Mated To An Enemy

After speaking with Alice, Ashleigh and Caleb waited to leave for Moonguard.

Knowing that Myka was the one she needed to guide her to the Spring ley line, she wanted to stay until she knew he was all right.

But, after reaching out to Talis and feeling like there was little to be done. One day became two, and she knew they couldn’t wait. There was no guarantee that Myka would wake up any time soon or that he would get better at all.

The ley lines in Spring would have to wait. The mission to Moonguard needed to happen now.

Travel to Moonguard would take them a day and a half by car. They considered running. It would have been much faster. Still, after Myka’s attack, Caleb insisted that they needed heavier armor than the weave provided. Which meant they would need to wear real armor, and their shifting would not be possible without removing it.

According to Cain’s map, once they reached Moonguard territory, they would need to hike the mountain. The entrance to the mound was at the very top.

The Moonguard settlement was only about three miles away. Cain did not mention running into any trouble with the pack when he found it, but he also never made it back before he died.

The Priestesses had said that Cain’s disturbance of the mound drew attention back to the mountain as a place of worship.

After reading the journals and hearing all that Priestesses had shared, Caleb suspected that it wasn’t Cain that had alerted Moonguard to the mountain.

“What if Irina told the Moonguard alpha the location of the mound?” he suggested as he drove through the deep stretch of forest.

“Why would she do that?” Ashleigh asked.

Caleb shrugged.

“To have someone else keeping an eye on it for her?” he said. “If she thought my father was the only one that she needed to be concerned about interfering with her plans, then why not let Moonguard handle it for her?

“My father was already keeping his research a secret from everyone else. She must have known that he wouldn’t go against another pack, especially when he was on his own.”

“That does make sense,” Ashleigh sighed. “The real question is how they will react to our interest in the mound?”

“Not good,” Caleb replied. “Even without telling them we plan to blow it up, I can’t imagine they will be thrilled to let us investigate what they consider a sacred place.”

“Sacred…” Ashleigh sighed, laying her head back against the headrest. “Is anything sacred anymore?”

“What do you mean?” Caleb asked.

“I mean, the Goddess is not a goddess… So this being that we have all devoted ourselves to is a Fae Queen… ya know, a leader of the guys we hate?” she smiled sarcastically. “How do we even begin to process this? Like, all of us, the werewolves as a whole.”

Caleb took a slow breath and pushed it back out.

“Ash, it’s shocking, but I don’t know that it’s quite as impactful as you might expect.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, the lesser packs haven’t directly benefitted from the Goddess in the same way we have,” Caleb said. “Most of the oaths and honor they show her is based in tradition rather than belief.”

“I guess that’s true,” Ashleigh said. “But still… everything we thought we knew about where we came from is a lie….”

“Is it?” Caleb asked.

“What do you mean?”

“The Fae Queen, or the Goddess, still created us for the same purpose, to save humanity from a fae threat. So, Yea, we didn’t know that she was fae, but we didn’t know where she came from before either,” he said. “The details were missing, but the basic story is the same.”

Ashleigh listened to what he was saying, surprised that she wasn’t bothered or upset by it. He was right.

Part of her was upset. She felt as though the core of her understanding of the world around her and the origin of her people had been a complete lie. But at the same time, so much of her thinking and understanding of life, in general, had been shaken in the past year.

She had been wrong about people she thought she knew; made terrible assumptions about others she had just met. Then, she felt she understood the will of the Goddess and the things she needed to accomplish in her life, but now, even the Goddess wasn’t real.

“It’s just hard,” she said quietly. “To continuously find my world views shaken or proven wrong… I’m not sure what or who I should trust anymore.”

Caleb looked over at her. He could see the pain in her eyes. The frustration of having her image of the world shattered.

She was strong and stubborn, and he loved her. It was hard for him to remember at times just how young she was.

“Me,” he said, giving her a smile when she looked up at him, “and us.”

“What?” she asked.

Caleb chuckled and reached out, taking her hand and squeezing it as he looked back at the road ahead.

“That is what you can trust in,” he said. “Our connection, our love. No matter what we face in the future, I will always be here for you, and you for me.”

Ashleigh smiled, feeling the warmth of his intention in her heart.

“I don’t care if it was a divine being, a fae queen, or a flying spaghetti monster,” Caleb chuckled.

Ashleigh couldn’t help but join with a giggle.

“You and I,” he continued. “Our bond, that’s what matters, not what it was that brought us together.”

Ashleigh smiled.

“You’re right,” she whispered.

“I know,” Caleb smiled proudly.

Ashleigh rolled her eyes, but her smile did not falter.

Caleb glanced at her.

“I love your smile.”

She turned to him. The soft admiration in his eyes made her heart skip a beat, and she blushed. His smile widened.

“I hope we have a daughter,” he said. “And that she has your smile.”

Ashleigh felt a lurch in her stomach. She swallowed and licked her lips, turning back to face the road.

“Someday,” she said quietly.

“A son is good too,” Caleb continued, then with a laugh, he added. “Maybe both? Who knows.”

Ashleigh clenched her jaw, feeling a tightness in her chest.

“Right,” she said.

Caleb looked at her, feeling the tension in the air between them.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yea… just, ya know, it’s not really the time to think about things like that,” she said.

“What do you mean?” Caleb asked.

​ Ashleigh licked her lips again, pushing down on the anxiety she felt growing in her chest.

“I mean… kids… it’s pretty early for that conversation, isn’t it?” she said nervously.

Caleb hesitated but also chuckled.

“I wasn’t trying to say we should start planning now, Ash,” he said. “Just… that it would be nice, someday.”

“Sure,” Ashleigh said with a pause. “Someday.”

Caleb swallowed and looked at her carefully.

“Ash,” he called. “You do… want children, right? I mean, when we talked before… I know you said you weren’t ready, and I understand. I am not in a rush, either. But you do want them at some point, right?”

“Of course!” She replied quickly, with a nervous laugh.

“Okay…” Caleb said quietly.

Ashleigh swallowed and then turned to look out the window.

“But,” she said, “after the war is over, things will look very different. The packs are going to be in chaos.”

Caleb clenched his jaw. He let go of her hand and focused his attention on the road as she continued to speak.

“So, there will be a lot to do, and I still have a long way to go before I am the Luna that Summer deserves.”

Caleb nodded but said nothing.

“I’m just saying… it’s not the right time,” she said. “I’m not quite nineteen, and with all of our responsibilities… I think it’s going to take some time. That’s all.”

“Okay,” he replied, turning with a gentle smile. “I understand.”

Ashleigh nodded, and they both turned their attention back to the road. She knew he was trying, but she could see the disappointment in his eyes.

For her part, Ashleigh just couldn’t see how she could be a mother. How could she be responsible for a helpless baby incapable of caring for itself when she couldn’t even care for the people she already had in her life?

She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. They still had several hours left in the drive; she rested her head against the window. She hoped to fall asleep rather than sit in uncomfortable silence with the person who most mattered to her.

Ashleigh closed her eyes, pushing away her fears and doubts. She opened herself to sleep, to relaxation. Feeling the rhythm of the car beginning to rock her to unconsciousness.

Her eyes suddenly snapped open when she heard the sound of running water.

She smelled the cold air of Winter, the snow, and the trees. Then, around her, she saw a place she recognized, Lily’s Rest.

“We still haven’t had a chance to talk after all that you learned,” Lily called behind her.

Ashleigh turned around. She was surprised to see Lily not dressed in her standard Valkyrie armaments. Instead, she wore a long, fur-lined cloak of brown and white. Her hair was pulled back in small braids with loose curls.

She looked like a snow princess. Delicate and soft.

“Is this a dream?” Ashleigh asked. “Or am I back in the ley line?”

“This is our space... it exists within you. The same place you chose your Luna over your insecurities.”

Ashleigh looked around again.

“So, I’m asleep in the car, then?”

Lily nodded.

“Okay,” Ashleigh nodded, turning back to Lily with a significant look in her eyes. “So… let’s talk.”