A Royal Mate

I knocked on Zel's shop door and waited for her to open it. She peered out the window and smiled then unlocked it and let me in. She shut the door and locked it back turning the OPEN sign over to CLOSED. She ushered me into the back where her office was and took a seat in one of the chairs. I picked a seat across from her noticing all the books strewed across the desk.

"Excuss the mess but I had a feeling you would have questions about your family's history so I found all the books I had about them. Now where should we begin?"

I was overwhelmed at all the potential information she had about my bloodline. Information that was never passed down to me. Secrets that stopped the day they were murdered. Family traditions that I would never know about until now. What if I had never moved here and never met Zel? All sorts of questions swirled around in my head making it throb. I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose willing the feeling to pass.

Zel noticed my tension and grabbed my hand saying "Anna. I know you have a lot of questions but let's start from the beginning. I have no doubt that once we start your thoughts will fall into place. Your mind will open and you will be able to channel all of the powers that were bestowed upon you by the Moon Goddess. She never makes mistakes believe me." She winked at me and patted my hand then let it go. "Now I believe I've already explained to you the 6 different wolves that she created so let's zero in on just your heritage."

She thumbed through a book made of wood with an intricate wolf carved into it. The pages were old and worn and the words were written in Latin. She continued flipping until she came upon a page of interest and started reading aloud. "Aha! The Royal wolves were created in the direct image of the Moon Goddess herself as a way to carry on her spirit and powers here on Mother Earth. She granted these specific wolves all of her own magic except one." She stopped reading and skimmed the text flipping back and forth as if looking for something. She then grabbed another book doing the same and then another until she had 7 books open all at once. Finally she found what she was looking for and started reading aloud again. "The Moon Goddess creates life, and if she so chooses she takes life too. The gifts that she presented to each of the 6 original types of Wolves were that of mind reading, immense power, uncanny senses, quick healing, immortality, wisdom and above all loyalty. But the Royal wolf was granted an extra special power such as earth manipulation." She looked at me in awe.

I sat there staring at her thinking how unbelievable this all sounded until her phone rang. We both jumped at the sudden sound of music that was invading our ears. She quickly grabbed it looking at the screen shrugging at the unknown number. She answered it and put it on speaker phone.

"Hello."

"Zel? It's Marina." Her eyes widened and she smiled from ear to ear.

"Marina is that really you? How long has it been?

"It's been too long, Zel. I would love to catch up sometime but I'm really calling with some information that might help your friend." She looked up at me and I nodded for her to proceed.

"Marina she is here in my office right now I have you on speaker."

"Oh...Hello, Anna."

"Hello Mrs. Marina. You said you have some information for me?"

"Yes I do. Zel called some of my healer friends when you first got sick. They called me afterwards because they wanted to know if you truly existed." She paused slightly and in a cautious voice she said "I was there the day your family and entire pack were murdered." Then there was a longer pause at the other end followed by a sob, then she spoke in a shaky voice "Anna, I was the woman who placed you and the others in the safe room behind the closet."

Suddenly it all came back to me. The stealthy attack and the men who were ordered to get rid of us all. The woman who gathered the 8 of us children from the pack house and made us go into a small room then closed the door behind us. I gasped and jumped up. My eyes wide with anticipation.

"You were there? The lady with the soft voice who made us promise to carry on our lineage."

"Yes Anna. I also alerted Alpha Pierson about your whereabouts."

I was shocked and confused at the same time. "Wait. How come you never told me? You knew where I was but you never thought to tell me or any of the others who we really were? I grew up as a warrior, not that I'm not grateful for the second chance I was given, but I don't know anything about my real family. I was tricked into thinking I was someone's mate which caused me to lose my wolf. Then I move here to Virginia and discover my true mate only to tell him I didn't want him!" My voice cracked and the tears started rolling down my face.

"Anna I couldn't talk to you. I was imprisoned and tortured for over 20 years because of who I was. When the Rouge who overthrew your family finally died his pack weakened and was attacked so I escaped. I only found out that you left when I spoke to your family two years ago. They didn't know where you were so I didn't know how to find you."

I wiped my tears and replied "I need to know everything, Marina, I have to know if I can still save my mate. And how."

"Don't worry Anna. I'm getting on a plane as we speak. I'll be there in 12 hours. And I'll be bringing some others with me. I'll call tomorrow when we get in town. Goodbye."