The Ivory Queen
Chapter 95

***Aurora’s POV***

I wake with a start, fumbling out of the covers and onto the floor. Beads of sweat dance across my forehead and I bring my wrist to my chest, cradling it gently as silent sobs ripple through my throat. I open my mouth, desperately gasping for air as fat tears roll down my cheeks. Rio is at my side in an instant and I push him away, needing some space.

It was just a memory, Reyna coos. We’re okay. We’re safe.

“Just a memory,” I murmur to myself, hugging my knees and wiping my tears. “I’m okay.”

I pick myself off the floor and settle back in bed, my racing heart slowly coming to a steady beat. I glance at the clock. It’s December 16th, 4:50 am.

In just over 12 hours, Lluvia Blanca gets a new alpha…

When it becomes obvious I won’t be sleeping anytime soon, I tip toe to the office to study the black book with Rio at my heels. He watches me as I sit in Oliver’s chair with curiosity before laying at my feet.

“I’m okay, Rio. I promise.”

Rio tilts his head to the side, a soft whine rumbling through his chest.

“Do you miss him too?” I ask him, patting his head and giving his ears a scratch. He leans into my hand and wags his tail. I hold back tears and flip open the black book.

I miss him, Reyna whimpers.

I miss his hugs, I sigh, closing my eyes tightly to keep from crying.

Rio whines some more and jumps up onto my lap to lick my face. I wipe his slobber off and compose myself. This is no time to mope around. I have to figure this out.

I flip through the book, desperately searching for any clues when I come across a page that seems promising.

It is common knowledge that all werewolves are susceptible to wolfsbane and silver, the Ivory twins being not exception. Silver, gold and ivory wolves however, can tolerate exposure to such toxic elements for greater lengths of time and at greater quantities. In fact, the children of the moon and sun can withstand a wolfsbane dosage lethal enough to kill 20 normal werewolves. This, however, does not mean the silver, gold, or Ivory twins are without weakness.

The Queen of the Night flower (Selenicereus grandiflorus) and the Flame lily (Gloriosa superba) contain toxins that could easily subdue the Children of the Moon and Sun. The root extract of the flame lily and the crushed petals of a blooming Queen of the night flower create a serum that could temporarily suppress their powers. Under the effects of these flowers, Silver, gold and ivory wolves are susceptible to lethal dosages of wolfsbane and liquid silver. Creating an effective serum is tricky, although no impossible.

The book goes into extensive detail explaining the known side effects of the serum which include : loss of power, loss of strength and temporarily blocks the link between wolf and human. I read a bit further and make yet another shocking discovery, although definitely not relevant to me.

Apart from the serum, pregnancy also temporarily suppresses the powers of the Children of the Moon and Sun

I sigh in relief. Oliver’s attempt to put a pup in me had failed, thankfully. I got my period last week.I dive into the web, looking up the plants needed for this so called concoction. The flame lilies are relatively easy to cultivate, concerning me. The Queen of the Night flowers, on the other hand, were not as easy to come by. The flowers bloomed only at night, once a year, and would wilt before dawn.

Could Tais and Ira know about my weakness and if so, had they already figured out the how to create the serum?

They’ve had 18 years to plan, Reyna replies. It’s possible they know..

The thought makes my skin crawl. There were very few silver wolves and gold wolves left in the world at this point, so the chances of the one of our own turning over our secrets to those witches are slim…. But not impossible.

I turn my attention back to the book until I see day break. In a hurry, I run back to my room to shower, change, and conceal my fatigue with a healthy layer of makeup. As I’m getting ready, my phone rings.

When Mia speaks, she sounds defeated. “Mom left.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I found a note in her room. She admitted to having helped Tais and her sister find you. She left…”

“Mia, I’m so sorry.. I- I don’t know what to say.”

“I’m scared … but a part of me is a little relieved, I guess. Like I no longer have this burden to carry,” Mia says, bitterness in her voice. “I’m a terrible person aren’t I?”

“No, Mia. Karina did this to herself. She left you because she couldn’t face what she did. She’s sick… maybe she went to get help or she went to seek out her own peace. Her leaving isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Besides… I know she hurt you guys too.”

There is shock in her voice. “You knew?”

“I’ve seen the bruises. I knew Chava would never lay a finger on you so Karina was the only logical explanation.”

“How long-“

“Not long. I first noticed when you came here with Chava and Javier… and then I saw the marks on your arms again yesterday. I’m sorry she hurt you too.” Mia cries on the phone and it breaks my heart. “How is Chava handling this?” I ask, hoping he could at least help comfort her.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him. He’s been avoiding me for weeks now. We don’t really speak anymore.”

I find myself getting irritated with Chava. He was her brother. He shouldn’t be pushing her away at a time like this!

“Come over. Maybe I can help you track Karina down and make sure she’s not in any trouble….”

“I can’t. Today is Javier’s ceremony. I have to help with the preparations,” Mia sniffles. “You’re coming right?”

I let out a heavy sigh. Wesley and I agreed to drop off the pack treaty as soon as Javier took the oath but I was not looking forward to setting foot on Lluvia Blanca again.

“Yeah… Wes and I have the treaty for Javi to sign.”

“I see… Well you’re more than welcome to stay for the party-”

“Mia- I-I’m only there for business. The last place I want to be right now is at Lluvia Blanca.”

Her voice goes quiet and she sighs. “Right… You’re right. That was insensitive of me….” She mutters. “Hey, Aurora?”

“Yes?”

“H-how did you sleep last night? Did you have any nightmares again?”

I frown at this. “I slept fine.”

She sighs. “You need some sleeping pills.”

I g***n. “Mia-”

“I mean it Aurora. You need to sleep.”

I nod despite the fact that she can’t see me. “I’ll ask for some tonight. I promise.”

“Pinky swear?”

I freeze when she says that. “You remember?”

“Of course I do!” She snaps. “So pinky swear?”

“Pinky swear.”

I hang up the phone and race downstairs for breakfast, hoping to avoid everyone today. But of course, my luck has never been great and I find Celina, Evan, Carter, Rosalie and some other pack members already at the table, seemingly waiting for me. I contort my face into a smile and walk quickly to my seat.

“You look better today,” Rosalie says as I stuff my oatmeal into my mouth. “Did you get better sleep?”

“Huh? Oh yeah. I took a sleeping pill and it knocked me right out. I finally got a full night’s rest.” I lie.

Celina eyes me suspiciously.

“Liar,” she mumbles via mind link.

“Shut up,” I hiss back.

Evan doesn’t seem to buy it either but says nothing and focuses on his food. Carter gives me a small briefing on the company matters and informs me that there is to be a important meeting later that afternoon with the board. For the rest of the meal, we discuss some pack matters that need to be taken care of. I decide to hold off on the weakness I discovered, remembering there was a traitor among us.

“We need to talk later in private..” I tell Celina and she nods.

Evan’s finally decides to speak and what he says both surprises and annoys me.

“Maybe we can go look for a Christmas tree today,” he mutters.

Rosalie’s face lights up instantly. “Oooh that sounds lovely! We could use some Christmas cheer in this house. Won’t that be fun, Aurora? We could pull the decorations down from the attic and make a day of it!”

I thought that was a stupid idea given the circumstances? Now they want to go through with it?

I hide my irritation and offer Rosalie a simple smile and nod my agreement before excusing myself from the table. As I put away my dishes, I hear Evan enter the kitchen.

He says nothing and just stares at me, so I go back to washing my dishes.

“There are some evergreens near the northern borders of the territory…” He sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. “What do you say we go in an hour? We can take the girls and a few guards. Take our minds off of the situation…?”

It takes all my energy to force a smile on my face. “That sounds perfect,” I say cheerfully. “Rosalie has been locked away here these past few days. I’m sure she and the baby could use some fresh air and sunshine,” I chirp.

Evan nods and turns to leave but stops in his tracks.

“I’m sorry …. For yelling at you,,” he sighs. “I didn’t mean to offend you and call your thoughts stupid.”

Afraid I might burst into tears, I focus on my dishes and give him a small nod.

“Mia and I got into an argument and you came up. I’m sorry. I just took my anger out on you.”

“It’s okay,” I shrug. “I think I needed the reality check. I’ve been so focused on my own pain, I forgot to look at the bigger picture here. Everyone is hurting and I need to step up as Luna and take care of everyone like I promised I would.”

“You are a good Luna, though,” Evan says. “You’ve been very brave throughout this whole ordeal. It bothers me that you think you have to force yourself to be strong or shove aside your own feelings to take care of us. That’s why I think we should go through with the Christmas decorations.” His voice goes quiet. “I forgot you haven’t had the chance to celebrate in years. And while these aren’t the best circumstances and you can’t leave the territory, I want to at least give you a chance to see what Christmas is all about. Family. So I’m sorry for being a jerk-”

I rush up to him and pull him into a hug. “You’re not a jerk, just an i***t,” I murmur into his shirt. He wraps his arms around me and rests his chin on top of my head. “Do you want to talk about your fight with Mia?” I ask, wanting to help him as he always helped me.

He shakes his head. “No,” he sighs. “I have to figure this out on my own.”

“Well I see you two have finally made up,” Celina laughs as she walks in with her plate. “I was starting to worry Mr. Grumpy pants over here would never get over us using our powers on him.

Evan scowls at her. “Oh no, I’m still mad at you guys for that. But being mad at Aurora is like slapping a puppy. It’s just wrong.”

“Why on earth would you slap a puppy?” I ask, pulling back from him.

“It’s just an expression!” He rolls his eyes.

“On what planet?”

———

We pile into three cars, the girls, Rio and I riding with Evan, Carter and William while about 10 guards accompany us in the other cars.

Rosalie squeals with excitement as we pull up to the evergreen forest. She grabs Carter by the hand and drags him towards the row with the tallest trees, going on a rant about wanting the biggest tree for the foyer. I steer towards the smaller trees, wanting a tree for the bedroom. Evan, Celina, Rio and five of the guards stick to me like glue, but I don’t mind so much.

I check out several trees, none of them really speaking to me when I come upon the last tree in the corner. It’s the smallest tree there, a little misshapen and missing a few branches. Evan raises an eyebrow as my smile grows wider. I continue to inspect the little tree when a hummingbird sitting peacefully atop its branches catches my eye. As I get closer, my heart sinks to the pit of my stomach. The hummingbird is as beautiful as I remember it, it’s large iridescent violet wings containing gorgeous hues of pinks, blues, and greens with gold speckles all around. It’s throat contains a vibrant red stripe with black spots while it’s head is bright yellow. There’s a note tied to its leg.

“Wow, what a pretty hummingbird,” Celina says in awe. “I’ve never seen one with such colors!”

I stick my hand out to it and as it once used to do, the little hummingbird hops onto my finger and gently pecks my cheek. Rio nips at my jeans, seemingly jealous of the attention I’m giving it and I crouch down to show him the bird. Rio sniffs it and barks excitedly at the little hummingbird. I ignore Celina and Evan’s stares and giggle at the beautiful creature, stroking it’s colorful feathers before taking the note off its leg.

The words “I believe you” are written in familiar handwriting inside the small note.

I look around, searching for the hummingbird’s creator and for a split second, I see him standing in the distance before he vanishes from sight.