The Luna Trials by Marissa Gilbert Read Online
Chapter 78
Savannah breathed heavily with her eyes closed. Trapped inside of the ancient passage within the mountain, she tried not to think about Kai. Not only was he thrown from the sky onto the deadly spikes, but now he was probably also covered with a merciless sea of snow. Her heart stung, making her dizzy, and her fingers went to the mark on her neck.
Gideon was saying something to the unfortunate bears who were locked in with them now, although his speech sounded more like growling, but Savvy couldn’t bring herself to listen.
She rubbed the mark near her collarbone, its glow and the crescent on Gideon’s neck were the only two things illuminating the dark. space around them.
The glow suddenly gave her hope. It was common knowledge that the marks were fading slightly if one of the mates was dead. Not to mention that Savvy was supposed to feel Kai’s pain if he d*ied. She didn’t feel anything of the sort. She was fine, just scared to death. and worried sick. The nausea was getting stronger, and she rubbed her belly hoping to suppress it.
“Little one,” she whispered so that no one could hear her, “I need your help now. I need to find your Daddy so I can’t be sick. Please, baby, help me stay strong. I need to bring him back for the both of us.”
She tried to think straight and tried to trust her instincts..
When Zack was alive, she could feel a lot of what was going on in his life. She had to believe that it was the same now. Her bond with Kai was much stronger. She was slowly calming down, knowing that there was no chance of him being dead. Her soul had not been ripped apart. Her mate was still alive, and she was going to find him.
They waited for the vibrations to stop. Unfortunately, it took some time. One of the warriors brought her clothes, and she put them on, still leaving the scarf wrapped around her neck. She would have to go and search for Kai the moment she was free from this place.
“I think it’s over,” Gideon said, and she exhaled heavily, ready to find out what the wave of deadly snow did to their people.
“Could you feel anyone via your mind link?” she asked her brother and saw his face, illuminated by the light of his mark, tense. “Just a few,” he admitted. “Reid is fine, I think, but others may be just busy or unconscious. It doesn’t mean that they are-” None of them wanted to say the word. It was probably naïve, but they wanted to cling to the belief that their people were alive, even if just for a second longer.
“Move the rock,” Savannah ordered the bears, who stood quietly without making a sound. Outnumbered, they did not dare be arrogant. “Put this strength of yours to good use for once,” she told them, and they nodded silently, getting to work.
“The rest should step back,” Gideon chimed in. “When the rock is gone, this place could be flooded with snow. We don’t know how bad it is outside.”
Soon, they had to admit that the situation was probably terrible because the white bear shifters struggled to remove the rock, meaning that the snow buried them alive here. Gideon had to shift into his Royal Lycan form, and together they managed to move it after a brief struggle. The snow did press inside as predicted, but it wasn’t too bad as there was plenty of space in the passage cave.
Slowly, they started to work as a team, moving the rock farther away and digging the snow around it to give it more space. They were lucky to have been blessed by two gods. The extra strength and high endurance were handy now.
Finally, after a few hours of work, they managed to free themselves, and Sawy could finally see what had happened to their armies. Everything was white below them, and snow mist was obstructing the view. But their shifter hearing allowed them to hear the growls and snarls of people struggling beneath, meaning that there were many survivors.
“Well,” Savannah sighed, “that’s one way to end this battle.”
“And hopefully war,” Gideon agreed, next to her. “Let’s go, sister. We are needed down there.”
“This is where I have to temporarily entrust my people to you, brother,” Savannah looked him in the eye, and he knew she was full of determination. “I have to find my mate first. I know that he’s somewhere out there.”
“Savvy,” Gideon didn’t know how to say this. “Look-”
“He’s there!” She insisted, not wishing to hear otherwise. “I know this and I am not going to rest until I find him.”
“Still, the people below need to see at least one of you now,” her sibling insisted. “Or you risk returning to a few self proclaimed kings.”
Savvy hated that he was right and knew what Kai would want her to do.
So, she went down and spent hours making plans for the rescue teams. The bears and foxes did not know what to do, but when they realised their King was nowhere to be seen, they started following her orders too.
After all, if they wanted to save their friends from this cold death trap, they had to work as a team.
Hours later, Savvy made her last orders and prepared to leave. “You don’t think you are going alone, do you?” Lachlan caught up with her fast and whistled for a few more warriors to join them. “We aren’t leaving our King and Queen.”
Good,” she nodded as Zara stood by her side too. “We have a lot of work to do, and Gideon, Riannon, and Kyle can take it from here,”
But the longer they searched, the harder it got.
Savannah walked through the snow, ignoring how the cold bit at her skin through the clothes. This was too cold even for shifters, but thanks to being mated to Amarok, she was doing fine. Zara flew over her head and landed next to her, shifting into her human. Lachlan wrapped her into his arms at once, both looking tired now after hours and hours of wandering through the snowy mountains in vain.
“Did you see any trace from above?” Savvy asked, slightly sorry to interrupt the love birds..
Unfortunately, Zara only shook her head, lowering her eyes. She could not face Savvy, knowing she did not bring her good news.
It had been so long, and everyone was exhausted. The battle, the avalanche, the rescuing of survivors, everything was taking its toll on them, but Savannah stubbornly kept walking.
“You need rest,” Lachlan told her. “If Kai was here, he would never forgive me for taking such terrible care of you. Especially considering-”
He got quiet, but she knew what he meant. Especially considering she was expecting.
“Savvy,” Gideon caught up with them in his wolf form and shifted back into a human. He didn’t even open his mouth yet, but his sister had already shaken her head.
“I am not going back until I find him!” she informed them all firmly. A part of her wanted to sob, but she was too tired even for that. All she could do now was keep walking, keep making her feet move in the snow against their will. All for one purpose only – she had to get him back.
“Savvy!” Gideon made her stop and look at him. “Sawy… I only want what’s best for you, I swear, I know how much you love him,but-”
But he believed that Kai could be dead. They all did even despite her telling them so many times that she felt he was alive. “Listen to me!” she snapped. “All of you! He is Amarok! Literally a huge, powerful, and Fenrir-blessed ice wolf! He can handle this snow better than all of us!”
“If it was just the snow, Savvy,” Gideon said, eyes downcast. He knew so well what his little sister was feeling now. If it was Riannon missing, he would go insane and never give up. But then Savannah would be the one trying to bring him back to his senses. Right now, it was his duty to tell his sibling that the man she loved more than anything in this world had probably already d*ied, and as unfair that all the sh*t that had already happened to her in her life was – It was just the tip of the iceberg. There was nothing worse than losing one’s mate.
“Savannah,” the King of the West made his sister look at him, “the snow is not a problem for him. It’s true. But he fell a few good miles from the sky against ice and hard rock. The werebirds were searching for him all over the area and found nothing. Which means he was buried somewhere during the avalanche. If he could move, he would have already gotten to the surface, Or connect with you or anyone else via the mind link. Savvy, I love you so much, and I am so sorry, but-”
“No!” she stopped him coldly. “don’t you dare finish that sentence! I don’t care what you think! I know what I know. I know what I feel. And I know that my mate is alive, and I’m not leaving him out here alone! Not when he needs me the most! He came to save me when I was captured, and now it is my turn to save him. This is how we work! And you, of all people, should know that!”
“Sawy,” Gideon ran his hand over his face, “think about the child.”
“I am thinking about the child!” She lost the last bit of her patience and snarled at her brother. “I’m not leaving my pup without a father! Now, if you’re not going to help me, move out of my way!”
“I am afraid I am going to insist!” Gideon stepped in front of her with a grim expression on his face. “Again, I am so sorry, but if Kai was here, he would be grateful for this. You have to come back to your castle and get some rest. Others can continue the search party, but I am taking you home.”
She stared at him in disbelief. She knew very well that he always kept his promises. Gideon was prepared to take her home against her will. And although she could understand his intentions, it still made her angry to the c0re.
“We are not in your Kingdom for you to tell me what to do anymore,” she informed him bluntly, raising her head regally so that he could know that she was serious and did not plan to budge. “If anything, you are now in my Kingdom, brother. The warriors that surround us now belong to mel They take my orders, and trust me when I say this: I will order them to fight you if I have to, because nothing is stopping me from searching for Kai! Nothing and no one! Not even you! So, don’t test me!”
Gideon stood there, shocked by his little sister’s words. It was his mistake, though. She wasn’t little anymore. He had seen this before, but now he had no doubts. Savannah Fionnlagh was a Queen to be reckoned with. He was losing for the first time in his life.
“My apologies,” he bowed his head respectfully, feeling a strange mix of emotions where he had to let go of something pure and innocent, but at the same time, pride and respect were quickly filling this gap, “I overstepped, but, if you will allow me, I wish to stay by your side until we find him.”
“Stay then,” she agreed with ease. “But no more talk about going back. I will only return with my husband by my side!”
It was dark when they had to take a break. Zara brought them food and more warm clothes to wear. None of it interested Sawy, as she couldn’t sit still even for a moment. She drank a cup of hot tea and ate something quickly simply to get everyone off her back.
Then she kept staring at the night sky while waiting for the others. Even if they decided to stay for the night, she would continue her journey. She had already lost too much time while helping people after the avalanche.
The stars were shimmering like scattered moondust in the night sky, but Savannah looked only at one of them while holding her precious necklace in her hands. The pendant he gave her.
“How do I find you now?” she whispered the question and felt her eyes stinging. She blinked away the tears not to show her weakness to the shifters accompanying her. She was aware that the moment she did, they would drag her home for protection, and this was something that she couldn’t afford.
Her heart was calling for Kai, and she found herself praying to Fenrir and the Moon Goddess together while looking at the North Star above her head.
“Help me find him, help me find him, help me-” she chanted desperately, panting.
Savannah threw her head back to gulp the frosty air and closed her eyes for a moment. She knew she was missing something this whole time. He was alive, and he was so close, but she was doing something wrong.
She clenched her North Star necklace so hard, and the mark on her neck prickled her too… Her North Star mark… Savvy opened her eyes in sudden realisation.
The North Star! It was there all the time, showing her the way. All the magic in Kai’s life was connected to it. He was the Star!
Why didn’t she think about it before?
“I know where to go!” she shouted at her companions, and they stood up immediately. The Queen couldn’t wait for them. The sudden surge of strength was pushing her to keep going.
She had to find him! He had to be there.
She ran through the crispy snow, not caring about the cold or anything else. She ran for so long, getting between huge rocks, passing a frozen river… She ran, and she ran, watching the direction the North Star was giving her. The night was stepping aside, giving its place to the dawn of the new day, but the star still stayed shining in the sky right next to the bright moon. Savannah sped up, too afraid that she didn’t have much time.
At last, she reached the bottom of a tall gorge and stopped, seeing that this was a dead end. The snow blanket covered everything here, and in the very centre of the passage, stood a small icy hill.
She wasn’t sure what to do. It did not seem right. All her instincts were screaming at her that she was in the right place, but her eyes were telling her otherwise.
“Sawy, Zara placed her hand on her Queen’s shoulder. “I-”
“Fly around this area; look for him!” Savannah shrugged. “The rest, start digging. Kai is somewhere close! I know this!”
No one replied to her, and only Lachlan went forward and started digging the snow as ordered. He was the one who complained the least, because he wasn’t ready to lose his King and best friend either. Thankfully, the rest followed his example.
Savvy was removing the snow and the pieces of ice, feeling angry and frustrated. But still not ready to give up.
After about an hour, the star was gone, and she started to feel desperate. And furious. So furious that she began to scream at the top of her lungs.
“Kai!” Her voice was so loud that her friends feared she’d cause a new avalanche. “Kai! I know you are here! Kai!”
She started hitting the ice block before her, remembering how she had already fisted a wall once when she was desperate. Now she was not only hopeless but also enraged.
She would crush those northern mountains if she had to! She wouldn’t stop at anything!
But this was when the ice before her started glowing…
When Kai was falling from the sky, the only thing that worried him was that Savannah stayed alone with Bjorn and the goddamn dragon. He knew it was too high for him to survive the fall, but giving up was never an option. Not when his mate was in danger.
“It’s going to hurt!” Asgard warned him, but Kai did not have a problem with that. As long as they got to return for her again, he was fine. “Give me the control!” his wolf growled, and he obeyed. He did not have any good ideas now, but it seemed like his wolf had a plan.
Kai could feel how ice started growing from his spine, every bone of his, every cell of his body… It was covering him whole, and then more and more formed around him. He couldn’t breathe anymore, and at first, it was scary, but then he quickly realised that in this state, it wasn’t required.
“Only hibernation can save us now,” Asgard explained through gritted teeth. “It may take a while to wake up, but-”
“Whatever works,” Kai grunted. A day, a year, ten years… He’d take it for a chance to be with Savannah again. Anything was better than dying and leaving her behind.
By the time he reached the ground, he was an unbreakable globe of ice. His blood flow froze, and he had to close his eyes because he couldn’t stay awake anymore.
The darkness enveloped him, and he had to give in to it.
Until bright light made him wake up again. It was so pure and luminous that he was sure it was the North Star itself. However, soon
he realised that the golden glow was something else. It was getting closer and closer to him, and then he finally heard it. Not with his ears because the ice was blocking the sounds completely but with his heart. She was calling his name, and there was so much pain in her voice that he couldn’t ignore it.
Savannah was near, and she was searching for him. Her soul was searching for him, and his soul was responding.
“Kai!” her voice was so hoarse that it pained him.
“Savvy!” he growled, and the strength started to return to him. He remembered that he was the one who controlled the ice, not the other way around.
The molecules obeyed him, cracking his prison. Myriads of ice shards flew in different directions, yet not one of them hurt his mate or his friend. He was in full control, and now he finally stood up before Savannah, alive and well. And radiating power as if he was a deity himself.
Savvy’s breathing hitched when she realised that the ice hill was actually where her mate was preserved. It wasn’t an obstacle. It was the final destination.
“Kai,” she couldn’t stop repeating his name as tears streamed down her face. It was him. He was alive. The worst thing that could happen to her never did. She did not lose him. She’d never lose him again.
“You aren’t getting rid of me that easily my Queen,” the Northern King shifted into his human form, and this time she did not hesitate.
She threw herself into his arms, crying and laughing at the same time.
“Don’t cry!” he said, k!ssing away every tear on her face. “My brave, beautiful mate. Never cry because of me. I’ll come back for you from the dead if I have to. Do you hear me, Savy? Lam-
“You are not going anywhere anymore!” she laughed. “I promise you that, Fionnlagh! Our child and I need you!”
“Agreed,” he said, covering her lips with his while his fingers faced into her tangled hair. “My Quech, my wife, my mate…”
Their friends watched them with relief on their faces. Once again, these two were so close to disaster, but somehow they managed to bring everything back to order again.
Gideon smiled, happy for them. He finally knew that he could leave the North with a calm heart when the time came. Savannah was in good hands, but also… also she did not need anyone to take care of her. Now she was the one taking care of everyone around her.
“You are so cold!” Kai whispered, moulding Savvy into his rock hard body. “Let’s go, my love. We are going home.”
She giggled again as he wrapped his hands around her and lifted her up to spin her around. This was surreal. Arguably, one of the best moments of her life.
“Just so that you know,” she smirked at him, entwining her hands around his neck. “We won that war, and I think our kingdom just got bigger.”
“Sounds good to me,” he chuckled. “Because are not stopping on just one pup, Savvy. Our kids will be invading the North in twenty something years”
“I hope that’s a promise,” she murmured into his ear.
“Take it as an unbreakable oath, my Queen,” he caught her lips again and placed her back onto her feet. “And now, take your right) place on my back. I am not letting you make another step today.”
In his wolf form, Amarok kneeled before her, and she climbed on top of him, leaning over the soft fur she loved so much. He still smelled of pine forest and frosty northern mountains. Her most favourite scent in the world. The one she’d be inhaling every day for the rest of her life…
It took Brigit a while until she found the one she had been searching for. She knew she couldn’t leave it to destiny. Destiny was always too cruel to her, and it seemed like she always had to do everything with her own hands.
Bjorn’s body was lying on top of a hill that towered over a frozen river. She shifted and kneeled next to him, ordering her warriors to leave them be. This was something she had to do alone.
She slapped him. Hard. And when he did not move, she did it again and again until the white bear monster opened his healthy eye and tried to focus it on her.
“Savvy?” his voice sounded so hopeful that it made Brigit let out a dark laugh.
“Gods, no!” she sneered. “She’d never search for you. Ever. She hates you, Bjorn. Everyone hates you. And do you know why?” He did not say anything. He probably knew it pretty well, but she intended to tell him anyway.
“Because you are a heartless, disgusting monster who never cared about anything but himself. Your mother d*ied because you were useless. Your brother d*ied because you poisoned him with your ugly ambitions and overinflated ego. You K*lled your own mate without giving her a fair chance to explain herself. And then you t*ortur*ed your second mate over and over again. She wouldn’t want to be with you even if you were the last man in the entire universe!”
She spat the words at him, and it finally felt so good. “You destroy everything you touch, and you are the sh*ttiest King a country can have. Everyone searched for Kai and took care of Sawy today, everyone tried to get her back when you abducted her, people would d*ie for King Gideon and Riannon. But your search party consists of just me,” she declared. “And only because I came here to K*ll you and ensure you don’t hurt anyone anymore!”
“Savvy “Bjorn coughed blood, but she could tell the colour was returning to his cheek. The blessed bear was regenerating faster than she would like. She had so much to tell him. She wished she could t*ortur*e him like he t*ortur*ed Aspen.
She wanted to break every bone in his body, but she knew it would be wiser to be done with him fast. So, she produced something she had prepared for today and had it strapped around herself even in her bear form.
Bjorn didn’t understand it at first as he stared at the small wooden knife in her hand. It was barely a letter opener. Why was she demonstrating it to him as if it meant something?
“You don’t know, do you?” the woman sneered as she traced the wooden blade with her fingers. “The power that you got from Joran Someone else had it before you. There was a god K*lled by his father, a god that no one else could K*ll. An indestructible god. Just. Like.
You.”
Bjorn’s lips parted in shock. Now he started to understand.
“Of course, even that God was better than you,” Brigit snorted. “Everyone liked him, you know. When he d*ied, his friends and family wept and mourned.”
Brigit straddled him, and he placed his hands on her hips, trying to throw her off. Only that she was still stronger at the moment. He didn’t restore after the fall yet.
“Mistletoe,” the she bear placed the wooden knife to his cheek and pressed into his skin. “The thing that K*lled the indestructible god was a sacred mistletoe. And I went to great lengths to get a piece of a similar plant. I dried it and prepared it just for you.”
“I’ll give you… anything.” Bjorn tried to negotiate, and the smile on her face dropped.
“The only thing I want,” she said with quivering lips, “you can not give me. The second thing I want after that, I am taking myself now!”
He wanted to say something else, but she stabbed his only eye with her little knife, making him scream in agony. Jormungand’s Champion fully lost his vision, bringing his worst memories to the surface. He coul! feel his power draining, his body weakening by the second. But when the woman on top of him twisted the knife, he knew he had seconds left to live.
The last thought that came to his mind was that Brigit mentioned Savvy which meant that she was alive. Joran did not K*ll his mate.
When he would be gone, she would live…
His lips curled into a soft smile when Brigit pressed the knife to the hilt, ending the life of the White Bear King once and for all. She was breathing heavily, tears rolling down her face. The she-bear stayed like that for a while to ensure she succeeded this time. That scum had to d*ie today for everything he had done.
After a few minutes, she found the strength to stand up and looked at him once again. Contrary to her beliefs, she did not feel better. And now she knew that she never would.
Angry, she pushed Bjorn’s body off the edge, watching it fall into the icy river after it broke the first layers of ice. The stream started destroying the rest, cracks everywhere… and soon she saw her dead enemy floating away into the unknown just as he deserved. Even his body would never be found.
“What’s now?” One of her men found the courage to reach her in about an hour.
“Now?” she sighed, remembering she was a ruler of a whole pack and an official traitor to her people. It was a mess, but surprisingly, she knew what to do next. “Now we have an allegiance to pledge. The new King and Queen of the North await.”.
Kai and Savannah returned to the battlefield, where bears, wolves, foxes, cats, birds and some other rare species were still working together to find the remaining survivors. They hadn’t been able to unite their f0rces for many years, but today it wasn’t a problem.
Amarok let out a mighty growl, and all the heads snapped to the top of the hill he was standing on with Savannah on his back. The Luna jumped off, and the giant wolf shifted back into his human form, body carved out of stone, he wasn’t embarra*s*sed for his n@kedness and only took his wife’s hand, lacing their fingers together.
None of them had prepared a speech for this moment, although it felt like it was needed. The drones were back to circling in the air and filming everything, and if anything, it made Savvy smile now. After everything they had been through, it seemed normal.
They looked at each other with love, adoration and determination to restore the North to its former glory. Together, they would build a new future.
And as if their people heard them, one by one, they started kneeling to their new King and Queen.
All of them.
Every single one.
One of the bears lifted his head, and a deep roar left his chest. Followed by another, and then another. Until all of them roared, howled, growled, and snarled, demonstrating their respect for the couple before them.
“I think you were right about winning this war,” Kai tilted his head to his wife.
“You’ll come to learn that I am right most of the time,” her lips curled involuntarily, and she gave him that mischievous gaze he loved from the day they met.
This level of respect was unseen before. It was a pledge from every northerner who fought in the White Battle.
They weren’t naive to think that life would suddenly get easy in one day and that the species who always hated each other would….
However, no one couldn’t argue that this was one hell of a first step…