A Howling Heart
Chapter fifty-five

Gyta senses my despair as if it's a string she can physically hold in the air. Her hand reaches up, threading my pain through her finger curiously, before pulling and lifting the weight momentarily off me. "Easy, child. Look at me," she speaks gently, with the tender voice of a mother. It reminds me of my own and how when I was younger, and she was stronger, she would hold me and sing to me. She was my only source of comfort for so many years.

I obey, too afraid to defy the being before me. All this - the werewolves, Gyta, death is entirely mystifying. I never in a million years would've believed any of this was true.

I was a naive girl who blindly believed in a woman who developed a severe hatred for what she was-for what I am. I couldn't so much as entertain the fairytale that creatures like werewolves existed, or my mother would've angrily punished

me.

She "didn't want that nonsense in my head," she'd snarl at me. I couldn't read literature about those made-up creatures or watch television with them. All this time, it was simply because she was running away from the truth.

"I-is my mother alive?" I stammer, too afraid to hear the truth because the odds weren't looking good by the time I got to the situation and intervened.

I know Matias didn't save her in time. He couldn't save me, and she was bleeding far earlier than I was. Esai enacted his revenge swiftly, getting all that he's dreamed of. The taste of his rejected mate's pain. So, I sacrificed myself for nothing.

Gyta shakes her head, those beautiful braids shaking ceremoniously with the movement. "Not for nothing."

"I am not worthy of any kind word. I have failed my mate and my mother." My voice quivers with despair's return. I feel a lump forming in my throat and the familiar sting of tears in my eyes.

But Matias's calming voice doesn't return to me. Oh, how I wish it would. He is my biggest comfort.

She watches me closely, somehow glowing even more intensely until I can feel the warm embrace of the light beginning to surround me.

"Destiny, Fae, mate of Matias. You have passed the test."

Gyta's words are lost on me. Her face lights up with joy, the corners of her mouth quirking upward as she reaches her hands out to me.

"What test?" I question, furrowing my brows.

A strange feeling begins taking me over, almost like something cloaking my skin. The light surrounding me begins to feel like hands on my skin, comforting me, squeezing me just enough to bring a little life back into me. What is this? I don't know whether to be scared or excited or both.

"You have proved that you are worthy of the Lycan blood which flows through your veins." She nods matter-of-factly.

"Worthy?" I parrot. That's a foreign concept. Being raised with far too little and watching everyone grow up with more, I never felt worthy.

"Your sacrifice for your mother, for a pack member, has only solidified that I have made the right choice in choosing you as that pack destiny." Sacrifice... All that I've given has made me pass some invisible test I had no knowledge of taking.

I am the pack's destiny...

I never thought that would be possible.

She nods. "It is them who may, in time, need to prove they are worthy of you, child." She points a finger at me and gives me a warm smile. How? How can all of this be happening? How do things as divine as these exist? How am I able to qualify for this kind of grace and mercy? She speaks as if I have a future-one not riddled with darkness but full of light.

I do not. I can't. Does she have the power to grant life again?

"Don't be so pessimistic. I am the one who decides your fate. The higher power that is has granted me that authority. You have impressed me." "What higher power?"

Her eyes gleam with amusement. "That is for another time, yes?"

I nod slowly. "So, I have impressed you?" That seems impossible. I don't think I've ever impressed anyone in my entire life. I've always been ordinary, below the bar. In high school, I was just the quiet, weird girl who spoke to no one and looked like a zombie since I'd be up all night helping my mother. It was an exhausting time then and now, but with Matias in the picture, it definitely has gotten easier for me.

She nods and I feel the light that is produced from her, sliding over my skin in a warm embrace.

"You are a perfect match for Matias."

That's funny because we are complete opposites.

"Balance. It is what keeps the world alive. You balance each other, and because of that, you will make great mates and great rulers. You are the softness to challenge the hard coldness inside of him. The voice of reason is in his mind when anger is all that controls him. You are the light to his darkness."

I never truly looked at it like that...

"When your soul departed, the balance was lost. It must be returned. You may ask of me one thing."

The balance was lost? What does that mean? Is Matias going to get out of control or something?

Hope buds in my chest, and I find myself clamming up with emotions as Gyta lets out a deep breath.

"I will grant you it."

Matias.

He is my everything.

I wish him no more pain...

Maybe my return?

I shake my head quickly, thinking of all the animosity and betrayal that has been in his life ever since my arrival.

Maybe it would be easier to ask for the curse to be lifted so he can turn and rule his pack. Without all of the pain, I bring him.... "You may ask me now."

It's time to be unselfish for once.

I take a deep breath.

"Gyta, Firstborn Lycan, the one with authority to grant me a request, I plead my petition that you would..."