Mated To An Enemy

Caleb and Ashleigh stayed only one day. Just long enough to ensure the repair team arrived at the communications tower and to work with Saul on arranging a new defense unit around the building.

On their return to Summer, Caleb was immediately pulled into meetings. He reached out to Jonas and Sofia about arrangements for the other towers. The last thing they needed was to lose communications with their allies.

At this point, reports of attacks in the eastern lands were coming in. Crazed rogue and fae creatures. Most of the lesser packs had either evacuated the area or been able to defend themselves against their attackers.

Fiona pulled together a team to head east in order to bring the survivors who had lost their lands into Summer and the other packs in the area willing to take them in.

With Caleb busy in meetings and Fiona out on a mission, Ashleigh found herself with a bit of time on her hands. She found the journal right where she had left it on the coffee table. She sat back on the couch and opened it to the entry about Alpha Gorn’s request for Cain’s aid.

[October 7, 19XX

I have met with Gorn, and I have investigated the area that he spoke of. His concerns about the unknown power source are valid. There are strange readings in the area. I will be staying longer and running more tests. It will take time, but I believe I will be able to find the source of the strange power.]

There were small, printed notes that Ashleigh didn’t understand. Formulas, reference points, and questions Cain seemed to be asking himself about environmental conditions.

[October 14, 19XX

All the tests I have run from the environment are inconclusive. I suspect that the source is somehow deeper in the ground. I will need to find a way to get deeper without drawing too much attention or disrupting the ecosystem.]

Ashleigh turned the page. There were sketches of Lilies of the Valley. Different sizes and angles. Notes on their preferred climate, season, and size.

[November 3, 19XX

Irina and I have found a cave deep in the forest. Lilies of the Valley cover the surrounding area and into the mouth of the cave. It is strange to see them growing here.

There is a faint signal from the cave. I suspect we will find a passage that leads deep into the mountain. And there is where we will find the source of the strange power.]

“Irina...� Ashleigh whispered aloud.

The name was familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it.

[November 18, 19XX

We have gone deeper and deeper into the cave but still have not found the power source. Gorn has sent word that there is no need to continue the search. He believes that if the source is so far into the earth, it will be of no use to Spring. But Irina insists that we should continue.

I gave my opinion to Gorn on who to listen to. After all, there is a reason we all know the phrase ‘happy wife, happy life.’]

“That’s right,� Ashleigh said. “Luna Irina.�

Ashleigh had never actually heard what happened to the Luna of Spring, only rumors of her mind having gone before she ultimately took her own life. Nevertheless, she wondered how many of the stories were true and what led to such a decision.

She took a deep breath and decided not to think much about it. Then, turning the page, she furrowed her brows at the sketch she looked at.

A gnarled and twisted black tree surrounded by what appeared to be crystals, like an open geode. With white flowers and mushrooms that grew along with the exposed roots.

[December 15, 19XX

I went home for a couple of weeks, but Irina and I made an incredible discovery on my return. Not only have we found the source of the power. But something even more impressive.

We went further than we had ever gone before. We were about to turn back when Irina said she felt something. We pressed on, and ten minutes later, we found a chamber. It was large and mostly empty.

But at the center was a tree. A black and twisted tree with roots growing out of the ground and diving back in. There were crystals surrounding the roots, bright, colorful crystals glowing in the darkness. Mushrooms and lilies as well.

We approached the tree, I stepped forward to take samples, but Irina stopped me. She suddenly said that we needed to go. I do not understand why she suddenly became so insistent that we leave.

Hopefully, she will regain her senses tomorrow, and we can get back to work.]

Ashleigh sat up and set the journal on her lap.

“They found a hidden fae mound...� she said, remembering her father's description of the fae mound at Loki’s Fall.

She had never heard of a fae mound inside of a mountain before. But then again, the information on the fae mounds was always a bit hazy.

[December 16, 19XX

Irina became irrational and hysterical when I mentioned returning to the chamber. She is pretty agitated by the thought of returning. I offered to go without her, but she threw my bag at me and ordered that I leave Spring territory.

I could not argue. As Luna, it is her right to send me away. But I plan to send word to Gorn once I have returned home.]

The following entry jumped two whole months.

[February 21, 19XX

It has been two months since I was sent back home.

I wrote to Gorn and asked to be permitted the chance to study the chamber and the power that was emanating from it.

The only reply I received was that Luna Irina has taken ill and it is not the time to worry about studying.]

The next several pages contained sketches of the tree again and again, with notes asking questions about the details of the tree.

[May 21, 19XX

I had given up hope that I would be permitted to study the tree. But I received word from Gorn today. He has invited me back to continue my research.]

Ashleigh skimmed the next few pages. More sketches of the details of the tree, questions about what kind of crystals they were, and how the lilies could grow so far inside the earth.

He collected samples and ran tests. He finally confirmed what Ashleigh had already known, the tree, the chamber, was fae in origin. It took several more entries before he realized it was a mound, a burial site.

Other entries talked about concerns that Gorn was hiding something, looking for something. Naturally, Ashleigh was curious about these entries. But then she noticed the end of a small sticky tab on one of the pages.

It was still far from where she was reading in the journal, but she knew Clara had read something she called ‘life-altering.’ And while the information about the fae mound in Spring was interesting, it was hardly life-altering.

Curiosity got the better of her.

Ashleigh opened the journal to the marked page. Reading the date, she was surprised to see that it was from only a few months before Alpha Cain died.

[June 21, 20XX

My fears were confirmed today. Even now, I keep glancing back at my screen, hoping I was wrong. I have run the test ten times, with the same result each time. The genetic markers are there, they are faint, but they are there.

The werewolves and the fae are one and the same.]