Chapter 158: The Unfolding Truth XXXVIII

Third Person POV

Helen frowned, trying to sort through her panicked thoughts.

"You mean... your mother?"

Sonita’s face twisted in immediate disgust, and she shook her head firmly from side to side.

"No. I do not speak to my mother at all. I mean Genevieve. My sister. Not my mother."

"Genevieve," Helen repeated, correcting her own mistake. "Right. Yes."

Helen slumped back a little, deep doubt creeping into her voice.

"But how can Genevieve possibly help us? She is a Luna now. She has an entire pack to run. She has endless daily responsibilities. Walking away from all those people just to hide a secret child... it is completely impossible for her to do."

"I know," Sonita agreed, her fingers still tapping a slow rhythm.

"And if I went to her door and asked her myself... we are definitely not on speaking terms. She would probably refuse to listen to a single word I say."

She paused and the tapping stopped.

A very slow, clever smile started to spread across Sonita’s face, reaching all the way up to her blue eyes.

"But there is a specific trick I can do," Sonita said quietly. "Something that will force her to help us without her even realizing she is helping."

Helen felt a cold chill run quickly down her spine.

"What do you mean by that?"

Sonita leaned forward, closing the distance between them.

"I can control her mind. Just for a short time. Just long enough to make her help you. To force her to take your baby somewhere completely safe. And the moment the child is hidden... I can reach into her head and erase the entire memory. She will wake up and not remember doing a single thing."

Helen gasped, her hands flying up to cover her chest.

"Why on earth would you erase her memory? If she actually helps my baby and remembers doing it... she will use all her Luna power to do everything possible to keep that baby safe and protected."

"Exactly," Sonita said, her voice hard and firm. "And that is exactly the biggest problem we have."

Helen just stared at her, completely lost.

"Think about it," Sonita continued, holding Helen’s gaze so tightly that Helen could not look away.

"If my sister knows the truth about your baby... she will naturally want to protect the child. She will want to visit her. She will send people to check on her well-being. Every time she does that, she will leave a fresh trail behind her. And anyone who wants to hunt down your baby just has to follow my sister’s trail to find the hidden prize."

Sonita let out a soft breath, her expression softening just a bit.

"The absolute only way to guarantee your daughter stays safe is to burn away every single connection. We have to erase every memory. Every hidden trail. Even my own sister’s mind and especially my sister’s mind. Because she holds the title of Luna. People are always watching her. Enemies are always following her movements. If she secretly knows where your baby lives... she will accidentally lead the bad people right to her doorstep without ever meaning to."

Helen looked down at her own hands. They were shaking violently now. She clasped them tightly together to force them still.

"So," Helen said, her voice barely a whisper in the quiet room, "we have to wipe away her mind."

"Yes," Sonita nodded firmly.

"I will take over her mind. I will force her body to help us. And then we will scrub the memory completely clean before she even realizes what she has done. She will not remember where she traveled or why she went there. And because of that blank space in her head, your baby will remain completely safe from harm."

Helen stayed completely silent for a very long time.

The only noise in the room was the snap of the fire and the distant, muffled sound of the wind blowing outside the cottage walls.

Finally, Helen looked back up.

Her eyes were puffy and red, but the tears had stopped falling.

"What about all my baby’s incredible power? If she has all that dangerous magic locked inside her little body... what will happen when she grows up and cannot control it?"

Sonita leaned back in her wooden chair, resting her hands on the heavy leather book.

"You will have to seal it away."

Helen’s brow furrowed in deep confusion.

"I do not know how to do any kind of sealing magic."

"You absolutely have what it takes to do it," Sonita said, her voice ringing with solid confidence.

"You are a nine-tailed fox. You have incredible, hidden abilities that you do not even know about yet. I have not even finished researching the full extent of your kind. But from the ancient things I have found so far... your specific type possesses special gifts that no other creature on this earth can even dream of having."

She paused, letting the heavy truth settle into the space between them.

"I honestly think," Sonita said softly, "that is the exact reason why your kind went extinct in the first place. Because your natural power was simply too massive. Too wild and dangerous for the world to handle. The Moon Goddess herself must have had a very specific reason to let your kind slowly fade away from the earth."

Helen swallowed hard.

A thick lump formed in her throat, making it hard to breathe normally.

"You will do a spell to seal your daughter’s power tightly away," Sonita continued, her tone leaving no room for any argument.

"And while you are putting the lock on her... You will also seal your own power away too."

Helen shook her head, completely baffled by the idea.

"I really do not understand what you mean."

Sonita leaned forward again, her blue eyes intense and urgent.

"The Alpha King is hunting you down because he wants to consume your raw power. If he manages to take it from you... He will gain enough strength to easily track down your daughter. So the only way to keep her totally hidden... is for you to give up your magic. You need to seal your power away forever. And you must also take Kai’s Alpha power. Take them both and seal them deep inside your baby."

Sonita pointed a single finger right at Helen’s chest.

"You must lock it all away with something completely impossible to break. A magical lock that only the host body can ever open. And even then... it will only open if she actually learns the proper way to use it. If nobody ever teaches her how... the immense power stays locked away inside her forever."

Helen wrapped her arms tightly around her own stomach, a deep worry gnawing at her insides.

"What if it is simply too much energy for a tiny baby to hold? What if shoving all that massive power inside her little body hurts her?"

"Your kind is incredibly magnificent," Sonita said, shaking her head side to side to dismiss the silly worry.

"The stored power will not hurt her at all. It will just... make her very different from everyone else. She will not have a wolf spirit inside her head. She will not be able to shift into an animal form. She will not act like the other regular wolves. And she will certainly not be a normal human either. She will just exist as something completely... different. And yes, it will be very confusing at first. Hard for her to understand. Hard for everyone around her to deal with."

Sonita held Helen’s gaze, refusing to let the frightened mother look away.

"But in due time," Sonita said quietly, "she will eventually figure out exactly who she really is."

Helen sat perfectly still. The fire cracked loudly behind her back.

The long shadows danced and twisted against the wooden walls.

She looked closely at Sonita.

She stared at the woman who had dyed her own hair a black color just so she could walk through a crowded village market without strangers staring at her.

She looked at the brave woman who had always placed herself squarely between Helen and a cruel world that only wanted to hurt her.

The loyal woman who had been trying her absolute best to protect her this entire time, even when it felt like a harsh punishment.

"So," Helen said, her voice dropping so low it was barely audible over the crackling fire, "I have to lock away her natural gifts. I have to lock away my powers and Kai’s strength. Put it all safely inside her tiny body."

"Yes," Sonita nodded.

"And then I have to send my only child far away from me," Helen continued, her eyes locked on nothing in particular. "Somewhere the cruel Alpha King will never be able to find her."

"Exactly," Sonita whispered.

Helen did not speak another word. She did not move a single muscle in her body. She just sat on the edge of the messy bed, looking directly at Sonita.

Her grey eyes were wide open, wet with fresh tears, and completely full of a devastating sorrow that looked exactly like the very end of the entire world.

"I know this is entirely too much to handle," Sonita said, her voice growing extremely soft and gentle.

"I know you never asked for any of this pain to find you."

She reached out across the small space between them and gently took Helen’s trembling hand in her own.

"But you are not doing this alone," Sonita said, squeezing the cold fingers to offer some warmth.

"You have never actually been alone. Not even during the dark times when you truly thought you were."

Helen’s tears finally broke free again. They fell silently down her pale cheeks. She did not lift her free hand to wipe them away.

She just let them fall.

She simply sat there in the quiet room, gripping Sonita’s warm hand like it was the only solid thing left on the earth, staring off into the empty space, desperately trying to find the right words to describe a crushing pain that simply had no words at all.

The fire crackled loudly in the grate.

And somewhere in that heavy, shared silence, a terrible and final decision was made.