Blood Moon: Lunar Eclipse
Ch21 - Regret

Logan

Sephora barged into my office unannounced.

“Knocking is still considered polite,” I drawled.

She completely ignored me and placed herself comfortably on the chair opposite me.

“Ariella’s powers will surface sooner than you think. She must come with me to learn how to control her powers. Otherwise, they will spiral out of control,” she began.

“Not happening,” I ignored her and continued reading the report Aleksi had left on my desk this morning.

Sephora’s hand slammed on the desk, her body hunched over with a grave look in her eyes.

If this woman continued badgering me, Ariella’s aunt or not, I will throw her out the window.

“You don’t understand the consequences that will follow if she doesn’t come with me. Her powers have been locked away for 21 years. If left any longer, they could do more irreparable damage than you realise. She is a literal walking time bomb,” she affirmed.

“Train her here,” I replied.

She scoffed and stood tall, her arms crossed in annoyance. “It’s not possible. The type of training she needs isn’t something where she can risk being around other people. It’s far too dangerous.”

“Listen here…” I began but stopped as I felt my whole body burn up. My limbs strained as though I had been buried under mountains of sand.

“Ariella.”

“It’s already begun,” Sephora spat before hurriedly exiting my office.

With that, I ran.

I don’t know how, but I knew precisely where Ariella would be. Sephora arrived at the cemetery at the same time as me.

Ariella was crouching beside an unmoving body, muttering words I couldn’t make out over her wail of cries.

I approached, only to replace the one lying on the floor was Noah. His eyes closed, his clothes almost completely singed as though he had bathed in fire. His skin was raw as second-degree burns coated virtually his entire body.

“I… I did this,” Ariella stuttered, her shaking hands held out in front of her.

‘Clara, get a bed ready and send a medical van to the Cemetery immediately,’ I mind-linked.

‘Yes, Alpha. How bad is it?’ she asked.

I hesitated to respond…

’Bad,’ I spoke, then shut off the mind-link.

Sephora shot me a disapproving glare as though to say, ‘I told you so’.

Trinity came running down the path, looking disoriented and panicked.

“Noah!” she screamed, then rushed to Noah’s other side.

Ariella stumbled back, unable to keep her balance, so I scooped her up in my arms and let her sob into my chest.

“What happened!” Trinity questioned with bloodshot eyes.

“I…” Ariella began until Sephora interrupted.

“Your Luna lost control of her powers. It is not her fault…”

“I don’t care. He is still alive. I can feel the bond, but it is thinning. He needs a doctor,” Trinity said.

The van arrived a few minutes later. Trinity held Noah’s hand the whole time as she clambered into the back of the van.

The look on my mate’s face broke me. I had never seen Ariella so broken. My feisty Vixen revealed emotions I never thought were possible.

I made my way to the pack hospital with Ariella in my arms and Sephora close behind. It took a while until Ariella’s sobs turned into quiet sniffles. I still couldn’t explain how I knew exactly where Ariella would be.

“When she uses her powers, you will know her exact location,” Sephora spoke as though reading my mind. “That is why Freya never used her powers since she escaped Fenrir. If she did, Ariella wouldn’t be here right now.

“So when she does come with me, which she will do, no matter what you feel, you cannot see her.”

I ignored her last comment. Soon enough, we arrived at the hospital. I placed Ariella on the floor, then watched as an enraged Trinity tore through the exit and marched towards where we were standing. Her eyes were a forest green; her wolf was awake.

She stopped before Ariella and held out her palm to strike her face. Ariella stood there unmoving, as though wishing for her to hit her. So I seized Trinity’s wrist and compressed.

“Don’t even think about it,” I spoke resonantly and threateningly.

Trinity pulled back her hand, rubbing the part I just held.

“You did this. Why?” her tone was light yet full of emotion.

Ariella peered at her through her lashes as tears cascaded down her cheeks.

“I don’t know what happened. I lost control. It all happened so quickly. I’m so sorry Trinity. I would never hurt Noah, not intentionally.”

Trinity took a deep breath.

“He’s fine for now. Clara said his burns should heal fine.”

Ariella released a grateful sigh.

“But next time, we might not be so lucky,” Trinity spat before lumbering back to the hospital.

I released a menacing growl, ready to march towards Trinity for disrespecting my mate until a cold hand gently encased my wrist.

“No Logan. I deserved it,” she looked to the ground in defeat. “She has every right to be angry with me.”

I held Ariella’s cheeks in my palms, lifting her head upwards. “This is not your fault.”

“There is a way to control it Ariella,” Sephora declared from behind.

I forgot she was still hovering around.

“How?” Ariella faced her with hopeful eyes.

“You will need to come with me. I can help you control your powers so nothing like this ever happens again.”

“I said no,” I growled.

Ariella held a palm to my chest in an effort to calm me down.

“How long?” she asked.

“I can’t say for sure, but it could take months.”

“I said…” I gritted my teeth until Ariella landed a gentle kiss on my lips, preventing me from finishing.

She pulled back, gazing into my eyes. “I need to do this. I can’t have something like this happen again. Besides, you can focus on taking down Fenrir without the fear of me potentially hurting someone else.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” she managed a feeble twitch of her lips, which hardly qualified as a smile.

I sighed and rested my forehead against hers.

“Ok,” I responded.

Having Ariella away might do some good. If the war were to break out while she was away, at least I would know she is safe. My wolf may not be pleased, but eventually, he will understand.

“If anything happens to her,” I warned, facing Sephora.

“I promise you, she will be perfectly safe,” was her response. “We leave tonight; I need to gather some supplies for the journey.”

“But what if my powers hurt someone else until then?” she panicked.

“It’s similar to a cooling down period. Your body can only expel a certain amount of power at a time. Right now, you drained all of your built-up reserves based on the damage you caused,” Sephora answered.

Ariella nodded weakly.

Ariella

Logan had organised a last-minute meal with my family and friends so I could say my goodbyes.

I didn’t want to leave, nor did my wolf, but I knew it was what I needed to do. I don’t know what I would have done if Noah had died, but thankfully he was ok. Clara said he was lucky; he should be as good as new in a week or so.

I wanted to see Noah, but Trinity detested me right now. And she had every right to. If I were her, the last person I would like to see would be me.

Everyone was enjoying their meal. Logan had to compel me to come, telling me I would regret not saying goodbye to everyone.

Everyone was understanding, especially about what happened with Noah. Still, I wanted someone to hit me, yell at me and tell me I was a horrible person for what I did—accident or not.

Sephora sat beside me with my family, Clara, Caroline, and Angus opposite. Logan sat on my other side with Aleksi, Hailey and Ethan next to him.

I remained quiet throughout the night, but the non-stop chatter of everyone around me made it go unnoticed.

That is, apart from Logan.

His hand rested on my thigh and lightly squeezed. I peeked through my lashes.

“Are you not hungry?” he asked as he noticed the single pea I had been flipping around on my plate for the last 5 minutes.

“Sorry,” I murmured.

Logan leaned down so his lips were almost touching my ear and whispered. “Stop apologising and stop beating yourself up about what happened. Noah is fine, and he knows you would never intentionally hurt him.”

I nodded and smiled before finally picking up that singular pea and placing it on my tongue.

Soon after, I was saying my goodbyes. Caroline and Angus were the last to leave, leaving only me, Logan, Sephora and Aleksi. Aleksi wanted to talk to Logan about something, so he stayed behind.

I packed a light suitcase and approached the car, which Logan insisted I take with me.

Aleksi had already loaded my luggage into the boot and went to do the same with Sephora’s. Sephora’s hand was already approaching the handle as he plucked it from the floor. Their hands grazed, and Aleksi’s eyes faded into a dark green as though his wolf had woken.

As their eyes remained locked, Sephora’s face contorted into one of surprise, as did Aleksi’s.

“What the…,” Sephora whispered just as Aleksi emitted a low growl and uttered the words…

“Mate.”