A Gift from the Goddess
Chapter 70

Chapter Seventy

... With a sudden lurch inside my chest, my eyes flew open. I was gasping heavily, trying tocompensate for the suffocation that had afflicted me only moments earlier.

.. Except I wasn't mounted on the glass shard anymore...

I was in my bed.

My hands frantically grabbed at my body, inspecting for any sign of damage... but there wasn't any.So it wasn't real? But I had felt it. It couldn't be a dream. I know it wasn't a dream

But it ended up easier than expected to figure out exactly what had happened.

The nausea hit me first, forcing me to throw myself over the side of the bed and empty out thecontents o f my stomach. Then the ringing in my ears followed... then, finally, the bloody nose.

It was a vision. Easily the longest one I'd ever had; the realest one I'd ever had. Somehow it hadbeen strong enough to show itself even with my collar, now punishing me with the worst sideeffects I'd ever had to date.

My head still struggling to clear from the trauma of what I'd just experienced, I tried my best tofocus on what I'd seen. But the shock of the situation was hard to overcome.

..Because the reality was.... I had died.

I'd died because Id tried to stall for time and fallen as a result of an accident. A goddamn accident.The idiot had fucking butterfingers and killed me.

Somehow it had felt seamless though, as if I really had just woken up before it all played out. Sowhen was all of this meant to happen? A day? A week? A month from now?

But I didn't need to wait long before I got my answer.

.. Because suddenly I could hear the sound of my front door clicking open, and a familiar creakgroan out into the silence.

They were here. Right now.

Okay, it was time to think fast. I knew what went wrong and what I could avoid, I also knew whattheir intentions were. There was no need to call out or make my presence known, and I alreadyknew now that I was helpless to defend myself given their size and strength.

But my body ached as though I really had just been thrown out of a window, my head poundingwith a migraine worse than any other. Whilst I had more options available to me this time, there wasno way! would be physically able to accomplish much. Hell, I doubted I'd even be able to wrigglefree this time.

No, there was no way I could defeat him... but I knew someone else who could.

I had been only seconds away last time from being able to achieve the best strategy available to me,seconds that had been wasted trying to confirm who was there the first time. But I didn't have thatproblem now.

Inhaling as much as I could, I screamed out into the night. Screamed for the one person who I knewcould save me.

"ALERIC! ALERIC, HELP! PLEASE!"

The pounding of feet quickly rushing towards my room was the first thing I heard and i knew it wasthe intruder. I was sure he was probably wondering how his cover had been blown so quickly.Chapter Sevenly

Without waiting, I dropped to the ground and crawled under my bed; though a much tightersqueeze than I expected. He would be able to replace me here, I knew, but literally all I needed was afew extra seconds. Just a couple of seconds for Aleric to replace me.

My bedroom door then flew open and the man appeared at the threshold. I couldn't see his facebut I could tell he was searching for me, probably attempting to use his heightened senses to helplocate my position in the room. Silently, I held my breath, but I knew even the tiniest of sounds, thesmallest of movements, would be easily picked up on by him.

In the end, though, it wasn't enough as he soon appeared in front of the bed and reached down tograb m e from under it.

“Let me go!” I screamed, weakly pushing away from him to no success.

With no time to bind my mouth this time, he proceeded to just quickly throw me over his shoulderand run for the window. I struggled, wriggling as much as I could, but my movements werecompletely ineffectual against him. Like I had thought, my body really was far weaker than it hadbeen in the vision.

However, just as we made it to the window, the front door then suddenly burst open, and the dimoutline o f Aleric appeared across the room. My heart immediately jumped at the sight.

"ARIA?!"

“Aleric! Aleric, please!” I screamed back.

I don't want to die again, please...

Please..."

Aleric moved faster than I could keep up with in the darkness, only reappearing once his hand wason the man’s arm. He was just about to open the window before Aleric appeared. Just a momentlater and I was sure he would have thrown me out, taking the chance that I would hopefully survivethe fall.

A sickening snapping noise then sounded out and I managed to only just catch sight of how Alerichad broken the man’s arm like a toothpick, as if it wasn't attached to one of the largest, mostmuscled werewolves I'd ever seen. But it worked. The intruder doubled over, cradling his arm to hischest as he

cried out in pain.

Aleric didn’t wait though. Immediately, he grabbed at me under my arms and hauled me off theguy's shoulder, my body still shaking from the adrenaline pumping through me. I wanted to cling tohim for safety but I knew I would only be getting in the way. Which was exactly what the man musthave realised too as he threw out a punch towards Aleric's face with his good arm.

I dropped to the ground the second Aleric released me, the top of my head only narrowing missingAleric's hand that came up to defend himself.

“Aria, get back!” he ordered, grabbing the guy's arm and throwing him to the ground away fromme.

How he managed to toss him with such ease, I had no idea. But it was effortless for him, as if hewere tossing a bag of sand rather than a man twice the size of him

I quickly scooted away from them as far as I could and looked on mutely as the scene unfoldedbefore m e. The man was still struggling with the pain in his arm but had managed to get to hisfeet... and then there was Aleric, moving towards him with all intent to kill and do so quickly.

..But perhaps that wasn't the best idea. If he killed him then...

Aleric grabbed him by the throat and pushed him up against the wall. The man was growling,snapping, maybe even trying to shift... but, really, everyone here knew it was over. The difference inpower between the two was as clear as night and day.

With tug free fond, Aleno pulled it back his dans chatting to protrude out and

“Aferd, wat dort

Hetliced frim through the throat, instantly making humbled out

With the situation rrow dealt with i sacrumpled on the floor still in shock I was alive. I was alive. Itfelt live an eternity since my life hadnt been in danger, having just experienced this scenario won inthe succession of a few minutes Minutes that tasd felt like hours

Aleric’s attention turned back towards me once he was assured the manual dead Vithout wastingmy more tune, he ran over to engulf me into his arms, the man’s blood covering him and all MaybeI would have recoiled from his state normally, but now I clung to him for life, try body still staking Idont tatter that he'd just killed the guy and was getting me coated in blood too, I just needed tofeel the contot only be could provide in that moment

“Are you okay?” he asked, his breathing still hear from everything that had transpired “YOU DObleeding

i nodded stiffy, mowing that my blood was from the vision not the intruder T'm okay are you oka”“I'm okay”

We continued to hold each other for another s uite bath of us needing the time to calm down andfeel reassured the other was okay But before too long Alene finally went to pull away only itghtened my grip in response

Please don't go yet,” I whispered

I could feel myself shit trembling struggling to process the different thaumasrdjust gone though tonce To be honest, I was surprised I hadn't passed out yet My adrenaline was slowly meaning of theaching in my body only getting wobe and itly mind was still selambing to cope with angel slowlydying only minutes eative

"Okay, I won't’ he said before gently powing tumself to sit against the wall

Pulling me into his lap he then held me, letting me have my moment of feeling safe event was justto a few minutes

Which was exactly how we were positioned when the warriors finally came upstairs and found us,huddled together and now both covered in blood

“Alpha heit Miss Chrysalis,” one of the

greeted, alan in the voice

Aleric simply pointed towards the window where the man’s body laid “Over there

They nodded and started inspecting the scene beginning the investigation of the corpo

Pemaps this room was more soundprool than drealised given theit slow response Boedondo long ithad taken them, they must not have heard anything until Aleric broke the deadows and made memore grateful that Alenc had shown up when he had

for questioning and

“You shouldnt have killed him” i quetiy ctumed in “We should have taken him gotten answers aboutwhy he was trying to kidnap me

dont care He chose death the minute he touched you. He could have asked you.

Alenc shook his head Alla”

He did kill me," I added in my head, a shiver going down my spine How long was going to take thislink

Chapler Seventy

before I could finally bury this memory along with the rest of my traumas? A memory that wasn'teven real but just an overly realistic vision.

"Are you cold?” he asked, mistaking my reaction.

“A little,” I admitted. And it wasn't a lie. Maybe between the shock and the blood-soaked clothes,my body was definitely feeling a little chilly.

“Can you walk?”

I nodded, though I wasn't sure if that was even true.

Slowly, Aleric helped me to my feet and followed suit, not letting go until he felt assured I couldstand by myself. To my relief, someone also quickly provided me with a blanket. There was a shortconversation with the warriors about what had happened and a few orders to scout the area foranyone else, but soon enough I found myself trailing behind Aleric in a trance, completely out of it,as he moved around.

At some point, he left the quarters and started walking through some hallways, I didn’t snap back toreality though until I realised where he'd taken me.

It was his quarters.

"You can take a shower and sleep in here tonight. Tomorrow I'll work something else out.”

Stay... in his room?

And as he opened the door, I caught my first ever glimpse of inside his living area. A place I'd neverbeen allowed in the past.

“Are you coming in?" he asked after I just stood there, unmoving

I nodded slowly and entered, trying to focus despite the accumulating crazy things that werehappening i none night

Inside looked mostly the same as my own quarters, maybe a little bigger with an extra room or two.The most notable difference from where I stood was in the furnishings though, his being moresuited to an Alpha as opposed to a Luna,

He saw me eyeing off the extra doors and answered accordingly. “Gym and study,” he explained,pointing them out.

That made sense. Lunas weren't supposed to need either of those,

“Shower is down there,” he then added. “An attendant went ahead and grabbed you some of yourspare clothes. It should be in the bathroom already.”

"Okay... thank you,” I replied quietly, my voice still sounding distant,

Robotically, i followed his instructions and found the bathroom without any issue. It became aprocess of steps to complete one by one; brushing my hair, getting undressed, and turning on theshower I was on complete autopilot as I moved

So once the hot water hit me, I finally felt myself begin to break down. The steam was trying to relaxmy muscles but it was a futile attempt, a sob already beginning to shake itself through my chest isat down slowly, allowing the hot water to wash over me and, as quietly as i could, I allowed myselfa moment to release what had been building up inside. With any luck, the shower would muffle thesound of my silent crying from Aleric

This had been too much even for the Moon Goddess’ standards. The vision could have broken themoment I fell onto the window shard and I would have understood what happened next. Why did Ineed t o live through my own slow death? What benefit would that possibly serve if not just tomentally destroy me?

Chapter Seventy

“I hate you,” I whispered to Selene, tears falling down my face. “Just let me die and be done withthis already. Once was already bad enough.”

"Aria?" Aleric's voice then called out from the other side of the door, causing me to jump. Had heheard what I said?

I rubbed at my face and quickly washed it under the shower stream before replying. “Yes?”

"...You still okay?”

No.

“I'm fine,” I replied. “Coming out in a minute.”

Alright”

He didn’t sound reassured. Fair enough.

As fast as I could, I washed myself down and got out of the shower to get changed, though takinglonger than anticipated as my fatigue was hitting hard. The side effects I was experiencing this timewere savage to the point I would be grateful to never have a vision ever again.

Aleric was waiting for me on the other side of the door, somehow also freshened up now. Perhapshe had a second bathroom? I couldn't help but notice though that he was looking down at me as if Iwere made o f porcelain; something I couldn't fault him for thinking. Wasn't it just yesterdaymorning he had a scare thinking something had happened to me in the Diamond Claw pack? NowI'd literally been seconds away from death right in front of him. I was weak and this was just anotherpainful reminder of that fact.—

“Come on,” Aleric said, gently guiding me with a hand to my shoulder.

I allowed him to lead me to where he wanted to, all the while not saying a word, before realisinghe'd walked me straight to his room and intended for me to take his bed for the remainder of thenight.

“Aleric... no, I can sleep on the couch,” I declined.

“Don’t be stupid,” he argued. “Take the bed and sleep. You'll be safest in there whilst I keep an eyeon the front door from the living room.”

He was trying to protect me. His idea must have been that if anyone else was stupid enough toattempt this a second time, he would be waiting for them. Not that anyone would be that crazy. Noteven Thea, who I assumed the delightful visitor earlier was from; or at least that was my best guessso far.

"Okay," I finally conceded, too tired to argue, and I slowly dragged myself over into his bed,

It smelt like him which was a bit of a surreal experience, all things considered, but it wasn't like thisarrangement was under normal circumstances. He was correct in saying that this was the safestplace for me in the house, if not the entire pack, right now.

He moved to then leave but I spoke up before he could go.

“..Aleric?” I called softly.

He quickly looked back up, meeting my gaze. “Yeah?”

I bit at the inside of my cheek, unsure how to properly express what I needed to say.

“Thank you... I wouldn“t be here right now if you hadn“t come for me.”

“..Always,” he said simply and left before I could reply.

Now left in the dark to my own thoughts, I wondered what tomorrow would look like. Fromsneaking outt o attend a meeting, to now being attacked within my own bedroom, I was sure Tytuswould have several