A Gift from the Goddess by Dawn Rosewood novel Chapter 68

Chapter Sixty-Eight 

The rest of the meeting went without further incident and soon everyone disbanded from the meeting hall to congregate outside. It was sunset by this point and I could feel everyone‘s exhaustion around me as they waited for their sleeping arrangements to be made available for the night. 

Aleric and I stood to the side, avoiding further interaction after the events that had occurred. Not that I imagined anyone would be upset by that. If anything, they would be grateful for our distance, not wanting t o find themselves as the next subject of our focus for too long. 

V 

But there was one individual I had a feeling wouldn‘t pick up on that obvious social cue. An individual who had just left the building, their eyes beginning to scan the area around them. 

Without hesitating, I quickly pushed Aleric around the corner of the meeting hall building to hide ourselves from none other than Alpha Fredrick. 

Only he would be brazen enough to not let sleeping dogs lie. Or in this case, wolves. 

| peeked around, watching as he frantically searched the crowds of people conversing outside. Searching for something or *someone* in particular. 

“Why are we hiding?” Aleric asked quietly behind me. 

He was close, his body right next to mine so he could whisper and not draw further attention to our location. I was grateful given the keener senses of our peers around us. 

“Because Alpha Fredrick is going to try to speak to me privately,” I explained. “And he‘s going to demandt o know where I heard those rumours about him from; something he couldn‘t ask me in that meeting without looking further guilty in front of the other pack representatives.” 

“...And are they true? The rumours?” 

| spun my head around and smiled wickedly up at him. “Who knows? They‘re just rumours after all.” 

“Aria, what the hell,” he laughed. “It‘s a pretty serious thing to infer about someone.” 

| shrugged, turning back to see if Alpha Fredrick was still looking for me. “He deserves it even if they are false. And besides, I‘m pretty sure that fighting a rumour with another rumour is far better than attacking him, like what you wanted to do.” 

“I‘m sure that he is wishing right now that I actually had hurt him in order to save him from that social execution you just served him–.” 

Alpha Fredrick‘s eyes then started searching towards the general area we were hiding, perhaps catching our scent in the wind change. 

“Crap, time to go,” I said, grabbing onto Aleric‘s hand, and I ran towards the back of the building, all the while dragging him behind me. 

“Aria, wait,” he called out, intending to sound disapproving over my immature reaction but his laughter betrayed him. 

Behind the large hall was a grassy slope that led all the way down to a small pond at the bottom. Perfect for resting while I caught my breath for a minute; the lack of my own strength and endurance painfully obvious, courtesy of the collar. 

I doubled over, both hands on my knees as I breathed in deeply. All the while, Aleric simply watched over me. I could see the amusement in his eyes at my state, something that was probably bad for even human 

standards. 

Chapter Sixty Eight 

“Give me a break,” I whined. “I haven‘t trained, nor done anything even close to that in months.” 

“I‘m aware,” he said, walking past me to seat himself by the water‘s edge. 

I followed only a moment later once my breathing was back under control, plopping myself down on the grass beside him. 

It was so peaceful here. The sunset, the fresh air... how the water glistened orange in the dying light. I felt I could stay here for hours, relaxing as I continued to neglect all the problems mercilessly waiting for me ahead. 

“I think I know why you brought me here,” I said after a few minutes of silence, now staring intensely at the lily pads. 

“Is that so?” 

“This is some sort of attempt to try and make me feel better,” I said, pulling my legs up to my chest and hugging them. “But which was your train of reasoning... fresh air and a change of scenery? ... Or taking met o a meeting so I could pretend I‘m still a Beta heir?” 

“Neither,” he said, a half–smile on his lips. “You enjoy puzzles and problem solving, Aria. During your Beta training days, I saw how you would get thrills from thinking of things in meetings that no one else had. I thought if I brought you here with me, it might help ignite that passion inside you again.” 

A small crease formed between my brows. It seemed he knew me much better than I realised. 

“...So that‘s why you were trying to get my input on those pack matters yesterday, including even those petty issues that anyone could solve.” 

He nodded. “And whilst you didn‘t feel like participating in the actual discussions today, I still got to see you in there. It was like you came alive again, Aria. Something I was beginning to think I‘d never see again.” 

I turned to meet his eyes finally and found them full of only genuine concern. The orange-toned light around us had made the green in them appear as if they were more saturated. How crazy that those eyes were so innocent in comparison to the ones I‘d known. 

... Which was why, physically the same or not, it was becoming impossible to pretend that this Aleric didn‘t care about me. In fact, it would be naive of me to think otherwise, 

This Aleric listened to me, taking note at least of what I was trying to tell him, before making his own mind up. He might not be ‘under control‘, but perhaps I didn‘t need that after all. The fact he at least considered what I had to say was still far better than anything else I could have hoped for in the past. 

But it‘s not as though Aleric from the previous timeline was incapable of kindness. It‘s just that his kindness had never been directed towards myself. He had loved Thea, loved the pack, loved his work… it was just me that he hadn‘t loved. As if he was incapable of seeing me for who I was, or even willing to give me a chance. 

So where was the line between fear and friendship now? It had become so blurred that I felt my uncertainty shift on any given day. Did I enjoy his company now? Yes... but at the same time, it was impossible to push aside my concerns. For all I knew, he could be a volcano waiting to erupt at any second; its final trigger still unknown to me. 

“I‘m sorry for worrying you,” I said, pulling my attention back to the pond. “It‘s just a hard adjustment, everything considered… and I don‘t like the room. The quarters. They... they make it hard to focus.” 

... Make it hard to distinguish between two lives,‘ I elaborated in my head. The absence of having anything to do or focus on, mixed in with those quarters... it was like living inside my nightmares. Slowly, day by day, losing a piece of myself and becoming *her*. 

He frowned in confusion but laughed a little. “Given how much time you‘ve spent in there, I would never have guessed.” 

“I know... but it‘s actually the lesser of two evils,” I said with a small reciprocating smile, my chin resting o n my knees 

He then leaned forward, trying to catch my attention once more, and I flicked my eyes back to meet his now completely serious gaze 

“You could have just told me earlier, Ana,” he said with disappointment “A room is at least something negotiable. I can talk to Tytus about switching your room to another one and I doubt it would be that bigo fan issue. The only problem is you might need to sleep there for a few more nights until I can organise it. I s that alright?” 

I nodded my head. At least that was one thing I wouldn‘t need to worry about soon 

One tiny thing in the hundreds of issues I‘d been neglecting 

The sun was then almost completely down and a cool breeze came through, sending a small shiver through me. It looked as though the scarf came in handy for more than initially intended Funny as we weren‘t anticipating colder weather for another month or two. 

“They‘re probably looking for us,” Alerc said, standing back up Td say we were at the top of the list for being shown where our guest lodgings were and we ran oft* 

“Probably.” I agreed, stretching my legs back out in front of me. They were almost asleep from hugging them to my chest for so long 

Aleric then held his hand out for me and I happily took it grateful for the gesture 

“It‘s a group of us who have a shared interest in ensuring your safety,” she explained. “Mostly those who wish to follow in the divine path provided by you, the guide of our Goddess. Then there are a few of us who have a personal interest in you as a person. Like myself. You were a beacon for hope and change in this country… then you suddenly vanished. I‘ve been so worried about you, wondering what the hell they did to you.”