The Alpha's Mother-In-Law's Forbidden Love (The Cresta Chronicles)

Jude POV

He'd been plagued by dreams for a few days while he'd rested and recovered, celebrating with the Crimsontails. The dream was always the same.

He walked through the woods, guided by the bunny Flufftail, who wanted to show him something. As he walked, he ventured deeper into the woods. They became darker and more ominous. The atmosphere hung oppressively. Finally, he reached a small clearing hemmed in by trees. 

In the center of the clearing lay a shrine. Bones had been arranged to form a large skull, with gems and trinkets in the eye sockets. A ring of purple flowers surrounded the skull, and pink flowers garlanded it above the eyes. 

He had the sense that the bizarre symbol meant something important, and yet every time he tried to investigate, a wave of darkness blocked him. 

Eirika, Roslynn, and Tulaska had no explanation for the bizarre dreams. Nothing in the libraries or in Ravyn's witch senses provided the slightest clue as to their meaning. Ravyn said NO to dream walking to investigate for a while, and she and Lilia agreed that the strange dreams might just be an aftereffect of the ordeal in the nightmare realm.

So, Jude forced himself to focus on the future and give the dreams a rest for now.

Saying goodbye to the rest of their family felt like leaving a part of himself behind. But selfishly, he wanted to start his new life with Ravyn, without everyone else around. Besides, in three weeks, the family would all reunite for the bonding ceremony and ball.

"I don't see why we have to wait," he grumbled, stowing all their mating gifts and Ravyn's things in the wagon that would deliver them.

Bram laughed at that. "Look at you, like an eager pup wanting to hunt before you can crawl."

Elbowing his son, Jude said, "I just mean that I'm eager for the next phase of my life with my Luna and family around me. It's been … it feels like a thousand years or more that I've been on this journey of grief. And I'll never forget the loss."

Bram smiled at him, a wistful smile. "None of us will. Mom lives on in our hearts, and in every one of us, and in our pack. Each of us is keeping her spirit alive."

Mali agreed. "As long as we continue to follow her example, she'll never leave us."

Assisting them all in loading the wagon, Garnet offered her own thoughts. "My parents always said that if they made our family's and pack's lives better, they were doing what the Moon Goddess commanded. If they did more than that, if they helped the community and the world, they lived an extraordinary life together we could all look up to and be proud of."

Jude nodded, overcome. It was official–he had the greatest children in the world, especially in the shifter world. "You're talking about our legacy."

"And yours isn't over yet," Naomi added. "You've saved shifters everywhere and humans, and orcs and wood elves, many times over. Raised two wonderful children. Been lucky enough to have two amazing mates, one of whom became a wolf for you."

Jude smiled at Naomi. "And I gained another wonderful family, too."

How could he feel so happy and full after the last few tumultuous days? He felt grateful and joyful. And he had every reason to be. Those headaches, those strange visions and odd flashes of memory were probably temporary. A sign that he'd been through an ordeal. 

Shouting from the Council Building made his ears perk up. "What's all the fuss about now?"

Garnet sighed. "The debate has been raging since last night."

 Jude wrinkled his nose. "Debate over what?"

"Over how to treat Hades' death," Garnet said with a scowl. "Cyran wants to acknowledge his final act of sacrifice. You can imagine that's an unpopular view."

Naomi shrugged. "It's Cyran's way of getting closure. He won't feel as if he's permanently put the past behind him otherwise."

Bram growled. "Hades was bad news. Good riddance."

"But he shaped the pack in ways that changed its entire destiny," Garnet pointed out. "Without him. Cyran and I wouldn't be alive, for one thing. Jiro has always insisted on not burying history."

"That doesn't mean we have to bake Hades a cake," Bram argued.

Garnet's lips twitched. "I think a public ritual with the wise women conducting it is more what Jiro had in mind."

The angry shouting and carrying on continued. Jude's hearing seemed particularly sensitive, detecting the commotion despite the thick walls. "Have any of you noticed your senses are more enhanced since the ordeal?"

Naomi nodded. "I can smell wild game all the way to the Silent Sentinels." She pointed at a distant mountain range. 

Jude relaxed. "I can hear the shouting from the Council Building. Given that I was there for Hades' death, maybe I should add my thoughts."

Garnet smirked. "Ravyn is already there."

* * * * *

Cyran POV

The Crimsontail Pack Council never failed to have vigorous debate, sometimes pushing and shoving and clawing. 

Valentina Vermello, her gray hair trimmed short, glared at him. "CYRAN. Are you still in Hades' thrall?"

Cyran clenched and unclenched his fists, squeezing the sapphire Ravyn had given him. Blue meant clear communication. "Like it or not, Hades is part of this pack's story. Part of my personal story. Burying him is how we got into trouble the first time."

Valentina tapped her foot impatiently. "You're treading on thin ice."

A rugged-faced councilwoman, Ferrian, spoke up. "We've owned up to Hades being part of our history. Now, you're asking us to honor him after everything he did?"

"What about what he did at the end?" Ravyn said in a clear, strong voice. "He was behind my daughter's kidnapping. He helped lure my ex-husband away. No one had more reason, except Cyran, to hate him than I do. But I recognize that he tried to fight the Dark Goddess at the end, because of the kindness we showed him."

Joining Ravyn, Jude added his voice. "A small ceremony to send his soul on its way seems like a small price to pay."

Jiro folded his hands, sitting tall and elegant at the council table. "We spared his life because we needed information on the Dark Goddess, Luna Ravyn. No one knew her better than he did, with the exception of Cyran, Naomi, Daxius, and Marieke. But Hades knew her for centuries. We didn't save him just out of compassion."

Ravyn lifted her chin, smelling proud. "I realize that, believe me. I still can't wrap my head around his last action. It changed my thinking somewhat."

"This is pointless," scoffed Ferrain. "Why are we wasting time on this?"

Jude said dryly, "We're shifters–we love to argue. We're creatures of passion."

Ravyn reached out her hands. "I'm only thinking of giving the pack, and Cyran, closure."

"But there isn't 'closure,'" Valentina argued. "Hades could crop up again, more under the Dark Goddess' control than before–and this time, she'll torture him even worse, so that he carries out her dark design. NO."

"Hatred can't be destroyed by hatred, Valentina," Ravyn shot back. "We have to forgive him. We don't have to give him a pass–"

Ferrian growled, standing up. "You may be the Silverpaw Luna, but you're clearly–"

Valentina glared at her and rapped her fist on the council table. "WATCH IT. I can see where your tone is leading, Councilwoman Ferrian."

Paling, Ferrian sat back down. "I was going to say that the Silverpaw Luna is misguided."

"You have a right to that opinion." Valentina looked more serene than anyone would expect. "But as someone who was also personally harmed by Hades, whose family suffered, she has a right to voice her opinion, too, and her words have more impact because of that experience."

Cyran grinned. Once, in the grip of his bitterness, he'd dismissed Valentina Vermello as a pipsqueak. He'd clearly been baying crazily at the moon. The woman could run the council like no one else.

"I say we put it to a vote," Ferrian said. "Vote on whether to table this discussion."

"You mean kill it entirely and bury the corpse," someone else commented.

Ferrian shrugged. "For now, tabling it until passions have cooled seems the wisest course."

"As new members of the pack, may we speak?"

Talon, Kelara, and William had been lurking in the council chamber, watching the verbal sparring. Their regal looks made the council fall silent. Cyran smiled.

Ferrian growled. "They don't have the history–"

"Hades Ombra, Absalom Sinsworth, whatever you want to call him, is my ancestor too," Talon said simply. "I think I have a voice–and so do my mate and son. We are Sinsworths."

Valentina nodded at them. "Please."

Talon took a deep breath. "I only saw Hades' evil for a short while. But I also saw genuine remorse at the end of his life. Who among us would not wish for people to forgive us at the end of our lives, and even after death? Does the Moon Goddess command us to continue the nightmare? No. That's the job of her sister, the Dark Goddess. Without forgiveness, we're all stuck in that nightmare realm. None of you in the council experienced that and felt the eternal torment."

Kelara offered a dire prediction, one that made Cyran's hair stand up.

"Unless we forgive Hades, the bitterness will grow … and we'll all be plunged into that nightmare realm. Permanently. The world will look like that. Eternal darkness, evil, souls trapped in a wall of torment. I saw that in the Dark Goddess' mind." Kelara shuddered. "Don't let that happen."

Everyone looked at Ravyn as the senior witch, their eyes appealing to her to say Kelara was wrong.

Ravyn took a deep breath. "She's right. Unless we forgive Hades … we're all doomed."