In The Shadow of The Moon Ch. 08

REUPLOADED: My sincerest apologies, you guys got the EXTREMELY (extremely) unedited version of this chapter. This is why it is so terribly grammatically incorrect. This is the properly edited version. Hope it makes it easier to read for those of you who commented as such. :-) (now paying more attention to which version of the chapter I click on :-p )

So here is the deal...

I JUST (MAY 11) GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE!!!!! Yeah that's a lot of excited yelling. I was more that wiped, my battery was drained and not even holding a charge. When I wrote it sounded like I was writing an academic paper SOOOOOOOOoooooooo.......... I had to take a step back. I absolutely hate it when writers take a year (literally) to update a story, but somewhere in my head it just didn't click that people would like the story enough that I would still be updating chapters. So thanks for liking the story. Now this chapter isn't as long as some of the others, but it isn't short either. WE are ABOUT to get to the JUICY :) bits, but like I have said before I like a natural progression and Victoria needed some pushing. It is my new mission to post a chapter every two weeks. SOOOOooooo (yet again), two weeks from the day this post to Lit, I should, emphasis on should, and will fight tooth and nail to get another chapter up. In my mind we are about half way or like 10/16 (which reduced is 5/8) done. Not sure just got a series of events that are going to happen and if they fit into half, 6/16 or 3/8 then that's what I'll right if not...Now that I am not in school any more I have much more time to write so...yeah...two weeks. Hope you enjoy the chapter. Comments are and forever will be loved and accepted.

Thanks Lizzie, Hal, A-wys for editing!!!!!!!

Happy Reading,

Silently

Silly

***************

Victoria listened attentively to her betas as they gave her a rundown of the newest security measures. Though her mind was apt to wander, she took in enough of the details to understand what was going on. Things had changed. There had been three glorious days locked away in the oasis of the suites where she had become well acquainted with their wallpaper, carpet, and the view out of their bay windows. For those three days showers took on a new definition and thoughts of the past were locked in the closet and nightmares were expressly banned. Still the world refused to wait behind the door any longer and on the fourth day, as she lay sated, toes tingling, in Antony's arms, still stuck firmly inside her, the world had burst in and splattered its guts all over the walls.

Victoria nodded absently while Kariah rattled off a list of the packs that had already moved into the grounds and those who were on their way. Antony had been force to tell her then, what he had been hiding. That Riley had reported five attacks on varying packs. War. Messy ugly war was sitting deeply entrenched in the horizon of their future. She had never known of her father's plans and the plans of the packs around him. She had been too wrapped up in her own mental state. Still she couldn't help, but be furious, no matter how she was doing mentally, nothing could pull her out quicker than a battle. They had fought and she had thrown some nasty things out. In truth though she was more angry at herself, she wasn't this fragile and she couldn't stand looking back and seeing just how blind she had been, too many people traipsing in and out... Yeah he had just been the receptacle for her shitty feelings about her self at that moment.

Still, regardless, her pride would not afford her the common sense to apologize and the packs had way bigger things to deal with. So she had distanced herself and surrounded herself in the work of the Alpha female. Vanessa moved on to discuss the influx of people and the running of the compound, where work needed to be picked up, where there were too many people, how many of the new pack funds had been accounted for. In the week and a half that had passed she had hardly seen Antony or any of the other Alphas for that matter. She knew this was bad, but her mind was trying to juggle too much right now. She rapped out quick instructions to the women in the room, a shift in accommodations, emissaries to other packs for workers, a kind reminder to those who had not submitted funds. She gave Natasia permission to use the extra rooms for the young-lings teachings.

The Gaylen compound had been built to handle these kinds of numbers, it was just a matter of implementing the adjustments. With little thought she touched the minds of those who needed to know what decisions she had made as she dealt out the information she felt Antony leave his office and head to hers. She cursed, she had been doing her best to keep out of his head, but she needed him to have all the necessary information immediately, they really didn't have time to spare. She rolled her shoulders and bolstered herself for the oncoming storm. She opened her eyes and proceeded to doll out orders.

His entrance wasn't loud, but it was far from quiet.

He was a tidal wave of mental anger and frustration. She looked up at the woman she was talking to and felt the pull of his eyes. Without thinking she looked at him and was instantly pulled in. While staring at him she was unable to keep him out of her mind.

End the meeting now.

The snarled mental command was numbing, she nodded her head and went back to giving out her final orders. He leaned broodingly against her bookshelf. The women at the table kept shooting looks in his direction, but she ignored it finishing what she needed to say and dismissing everyone. All of the women gave her sympathetic looks as they bowed and retreated from the room. She refused to look up as she continued to riffle through the papers in front of her. She mentally began to check things off her list waiting for him to talk. Finally there was nothing else she could do without looking the coward so she looked up at him, he held her eyes. Not once did he break eye contact as he walked up the room towards her. Her ire rose to meet his anger as he tried to use intimidation tactics.

"What's going on Victoria?"

"What do you mean?"

Antony nodded his head and placed his hands on either side of her, boxing her against the table.

"You have been avoiding me. I want to know why?"

Victoria forced out a laugh, "My world doesn't revolve around you. I have meetings and things to take care of. There is a war coming. Of course you already know that."

Fresh waves of anger spread out from him. So before he could even get started, she ducked under his arms.

"Now you will have to excuse me, but Mistress Sleepwell has asked me to come see her."

Antony growled, this time out loud, he grabbed her arm firmly and turned her around.

"Sleepwell can wait this is a far more pressing problem. What the hell is wrong with you? Is it that I didn't..."

I certainly will not wait. I think you will find what I have to talk with the both of you about is highly important. Now for the benefit of the minds with in this compound, calm your thoughts and join me in the basement workout room.

Antony banged his fist against the table and two of the legs gave way. It took him a moment, but he collected himself and walked out of the room. Victoria followed, her agitation and anger a little less under control.

"This isn't over." Antony threw at her over his shoulder.

**************

"What is a convergence?"

"Victoria, I expected more from you. Convergence is a fairly common word it is the point at which several things come together."

"No, I know what the word means, but what does it mean in the context of us, as people? How are we a convergence?"

Victoria was both happy and angry with the Mistress. Glad for the interruption, she did not want to be kept in the vicinity of Antony for longer than was necessary. He was just so damn infuriating, nothing but an overbearing alpha male arrogant to the core. Demanding she talk to him, changing her schedule, cornering her in rooms. If she didn't want to fucking be around him, then she damn well wouldn't. He wasn't going to treat her like some fragile ass china doll. She would show him just...

"VICTORIA! Hell, is there ever a moment of the day when you aren't feeling seven different emotions at once?"

"What?" Victoria looked muddled and confused.

"Yeah, how did you know that? I didn't know you used your power in that way, usually it's just me who can read people like that." Antony looked suspiciously over at the Mistress.

"Well trust me you are no better. Looks like that air tight anger management training you father gave you wasn't Victoria proof. You anger is being projected all over this compound, leaving everyone on edge. I brought you down here to give the rest of them a break."

They both continued to stare at her confused.

"Really, I am beginning to believe that nobody teaches the words of the sisterhood anymore." She gave them a squinty eye scowl and mumbled something about wasting their time.

"Now if you knew anything at all, you would know that a Convergence is a meeting of magical blood lines. In every species if happens every century or two a convergence of magical energy that leads to an evolutionary leap for the species. When the convergence pair mate, their power is unlocked. Your power has been wreaking havoc on the compound because it is amplifying your powers both new and old. Victoria has been tapping into minds a hell of a lot and just by thinking about them. Some of the new people on the grounds have come to me thinking they are crazy because they are hearing her voice. They really aren't, they are just being affected by her amplified power. Antony has been unconsciously moving things left and right. Damn near terrified an omega in the library when books flew off the shelf. She thought there was a ghost."

"But that's his power!"

"But that's her power!"

Victoria and Antony blurted out leaving the powerful mistress flinching from their mental response.

Mistress Sleepwell raised her eyebrows.

"You haven't noticed that you both have taken on the other's power? I am surprised that none of the new ones have manifested yet."

Antony looked down at her as Sleepwell went on ranting about the shenanigans rampaging through the compound due to their powers. She felt him gently probe at her mind, almost like knocking. She tentatively opened her mind.

Did you know this was going on?

No. I mean I noticed it was easier for me to communicate with people, but I chalked it up to practice. I guess I should have figured something like this when I began sensing people's emotions more than usual, I usually try to avoid that, but... A Convergence? Really?

It actually makes a lot of sense. That mental block you put up was intense; it was strong enough to keep Mistress Sleepwell out. I could tell that it was your power, but at the same time it tasted so wild. It would also explain why your father has been so determined to get you on his side.

"You aren't even listening anymore, are you?"

"What does this mean, why did you want us to come here?"

"To train you. We are going to get those powers under control."

**********

Victoria was exhausted, Sleepwell has worn her out mentally and she had pushed herself physically. She didn't want to have to think too much about how she was avoiding Antony, she just wanted to collapse on her bed and bliss out. Of course no matter how exhausted she was it couldn't be stopped, because she bridled at the idea that she was avoiding him, as if it were expected she'd be in his company. Her frustration was overwhelming, but she used it as a way to practice control her new power. Throwing up shields, she let her mind rage. It hadn't taken long for him to demand her to be somewhere or do something, all under the guise of a "request." The possessive way he held her at night was stifling. She could make her own decisions, do her own things, be her own person.

Dammit she just couldn't rein her anger into a controlled force. Everything he did was aggravating and controlling. Or at least that was what she tried to convince herself of. Somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind, possibly where the residual link she held with Antony resided, she knew the things he did were not meant to be a way of controlling her, but a way of keeping her safe.

All the same it didn't matter; he was behaving as her father did...

No that was a lie, Antony had never used his brute strength to keep her in line never forced her to do things.

She let out a grunt of frustration no matter how she flipped or turned, abused the too soft pillow she had stolen from Antony's side of the bed, she couldn't find sleep. She hovered on the edge with her eyes closed, her mind too busy racing to throw dreams on her eyelids.

Victoria knew she would have no trouble sleeping in Antony's room, her face pillowed on his chest would be relaxed and calm, her dreams steamy and hot, or calm and sweet; unbothered by these worries or frustrations. But she wouldn't. After those three days her fear had risen again. She was bound to him, yes, and she fought the pull to forgive him, but...

She sat up and looked over at the clock. Screw it all. It didn't matter about some bond, didn't matter about how she felt about them, the moments she could remember feeling so much more...no, no more. The clock on her phone glowed a dull orange 5:45a.m. The perfect time for a run. Yeah a run, but the treadmill wasn't going to cut it.

*********

"S'cuse me, Alpha? Sir?"

Antony was sluggish to respond, but quickly came awake as he saw one of the night patrol standing hesitantly outside his bedroom door. Knowing it must be important for him to have even entered his suites, he flicked on the lights, and sat up. He opened his mind, looking for Victoria. She had been spending the last few nights in her mother's suites. He got nothing, no wall, no muddled dreams, nothing. His heart began to race and suspicion coursed through his blood.

The young wolf looked nervous, his shoulders hunched forward his head bowed.

"Sir I tried to stop her, I told her about the new protocols, but she wouldn't listen. I told her..."

Antony was up in a minute, there wasn't much more he needed to hear, Victoria. He shifted, the pajama bottoms he had worn falling in tatters to the ground, that aggravating woman owed him 6 or 7 pairs already. Victoria. It was a curse and a growl as he bounded out of his rooms and out of the compound all together. He picked up on her trail quickly. She had attempted to hide her scent, but where scent failed he used the bond. The same bond that was still tentative, hesitant. It should have been unbreakable by now. They should be working as one, but when he pushed, she snapped and ran away. She never tried to get closer. It had been 2 weeks since their mating and the space between them seemed to grow wider and wider by the hour, with every caustic confrontation. He used his frustration to fuel his speed.

She was so infuriating.

He found her quickly and made a large circle, corralling her in towards a clearing until she was forced to confront him. She stood snarling, her wolf form in glorious relief against the trees; they were both lit up by the early morning light.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He had tried, but his anger would not be hidden.

"I forbid anyone to be out here before 8am, let alone by themselves. Explain yourself."

She snarled loudly shaking her head at the rebuke in his voice.

"FORBID! I don't give a damn what you forbid, I will do what the hell I want to do. You don't OWN me. You don't CONTROL ME! If I want to run early in the morning, I can and I will, there is nothing you will do to stop me."

His wolf demanded they force their mate to submit, make her pay for her attack on his power as alpha male. He began to stalk around her, trying to find some semblance of control, but his anger was beginning to blind him.

His growl was constant, his body vibrated with the desire to attack.

"I am the LEADER of this pack, my word is law. You will submit to me. NOW!" He barked sharply, laying within it a deep command for obedience. He could see it hit her, see how it settled on her.

She shook it off and took up her snarling again, her anger a palpable tension in the air. Unfortunately for her, it only fed his own; he prepared himself to fight.

Then the world grew quiet. The trees ceased to move and the wind silenced, the world was muffled, but for a soft word that wrapped around them both.

....Duerme...

....Sover....

....Dormez....

....Schlafen....

....Dorme....

Then again in languages he didn't know characters he had never seen. His legs felt heavy, his mind fogged and muddled. All the times he had felt utterly exhausted, felt dirt nap tired, fell upon him heavily with no remorse. He watched as Victoria fell sway to the same thing. Her legs buckled and he went to protect her, but on a final lilting tone...

Sleep

*********

Victoria...

Victoria... the voice was light and airy; it shifted with gentle soothing notes.

Victoria, it's time to get up...you're going to be late...

Victoria, time to rise mon petit loup.

Sweetheart, wake up... It was the voice of her mother and her grandmother sweet murmurs that made her eyelids languorous in opening. The gruff but loving tone of her grandfather on school days. The last though, the last one brought tears to her eyes as she tried to hold tightly onto the memory. It was one of her father; he had surprised her one morning with a trip to a lake. They had run so fast through the trees, just the two of them. She opened her eyes. The world was dark, well at least what she could see of it was dark.

She wasn't lying down or at least now that she was awake she wasn't lying down. The woman was standing on her left, exuding calm assurance yet terrifying power. Her eyes were piercing, hypnotic. They seemed like never ending pools with walls made of dark emeralds. Catching the light and shifting and changing. They pulled you in and saw all. Victoria was so entranced she could barely breath. The eyes softened as the gentle smile grew, spreading warmth across its surface in a wave.

Who was this woman?

It took her a moment to put the thought into words.

"Well my name has been and in some cases will be and now most certainly is Medlinya."

The name fit the face, the soft yet angular features that lent an air of magic, ethereal beauty that had seen innumerable years. A face that knew laughter well and at the same time knew emense sorrow. It was a face untouched by years and still carved with the chisel of time. The name rang with so many voices crying out to it, cursing it, praying to it, asking of it. The name was an overwhelming power.

The final one clanged with antiquity.

"Lady Medlinya?"

She smiled, "It is rare that those not of that realm hear that in my name. Yes, I lived in a time and place where the Court of Arthur existed, full of just as much adventure and turmoil as the stories here depict."

She began to walk and Victoria felt the compulsion to follow.

"Still that does not pertain to my reason for visiting, you child are the focal point for a few sordid futures and a few brighter ones and right now your fucking it all up. So I am here to help you get over your shit and move on." She sighed lightly and then smiled, "Sorry. I find that in times of tumult my emotional responses to future and past events intermingle at the most inconvenient times."

"Who the hell are you?!?"

"You still haven't figured that out yet?" The shocked look on her face was tantamount to that of a teenager hearing juicy gossip. Victoria just raised her eyebrow waiting for a response.