Beneath the Alpha's Moon
Chapter 222: A Contingency Plan

Chapter 222: A Contingency Plan

Mai’s P.O.V.

The world around me was crumbling.

I could hear gasps, feel the weight of a dozen stunned eyes on me, but all I could focus on was the ringing in my ears. My body felt hollow, like someone had carved out my insides and left nothing but a shell behind.

Eldur. My mate?

No. No, that wasn’t possible.

The goddess had to be wrong. Had to be mistaken. Had to—

A choked sound left my lips as my legs buckled beneath me. The only thing keeping me from hitting the ground was Liam, his body trembling against mine as I clutched at his shirt. His grip was weak, barely there, but I could feel his warmth, his presence. It was the only thing tethering me to reality.

I turned to look at him, desperate to find something—anything—that could contradict what I’d just heard.

And then I saw his face.

Liam looked like he had died. Like he was standing on the edge of a cliff, staring down into a darkness so deep, so endless, that even breathing was painful. His bright blue eyes, usually filled with warmth despite the weight of his past, were empty now. A vacant kind of sorrow, like someone had stolen the last thing keeping him alive.

I tried to say his name, but my throat was too tight.

The silence in the room was suffocating.

Even Papa Adrian—who was a vampire, for gods’ sake—had gone pale. He looked like someone had drained him of all the blood in his body. His mouth opened slightly, but no words came out. He just stood there, a living corpse, watching everything unfold.

But then—

"Oh, I told you! I told you!"

Eldur’s voice shattered the suffocating stillness like glass, and I wanted to claw my own ears out.

I jerked my head up just in time to see him throwing his arms in the air like he’d won a damn lottery. A wide, smug grin stretched across his face as he spun in a circle, pointing at everyone.

"I told you all! But did anyone listen? No! You all thought I was crazy, but who’s laughing now?" He actually let out a short, victorious laugh before turning back to me. "Mine. You’re mine."

I wanted to kill him.

Right here. Right now.

Before I could even lunge at him, the moon goddess sighed. "Eldur, calm yourself."

Eldur blinked, looking at her like she’d just asked him to chop off his own foot. "What? Why? This is the best news I’ve ever received in my life!"

The goddess’ eyes darkened. "You have caused unnecessary pain, child."

The room shifted, and suddenly, the temperature dropped. A weight settled against my chest, a force that made it hard to breathe. The goddess wasn’t angry—not in the way a person gets angry. No. This was something greater. A force of nature. A storm contained in a single presence.

Eldur swallowed.

"You did not have to kidnap Mai," the goddess continued, her voice like wind rushing through ancient trees. "You did not have to erase Liam’s memories. You did not have to resort to cruelty to reclaim what you believed was yours."

For the first time since I met him, Eldur hesitated. He shifted on his feet, his cocky demeanor faltering ever so slightly. "I—"

"But I do not blame you," the goddess cut in smoothly. "Raivo is the true culprit."

Silence fell on the room.

A shiver ran down my spine at the name.

Raivo?

I had no idea who—no, what—Raivo was, but the way my father stiffened told me everything I needed to know.

My father, Lucian Blackwood was not a man who feared things. He was the fear lurking in the shadows of others. But right now, my father’s jaw clenched, his green eyes darkening with something I had never seen before.

"I’ve seen Raivo’s destruction firsthand," he muttered. "Lived through it."

My stomach twisted. "What does that mean?"

My father didn’t answer.

Because none of that mattered. Not to me.

The only thing I could focus on—the only thing looping over and over again in my mind like a broken record—was the goddess’ words.

Liam wasn’t my mate.

Liam wasn’t my mate.

The pain was unbearable. Like something had been ripped from my very soul. I wanted to scream. To cry. To die.

And then, the goddess turned to Liam.

His body was still crumpled in my arms, barely holding on. His breathing was shallow, his skin too pale. He looked so small. So weak. So breakable.

My heart clenched as the goddess knelt beside us.

She touched his forehead.

A kiss.

A soft, fleeting gesture—yet as soon as her lips brushed against his skin, Liam gasped.

Light flooded through him. His wounds vanished. The weakness that had plagued his body disappeared in an instant.

And before I even thought about it, I was throwing my arms around him.

He was okay.

He was okay.

Tears stung my eyes as I buried my face in his shoulder, inhaling his scent like it was the only thing keeping me from falling apart completely.

"Thank you," I whispered. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

Liam stiffened for a moment—but then, slowly, his arms wrapped around me.

The embrace was brief. Just a few seconds.

But it was everything.

When I finally pulled back, Liam moved to his feet and bowed deeply to the goddess. "Thank you, my lady."

The goddess smiled.

Around us, my parents, Eldur’s parents, Elizabeth, Ollie—everyone—murmured their gratitude as well.

But me?

I wasn’t done.

Without thinking, I grabbed Liam again. But this time, I pressed a soft kiss to his forehead.

It was supposed to be small. Just a simple gesture.

But it was too much.

Too intimate.

Too full of something I wasn’t ready to name.

Eldur growled.

Liam immediately let go of me, taking a step back.

The goddess let out a weary sigh.

"I suppose I must clarify something," she said, her voice calm yet heavy with significance.

A frown tugged at my lips. "Clarify what?"

Her gaze flickered between Eldur and me, steady and unwavering. "When I said you were mates," she said slowly, "I did not mean you, yourselves."

The air seemed to thin. My heart stumbled over a beat.

"...What?"

The goddess exhaled, her tone gentle but firm. "The witch inside of you, Mai," she said, "she is mated to Raivo."

The room erupted.

The meaning of her words surrounded me like a thick fog. My pulse roared in my ears, and for a moment, I could only gape at her.

Eldur looked as if the ground had been ripped out from under him. "That’s not possible."

I struggled to find my voice. "How?" The word came out hoarse, barely above a whisper. "How can that even—"

Eldur turned on the goddess, his movements sharp with disbelief. "Raivo is my wolf! He’s a part of me!" His voice rose with raw frustration. "No werewolf has a separate mate from their human half! That’s not how this works!"

But the goddess remained composed, watching us with an almost knowing patience, as if she had seen this reaction coming long before we had.

My father inhaled sharply, his jaw tightening before he spoke. "My lady... please. Explain."

The goddess turned her gaze to Eldur, her expression controlled, her presence as serene as a still lake before a storm.

"You were never meant to be a werewolf, Eldur."

The words cut through the air like a blade, sharp and absolute.

Eldur flinched. His usual arrogance flickered—just for a second—but the goddess wasn’t finished.

"You were born a wizard," she continued, her voice steady. "Not just any wizard, but one with immense power. Power designed for a single purpose. A safeguard. A contingency plan, should the need ever arise. And I prayed it never would."

She exhaled softly, a whisper of sorrow hidden in the motion.

"But fate is rarely kind. Serena conjured Raivo into Lucian’s body, and the demon—the one who was meant to stay imprisoned forever—was set free."

The weight of her words crushed the room into silence.

Even the air felt heavier.

Eldur’s smirk was long gone now. His fists clenched at his sides, his breathing uneven. "That... that doesn’t make sense."

The goddess tilted her head, her gaze steady. "Raivo needed a new vessel. One strong enough to contain him. One who wouldn’t break under his power."

She let the final words sink in before she spoke again.

"You were created for that purpose."

The room turned to ice.

Eldur’s entire body locked up—then, like a puppet with its strings cut, he dropped to his knees.

A ragged breath escaped him, but he made no sound. The boy who had stood before us moments ago, dripping in confidence, now looked... small. Like a truth he had refused to acknowledge had finally caught up to him.

Papa Adrian moved before anyone else. His fangs bared, his eyes burning. "You created a child for the sole purpose of caging a demon?" His voice was low, lethal, teetering on the edge of something dangerous.

The goddess did not flinch.

She met his fury with an eerie, unwavering calm.

And just like that—

The world shattered all over again.