one | goddess gift

VAL

My dream was once again plagued by the scream of a girl being taken, her frail body was ripped apart as she was fighting for her life. Another part of her flesh was torn and dropped bloody on the floor. Unlike the previous dreams, I recognized the face of the girl as my own. Terror swept my entire being, then I heard that voice. The deep baritone voice of my savior. But before I could see his face, I was woken up. 

Quite brutally, to be frank, by our librarian. 

“How many times do I have to tell you that the library isn’t a place for you to sleep in, Miss Sinclair?” 

“Apologies,” I muttered softly, only because I’d like to be able to return tomorrow. There was no other place in the University that provided this level of quietness and solace as much as the library did. 

Furthermore, this place held a special place in my heart. This was the place where I’d first met the Goddess of the Moon, Selene. 

After my body was literally being torn apart, the darkness consumed me. For what felt like the longest time, that was all I could see until a bright light shone and I raced towards it. The closer I’d gotten, the more I could see that it was a beautiful woman with lights coming out of her. I instantly knew who she was. 

“So are you here to tell me all my wrongdoings and in what way I should atone for my sins?” I couldn’t help the sarcastic tone in my voice. 

The Goddess had clearly watched me struggle through life and yet she hadn’t given any care. She’d seen my comfortable life turned upside down, my dad’s death, my people slaughtered, and me being sold to the whorehouse, and yet she’d done nothing. She didn’t care. Thus the only logical explanation for her presence was that she wished to punish me for all my sins before dumping me in the purgatory. 

“You have a sharp tongue and use it quite often despite your lack of knowledge,” said the Goddess. Her beautiful golden eyes glistened and for a moment there, I saw a glimpse of pity. “That is what got you into this mess, my child. That is what made you fail.” 

“Okay. No need to rub it on my face. No one can see the future and I certainly can’t predict that the kind and sweet woman that my father has married was an evil and cruel person that would be the reason for him to die.” 

“I agree that no one can predict the future but should you pay more attention to your surroundings and discard that gigantic pride of yours to work together with him, you would’ve been successful and all this unnecessary bloodshed could be avoided.” 

“Him? Who?” 

Instead of answering my question, she merely closed the gap between us and I felt the warm tingling on my skin as we were only a breath away. “I’m not here to punish you. I’m here to offer you a second chance.” 

I stumbled backward but her hand caught my wrist. “W-what do you mean?” 

“Gradually through dreams and visions, you will learn pieces of memory of what happened. You’ll be able to know your enemies and the traitors. You will have knowledge that no one else besides me has.” The hand that was holding my wrist turned my palm up. “I’m giving you this power so you can save your father, your pack, and yourself. But in return, I’m asking you to save my children.” 

“So what do you need me to do? Which part do you wish for me to change?” 

She didn’t provide me with an answer as her other hand summoned a ball of light and then placed it on my palm. She closed my hand and the ball of light went inside me. I blinked, not entirely sure what she’d meant, and had zero clue of what was expected of me. 

“Wait, I don’t know why you give me this chance. You could at least provide me with some directions!”

“The future of my children is in your hands, Valeriya Sinclair. You could save the entire species from extinction.” Without further ado, the light shone brighter and brighter that I had to close my eyes. But when I reopened them, I was awoken here in the library, with all books scattered on the table. I looked at the laptop in front of me. It was an old laptop. As I checked the date and time, I realized that I’d been brought back in time. I was no longer twenty-five years old. In fact, I was twenty years old, eleven months, and twenty-two days and this was my last year of university. 

I quickly gathered my things. As I walked out of the library, I checked the calendar on my phone. Six days. I’d known for six days now that I’d been given a second chance by the Goddess. She’d let me travel back in time and re-live what I’d experienced. After begging her every single day I’d been at the hellhole, she had finally let me change my own fate and this time, I already knew who my enemies were and how things had gone down so I could fix it. I could save my pack, I could save my dad, and most importantly, I could make those who’d betrayed me and my father suffer. Revenge was a bitch, after all, and I intended to make every single one of them suffer. 

°°°°°°°°°

While I waited for my best friend, Lola, I checked my phone and yet again found a dozen missed calls from Ezra. I must admit, it was getting irritating now.

“Ezra again?” Lola asked, coming to a halt a few feet away in front of me. 

I nodded and then started walking alongside her to our flat. “I think I’m going to block his number.” 

“Wait, haven’t you done that last week?” Lola frowned, falling into steps beside me. “I thought you already did.” 

“I did,” I answered with a sigh, giving her a ‘are you for real’ look. “But he changed his number.” 

Lola glanced at my phone, “I really don’t understand our male population.” She shook her head and patted my back. “He has mated with his mate so why on Earth does he still bother you?” She unlocked the front door of our small flat. We’d been roommates since freshman year. 

Ezra and I had been close before and we’d formed an attachment. At one point, I would even call him my boyfriend even though I wouldn’t admit it to anyone especially since we hadn’t known whether we were mates or not. About a month ago, he’d found his mate and he hadn’t wasted a second before mating with her while he’d been telling me that I was the one he wanted. I seriously had done some serious thinking, weighing whether I should be with him or find my own mate. After all, I’d known Ezra almost my whole life and we’d been close for over a decade. Yet it seemed that whatever attachment we had was one-sided because the very next day, I’d found a mark over his mate’s neck. It had pissed me to the edge. 

How could he even do that?

“I know. I’ve told him a thousand times that he should just be with his mate.” I sighed and threw my phone over the couch before heading to the kitchen and washing my hand at the sink. “He made his bed, now he should sleep on it.”

“Yes. I hate men like him. Like, once you choose, stick to it!” Lola exclaimed, rolling her eyes. “He can’t have his mate and you.” 

The whole thing was painful. I cried for the whole day but the next day, I’d sworn that I’d never let any man sway me from my destined mate. Clearly, the Goddess knew what was best for everyone. She knew Ezra wasn’t the one for me. 

“Precisely. I’m not gonna be anyone’s side bish.” I walked over and sat on the couch next to Lola. I grabbed my phone and frowned. It would probably take less than a day before Ezra found out that I’d blocked him and figured out a way to spam my phone with his texts and missed calls. He should’ve known better that I didn’t answer calls from unknown numbers. 

“He’s lucky your dad doesn’t know about this,” said Lola, shaking her head. “He won’t give a shite if Ezra is Beta’s son. He’ll find a way to reprimand Ezra’s miserable arse.” 

Another reason why I couldn’t tell anyone besides Lola about my relationship with Ezra was that my dad was the Alpha and one day, I’d be the future Alpha. If I were a guy, anyone wouldn’t mind if I slept around or if I dated people who weren’t my mate. But there were double standards even amongst werewolves. I’d gotten enough shite growing up with members of my pack looking at me with disdain and hopelessness as if they would be doomed when I rose to Alphadom. Luckily my dad was literally the best, he didn’t just use words of encouragement, he actually trained me to be his successor. Sometimes during the weekend when I was back in the West, he would present a case of an issue and ask for my opinion. He never rejected my suggestion, but if he had better ones, he would start his sentence with, ‘yours is good but I think it might be best if we do this instead’. With him believing in me, every look that the pack member directed at me only fueled my will to be better. One day the Night Walkers would be led by a Female Alpha and they all should get over it. 

“Do you really have to go with Tom this weekend?” I asked Lola for the third time today. Tom was her mate. A few of us were lucky enough to have our best friends as our mates. There was a time when I’d thought that I was one of those lucky ones. 

“Yes. It’s his mum’s birthday. It’s a big deal, almost as important as if it was Tom’s birthday.” She reached her hand out to me and gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “Just turn on your tablet and find some rom-com on N*****x.”

I scooted closer to her and threw my arms around her. Lola seemed surprised by my sudden embrace but she put her arms around me nonetheless. 

“You’ll be fine, babe, and I’ll get back here before you know it,” she tried to reassure me again. “Plus, I will come to your 21st birthday party tonight. There’s no way in the world I’m gonna miss it!” 

I tried not to flinch hearing tonight’s party being mentioned. After all, tonight was the night everything had gone downhill. “Thank you! That’s the least you can do after you plan on abandoning me for the weekend with Tom.” 

Lola laughed. “Oh, stop being a bloody sourpuss! I plan on getting us drunk tonight!” 

Little did she know that I wouldn’t be here by the time she returned after the weekend. That tonight might be the last time we were together.