Sold To The Alpha
The Cursed Luna Chapter 57

Charity cleared her throat, 'I have not brought these men to bargain with you Sorceress, these men are all mated to others' she said loudly.

Looking surprised, the Sorceress smiled slightly, 'It has been many moons since I was called by that name, who are you, and how do you know of me?' she asked intrigued.

'I am Charity, I was led here by a compass hidden in a locket' Charity replied pulling the Emerald from where it lay hidden beneath her dress.

The Sorceress' eyes narrowed as she studied Charity's face, 'You are a white wolf' she mused, 'I thought that they had died out years ago, the last time I checked on the blood line, it had many generations of males'

'This is my grand father' Charity said, gesturing to Marcus who was staring unseeing at the Sorceress, His wife gave birth to the first white wolf in five generations, their daughter then gave birth to me, I now have a daughter of my own' she added, 'She turned four a few months ago'.

The Sorceress nodded, 'and you come to me because your time on this earth is nearly over' she inquired.

Charity nodded silently, hope and desperation etched on her face before pulling the story book from her back pack that she was carrying, 'I know your story, you can make it right' she said quietly.

Reaching for the book, the Sorceress smiled as she turned the pages, reading it, at the ends she raised her eyes to Charity's 'My dear, this is just a story, handed down through a pack over the ages, this is not my story'.

Charity's heart broke at her words, 'but the locket? how did it lead me to you? how did you know what it was if you didn't hide it for me?' she gasped out, tears threatening to fall.

The Sorceress held up a hand, 'I did not say that I did not visit the Oakridge pack, nor did I say that I did not leave the locket all I said was this is not my story, its just one of the many fables that has been told through time about me, every supernatural being has one, from the Vampires, to the Witches. This is a story that was told to the children when i stumbled upon them after being banished from my own home, it is heart warming that their pack remembered it and wrote it in a book!' she said with a soft smile. 'Can you help me?' asked Charity desperately

'Before I can answer that white wolf, I think you need to know my story and then decide if I can help you' replied the Sorceress as she snapped her fingers and food and drink appeared before them. 'Eat as we talk' she said, watching as the four men immediately obeyed her words.

Sitting still Charity kept her gaze on the woman in front of her, who sat so regally in the chair and was so at ease with herself and her surroundings.

'I have been known by many names in my lifetime' The Sorceress began, 'The werewolves call me Floretina, to the Vampires I am Helena, Witch Coven's know me as Aurelia, each super natural species has a name and story that they associate with me, tales that they pass to their young about how they came to be, but this is my true story, and the reason I live here alone on this island.

'I was created in the heavens as a destined mate for the son of a God, You know him as Promethius, a fearsome warrior he defended the heavens with force, keeping the peace. He was my everything, I worshiped him in every way, giving my all to him, His best friend, Almertius was the God of healing, they complemented each other, one causing injury, the other eradicating it, they were inseparable, standing together in unity.

Promethius had a rival, one who wished to be as strong and respected as he was, but as the God of Hus, his power was not as strong as a God of War, Artemis as you call him, was always trying to undermine Promethius, a gentle rivalry that the God of War did not take seriously.

When I was created, you named me Floretina, I was the Goddess of Love with the ability to call men to me through song, my man's direct opposite, the flip side of his coin. As I said I worshiped him, did everything I could to please him, all I asked in return was for his love' she said with a small smile.

'I thought you were brother and sister?' Charity asked hesitantly.

Shaking her head, The Sorceress, rested her gaze upon the Luna, 'just another discrepancy that came into the world over the millenia that I have been here, I had no siblings, just my love'

'For hundreds of years my love and I ruled the heavens, him keeping the peace, me spreading love through out the universe. Then word was sent, my beloved, Almertius, Artemis and myself were being sent from the heavens to the Mortal world, it was said that you were slaughtering each other, you needed intervention and that is what we were.

We came, in a shower of light that lit up the sky, landing together where we began our task of uniting the Mortal world, peace slowly being restored, the four of us working together. Soon the Mortals started to come to ask for goodwill, trading their skills and even themselves for our help. A palace was built that we resided in, the labour borne by the mortals who wished to curry our favour, we were waited upon and revered, replaceing our amusement watching these lesser beings scurry about trying to earn our approval. Almertius and I gave our help freely, wishing to spread our gifts far and wide, Artemis and Promethius only wished to give their gift to those they deemed worthy of it, the strongest and most loyal were rewarded, the weaker cast aside with indifference. The mortal's they accepted were given the power to fight, hunt, heal and a love bond so great not even death could break it.

'The werewolves' Charity breathed

'The Werewolves were born, Almertius and I believed you were created to protect those that were weaker than you, and for the most part you did, you started as a peaceful race only fighting when need occurred, but as with all creations, there were some that had the desire to rule, to own more than their share, the feud that raged between Artemis and Promethius continued to rage through you, their creation, and fights broke out between you leading to the death of many Wolves and humans alike.

In one such battle, a human brought his child to us, a casualty of the Werewolf wars, he clung to life by a thread as his body gasped for air, Almertius tried to save the child but he needed blood, he had lost too much. Proffering his own arm, the father begged us to take his and save his son, we had no way to transfuse it, so in desperation he took a knife to his own arm and sliced his artery, pouring the blood into his own offspring's mouth. The child survived but he had changed, sunlight burned him, he craved blood and when he bit other mortals, they became like him'

'Vampires' Charity said wide eyed.

'Throughout time other species emerged, Witches developed and still the wars raged, for all our power we could not stop the will of mortal's to cause pain and destruction to each other. We spoke about returning to the Heavens knowing we had failed in our task, we were ready to leave until SHE entered our lives.

The werewolf girl who came to our palace to ask for help, she could not replace her love, she wanted my help to replace him, I agreed, placing upon her and all others of her kind the ability to replace their missing half through scent, their love would have a scent so strong that it would intoxicate their mate, pulling them toward each other. I felt this was such a wonderful gift, I bestowed it upon us as well, hoping that Almertius and Artemis would have the chance to replace their own love and be happy just like I was.

I soon regretted my generosity, Promethius broke through the door of our chamber, his eyes wide as he searched the room before sweeping the girl into his arms, pressing his lips to hers hungrily as she growled a single word, 'MATE'. I was broken, my love, in the arms of another, my everything stolen by a she wolf, I tried to remind my love of our connection but he thrust me aside determined to have this mortal who called to him.

In my worst moment of despair, Artemis came to me, whispering words of comfort, platitudes to bring down my defences, as I succumbed to his charms, giving him that which was not his to take. He then proceeded to tell my love what we had done, hoping to crush him through my betrayal, not only was he not crushed, he was indifferent, choosing to throw me out of the palace and the territory, making me an outcast, unable to return. As I left I used my powers of love, casting upon his new woman a gift, she would love her child more strongly than any mother before her, if the child was female, she would be the best of her kind, stronger, more fearsome and recognizable by her snow white fur, but the mothers love would be so strong it would cause the beats of her heart to still within five years of the child's birth and to make sure that I would live to see each generation of my love's betrayal I fused their taken years and added it to my own rendering me practically immortal.' Looking up at Charity's horrified face she smiled, 'So you see my dear, you have a curtailed life because your fore mother took my life from me so I took hers from her and every generation afterwards' Charity shook her head trying to make sense of everything the Sorceress had said, 'But why the compass? why leave it for me to replace you if you had no desire to help me?' she asked desperately.