The Ivory Queen
Chapter 109

*** Aurora’s POV***

My eyes open slowly, adjusting to the bright light coming into the room from a nearby window. I blink a few times to fade away my sleepy haze and wipe at my tired eyes, stretching and yawning lazily. I feel a warmth beside me and look down to Rio sleeping blissfully beside me, Santos laying on his head. I reach out to stroke his yellow head and I swear the bird smiles.

That’s when a few memories come trickling back in fragments, making my temples erupt into pulsating waves of pain as I strain to get more details.

The last thing I remember was being at Lluvia Blanca, Reyna shredding Nikolai to pieces. But what happened before that? I rack my brain to remember anything but it only makes my head hurt worse. After several minutes of hard thinking, I come up empty.

A light snoring at the foot of my bed startles me and I look down to see Chava sitting in a chair, slumped over on my bed with his head resting near my feet.

There’s a heart monitor beating rhythmically beside me and an IV attached to my arm. To my left, I see Evan sprawled out on my sofa, Mia laying on his chest with her head tucked neatly underneath his chin.

I was at the River Moon pack house but how did I get here? What had happened to the Amethyst Lake wolves? Where was Celina and her family? Where was Carter?

Carter!

Another memory comes back and I remember he had been hurt at the northern border. Was he okay? Did Rosalie know?

With so many questions swirling around in my head, I could lay in bed no longer and kick the covers off of me, the movement jerking Chava awake.

“Aurora-“

He reaches for me as I pull at the machines attached to me. I swat his arms away, needing some space. Needing to get out of here. The heart monitor starts racing as more memories come rushing back, bombarding me with the horror of that night.

Oliver….He almost killed my brother. Nikolai is working with witches. Nikolai helped kill Emiliano. Nikolai is dead. Amethyst Lake has no Alpha. Am I their new alpha? Carter! Where is Carter?

I rest my head in my hands, hoping to alleviate the pain. Chava sits still, giving me a worried look.

“Do you want me to wake up your gamma?” he asks as silence settles between us.

I shake my head, still processing the events that occurred.

“W-what day is it?” I g***n, rubbing my temples.

“It’s Friday the 18th,” he replies, keeping his voice smooth and calm. “You’ve been asleep for a little over a day.”

“What?!” I nearly scream, panic settling into my chest as I once again try to scramble out of bed.

Chava gets up, blocking my way as I try to leave and I snarl at him, waking Evan and Mia up.

“Get out of my way!” I snap, trying to push past him but he doesn’t budge. “How could you guys let me sleep for so long? There are only 2 nights until the solstice! We don’t have time to waste! Where is Celina? Where is Carter? Oh goddess! The Allies! How are the Al-“

Chava grabs me by the shoulders, cutting me off mid sentence. “Calm down. We’ll explain everything but you need to calm down first!”

“Calm down?” I snap, brushing off his hands. “Calm down? You want me to calm down? I -“

Two arms wrap around my shoulders and pull me into their chest, their chin resting on my head. The scent of rain and oranges envelops me, allowing a sense of peace to wash over me.

“Kid, I need you to relax,” Evan soothes, hugging me tighter. “Just come back to bed. Please? Celina will be here soon. I promise.”

Annoyed, I begrudgingly climb into bed, settling into my covers .

“Where is Carter? Is he alright? Did Celina heal him? How are my wolves?”

I start firing questions at them when Celina and Valentina walk into the room, seemingly pleased that I’m awake.

“Good, you’re awake. One less wolf to worry about,” Celina says before turning to Mia. “How is he?”

Who’s he?

Mia stretches and wipes at her eyes. “Still dreaming, I suspect. I just came back half an hour ago.”

“Who is dreaming?” I ask, feeling left out of the loop.

Celina frowns before taking a seat on the edge of the bed. “I need you to promise you’re going to stay calm,” she warns, freaking me out.

“You’re scaring me.”

“Promise. I need you to promise.”

I stare at her, hoping to get a clue but Celina was just as good at hiding her feelings as I was. “I promise,” I sigh, sticking out my pinky. She laughs a little before locking our pinkies together.

Her face grows serious. “Tais and Ira have Rosalie.”

My heart skips a beat, bile rising up in my throat. “N-no,” I whimper. “No, not her! Oh goddess, Carter-“

“Carter is fine,” Celina soothes, pulling me into her arms. “Mia and I put him to sleep. He doesn’t know yet. He’s been asleep for as long as you have.”

“Oh goddess,” I cry, feeling like an utter failure for not protecting my Alpha and my beta female.

“Shh, it’s going to be okay. Well find her and Oliver.”

“Oliver… he’s….”

“Under some kind of spell,” Celina sighs, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. “Gwen said she could try to work on an antidote but she’s not certain it will work.”

“Where is she?”

“At the B***d Moon pack helping to take care of the wolves there.” Her eyes fill with sadness. “I’ve been at the pack hospital all day, healing those I could… but you lost a few soldiers.”

My heart shatters. Since becoming Luna, I have managed to lose so many of my wolves. I was a damn curse to this pack.

“We’ll hold a Moon Warrior ceremony to honor their sacrifice,” I announce and everyone seems to agree.

Celina explains everything that happened since the fight, every detail more shocking than the last. And with Nikolai out of the way, we now had to deal with the Amethyst lake wolves. All of the warriors were captured, Javier and Wesley conducting interrogations in hopes of discovering Tais and Ira’s whereabouts. So far, they have very little information to go off of. It seems Nikolai kept his involvement with the witches a secret even from his own pack.

“I’d like it I speak to the Amethyst wolves myself.”

———

After a quick shower and some breakfast, Celina and I make our way to The Amethyst Lake pack house with an army of Wolves running along the car.

Valentina and Chava ride with us, Evan and Mia staying at the pack house to watch over Carter. Valentina has been relatively quiet since I woke up and I can tell she’s beating herself up for not saving Rosalie. As we drive, I reach out for her hand and squeeze it.

“So you’re a healer now?” I smile, hoping to take her mind off my missing friend. “How does it feel?”

She forces a smile but a few tears well up in her eyes as she holds back a sob. She points to her chest.

“It’s like I can feel him right here,” she whimpers through her smile, her bottom l*p trembling. “I don’t know why I have this gift but I feel like he gave it to me…like I have a piece of his soul and I’m grateful for that. I don’t feel so alone anymore.”

I squeeze her hand tighter as I feel my own tears spill over. The car comes to a halt and I quickly try to compose myself before meeting the wolves of Amethyst Lake. I had decided not to wear my medallion for this occasion. If I wanted respect, I could no longer hide who I was. As I climb out of the car, I am greeted by Chris, Wesley’s beta, and William with a bow.

“They’re in the main dungeon awaiting your arrival, Luna,” Chris says as he takes the lead.

I examine the territory, it’s gothic style pack house alluding to the horrors that most likely took place there. Amethyst lake is a ghost town, with no women or children running around and it seems the pack is overrun with Lluvia Blanca, Cerulean Sea, and River Moon warriors.

“Where are the Amethyst Lake wolves?” I ask, puzzled by the absence of, well, the pack.

“Many of their warriors perished in the fight, several going down with their alpha so there aren’t that many left. Those that survived are currently in the dungeons for questioning… And the women and children…” Chris trails off, looking down at his feet. “They’re in the pack hospital for treatment. The children are mostly dehydrated and malnourished but the women,” he shakes his head in disbelief. “Alpha Nikolai was an animal.”

“Take me to them.”

William goes off to check on the progress of the interrogations while Chris takes us to the pack hospital. I’m disgusted by what I see. The infirmary is in poor conditions, with just under a hundred beds, fifty on opposite sides of the room with a small narrow space in between for walking. The smaller children share beds with one or two other pups whilst the women each get their own bed. The pups laying in their beds are on the verge of starvation, especially the females and the women show clear signs of abuse. I approach a young woman who appears to be in her mid twenties, her body curled up in a fetal position. Her gaze is cast down and she raises her hands over her head, whimpering for mercy.

My heart shatters. She reminds me of me before I met Oliver and it hurts to know someone else underwent the same torture I did or worse. It hurts to know I wasn’t the only one who suffered and I have to take a moment to remind myself of how far I’ve come.

“Shh…” I coo, reaching out a hand to the girl. “You’re okay, sweetie. I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

She bows politely but winces when I touch her arm and lets out a little scream, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

“Please,” she cries. “Please don’t hurt me!”

I look across the room at the fearful faces staring back at me. I had spent 5 years in hell but these wolves had spent their entire existence in torture, never knowing what it meant to be loved.

But not anymore. Their pain ended with me.

I reach out to the girl again, ignoring her cries and let some calming energy wash over her. She sighs, lowering her hands down and staring wide-eyed at me.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” I say, stroking her hair.

She blinks as I continue to whisper calming words to her and when I try to sit on her bed, she lets me.

“You’re safe now,” I whisper and without a second thought, she jumps into my arms and buries her face in my chest as she sobs.

I wrap my arms around her and let her cry on my chest. She’s so fragile against my body, I fear if I squeeze to hard, I might actually break her. When she pulls back, her eyes still avoid me.

“What’s your name?” I ask.

“N-Nadia,” she breathes.

“You have a beautiful name,” I smile at her and the compliment makes her cheeks tinge red. “My name is Aurora. I’m the Luna of River Moon.” I pause, letting her register the information. “Can you tell me about Alpha Nikolai and what-“

“No!” She shrieks, the mere mention of his name sending her into a frenzy as she curls back up in a fetal position.

“It’s okay,” I soothe, inching closer to her. “He can’t hurt you anymore. He’s gone.. You’re safe now.”

She peaks at me through her hands. “Are you sure?”

I sigh. “Nikolai is gone and he’s not coming back. I swear it on the Moon.”

“What’s going to happen to us?” she whimpers, looking back at the other women. “Are we rogues?”

“Nothing is set in stone yet, but I give you my word, no harm will come to you. You’re under the care of the River Mon and the Allies now and we will protect you. I promise.”

She wraps her arms around me again, thanking me over and over for helping them. For the next hour, I sit with the young women and pups, healing those with injuries and calming down their worries. I hold back tears as I listen to their stories, growing furious with the dead Alpha and his wretched soldiers for what they did.

Chris eventually has to drag me out to the hospital to go deal with the warriors currently held in the dungeon and I leave much to the dismay of the fearful wolves. Promising to return, I let Chris take me down to the dungeons.

There, I find Nikolai’s warriors in chains, 3 or 4 wolves placed in each cell. They bow as Celina and I walk past them but their anger is evident in their eyes. When one of them spits in my direction, Chava is quick to react, projecting several hundred tarantulas in the wolf’s cell. He screams as the army of spiders come crawling towards him, much to Chava’s satisfaction. The other wolves watching, stare in both awe and fear as we make our way down to the end of the of the dungeon where Javier and Wesley are hard at work. I hear g****s as I approach the cell and inside see a bloodied wolf laying on the cold stone floor, his body bruised and badly beaten. A quick glance at Javier and Wesley’s knuckles let me know the wolf hadn’t been very cooperative.

“What are you looking at?” the wolf growls as he bows and spits b***d out of his mouth. “Come to finish us off too?”

I ignore him, looking at Javier for answers.

“They haven’t said a word,” he mutters. “I’m starting to think Nikolai was just bluffing about his involvement-“

“So this little girl killed my Alpha?” the wolfs sneers, attempting to get up on his feet. “And you take orders from her? Pathetic!” His eyes narrow to slits at me. “You will never be my Alpha. I challenge y-.”

Feeling disrespected Reyna takes over. She grabs his neck, slowly lifting him up with a strength I didn’t know I possessed. She pulls his face close to my own until our breaths practically mix.

“You’ve forgotten what I’ve done to your Alpha. Would you like me to remind you?” She threatens.

“I’m not afraid of you,” he retorts, but his eyes and his thoughts give him away. He’s terrified.

An electric current flows through my hand to his neck and his body stiffens with the shocks. She stops the current before he passes out, the message clear as day.

“What do you know about the witches?” Reyna commands and he confirms what I already knew.

“I-I don’t know anything ,” he stutters. “I swear.”

I sigh, letting him go and turning to Wesley. “Keep them locked up. I want the women and children transferred to the River Moon hospital immediately. They’ll be staying with us until I sort this pack out.”

“What!?” The wolf snarls, several of his cell mates joining in his anger. “You can’t do that! You can’t take away our women!”

I’m already half way out on his cell. “Watch me.”