Virago

Prologue

A thin layer of light glowed from her skin as she closed her eyes. Her black hair was pinned in a high bun with a few unruly strands falling down. Her pale skin had a slight flush as her lips as bright as the red rose muttered something. The thin white dress was like a liquid wrapping her lithe, graceful form.

Had it been anyone else, the Oracle would have kicked him out of her cave, but not him. Never him. After all, she gave him up to become the Oracle. Her mate. Her potential mate.

Now he was before her with his baby who barely inhaled before turning blue and creased crying. She was the only one who could communicate with the Moon Goddess and Fates be damned if he was not going to walk out with his child alive.

She opened her eyes and glared at him, but her icy blue eyes that might have unnerved many Alphas did nothing to her. He had seen various emotions in them. He had seen her happiness, her rage and her desire. How could a mere glare throw him off?

"Stop your thought now, Alpha Aresis," she snapped. "You might have been my mate in the past, but I am the Oracle now."

"And yet you are trying your best to help me save my son," he said.

"Would you rather I not?"

He stood up when she did. And just as she was about to walk to the Moon Lake in her cave, he held her hand. "And I know that you are helping only because it is me."

She stiffened. The previous Oracle did amazing work of keeping his emotions together. Not like her. But then again, she had been the Oracle for only a year and a half.

"Let me go," she said calmly. "And I will forgive you."

He wrapped his finger around her bony wrist. It had been so long, yet he knew her body like he had read it last night. "Are you telling me that you don't feel the same?"

She did not make any attempt to remove her hand. "After I became the Oracle, I don't have any mates. Don't have any potential mates. What you are hoping is a fool's dream, Alpha Aresis. And you have a mate now. And she gave you a son. Cherish your family."

His grip tightened. "Whose fault is that, Asena? You could have been my mate-"

"Is that why you came here?" she asked, tiredness slipping into her silky voice. "To question me? I thought you are here for me to save your son."

He steadied his breath and released her hand. As much as he wanted her again and forever, he knew how they both would end. If the Moon Goddess were ever to learn that her precious Oracle was sullied, especially in her Oracle cave, she would rage. And no one wanted the Moon Goddess to rage. She would paint this very cave with the Oracle's blood and end him and his family.

Might as well think about the future. His heir. "My son, Oracle."

She nodded grimly and picked the barely breathing baby. When he had rushed in here in a panic, she had stabilised the baby and saved him from death.

Even if she had left him, just two days prior to their mating ceremony, he could forgive her.

They had been in love, young and full of spirit. But the previous Oracle had come to his territory and claimed Asena as his heir. Gave her the choice of either to follow him and become the Oracle or stay behind as his Luna.

A week later, just two days prior to their engagement, Asena left, leaving a half-hearted letter behind. Her choice was quite obvious. After she left, his parents found another potential mate for him just so that he could forget her.

"Alpha Aresis," she said, pulling him from his memory. "Your son, he is not meant to live."

He blinked at her. Did he rush to the Oracle's cave to hear this? Did he wait all this while, leaving his mate in her immediate post-partum for this?

But she refused to meet his gaze, caressing the baby.

"Isn't there anything you can do, Asena?" he gritted his teeth.

He might not care if she was the Oracle. He would just snap her delicate neck if that might summon the Moon Goddess here.

She finally looked up when he thought she had frozen. "There is a way, Merikh. But... I don't know if your son would surely survive."

"What is it?" he snapped.

She looked at Moon Lake. "I will place your son on the water."

"Asena!" he sneered.

"I am the Oracle, Alpha Aresis," she shouted back. "It's time you remember that. Not your ex. And..." her voice trailed off, just like it always did when she was about to tell something that she might not have wanted to say. "And... if I had not loved you, I would not even suggest this."

Loved him before? Then why had she left him?

"Do what? Drown my son?"

She closed her eyes and just asked, "Do you want to at least try this? There is a chance for your son to live."

His jaws ticked, but he nodded. Anything to save his son.

As she placed his son on the Moon Lake, his son did not drown.

The Oracle slapped her hand over her mouth and suddenly her eyes glazed and the fire in the cave flickered. Night descended into the cave, chasing away the last fragment of light. Snow hailed out and at a distance, his pack howled for their future alpha.

Slowly, but steadily a light flared at his son's forehead. It was the shape of a crescent moon. Gradually, the light became stronger and stronger until it lit the entire cave. So much so that, he had to close his eyes.

When he opened his eyes, the Oracle had picked his son and the torches burned again. The darkness of the cave receded, but not of the night, not of his life. But his son was alive. Breathing. That was all that mattered.

"Oracle?" he asked, seeing her looking at his son with a peculiar expression.

"He is Moon Blessed," she announced, with awe in her tone, tracing the pale white crescent mark on his forehead, between his brows.

"What about it?"

"A prophecy was told five hundred years ago," she whispered. "About a pair of wolves. Moon Blessed and Moon Cursed. Who were destined to fight each other. That's what my master told me."

He narrowed his eyes. "Who is this Moon Cursed?"

She snorted. "I know you well, Alpha Aresis. You cannot kill the Moon Cursed. Even if I know who it is, I will not tell you. They might not even meet in this lifetime! You are not going to kill an innocent wolf!"

He would find that wolf later. Now there was a pressing question. "What does Moon Blessed mean?"

"That he is meant for greatness," she said. "That he would leave behind a legacy."

"Greatness," he smirked, taking his son from her.

His son would be the greatest. Cailan Aresis was meant to leave a legacy behind.

A/N: Yes, another story from me. 

Leave your thoughts behind!

Until next update,

~Quill