Celeste looked horrified, her face even more pale than usual. "Your half-brother? Did you...?"
"No. He rejected me, and then when he did want me, I was able to resist." I shuddered a little at the thought of that night when we'd almost completed the mate bond.
"It's a testament to your will that you were able to resist for so long. Most people are unable to fight the spell."
“But why would the Sun Witches do this?" I asked. "I understand wanting to control us, but why choose who we mate with?"
"As far as I can tell, the Sun Witches want the shifters to be their slaves again." Celeste sighed and took a small sip of her tea. “Centuries ago, the Sun Witches and Moon Witches were one coven. Light and dark, sun and moon, day and night, masculine and feminine, in perfect harmony. Everything changed when vampires started killing the witches off and drinking their blood to steal their magic. The vampires became incredibly powerful when they did this, and the witches knew they had to stop them before they threatened to destroy the entire world.” She paused and grimaced. “Our ancestors enslaved the wolf shifters to help them in this battle and tied their powers to the stars, giving each pack extra abilities to use against the vampires. The Moon Witches also inflicted the Moon Curse upon the wolves then, which made them turn feral at the full moon. It was the only way they could enslave them, by having the packs rely on them for the antidote spell. With the wolf shifters' help, the witches were able to defeat the vampire threat. The Sun Witches cast the Sun Curse on the remaining vampires, making it so they couldn't go out in the daylight, and the war ended."
I'd heard similar things from Kaden, but I'd never been sure how much of it was true. After all, when I was growing up in the Zodiac Wolves the Sun Witches were considered allies and saviors, while the Moon Witches were the villains. Since the Convergence, I'd seen many times who the real villains were, and it was nice to hear about our history from a real Moon Witch now. "I didn't know there was a Sun Curse too, but I guess that explains the lore about vampires not being able to go in the sun. What happened after that?"
"After the war ended, the shifters grew tired of being slaves, rightfully so. The Moon Witches removed the curse on the shifters and were sympathetic to their plight, but the Sun Witches didn't want to give up control. This led to a division between the Sun and Moon Witches, and eventually, they split completely. At first, the Moon Witches were allied with some of the packs, including Cancer and Ophiuchus, but many shifters still didn't trust us because of the Moon Curse. Over the years, the Sun Witches got into their heads and turned each pack against us, one by one. They claimed we were the ones who wanted to keep control over the wolves and that the Moon Curse was still active. Only the Ophiuchus never wavered in their alliance, and eventually, they were cast out of the Zodiac Wolves because of it."
"That's a very different story than the ones the Zodiac Wolves and Sun Witches tell," I said.
"I'm not surprised. The Zodiac Wolves have been manipulated by the Sun Witches for years, while we were painted as the villains and hunted down. Meanwhile, the Sun Witches have bred shifters like dogs to get the traits they wanted."
My spine stiffened. "What do you mean?"
She poured us more tea as she explained. "Each pack shares some of the same qualities and personality traits as their Zodiac sign, as I'm sure you already know. Over the years the Sun Witches have purposefully arranged mates to create offspring with the traits they want, which are usually the more negative aspects of each sign. They've bred the Zodiac Wolves to be the darkest versions of themselves, focusing on all the negative aspects. As an example, Leos became aggressive and arrogant rather than courageous and generous, while Cancers became vindictive and suspicious instead of caring and loyal." She shook her head. “And it's all to control them.”
“Why?” I whispered, feeling shaken to my core. I'd known the Sun Witches were evil, and that they'd been manipulating us, but I'd had no idea just how bad it was. “Why would they want to do that?"
"They want to sow chaos and conflict so that you all fight amongst yourselves instead of rebelling against them. Perhaps they're betting that you'll eventually implode and kill each other off."
"Which is exactly what happened at the Convergence," I said with a sigh.
"So it seems. And now they will swoop in and take control again."
I thought of the way the Leos and the Sun Witches were working together and knew she was right. Kaden had said similar things before, and I'd thought it was just an unhealthy hatred for all the packs and the Sun Witches, but it looked like he had been right—and it had been worse than even he had thought. I hadn't realized how bad it really was, or how deep the corruption went. How would we ever stop them?
"Can the packs be saved?” I asked. “If everything good has been bred out of the Zodiac Wolves, and they're all being controlled by the Sun Witches, is there anything we can do?"
“I don't know,” Celeste said. “I wouldn't even know where to start. I fear it may be too late for them."
I set my tea down and met her eyes. “No, I won't accept that. The people in the packs are not all bad. Even though I had a hard time in the Cancer pack, I know there are some good people there, and in the other packs too. I've seen it. My brother, Wesley, and my best friend, Mira, are good people. Some of the other shifters I met recently seem like they might be decent people too. Not every shifter is bad, and I won't give up on them."
“I hope you will be the one who will be able to save them,” she said, tilting her head and smiling at me. “You are certainly capable of it. But first, you need magic. Shall we head outside and get started?"
I blinked, and then quickly downed the rest of my tea, eager to get begin. "Yes, I'm ready."
We stepped outside onto the sand, and the moon was so bright overhead it cast a silver glow across the waves. Celeste stopped once we were close to the water and turned toward me. I had no idea what she was planning, but I was ready for it.
Celeste raised her hands and began chanting. I didn't understand what she was saying, but I felt the power growing all around her. No, around us. The moon's light got so bright I lifted my hands to shield my eyes, and that's when I realized I was the one glowing. Brighter and brighter until I felt like I would burst from the amount of power being poured into me. It quickly became uncomfortable, like there wasn't any room for any more of it to go, and I felt like I couldn't breathe from all the pressure inside me. I opened my mouth to tell Celeste to stop, that this wasn't going to work, and then suddenly some barrier broke down inside of me and the magic burst free, turning the whole area white.
I staggered from the release, sucking in a huge, ragged breath. As the burst of light faded, the power came back and settled inside me, right at home in my skin. I stared down at my still-glowing skin, mouth agape. It was true. I was half Moon Witch, and I could use the magic inside me. I looked up at Celeste, who was smiling like a proud parent, eyes shimmering brightly in the moonlight.
“Good, now we can begin,” she said.
CHAPTER FIVE