The Golden Goddess

Neve Chevilier

Neve

My mom grabbed both sides of my face and pulled my forehead to hers, holding my gaze as tears slid down her cheeks.

“Don’t! You will start me off!” I chuckled as she squeezed me harder. She ignored me and started muttering a protection spell, causing a small white light to radiate from her hands and onto my skin. I rolled my eyes, but didn’t argue with her as I knew it would bring her comfort. As a pure witch, she mainly created potions and herbal remedies, but she knew a few little tricks that were impressive. When she had finished, she released me and then placed a bag of protection crystals and herbs in my hand for safe measure. I smiled warmly at her.

“For the journey.”

“I’ll be fine, mom.”

“She will,” my dad and Beta of our pack interrupted, grabbing my hand and pulling me into his huge chest. “She has two fierce warriors to protect her at all times. I’ve already had a fatherly word and they will look after her, Calli.”

I smiled faintly, finding comfort in my dad’s arms, but my eyes still searched for the man who put me completely on edge. Was that true? Had Rafandra given his word to my father that he would look after me? He had barely uttered one word to me since he found out Kafele and I had marked each other and he’d looked my way even less. When I finally found him in the crowd, he was standing with his men, his arms folded across his chest and looking extremely agitated and impatient. I could tell he was holding himself back from rushing Lorcan and I in saying goodbye to our families. And the even harder pill to swallow was that he didn’t even want me to come with them. He didn’t want me anywhere near him. His own mate.

“Behave!” My dad warned and pushed me back from his body. “Don’t get into any trouble and do what Kafele says until you know what their realm and people are like. They seem very different from us and it will take some adjusting.”

“I will!” I smirked, giving them both another quick hug. “I love you both! I’ll be back to see you again before you know it!”

I turned quickly to avoid my emotions overwhelming me, but was immediately scooped up by Ilaria. “I can’t believe you are leaving me. What happened to hoes before bros?”

“Have you seen them?” I raised an eyebrow and she rolled her eyes. Turning serious for a moment, I held her pretty pink eyes with mine and squeezed her hands. “You will always be my number one. You know that.”

“I know,” she smiled, grabbing my shoulders again and pulling me in. “Before you go, I have to know one thing…”

“What?”

“Are you going to DP?”

I gasped and pushed her off me as she laughed. “Don’t you dare act all innocent, Neve Chevilier. I know you’ve thought about it!”

I pouted my lips, “Stay out of my head! Right now, that is the last thing on my mind! I need to get Mr Grump over there to actually look in my direction for a start!”

“Pfft. He stares at you all the time. In fact, everytime I have looked his way, he has those smouldering eyes locked on you! He just looks away before you notice.”

“Lies!” I whisper-yelled. Though I couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder and my whole body burned with need when they met Rafandra’s penetrating stare. He immediately averted his gaze and turned to speak to one of his men.

“See?” Ilaria smirked smugly.

“You always have to be right, don’t you?”

“Yes,” she smiled, sending me a wink. “You’ll have that angry, broody man melting in your hands before you know it. I have faith in you.”

“I am glad one of us does.”

I felt a warm arm wrap around my waist and my senses flooded with the delicious smell of lavender and neroli as Kafele pressed his lips against my temple with affection. “Ready to go?”

I exhaled as I looked back at Ilaria, letting all my nerves out and leaving me only with excitement at what lay ahead. I would miss her so freaking much, but I was also eager to see what this other realm was like. To see where my mates were from. She gave me a reassuring nod and smile before holding her hand out to Kafele. He had quickly become accustomed to shaking people’s hands with the amount of family and friends of mine he had been introduced to over the last 24 hours. He was so sweet and polite with them all, nothing like his brother, even though his appearance gave off the impression he was anything but.

“If anything happens to her, I will hunt you down and kill you,” Ilaria smiled so sweetly as if butter wouldn’t melt.

“She is in safe hands,” he replied, taking her threat seriously. She nodded before she moved over to Lorcan and Leif. The three of them huddled together one last time before they would be parted for Goddess knows how long.

“The trip will take most of the day and night. We will stop once to rest and gain our strength before we go through the portal. Will you be okay with that?” Kafele asked, wrapping both arms around my waist and pulling me into him tightly. I smiled up at him but inside I felt a little awkward, knowing Rafandra was only a few metres away. I had been trying to be respectful towards my other mate’s clearly complicated feelings and had tried not to be overly affectionate with Kafele in front of him. Last night, we were finally alone. Kafele sneaked into my bed and made love to me all night long. At first, I had been reluctant to sleep with him again, knowing Rafandra was so upset, but Kafele told me that wasn’t what upset him. He didn’t care if we were sleeping together. It was the marking that was the issue. I didn’t understand it, but it had something to do with their beliefs and traditions. Kafele had seemed reluctant to divulge too much information out of respect for his brother's wishes. Apparently, he wanted to sort it out when we were back in their realm. It seemed Rafandra wasn’t only giving me the cold shoulder but his twin was feeling his frosty demeanour too. He wouldn’t talk to either of us. The longer he pushed me away, the more my hurt and confusion was turning into annoyance.

“That’s fine. Can you help with my suitcases?” I glanced down at the three very large Chanel suitcases next to us as Kafele’s handsome face frowned deeply with confusion.

“What is that?”

“All my stuff. You didn’t think I would come to your realm with just the clothes on my back, did you?” I chuckled but stopped when I realised he seriously did. “Kafele! I need clothes. And makeup. And shoes. And my phone, laptop, books and…” I paused when he started smiling widely and shook his head.

“You cannot take all…” he moved his honey eyes to the luggage. “...that. You will not have much use for it. We will have to move in wolf form through my realm to safety. Take only a small bag of necessities.”

My mouth hung open in shock and disgust. One small bag? He wanted me to shove my entire life into one small handheld bag that my wolf could carry? But… it’s impossible. Panic started to storm through me as I stepped out of his arms and weaved my hands into my tight highlighted curls. I stared at the luggage in disbelief.

“What’s wrong?” The deep, baritone rumble of Rafandra’s voice right behind me made me spin quickly and nearly slam straight into his broad chest. I stared up at him, surprised to see him not only standing so close to me and looking down at me with that deadpan expression, but to hear his sexy voice actually directed my way.

“I-um-” I’d lost all train of thought knowing this was the first time he had spoken directly to me since the moment we laid eyes on each other.

“Neve thought she was going on vacation,” Kafele smirked, the corner of his lip twisting cheekily. I narrowed my eyes at him as he chuckled, folding his muscular arms over his chest. He clearly found my dilemma amusing. Rafandra looked down at the suitcases and then back at me.

“One bag,” he commanded firmly and it took everything in me not to roll my eyes.

“But that’s crazy!” I mumbled, lifting my hands out to the side in exasperation. They really expected me to move to a different freaking realm with a handful of belongings crammed into a handbag? When both the men didn’t say anything but only stared me down, I groaned dramatically, flipping one of the suitcases down on the floor to open it and start deciding what my necessities were.

“At least tell me you have shops that I can buy some more things from?” I asked as I pulled out a few of my favourite items and started shoving them in my handbag.

“Shops?” Kafele questioned, his dark eyebrows pulling into the bridge of his nose in confusion.

“Oh, shut up! You don’t have shops? Where do you get all your clothes from?”

“We don’t wear clothes. We wear furs and armour,” Kafele answered unhelpfully. I froze, staring up at him wide-eyed. He had to be joking. Suddenly, the air shifted around the three of us and my gaze turned to Rafandra’s deliciously dark expression. His jaw was clenched so tightly, I thought it might break and his nostrils flared. But it wasn’t with anger like it had been every other time I’d seen this expression. It was arousal. I followed his gaze down to my hands to see I was holding one of my most seductive lingerie sets that barely covered any part of my body, but that was kind of the point. I gulped and dared to look back up at him. His chestnut eyes flared with so much desire as they moved from the underwear to my face. And then he turned sharply and stormed away. My heart was pounding as I quickly looked over at Kafele, who had a small smile playing on his lips.

“That looks like a necessity to me,” he winked, before turning to walk over to the Heroux warriors as well. I quickly shoved the lingerie set into my bag as I tried to ignore the heat that was radiating in my p***y from just that look from Rafandra. If lingerie is what it would take to get his attention… I’ll take a whole bloody handbag of it.

***

The pack cars had taken us to the outskirts of the forest that we needed to journey through in order to get to the portal and it had been quite an entertaining experience. I was in the car with Kafele and two other warriors, who had all been holding onto anything within their grasp for the entire journey. It was hilarious to see these brutish men with fear in their eyes because they had never felt the movement of a car before.

We travelled the rest of the distance in wolf form until the moon was high in the dark sky above us and our stomachs growled. Rafandra’s beautiful wolf, that looked the image of Kafele’s except he had small streaks of black through its dark brown fur, had led the way. He stopped in a clearing, which had the remains of an old fire, and shifted back into his human form. My wolf, Seren, couldn’t help but purr with appreciation as he stood naked in front of us all without a single hint of embarrassment.

“We will hunt here and rest for two hours,” he announced. Some of the other warriors all started to shift and pull on their clothes from the small bags their wolves had been carrying as well as Lorcan. Kafele’s brown wolf, Zion, nudged his snout into Seren’s fawn fur.

“You can change behind that tree,” Kafele’s voice echoed through the mind-link, knowing that I was feeling a little unsure about shifting in front of seven men. Shifting and being naked was a natural part of being a wolf, but I barely knew these men apart from Kafele and Lorcan. And I didn’t want Rafandra to see me naked when he clearly hated my guts.

Once I had changed, I joined the men on the logs as one warrior, named Zai, bent over the fire and attempted to get it lit by rubbing stones together. A flashback of the day Kafele and I escaped and hid in the forest together came to mind. How raw and caveman-like he had seemed to me then, just like these men did now. I had so many questions I wanted to ask and know about their realm. We hadn’t had much time to talk with all the drama of Lorcan, our families and Rafandra. I sat down next to Kafele’s side and Lorcan shuffled along next to me, staring into the now flickering fire before us.

“So… is there anything we should know about your realm before we enter?” I asked, nudging Kafele’s arm with mine. Rafandra and a few others had gone to hunt for our dinner, so I took this opportunity to try and get as much information from Kafele as I could.

“There is much you should know but for right now, you need to be aware that the moment we set foot through that portal, your life will be in danger. All of our lives will be,” Kafele grunted, moving his gaze from me to Lorcan who had turned to give him his full attention.

“What do you mean?” I squeaked, trying to hide my immediate fear but failing terribly.

“The realm is being taken over by The Cursed. We will have to pass through the lands that they have destroyed before we can get safely behind the Heroux pack’s walls. Because I was alone when I passed through, I went unnoticed by the shadows but there are eight of us now. It will not be so easy.”

“What will happen if they find us? The shadows?”

“We will most likely die,” Kafele answered matter-of-factly as my eyes widened and I turned to stare at Lorcan. His own face was morphed with clear bewilderment.

“What exactly are these shadows? How can they be defeated?” He asked, his green and gold eyes swirling with intrigue.

“That is what you are here for. You are supposed to help us work that out,” Kafele chuckled and Lorcan looked at me uneasily. Great. How the hell was Lorcan supposed to know what to do when he had never set foot in their realm or seen this enemy? We were doomed.

Sensing our anxiety, Kafele shrugged his shoulders and said, “It will be fine. We will need to use our full wolf speed until we are in the clear. Neve, you must stay in the middle of us warriors. If The Cursed notices us, we run faster.”

“That’s your answer! We run faster,” I gaped at him and he smiled, nodding his head. How was he so calm? How did he not feel any fear?

“How long has this war been going on?” Lorcan asked.

“Five years.”

“Five years?” I gasped, grabbing his forearm in disbelief.

He nodded with a solemn expression on his face. “It was slow at first. Random attacks in small packs and we had no idea what we were dealing with. The first pack that was attacked were only left with injuries and no deaths. The closest pack to them, the Sallrous pack, went to help. That’s when we realised it was more sinister. The pack members that had been severely injured soon started to change. They became these bloodthirsty beasts that moved like shadows, black venom hung from their teeth and they left a mist of black smoke in their wake. They had been infected by something. They started to attack the Sallrous pack that had come to their aid, causing even more to fall to the same fate. And then they all vanished into the Forbidden Forest. Nothing happened for a whole year and then… the same happened again to two more packs and so on.”

“So The Shadows of the Cursed are wolves?” Lorcan asked in alarm.

“They used to be. They are no longer. Now they are the undead in their worst form. The curse has their souls and they are nothing but monsters. With every attack they grow in numbers. The Heroux pack is the largest and strongest pack in our realm but now, our defences are weakening. When we realised that this wasn’t just a pack issue but a threat to the entire realm, our Alpha Aramis joined forces with the other twenty Alphas in the realm and our armies scoured the lands for the shadows to kill them before they could attack any more. But over the years, we have lost many of our warriors, many more packs and their Alphas as well as innocents. I have seen The Cursed with my own eyes. I have smelt death on their rotting flesh. I’ve looked into the black soulless pits of their eyes. Each time, I have been lucky enough to escape that fate but many have not.”

“But what caused it? The curse?” I asked, my hands trembling slightly as the realisation of just how dangerous this was dawned on me. I’d been so naive. I presumed it was some war between a few packs. But this was… different. This was unlike anything I had ever heard of before.

“No one knows,” Kafele shrugged his heavy shoulders just as Rafandra appeared through the trees with a deer over his shoulder and blood down his chest. He dropped it on the floor, pressed his hand onto its head and closed his eyes. I watched with a mix of arousal and fascination at the sight of his naked, shredded body, so feral and covered in animal blood, yet he looked majestic. Beautiful. He started muttering in another language under his breath.

“What's he doing?” I whispered.

“Blessing our dinner and thanking the Gods,” Kafele answered. “My brother is a die-hard divine believer.”

I was about to ask more about what the hell that meant but paused when Rafandra suddenly cut the already dead deer open from its chest to its hind legs and delved his hand inside, pulling out the guts and organs carefully. It was gruesome and gory but I couldn’t look away. The way he worshipped and handled each piece of the deer’s body with care and grace was mesmerising. When he had finished his ritual, the other warriors set about cooking the meat and organs on the fire, while a few just tore at the raw flesh with their teeth. Rafandra stood up from his knees next to the carcass and his dark eyes found mine, staring at him.

We held each other’s gazes for a few heated seconds before he lifted some raw meat to his lips, ripped at it with his teeth and turned away from us all, walking out into the forest alone.

“He’s not eating with us?” Lorcan asked in confusion as one of the warriors handed him some cooked deer.

Kafele looked up from his own food to the parted trees that Rafandra had disappeared through. “He does not want to eat with me. Sharing a meal with someone is a sign of acceptance and forgiveness. He is making a point.”

I swallowed my guilt as I moved my gaze back to the trees again. He would rather eat alone in the forest than sit near me or Kafele. How long was this going to go on for? How can we even explain ourselves when he refuses to listen?

“Maybe I should go and talk to him,” I suggested, shaking my head at the warrior who tried to offer me a deer's leg.

Kafele reached for my hand, “He is in no mood to talk right now. We will sort it out once we get back to the realm. Don’t worry.”

“I can’t eat,” I shook my head. “I hate this! Help me understand, Kafele. Why is it such a big deal that we marked each other without him? My friend from the academy just found his identical twin mates and he marked them separately. Why is he so mad?”

Kafele’s body tensed as the other four warriors all stopped eating and looked over at me and then Kafele. I frowned when I saw their own judgement in their eyes.

“We cannot talk about this here,” Kafele whispered.

“Well, if you won’t answer me, I will make him tell me why,” I snapped, standing up from the log and storming past the fire and out into the trees.

“Neve!” I heard Kafele shout behind me but I ignored him. I was done being patient and hoping these men would sort out their issues without my interference. I was never one to stay quiet for long anyway. I needed answers.

I found Rafandra sitting on the ground with his back against the bark of the tree and staring up at the moon. His long, strong legs were bent and his arms were resting on his knees with the deer meat in his hands. He must have sensed my presence approaching because I visibly noticed the muscles in his shoulders turn rigid and his head of brown dreadlocks leaned back against the tree. I moved around to stand directly in front of him and was relieved to see he had at least put his pair of black boxers on. He was still incredibly tempting but now I could focus better, even though the blood on his chest and abs was now dry and a deep scarlet colour highlighting his muscles. I tried not to let the sexy sight of him cause my determination to waver.

“Why are you eating alone?” I placed my hands on my hips.

He stared into my eyes before he lifted the meat to his lips and ripped the raw flesh once more, chewing aggressively. He wasn’t going to answer me.

“Do you really hate me so much that you can’t sit opposite me and eat with us all? What is your problem? Please. Just tell me why you are so upset? I don’t understand.”

His eyes sparked with intense anger which made them look even more stunning as the moonlight illuminated his milk chocolate skin. He slowly lifted the bloody meat to his lips again and took another bite.

I inhaled deeply, my own rage growing with every second of silence he was giving me. “Well, this is mature! You are really not going to speak to me? Goddess, you are infuriating!”

He suddenly spat the meat out on the floor next to him and glared up at me. The anger that was rolling off him caused me to take a step back. “Do not use the Goddess’ name in vain.”

“Oh, so that's what you care about? Your Gods? You care more about upsetting your Gods than your own brother and mate?” I shouted back at him, not allowing his furious tone to intimidate me.

“Like you cared about upsetting me when you were riding my brother’s c**k and allowing him to sink his teeth into your neck?” He snarled back and I narrowed my eyes at him.

“I didn’t know about you! How was I supposed to care about you if I didn’t even know you?”

“Would it have changed anything if you had? Would you have waited if you did know?” he asked, holding my gaze and forcing the truth to rise up to the surface. Would I have? All I knew about identical twins was that they shared a mate.

“Honestly…” I started as I looked over his rugged, gorgeous face. “No. Probably not. Because it felt right. We were in the moment. And after what we had just been through together, it was what our wolves needed. But that doesn’t mean—”

He ground his teeth together and moved his gaze from me back to the moon. “Then I need you to walk away from me right now.”

Seren whimpered as pain wretched at my heart from his rejection once again. I stood there, unable to move. Unable to walk away from him. I wanted him just like I wanted Kafele. Why couldn’t he see it? Why didn’t he want me?

“Leave me alone, Neve.”

At my utter horror, tears brimmed in my eyes and I raced away from him before he could see them fall. Leaning against a tree, I buried my face in my arms and unleashed it all. He was so cold. So mean. And he made me feel like I deserved it. He was my mate and he was supposed to love me. Yet, he looked at me like I was his biggest disappointment.

“Neve?” Kafele jogged up to me, pulling me from the tree and into his warm embrace. “What did he say to you? I’ll kill him.”

“No,” I grabbed his forearms to stop him from going after his brother. “He didn’t really say anything. He just told me to leave him alone.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered, wiping the tears from my eyes and hugging me tighter to his chest. “Rafe is an ass sometimes. He isn’t good with his emotions. That’s why I wanted you to leave this to me. I will sort it out with him and he will come around eventually.”

“But he is so angry! What if he doesn’t?”

“He’s more angry with me. I betrayed him and his beliefs,” Kafele sighed, kissing each of my eyelids and the wetness of my cheeks. “But until he realises what he’s missing, you have me.”

His lips found mine in a sweet yet possessive kiss. His lips parted mine skillfully and he caressed his tongue against mine, eliciting a moan deep within. The strength of his hands on my face and the feel of his warm body flush against mine, instantly comforted me as I relaxed into his embrace. But the pain in my heart remained. Kafele was right. I knew he would always be there for me. My fierce, brave, sweet Kafele. But I couldn’t ignore the feeling of emptiness that taunted my soul. One part of me was still missing. And that part was alone, staring at the moon, wondering why he had me as his mate. And I had no idea how to fix it.