Alpha's One Night Bride
Alpha’s One Night Bride – Chapter 97

“Mom?” I said, staring at my mother who stood amongst us with her white aura surrounding her.

She looked so beautiful; more beautiful than when she came to me in my dream. I couldn’t believe she was actually standing in front of us. I glanced around at all the other faces that were equally shocked and in awe to make sure I wasn’t the only one who could see her.

Telling from their faces, I was not.

She turned to me; her face lighting up even more than it was when she arrived. But the moment didn’t last long. Her green eyes darkened, turning serious and her expression showed worry.

“Willa went to the center of town with Emee. You need to hurry and get there. She wants to perform the sacrifice at the bonfire,” my mother told us.

Her voice was exactly as I remembered it; it filled me with warmth knowing I had her there and by my side, but I couldn’t wallow in her presence. My heart was screaming was Emee; I needed to save my daughter.

I transitioned back into my wolf form; I felt the power of my wolf surging through my body, and I joined Jonathan near Spencer. Even in his wolf form, Spencer looked ill and that’s when I remembered that Jessica, the real Jessica, was missing.

I turned back to my mother was using her light to blind the eyes of Greggory’s friends. Her light was so intense they were cowling to the ground and yelping like small animals. Greggory was of course gone; he was probably on his way to the town’s center to join Willa and complete the sacrifice with Emee.

Just thinking about it made my b***d boil.

“What about Jessica?” I asked my mom before we took off towards the center.

My mom looked at Spencer; recognition and compassion were lingering in her eyes. I couldn’t help but wonder who Spencer was to her and why she cared for him.

“The bunker. She’s with Ronnie,” she told him.

His eyes widened.

“I’ll head there now,” he told us.

I nodded my appreciation to him.

“And Naomi?” I asked.

“She was tricked by Willa into thinking she was heading to the bunker. She used her trickery. Naomi had realized it as soon as she reached the bunker. She’s heading towards the town’s center as we speak. Which is where we need to head,” my mom said.

We didn’t waste much more time; Jonathan was the take-off, and I took off right after him. We ran through the narrow roads, passing by the houses and cottages that were occupied by members of the pack.

We got to the town in seconds and my mother was right behind us; I realized quickly that she too was in her wolf form. She was a radiant blonde wolf with streaks of silver; flowers decaled her layers of fur and her eyes were glowing beautiful light green. She was tall too; much bigger than she was when she was alive. She ran with such superiority I almost wanted to bow in her presence.

If she wasn’t my mother, I would say she was intimidating. But her aura was so comforting that my nerves weren’t as wound up as they typically would be in a situation like this.

Willa stood in front of the bonfire; all the wolves around her looked to be frozen in place, much like Boris was when we went to see Willa in the prison. Something told me the pack wasn’t going to remember any of this once Willa left.

Greggory, obviously, stood right beside her. He looked eager for the sacrifice to continue. He almost looked impatient.

Willa held Emee who was crying her eyes out in her arms; even Emee, who wasn’t even 1 year old yet, knew what was going on and she didn’t like it.

Willa was in her normal form finally; I could see the resemblance between her and Naomi. They both shared the same olive skin and bright features; Willa’s clothing was darker and revealing. I could tell she enjoyed flaunting her body and wearing fewer clothes than an average person/wolf. Her hair was also much shorter, but it was thick and dark. She kept it down in waves where it almost touched her shoulders, but not quite.

I noticed the bonfire’s flames were growing redder with each word Willa spoke; it was some kind of spell that we couldn’t understand. She seemed to be speaking in Latin; the aura through the town was way off and I started to feel way more uneasy than I had on our way to the town.

“Willa stop!!”

I heard a familiar voice from the other side of the bonfire; it was Naomi.

She looked furious; she was most likely angry at Willa and herself for falling for such trickery. Jess stood beside her in her wolf form; her teeth snarling at Willa, who was just looking amused.

I watched Jess’s eyes flash from Willa over to my mother and they widened in shock. I couldn’t blame her for getting distracted and being in shock; I was still in shock over the fact that my mother was there.

“Way too late for that sister dear,” Willa said as she held Emee to the sky.

A red aura formed around Emee; I could feel my heart sinking into my stomach.

“Noooo!!!” I screamed.

Without thinking about it I began running toward them; Jonathan attempted to keep me back, but my mother instincts kicked in and I was able to overpower his strength with my own. I could feel the light protection of my mother surrounding me. I glowed a faded white light that matched my mother’s aura.

I felt her warmth and her strength pouring into me.

I couldn’t have been more grateful to have her there at that moment.

Naomi began to say her own spell; her fingertips glowing a light blue color, her aura radiating around her body with every Latin word she spoke. Jess transitioned into her human self and began mimicking Naomi’s motions. I heard my mother doing the same; Jonathan transitioned back into his human self. He took a hold of my mother’s hand, and he began repeating her.

I didn’t even know he knew Latin.

As I continued lunging toward the bonfire, I noticed the redness of the flames was beginning to lighten until they almost looked to be a pink shade. Greggory was staring at the flames confused and Willa looked pissed. She spoke louder and I could see her maroon aura darkening until it was nearly black.

The group began chanting their Latin word even louder and the blue aura that was circulating around them began to darken as well.

I closed the small gap that sat between Willa and me, the white aura surrounding me glowing to a point where it was nearly blinding. I was able to knock Willa off her feet; she dropped Emee and evidently, Greggory was the one who caught her. He must be needing her to die from the fire for the sacrifice to actually work.

The chanting from my group stopped as soon as I knocked Willa to the ground and kept my stance on top of her. I thought I saw a bit of terror in her eyes, but it turned to hatred really quickly. Before I could sink my teeth into her flesh and rip her throat out, I was frozen in place. Either my mother or Naomi was holding me back and considering it was my mother’s aura that was surrounding me, I had a feeling it was her that was keeping me from ripping Willa’s throat out.

I moved my eyes to see what was happening around me; Naomi was approaching us with her hands out and pointed at Willa. Her fingertips were glowing white; my mother came up from behind me and also had her hands pointed at Willa with her fingertips glowing white.

I could feel the power and energy radiating off both of them; it was too intense for me to handle and If I could move, I would have fallen to the ground. It was my mother who kept my stance.

Before I could say anything about Greggory having Emee, Jonathan was already at him. I noticed Jess was now holding Emee, to my relief. Jonathan had knocked Greggory off his feet, and he was lying face down in his human form with Jonathan bearing his teeth in his direction.

He was angry; I could feel his anger from where I was. I was angry too and I wanted a piece of him. After what he did to Jessica, I hated him. Now, he tried to kill my daughter, I hated him even more. I was hurt because he was such a good friend to us. For a long time, we respected him and trusted him. Jonathan trusted him. Jessica trusted him. But he was nothing but a liar; for most of our lives, he did nothing but lie and deceit.

I wanted him to pay for all the wrong he did. I wanted him to die.

I knew Jonathan wanted him to die too; but to my surprise, he held back. His nostrils flared and his claws dug into Greggory’s flesh as he kept him pinned to the ground. Greggory winced in pain and kept his head turned away from him to keep himself from looking Jonathan in the eyes.

Coward.

My mother moved her hands and I automatically backed off Willa. I backward as my body automatically began turning back into my human form. I wasn’t sure if that was because my wolf was so weak it could no longer handle its wolf form, or if my mother was the one who transitioned me back. But either way, I felt exhausted mentally and physically.

The light around Naomi intensified and formed around Willa. She didn’t fight or say anything; she just watched as her sister formed her blinding aura around her. She looked exhausted and defeated. She gave me one last look before her entire body disappeared before our eyes.

I stared at the ground, she was once lying, in awe.

“Where did she go?” I whispered, staring up at Naomi.

She also looked tired; I could imagine she used a lot of magic tonight.

“Home,” Naomi said, which surprised me.

“Home?” I asked, blinking at her a few times.

Naomi nodded.

“Yes, I sent her back home. In theory, we can’t cross over here unless we’ve been summoned. At least, we can’t anymore. Since the council came to be…” she paused and thought about it for a moment.

I could tell there was more about that she wasn’t saying.

“What?” I asked, urging her to go on.

“We were allowed to cross worlds freely at one point,” Naomi said softly. “My sister grew ill and I traveled across realms and pathways to find that flower that cured her. I was able to save her, but…” her voice trailed off.

She didn’t have to continue; we already knew that story. She saved her sister, but the flower gave her darkness and turned her against her own family and her own kind. She went around wreaking havoc ever since.

I still didn’t understand what that had to do with witches not being to cross worlds without being summoned though.

I looked over at my mom and she was staring at Naomi sadly.

Then I understood.

“Oh…” I breathed. “They blamed you.”

It wasn’t a question, but she nodded anyway to confirm my thoughts.

“Yes, they did. Since then, they locked the portal and blocked our powers from the outside world. We are only allowed to travel if someone in another world summons us during the red moon. But not for our own needs,” she explained. “Typically, as the red moon passes, we are supposed to return. But Willa used her trickery to keep herself here and to keep herself hidden for so many years. None of us knew where she was.”

“How do we know she’s going to be able to stay in your world now though?” I asked, my eyebrows shooting up.

“Our magic doesn’t work the same there as it does here. She might be one of the most powerful witches, but even her magic has its limits. The council of witches, who are in charge of everything, has tools that will keep her magic at bay. They are going to keep her locked away where she won’t be able to be summoned and she won’t be able to use her magic.”

“I see. So, she’s not home exactly. She’s in a witch’s prison?” I asked, relief flooding through me.

“Yes,” Naomi confirmed. “I promise. She’s anything but happy.”

I was pleased by that.

I looked over at Jonathan to see if he heard any of that, and then realized he was still pinning Greggory down. Greggory just looked straight up uncomfortable, and I kind of wanted to laugh. But then I remembered the hell we just went through with him, and I wanted to punch him in the face.

“Before you go violent on him, I’m going to send him to Boris. He’s going to stay in that prison for a long time,” Naomi said as she made her way over to them.

At that point, I realized I wasn’t holding my daughter and my heart fell into my stomach as I darted my eyes around.

“Where’s Emee?” I asked, panic shooting through me.

“Over here!” I heard Jess saying, she was standing by my mom, holding Emee.

I noticed my mother had tears in her eyes as she looked at Emee. I rushed towards them; I grabbed Emee from Jess and hugged her tightly and close to my chest. Tears flooded down my face as she snuggled against me comfortably.

“Oh my baby,” I whispered into Emee’s light brown hair.

She was beginning to look more like Jonathan every day.

I looked over at Jess who was still staring at my mother in awe; I imagine it was weird to see my mother standing before her when she’s supposed to be dead. She knew that my mother was the moon goddess, but seeing it was a whole new level of awesome.

“Emlin…” Jess whispered; tears filling her own eyes.

“It’s so good to see you, my friend,” my mother said to Jess, a smile on her face and admiration in her eyes.

‘I can’t believe you are here,” Jess whispered.

“I needed to be here to help my daughter,” my mother answered, filling my heart with so much gratitude and love. “And my granddaughter.” She turned to face Emee and me, that look of admiration never leaving her eyes.

My mom held out her arms to me and without hesitation, I walked into them; I let her wrap me in the warmest and most welcoming embrace I had in a very long time. She smelled like her lavender lotion, just as I remembered her. Her warmth filled my body and I breathed into her.

Emee was between us and chuckled as my hair tickled her features.

“Mommy…” Emee murmured.

I jumped away from my mother in surprise; all of us staring at Emee with our mouths hanging open.

“What did you just say?” I asked her.

“Mommy,” she repeated.

“She said, Mommy…” I whispered, looking at Jess and my mother.

They both broke out into grins and my heart was leaping around my chest ecstatically.

She said her first word, and it was “mommy.”

I turned to Jonathan to see if he heard it; he was running towards us. A smile on his face; Naomi was behind him, and Greggory was thankfully gone.

“Did you…?” I went to ask.

“I heard!” He said, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me and Emee in for an embrace.

After a long pause, my mother cleared her throat.

“I love reunions and everyone being happy. But we should get Emee home,” my mother said. “Plus, we also need to get Jessica and Ronnie.”

I gasped.

I had almost completely forgotten about them; I fault awful for not thinking more about them. I was hoping Spencer was able to get into the bunker to save them and bring them hope.

“Spencer?” I said through the wolf’s link.

He responded quickly.

“Oh thank goddess,” Spencer breathed. “I’ve been trying to reach you.”

I hadn’t realized that; with everything going on, I must have completely blocked him.

“Did you get Jessica and Ronnie?” I asked, nervously.

“I can’t get into the bunker. I think it’s been enchanted to lock,” he answered.

I looked over at Naomi, knowing she most likely heard him saying that.

“It would make sense that Willa would enchant it locked,” Naomi responded without me having to ask.

“Can we unchant it?” I asked, panic rising in my tone.

“Typically, the witch you enchanted it in the first place, has to be the one who breaks the enchantment,” she answered, she was looking nervous too for a moment, but then her eyes flashed over to my mother and relief filled her almost instantly.

“I can break the enchantment,” my mother answered her unspoken question.

Naomi bowed her head in my mother’s direction.

“It’s an honor to be in your presence Moon goddess, Emlin,” Naomi said in awe.

I blinked a few times; surprised that Naomi had heard of her.

“You know each other?” I asked, looking between the two of them.

Naomi shot her head up from her bow to look over at me in surprise.

“Oh goddess no!” Naomi said. “At least not personally. But the moon goddess isn’t just this world; she’s the moon goddess across all worlds and all realms. It’s much bigger than you could ever imagine.”

My mom smiled and stared down at the ground; she was being modest. I almost wanted to laugh.

“When there’s a change in Goddess and God statuses, the witches are usually the first to know about it. They work very closely with us; even though they have never actually met us, that doesn’t mean we don’t communicate with them,” my mother answered.

I was in awe of this new information.

“Arina??” Spencer’s worried voice came through my head.

I kept getting distracted; I snapped myself back to reality.

“We are on our way,” I assured him. I turned to Jonathan and Jess. I handed Jonathan Emee; kissing her lightly on the forehead. “Get Emee home safe. I’m going with my mom and Naomi and get Jessica and Ronnie out of the bunker. I’d feel better if you were with Emee to protect.”

“Of course,” he said, brushing his lips against mine.

Before he could take off in the direction of our home, my mom called for him.

“Jonathan,” she said; he stopped walking immediately to look at her. His eyes are wide with curiosity. “Thank you for taking care of my daughter for all these years.”

He smiled at her and bowed his head, just as Naomi had.

“I’ll continue to do so,” he told her.

She nodded her appreciation. He wasted no more time; he ran toward the direction of our home with Jess trailing closely behind.

I turned to Naomi and my mother; determination clear on my face.

“Let’s go save my best friend and my sister,” I told them.