Page 54 of Luna Ascending

“and soon,” his voice drops so low I almost miss it “soon there may be no need for this to run on an individual basis – mass-separation of shifters is tangible, although we do need your funding to help move that along.”

His voice soars again - “proceed!” he booms.

I feel a needle in the back of my hand, and a cold creeping sensation moves up my arm. I struggle to keep my eyes open for as long as possible – I need my horrible suspicions confirmed. Just as I loose the fight, just as my eyelids flicker shut, a familiar frail figure looms over me.

“I'm so sorry” Morganna whispers as I sink into oblivion.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Aaron's POV

I jar awake to Freya's panicked mind-link and leap from the bed, disorientated. My wolf's on immediate high alert, concerned she's in danger. He will not tolerate any danger to her and he's increasingly protective now that we've marked her.

It takes only a few moments to clear my brain fog and realise it's Morganna in danger. Freya doesn't elaborate- only sends me the bare minimum. Carl is loose, injured, half crazed and trying to get to and kill Morganna. Freya and Liz can't contain him. I need Morganna, he can't be allowed to murder her.

Even despite his injuries I have difficulty in stopping Carl without hurting him further. He's like a man possessed, snarling so much I half expect him to shift despite not having a wolf any-more. He only calms down when Freya finally gives in and compels him, forcing him into submission. Even then his rage is palpable.

“What the fuck is going on?!” I roar, making everyone cringe. Whoever set this off is going to have a shit load of explaining to do. Liz's eyes flick away from me and she bows her head. Freya blushes and for once, refuses to meet my eyes. I round on my mate.

“What. The. Fuck. Freya?” I enunciate every word, and seeing her flinch I justknowthis is her doing.

She reluctantly explains what she's been doing while she left me blissfully asleep. I curse my wily mate out, loudly. She could have been seriously hurt – Carl might not have his wolf but he's a formidable fighter even without it. I grab her shoulders and give her a shake for good measure.

“This is not okay Freya! You can't go putting yourself in danger like this. And you put your mum in serious danger too! You are Luna-in-waiting for this pack, it and the fucking Watch, needs you – alive!”

She peers at the floor intently, only then do I catch sight of her tearing up. A twinge of guilt needles me and I sweep her up in a massive hug. I bury my face in her hair and inhale her scent. Only as it calms me do I admit I've over reacted. No-one has been hurt and we have significantly more information now than before.

That she-wolf is going to be the death of me, if I don't fuck her into oblivion first.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Aaron's POV

I gather the council together, along with my new recruits. We need spies across all shifter-species, sniffing out more about the Coven's plans. Specifically, I need to know more about this stone – the Severance Stone.

We can only assume that Carl's memories didn't return after Morganna's spell because she was interrupted before they played out completely. He certainly remembers now, and his fury is difficult to contain.

A little voice in my mind whispers maybe it was simpler than that – maybe Freya is the more powerful witch – maybe she broke the Coven's memory-blanking spell when her mother couldn't. I'd love to think my mate's that powerful. Perhaps witching genes don't get diluted by inter-species breeding like we'd thought. Given the Coven's current plans, that's not a good thing.

Morganna's started interacting again but I worry she's even more fractured than before. Freya was able to pull her back with a cast, but she said it was difficult. It seems Morganna became catatonic after her attempt with Carl because shecouldremember what she'd done, but couldn't deal with it. She barely can now that Freya's dragged her back to us. She seems to oscillate between self-deprecating despair and vengeful thoughts of angry retribution. There's no middle ground. It's alarming – I need her to at least appear sane. She's not doing herself, or me, any favours right now.

She does seem to be slowly recovering, with careful ministrations of various tonics by Tavey and Freya. Although she now remembers what she was forced to do, she only knows the little she was told while a prisoner. Until the Coven had something to bribe her with, she was just another captive.

After Marciel discovered Freya, he worked out who and what she was. That gave the Coven enough traction to force Morganna's hand – either she acted as a Separator or they would harm Freya. She was one of the strongest Separators they had – but each cast took more and more out of her.

Morganna did what she had to, to protect her daughter, but we can all see she's split in half by the guilt. I'm just grateful she chose her daughter over everything else. If I can help her put things right, I will. I can't help but fixate on Marciel's plans for Freya – I'm fucking convinced the arsehole had something planned for her. It makes me seethe, just thinking about that creep with his hands on my mate.

In Morganna's more rational moments we're able to glean slightly more about the process itself. Each Separator is bound to a stone, and the shifters are bound to the Separator. Morganna assumes it will take each Separator to cast an individual spell on each of their victims, for shifters and their animals to be reunited. I hope to hell she's wrong. That doesn't fit with my plans at all. For a start, it's no use for Aurora – we've no idea who that Separator was – Morganna is adamant Aurora wasn't one of hers. And there are multiple other Separators, all of whom we'd need to turn to our cause in order to reverse all the separation casts.

It's a nightmare, and my head hurts just thinking about it. Bad feeling reverberates around the pack as everyone learns what Morganna has done – dark mutterings about the inherent evil in all witches is increasing.

I have to find a way to fix this before they turn on Freya and Tavey too, there's only so much my alpha influence will do. I've already heard grumblings that I'd biased because Freya's my mate. It won't take long for them to question my judgement unless I can turn things around here.

Morganna and Carl are both able to recall the stone in detail – after some research we discover it's a rare mineral composite. Strangely enough it's suddenly in high demand on the black market. It gives me a great idea - I send out spies, claiming they know of a reliable supply of the rare stone. That should attract some attention fairly quickly and might give us an in.

As if I didn't have enough shit to deal with the council are forcing my hand – they want the alpha-blooding ceremony ASAP. They're probably right. In amongst all this chaos, some semblance of normality, something to bring the pack together is desperately needed. I need to solidify the pack behind me, rapidly.

I get Tavey to schedule the ceremony for a couple of weeks time, and send out the invites to the neighbouring packs – hopefully by then I'll have more information from my spies. I need to at least appear to be in a strong position if I want to win support for an all out war.

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