Lunar Temptations

Ch 74

Except for the flickers of the candlelight and the ever-so-distant chirps of birds coming from outside, the room was silent, and the air seemed to have stopped. Her words were still ringing through my head, and slowly I blinked, looking away. Reality seemed to be dawning on me while I remembered all the times I thought Esther was just evil for telling me that I was killing her son. I inhaled deeply and let out a trembling breath.

I could be telling myself that this was not true at all, but it was. Apart from CM Samara's brutal honesty, I knew it was true. I have known many werewolves who suffered because of the prolonged separation from their mates but died. A shiver rushed through me at the thought of it. Zayden was suffering because of me, and despite the warning from Esther, I let it go.

"I-i," I began to say, running a hand through my hair. "Is there no other explanation for this?" I asked her. She shook her head, "Another possibility would be an intake of a specific poison that had not been used in centuries due to its rare occurrence," CM Samara said, finishing her drink. "And that would only be possible if you two have mated already. It would make my answer void."

I licked my lips, shaking my head.

"Esther was right," I mumbled to myself.

"She knew about it?" CM Samara caught onto it, and I snapped my head to her. I nodded at her slowly, "You're going to be the end of his-" I said in a daze, looking somewhere in the distance, my head recalling the moment with her words. "Those were her words."

A pang rushed and raced through me. Maybe I should have listened to her, but what then? It wasn't like Zayden wanted to mate with me either. Why else would he have rejected me that night? I was at an impasse after getting the answer that I had been seeking for days. He was suffering because of us, and even though our relationship had stabilized now, I had no idea what Zayden was thinking, not sharing this with me. He knew I had weakened over the years, but he dared not tell me about his state. I was angry, sad, and overwhelmed. This was far more complicated than I had been expecting.

When I snapped out of my thoughts, CM Samara was already on her feet and striding off. I watched her as she quickly grabbed a pen and paper and proceeded to write something on it. I didn't question and continued to observe her. She was calm and collected, but something appeared changed in her. She was in a haste, scribbling something roughly but eagerly as a student would in the last minutes of their exams.

My brows furrowed, watching her roll the piece of paper before advancing towards me. My brows furrowed when she extended it to me. "Hide this in your sleeve and open it only when you're alone," she said as I took it, confused. "What is this?"

I asked, but this once, nothing came from her. Her face, as usual, gave nothing, and here I was once again, confused.

"You can leave now, Luna Dawson," she said, opening the door for me. I watched her as if she had grown thorns, but this wasn't any less unusual than that. I had expected her to be unexpected, and she had proven me right, but this was odd on an entirely different level. My jaws clenched tightly, frustration filtering through me. I might have gotten my answer, but I would be leaving with even more questions than when I had come here. Quietly, I tucked the rolled paper up my sleeve and strode off towards the door.

"Thank you for your time," I nodded at her.

"Don't ever come here again." Her words caught me off guard but didn't surprise me. With that, she shut the door right in my face, leaving me there wondering what horrible thing made her turn into a woman so cruel or was born this way? Either way, I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. The place suddenly felt colder than when I was here before. What I had come to achieve here remained still in question. I had come with a question and a mission in my head but was now leaving wholly fazed.

The deep breaths calmed my nerves down, and I decided to make my way back inside. Archie had led me here through several hallways and passages, which were quite easy now. The piece of paper inside my sleeve was bothering me just as much as CM Samara's rudeness was. She had answered me quite well but turned cold the second she was done with it. Maybe she was performing her duty as a council member and wanted nothing more to do with me. Yet her coldness sounded odd to me, and a part of me wished that whatever was written on that paper would clarify it.

I made it to my room in time to have it all to myself. Zayden hadn't returned yet, and even though the ground floor was bustling, the room was calm. I sat down on my bed and immediately pulled the piece of paper out of my sleeve. My heart thumped fast against my chest as I took a moment to ponder over it. Whatever it was, I would be bothered by it the whole evening, and with the way CM Samara had handed it over to me, this was supposed to be kept between us only.

I shook my head and dismissed the thoughts. I was way deep into it already, no need to reconsider it.

Unrolling the piece of paper, my eyes landed on the rough cursive handwriting of the council member. I had imagined it to be this way since she was writing in such a hurry.

"There's a mole among the higher ones. Trust no one, except your mate," it said.

The two lines were etched unevenly in the centre of the paper, but that was not what bothered me; it was their meaning that did.