THE AWAKENING

Serra startled at the sudden appearance of the old crone, Iona, disappointed that it wasn’t Tieran who’d found her in the garden.
It’d been their favorite spot together and she’d hoped that Tieran would remember and find himself there.
“Child you waste your anger and your tears. The situation is beyond you,” Iona said, her wrinkled face neither sympathetic nor
warm as she delivered her counsel.
Serra hated the old woman. If it hadn’t been for her constant screeching about that damn prophecy, then perhaps she and Tieran
would be hand-fasted by now and she’d be the one carrying his pup and not that cursed witch-whore Cassandra. “Your
bitterness oozes from every pore. It will destroy you if you don’t take care.”
“Shut up, old woman. I neither asked for, nor care for, your advice. Leave me.”
“Cassandra is the Prophesied One. Not you,” Iona continued, undeterred. “You risk your soul threatening the Gods’ will.”
“You and your silly prophecy! Who knows if it’s even real? All I see is a woman who managed to pull the wool over all your eyes,
pretending to be something that doesn’t exist. Tieran was my Alpha. Mine! And she took him from me. She doesn’t deserve him.
She doesn’t understand our ways. I was raised to be his woman. Me! And now where am I supposed to go? Thrust from the only
home I’ve ever known...why? I think Tieran has been tricked into thinking he must forsake me for her. Deep in his heart, he still
wants me. I can feel it.”
“What you feel is an illusion. I warned you that your path was not with Tieran. It is your own folly that you ignored my counsel.
Now you must lie in the bed you’ve made. A good match will be found for you when the Mother Goddess deems it. Perhaps
when you are worthy of such a match, it will happen.”
“How do you know I’m not his True Mate?” she spat.
“Because you are not a breeding female,” Iona answered simply. “You cannot carry pups.”
Tears welled in Serra’s eyes. “I could’ve been. You don’t know that for sure. Your visions are not infallible.”
“I’ve seen your womb. It is barren. You will never bear pups. It grieves me to share this truth but it is a pill best swallowed in spite
of the bitterness.”
“You mean old bitch,” Serra spit at Iona, hating the ancient woman almost as much as she hated Cassandra. “Get out of my
sight. Let me grieve in peace.”

“Yes, tend to your grief, Serra; before it spurs you to madness.”
Madness? Ha. Too late. Already she felt torn in two by feelings she couldn’t quell.
She’d been so happy with Tieran. Before Cassandra they’d been madly, deeply in love. And then...that dirty whore had appeared
out of nowhere to threaten everything that Serra held dear.
She didn’t care what Iona said, Tieran’s heart belonged to her. The only reason he felt conflicted was because of Cassandra’s
pregnancy.
Their species were bound to feel protective over their progeny. Remove the pup; remove the threat. Pregnancies were delicate.
Especially for their kind. Why should Cassandra’s pregnancy be any different?
Serra suffered a minor twinge at the pain Tieran would feel at the loss of his pup but Serra would soothe his broken heart by
giving it something new to love.
That old crone could be wrong. Her womb might not be barren. Serra deliberately pushed away the knowledge that no matter
how often she’d lain with Tieran not once had her womb latched onto his seed. But maybe they’d needed more time. She knew
in her heart that Tieran was meant to be hers and that she was meant to rule beside him.
Serra allowed her hand to drift to her own belly. She wasn’t willing to lose Tieran without a fight — a fight to the death, if need be.