Moonless

Chapter 61

AN; soooo sorry for the long wait. Life has just been a little wild lately. Anyways? That you for the 8,820 reads and 1,303 votes! We are are only 1,180 reads away from 10,000!?
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The air around me began to simmer and sparkle, and suddenly I was no longer standing in the cold barren land of Idaho, but in a lush forest in the throws of spring.

Something stirred in a thick clump of bushes.  And from out of those bushes stepped a naked women with flowing black hair that ran all the way down her darkly tanned body and past her ankles. She was not alone. A gray wolf's head poked out from the leafy greens beside her, and evaluated me with its large, sad looking yellow eyes.

Even though I could now see the rest of the wolf, the wolf had to be at least six feet tall from the positioning of the head. The woman was around the same height as me, but with a much curvier body than my own.

She stopped when she saw me, her dark almond eye swept me up and down.  Her rose petal like lips parted ever so slightly.

"Disrobe," she commanded in a husky voice and turned and disappeared into a thicket of bushes.

"Wait!" I called after her. "Are you Hecate?"

"That's one of my many names child." Her voice floated out from somewhere within the forest. "Disrobe and come with me."

"What is your price for your help!?" I called with Liam's words weighing heavily on my mind. 

But this time, there was no response. There was just the sound of the forest greeted my ears. My eyes remained glued to the spot where she had disappeared.

"DISROBE!" her voiced boomed suddenly, which caused a flock of birds nearby to take flight into the sky and me to nearly fly out of my body.

This time I did as she said and peeled away my charred clothes. I hesitated for a moment, before removing my underwear and bra until I stood naked and alone in the middle of the unfamiliar forest.

I looked towards the part of the forest that she had disappeared towards. And inched towards it cautiously. When I was at the edge of the vegetation, I saw that there was a crude path that lead deep into the bush.

I walked down the path , watching for any thorns or sticks on the ground that may impale my bare feet, while the sound of running water filled my ears, and the leaves gently brushed against my skin. The ground felt hard and damp against the soles of my feet.

I walked down this winding path for what seemed like miles, although I did not grow tired,  until it opened up to a clearing where a waterfall tumbled into a clear pool of water. Flowers ranging from deep scarlet, to bright yellow, and dark shades of blue seem to take up every available space around the water, with the exception of a sandy strip boarding one of its sides.

In the middle of the pool stood a large, flat gray rock covered in green moss and on top it stood the same woman. On the sandy shores laid the wolf. His eyes slid towards me upon my entrance into the clearing, and remained trained. Suddenly very conscious of my nakedness, I covered my body with hands.

"Come child,"Hecate beckoned to me. "Come bathe in the spring and I shall grant you the power that you seek."

I did not listen to her words and instead, stated rooted to where I stood.

"How do you know it's power that I want, and what do I have to pay to get it?"

"I have been with you for a while child. Every since your light flared up so bright, that the Dark One could not put it out, I have been gently guiding you towards me on this path. And as for what you have to pay, I can only tell you that it's something that you hold dear, something fate will take away from you. Since this a great gift of power , something needs to be taken away that also matches its worth.

I took a backwards step towards the path, "I don't want your power if that's what the price of it is."

"Oh child but you do. Because if you don't take it, you will not only lose your life but the life of your brother and your mate will be taken from you."