Mated To An Enemy Chapter 331 Called Home

By the ti Caleb had found his way back to where he had left Ashleigh, another firework had gone off, and the actors had returned to the stage.

Lily lay dead on the ground, holding a single lily of the valley in her hand.

Geri sat beside her on his knees, whimpering. His hand at his side, he leaned forward and placed his forehead to hers letting out soft sobs.

“Rise, Alpha of Winter,” a voice called to Geri.

Caleb glanced at the other end of the stage. Three won approached Geri, all wore Valkyrie helts and plated armor.

“Are you… Valkyrie? Have you co to take my Lily to Valhalla?” Geri asked.

“She has died a noble death. We will honor her,” one of the won said, while another approached and lifted Lily into her arms with ease. “But you must rise, the battle is not done.”

“You must defeat Loki, or her death will an nothing,” the other woman said.

“I will chase him to the depths of hell if I have to,” Geri said. “I will avenge my Lily!”.

The three won carrying the body of Lily left the stage. Geri was alone with the single flower. He knelt forward and touched the small, belled petals.

“The Goddess cries for you tonight, Lily,” he said softly. “She has blessed this land with her tears. So here, where your blood was spilled, this land will be known as Lily’s Rest.”

The lights went down. There were movents and muttered words, a small laugh from the audience sitting closest to the stage.

When the lights ca back up, Geri stood in full armor, with several others standing behind him. So were in their wolf form. Across the stage stood the flamboyant Loki, who smiled and laughed and generally looked ridiculous. Surrounding him were others painted with leaves in greens, browns, and golds.

There were speeches and taunts, and lodramatic pantomi of Geri chasing Loki from the north to south and finally the great battle. At the end of it all, Geri was wounded but lived. Loki had died, and peace reigned across the world of man.

Caleb had only caught a few lines here and there. Primarily he was searching for Ashleigh. But, unfortunately, she had slipped away in the crowd, and he didn’t like it.

He looked back and forth, ducking between people and standing on empty chairs. But he didn’t see her anywhere.

“Are you really that worried?” Ashleigh whispered from behind him.

He spun around and caught her in his arms.

“I wasn’t sure where you had gone,” he whispered, burying his lips into her hair.

“Nature called to as well,” she laughed. Then looking back at the stage as Geri gave his final speech, she added. “Aww, guess I missed all the good parts.”

The lights went down, and the squeal of the firework went up. Then, several loud pops, one right after the other, rang out. Caleb looked up to see a mix of colors. Red, purple, blue, green. It was beautiful.

“Hey,” Ashleigh said, drawing Caleb’s attention. “What did you an when you asked why I thought the other Lunas had died?”

Several people pushed and pulled, laughing as they headed back toward the food and drink. Finally, Caleb looked around and dragged her to a slightly secluded spot beneath a row of trees.

“Well, I don’t know about Spring and Autumn, but Solana didn’t die. At least not when she left Sumr.”

“What? How do you know?” Ashleigh asked curiously.

“Sumr has always been great at keeping records,” Caleb smiled. “So of our earliest are about Alpha Caelter and Luna Solana.”

“Like what?”

“Well, regarding Solana, there wasn’t much. There was so ntion of her being called ho. So people interpret that as her returning to the place she lived as a human. Others assud that she had gone to Winter and died in the battle. That returning ho ant she wanted to die fighting.”

“Wow…”

“But no matter how you interpret it, I don’t believe she died, at least not before Caelter, because he never suffered her loss. The destruction of the bond, it was not sothing he experienced. Instead, he died of old age, having passed the role of Alpha to his son years before.”

Ashleigh looked away, feeling sothing akin to an itch in her mind, sothing scratching at her mory.

“Ash?”

“Huh?”

“I asked, what’s next?” Caleb said, looking into her eyes with concern. “Are you ok?”

“Yes,” she nodded and gave him a winning smile.

“Alright,” he said with a quick kiss. “So, what’s next?”

He looked around with excitent. Ashleigh laughed at his adorable expression.

“Well, you’ve seen the dancing and the bonfires, the tables and tables of food… we watched the play and the fireworks… The wild hunt doesn’t start for another hour, maybe two… so that would an…Oh!” Ashleigh paused with a gasp. “Oh my goddess…”

“What?” Caleb asked, looking around with concern that sothing had caused the look of alarm on her face.

“Oh… that must be it… Oh! Caleb!!” Ashleigh squealed with excitent and grabbed his arms, jumping up and down.

“What are you so excited about?” Caleb asked with a chuckle, glad to know she wasn’t worried about sothing.

“After the show and the fireworks and before the wild hunt…” she said, looking at him like she expected him to finish her sentence.

He raised his brows, waiting, and then sighed.

ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ “Ash, this is my first ti. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh right,” she laughed. “Ok, well, before the wild hunt is the Mourning Call. It’s sort of like a scavenger hunt… except there is only one item, and it’s for all the pups who have received their wolf but only for a year or less.”

“Ok… and what is so exciting about that?” Caleb asked.

“The Mourning Call is a rembrance walk. It’s ant to represent Geri’s search for Lily before she was slain by Loki. The item that they are searching for is the sa flower used on the stage tonight during the show.”

“That’s… pretty sad.”

“It is, but it’s not. The one who finds it is supposed to bring it back and give it to the Alpha, who then gives it to his Luna, completing the task that Geri was unable to. It’s supposed to bless the mated couples with a year of peace and boons,” Ashleigh smiled.

“Ok, well, that is a much sweeter take on it, but why exactly are you so excited? You are young but still about ten years too late on the cut-off for the hunt….” Caleb laughed.

“I don’t want to find the flower,” Ashleigh sighed, then her eyes lit up with mischief and excitent. “But this must be when he’s going to do it. I an, it’s perfect. All eyes will be on him, and it’s romantic… it’s perfect.”

“Ash, please… just… speak English?” Caleb sighed.

“Axel!” she said excitedly. Then quickly looked around and quieted her voice. “He’s going to announce his Luna by giving her the lily of the valley!”