A Gift from the Goddess

Chapter 68

Chapter Sixty-Eight 

The rest of the meeting went without further incident and soon everyone disbanded from the meeting hall to congregate outside. It was sunset by this point and I could feel everyone‘s exhaustion around me as they waited for their sleeping arrangements to be made available for the night. 

Aleric and I stood to the side, avoiding further interaction after the events that had occurred. Not that I imagined anyone would be upset by that. If anything, they would be grateful for our distance, not wanting t o find themselves as the next subject of our focus for too long. 

V 

But there was one individual I had a feeling wouldn‘t pick up on that obvious social cue. An individual who had just left the building, their eyes beginning to scan the area around them. 

Without hesitating, I quickly pushed Aleric around the corner of the meeting hall building to hide ourselves from none other than Alpha Fredrick. 

Only he would be brazen enough to not let sleeping dogs lie. Or in this case, wolves. 

| peeked around, watching as he frantically searched the crowds of people conversing outside. Searching for something or *someone* in particular. 

“Why are we hiding?” Aleric asked quietly behind me. 

He was close, his body right next to mine so he could whisper and not draw further attention to our location. I was grateful given the keener senses of our peers around us. 

“Because Alpha Fredrick is going to try to speak to me privately,” I explained. “And he‘s going to demandt o know where I heard those rumours about him from; something he couldn‘t ask me in that meeting without looking further guilty in front of the other pack representatives.” 

“...And are they true? The rumours?” 

| spun my head around and smiled wickedly up at him. “Who knows? They‘re just rumours after all.” 

“Aria, what the hell,” he laughed. “It‘s a pretty serious thing to infer about someone.” 

| shrugged, turning back to see if Alpha Fredrick was still looking for me. “He deserves it even if they are false. And besides, I‘m pretty sure that fighting a rumour with another rumour is far better than attacking him, like what you wanted to do.” 

“I‘m sure that he is wishing right now that I actually had hurt him in order to save him from that social execution you just served him–.” 

Alpha Fredrick‘s eyes then started searching towards the general area we were hiding, perhaps catching our scent in the wind change. 

“Crap, time to go,” I said, grabbing onto Aleric‘s hand, and I ran towards the back of the building, all the while dragging him behind me. 

“Aria, wait,” he called out, intending to sound disapproving over my immature reaction but his laughter betrayed him. 

Behind the large hall was a grassy slope that led all the way down to a small pond at the bottom. Perfect for resting while I caught my breath for a minute; the lack of my own strength and endurance painfully obvious, courtesy of the collar. 

I doubled over, both hands on my knees as I breathed in deeply. All the while, Aleric simply watched over me. I could see the amusement in his eyes at my state, something that was probably bad for even human 

standards. 

Chapter Sixty Eight 

“Give me a break,” I whined. “I haven‘t trained, nor done anything even close to that in months.” 

“I‘m aware,” he said, walking past me to seat himself by the water‘s edge. 

I followed only a moment later once my breathing was back under control, plopping myself down on the grass beside him. 

fresh air... how the water glistened orange in the dying light. I felt I could stay here for hours,

think I know why you brought me here,” I said after a

“Is that so?” 

I said, pulling my legs up to my chest and hugging them. “But which was your train of reasoning... fresh air and a change of scenery? ... Or taking met o a meeting so

half–smile on his lips. “You enjoy puzzles and problem solving, Aria. During your Beta training days, I saw how you would get thrills from thinking of things in meetings that no one else had. I thought if I brought you here with me, it might help ignite that

between my brows. It seemed

that‘s why you were trying to get my input on those pack matters yesterday, including even those petty issues

you didn‘t feel like participating in the actual discussions today, I still got to see you in there. It was like you came alive again, Aria. Something I was beginning to

green in them appear as if they were more saturated. How crazy that those

that this Aleric didn‘t care about me. In fact, it would

perhaps I didn‘t need that after all. The fact he at least considered what I had to say was still far better than anything else I could have hoped for in the past.

as though Aleric from the previous timeline was incapable of kindness. It‘s just that his kindness had never been directed towards myself. He had loved Thea, loved the pack, loved his work… it was just me that he hadn‘t loved. As if he was incapable of

his company now? Yes... but at the same time, it was impossible to

my attention back to the pond. “It‘s just a hard adjustment, everything considered… and I don‘t like

two lives,‘ I elaborated in my head. The absence of having anything to do or focus on, mixed in with those quarters... it was like living inside my nightmares. Slowly, day by day, losing a piece of myself and becoming *her*.

frowned in confusion but laughed a little. “Given how much time

said with a

catch my attention once more, and I flicked my eyes back to

room is at least something negotiable. I can talk to Tytus about switching your room to another one and I doubt it would be that bigo fan

that was one thing I

hundreds of issues I‘d been

through me. It looked as though the scarf came in handy for more than initially intended Funny as we weren‘t

Alerc said, standing back up Td say we were at the top of the list

out in front of me. They were almost

hand out for me and

this rate,” he joked “Can‘t even get up by yourself

lightheartedly, now less grateful for the gesture, and we started our ascent back up the slope towards where we‘d left everyone.

Aria,” he said slowly. I‘ve been meaning to talk to you about

at him as we were almost

it‘s about

caught my eye behind his shoulder, immediately taking precedence over anything else Afigure standing by the

i

said, interrupting him. “Surprisingly, I‘ve just

around confused to look at who i was

But I should quickly say hi Is it okay if we talk about your thing later?” I asked but i was already walking to where the person was waiting “I‘ll

“Aria, wait...” 

was too late. I‘d already ran off without

focus was elsewhere. Or, more accurately, it was on the person

as it in

arms, her

are you here? This meeting was for small packs within the Winter Mist alliance. The Hidden Moon

pulling away, “I know that I came looking

“For me?” 

added last minute to the registry of guests staying here,” she explained. “I came as quickly as

my arms over my chest. “You could have just sent a letter. Seems like a long way to travel.”

We‘ve* been worried sick. The one living Saintess goes missing one day and the only public updates provided were coming from

the only child of Alpha Sullivan, was the girl I‘d helped save three years ago, back when I‘d used her whereabouts during a kidnapping

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