Guardians of the Opal Moon

Chapter 11

Cressida can’t help but gasp, at least she doesn’t have to worry about spells, Jade just needs a psychiatrist or maybe a straight jacket. Cressie looks at Axel with a raised eyebrow.

“What am I meant to do, in this situation?”

Axel shrugs his shoulders, looking slightly lost, has no idea what anyone is meant to do, he just wants people to share the burden. Cressie rolls her eyes at him. Obviously, Axel has got so used to having a strong mate that he is useless in the face of consoling. Looking between Jasper and Axel, who are the closest ones to Jade, yet are just standing looking at her worriedly without actually doing anything.

“Go away then, go drink”

Cressie snaps, her gentle voice hardly carries a hint of aggravation, but anyone who knows her knows that she is annoyed. Axel and Jasper disappear from sight. Cressie sits down beside Jade, moving Jade’s head onto her lap and giving her a head massage.

“It’s okay Jade, I sent the useless boys away. Talk to me when you are ready. You don’t always have to be strong, you can scream, you can cry, I would prefer it if you didn’t beat me up. My feeble body can’t stand that. If you want to do that I will call the boys back and you can beat them”

Finally, Jade looks up at the ice-blue eyes looking down at her, Cressie’s voice is beyond calming and she has a natural herby scent, slightly lavender which relaxes the whole system.

“Can I do this?”

Cressida smiles down at her, continuing to massage Jade’s head.

“Why are you asking me this? You know yourself that you can do it. Why are you even doubting yourself? You didn’t have this much doubt when I first met you and you had everything stacked against you, with the whole Opal Moon pack against you. Now you are surrounded by people all willing to help, you don’t have to bear everything by yourself, delegate and rely on others”

“You know I am not used to that”

“Jade, you have to, it is too much to take on alone, no one is going to look down on you for asking for help, everyone needs help sometimes”

Jade looks down at her flat belly, putting a hand on it.

“Can we keep them safe?”

Cressida cups Jade’s cheeks and says resolutely.

“Yes, we are going to keep them safe”

She has more vigor to learn and wield as much magic as she can. Jade explains the whole situation to Cressie. Cressie holds Jade's arm, stroking the mark, it explains why it was pure light, it was a blessing from the moon goddess herself, it doesn’t get much more pure than that. She slaps Jade on the arm.

“What are you freaking out about then? Obviously, the moon goddess has got you ready-made body guards”

“What do you mean?”

"If those other couple weren’t capable, the moon goddess wouldn’t have given them the mark”

“But some of them are so young”

“You were young when you took over. Did that make you weak or stupid? You faced and fought challenges straight away. Moon goddess said they had all faced their own challenges, so obviously, they haven’t all had a clean run. If they have overcome they must be capable. Trust her judgement”

While Cressida had known about and respected the moon goddess within her limited magical teachings when she was young, she firmly believes and is beyond grateful to her now for letting her be mated to Jasper, it has been a short time, but after her hard past to actually be part of a family now and have a mate that loves her so much is the best thing that has ever happened to her.

Jade sits up. Of course Cressida is right when has she ever been given a challenge that she can’t handle. If she can’t handle it, then there are lots of people around her now that can handle it for her. Her biggest challenge now will be learning to take a step back, to get in the backseat and watch as others charge forward.

Jade clenches her fists, grits her teeth and nods, it is all fine.

***

The next day, the six guests of opal moon file into the meeting room in the same clothes as the day before. No one was expecting an extended visit, so they did not pack accordingly. Sitting at the head of the table is the calm and confident Jade with a very relieved looking Axel. He just keeps thinking of what present to get Cressida as he is so grateful that she managed to snap Jade back to reality with zero damage.

Everyone takes their previous seats, looking refreshed and ready for business. Jade looks around the room, finally resting her eyes on Hunter. She just wants to pick up where the meeting left off yesterday. Axel has filled her in on the details of what happened when her brain had turned to mush.

“In response to your question from yesterday, while we can’t provide you with people to run your pack unless absolutely necessary, we have a pack member that is a white witch. She can find the truth from people, so she will be able to find the people loyal to you”

Jade and Axel have only just settled the mass of leadership within Opal moon, so are not too keen on lending out people, but will if there is no other way. Jade continues.

“I have thought about it over night and I am going to unconditionally trust the wisdom of the Moon Goddess. You will not have to earn my trust, you already have it, but that said, trust can be lost easily”

Jade looks around the room, looking directly into everyone’s eyes, letting each and every person know the seriousness of the matter.

“The moon goddess may have trusted you were up to the task, but she never asked your opinion, I will ask your opinion, you have had the right to think about it, now that I have answered Hunter’s question I will give you all another ten minutes to discuss. After that I want to know if you are in or you are out”

Jade grips Axel’s hand, she is nervous about everyone’s answers. If everyone chooses to leave, it is going to make the task near impossible, but they are not going to force anyone into it.

“If you choose not to, you can leave the pack grounds directly and I hope you can keep the secret. If you choose to stay, just know that it is not going to be an easy journey. Once you stay, I will hope that you can stay the course. I don’t want people to back out half way through, I don’t want to invest my limited time and energy into something that will not come through. If you think you can’t handle it, please leave as well”

Axel grips Jade's hand tightly, she seems even stronger and more determined now. Definitely a very big and very expensive present is in order for Cressida.

Phoenix looks at Alina.

‘What do you think?’

‘Beta Caden can run things, but he is going to need help’

‘Do you want to do this?’

Alina looks straight into Phoenix's green eyes, her face serious. She knows this is an important decision it will shape their future, they will be leaving their pack and everything they have known and everything they have built. It is going to beyond hard. They are not sure what they are going to be in for and then they will also have to deal with the sunset pack work from here. But she has already known the answer in her heart from the first moment a word was spoken about it.

‘I really do Phoenix’

She looks at him tentatively before continuing.

‘What do you want to do?’

Phoenix grabs Alina’s hand, holding it tight.

‘I am with you 100% always. Anything you want to do I will follow’

Alina smiles and leans forward, kissing his lips so softly. She turns to Jade.

“We are in”

Hunter looks at Ava, gently brushing a strand of long blonde hair behind her ear.

‘What do you want to do?’

‘I was thinking that we could contact Clay or Sam. Neither of them have taken over for their fathers yet. I think we could sell it to their dads as a good learning experience’

Hunter smiles. He expected as much.

‘You want to do this?’

A sweet smile spreads across Ava’s pretty face. Of course, Hunter knows her the best. The question was redundant. It was always going to be a yes. Ava has always been up for a challenge, up for pushing her limits and, of course, would never go against the moon goddess.

‘I want to do this so much, will you?’

‘I will follow you to the ends of the world’

Ava looks at Jade.

“We are in”

Lucas leans back lazily in the chair, like they are not making a decision that will change the course of their lives. He doesn’t even look at Alexis.

‘Let me guess? You want to do this?’

Alexis smiles and kisses his cheek.

‘Hell yeah, you in?’

Lucas places a hand on the back of her chair and finally looks at her, a smile on his face.

‘Of course princess’

Alexis looks at Jade, trying to hide her excitement. Of course, she knows it is going to be hard and it is going to be dangerous, but she couldn’t be more ready.

“We are in”