father’s execution for his involvement in the treason but that barely bothered her since Beta Vesper had since revealed that he had no business with being her father.At that very moment, she was dressing up to join Kailin on his visit to the Rebel Pack. She saw no point in sitting around and waiting to be fully healed, so she convinced Kailin that she could travel with him.“Are you ready?” Kailin walked out of the bathroom, his simple outfit reminding Aspen of the love they had made the previous night. The session was careful and slow, and it made every part of her feel loved.“Almost.”He walked to her and hugged her from behind while his eyes fixed on her image in the mirror.“My pretty Aspen,” he whispered. “We have to make a little de
TWO WEEKS LATERKAILIN BLACKWOOD“It has been two weeks,” Rolis solemnly said while looking out of the window, “a lot has changed for the better in the packs, but nothing feels real.”“Aspen is still unconscious,” Ezra pointed out. “Maybe that’s why nothing feels real. She is the reason we are no longer shrouded in darkness, but she is not with us. I mean, she is halfway with us.”The silence that ensued that short conversation made Lycan Kailin’s eyes tear up. That was pretty much all he could do ever since that day- the day Aspen sacrificed herself for victory. Kailin knew he should be grateful for what she did and that he should rejoice in the fact that she didn’t die, but her current state was not very encouraging, it was leading him to believe that she would soon leave for the other world.Thanks to the powers of the moon goddess, a lot of Aspen’s bleeding was culled, but it turned out that the sword the Lycan Queen used was laced with dark magic. This seeped into the depths of A
ASPEN VESPERThe Lycan Queen rushed to grab Aspen’s clothes. “What have you done?” The bulge of the woman’s eyes made Aspen laugh, and that somehow made others laugh too. “What the heck is funny?!”“You look like shit,” Aspen replied with slight confidence. “You claim to be all-powerful, but right now, it would be better for you to live in the sewers.” She scanned the woman’s haggard appearance. “You look worse than the hell you made our packs suffer.”“Shut it.” The evil woman gripped Aspen harder. “Undo the shit you did! My powers are fading from the land and-”“You must be scared,” Kailin commented, his feet now used to the shaking of the floor. “Now that your powers are threatened, I can see that you are nothing. I thought you’d be more gracious in perilous times, but you look like you have lost your mind.”“So, what?” Raven sneered. She dropped Aspen at the same time. “Do you want to kill me?”“Yes.” Kailin nodded, a smirk growing on his lips. “Everyone here wants to kill you.”“
ASPEN VESPERThe Lycan’s palace was unguarded. At least, the part they could see was greatly unguarded. So they entered the building with ease and quickly found themselves in the open roof space where the throne room used to be during Kailin’s early days of reign.Aspen, with a loudly beating heart, drew directions from her memory and headed for the spot where she hid the seal. She opened the hidden spot and looked at the small pit on the floor.“Well?” Ezra cautiously asked.Her breaths now unsteady, she crouched and reached for the square base of the shiny object which would soon alleviate most of their problems.“It is here.” Tears filled her eyes as she faced them. “The seal is here.”“Yes! Ah!” Ezra finally let loose in jubilation. He and Rolis hugged, and soon, they were jumping with Tireh.Kailin, on the other hand, walked to where Aspen was and hugged her. “Thank you, Aspen. Thank you. Thank you. I love you so much.” His voice was filled with teary appreciation. “Thank you, As
ASPEN VESPERAspen had no clear knowledge about time in that peaceful realm, but a lot of minutes seemed to fly by while she and Kailin sat in silence. By the time Rolis came to call them in so that they could discuss the next steps, an hour and thirty minutes had passed, and like that, they drew even closer to the moment they had been trying not to dread.The moment two more hours passed, everyone was aware of their roles in the well-drafted plan by Rolis and Kailin. And soon, they got up in readiness for departure.“Are you sure this bag of yours won’t disturb us?” Ezra asked Tireh, who refused to let anyone else touch his luggage.“I am more familiar with the portal than you guys. Trust me, a bag this size is not a threat to the portal. Trust me, okay?”“Please, no chit-chat,” Kailin said from the end of the room. “Let us move to the kitchen now.”The portal was already open, so they walked into the kitchen and one after the other, with Tireh leading, they all walked into the large
ASPEN VESPERThe walk back to the house was very quiet. Not even Tireh uttered a syllable as he dragged his ridiculous, heavy bag behind him.Aspen greatly appreciated the silence and used that chance to think about the battle that was slowly approaching. With the gift of the goddess residing in her, winning the battle greatly rested on her.That was the truth, no matter what anyone said. And this truth concerned Aspen.She barely had fighting experiences, not to mention possessing a knowledge of how to use the powers residing in her. Even if she were to pick up some skills, they would be useless because she would not remember half of them. Essentially, fighting the Lycan Queen would depend on her guts, instincts and strength.But would she be able to win the battle at the end of the day? Because that was all that mattered.“You seem deep in thought,” Tireh broke the silence, and Aspen looked up to see that they had already reach