The Sun and The Moon

Chapter 2

Tempest

Where are you?

I heard Gavin through our pack link as I pulled into my parking spot.

About to head in and read my letter from Moon. Your mom also says hello. I tell him snidely and hear his growl through our link.

I'm sorry Tempt. I’ve told her to stop with that nonsense! Gavin whispers back after he finally gets control of his temper.

I’ve never told him the nasty s**t his mother says to me only that she wants us together. I can’t hurt my brother like that. No, Gavin and Aaron aren’t my blood, they are more. I chose them time and time again and they have chosen me despite the pack and their parents. They’ve chosen me since they met me at five and I love them both more than anything.

What did she say? Gavin asks and I just ignore the question.

I’ll see you in a bit. I told him sadly and cut the link.

The wooden steps to the beta’s floor make creaks as I angrily climb them. I’m pissed I never say anything back to the assholes with all the opinions. Why can’t I just be Marianne for once and rain down hell on them. I don’t need them to defend me every breath, they shouldn’t have to. I’ve never caused a moment's problem in the pack and I’ve always been respectful and helpful. In a sense I even defend the pack of shitty people who bully me. If I mentioned any of what they have said to me to Aaron and Gavin, both my brothers would go nuclear on this pack. I can’t tell Gavin what his mother says. I can’t tell either of them what the pack says when my brothers aren’t here.

When I get to the door of my parents' suite, I can hear arguing. The heavy oak door and soundproofing do very little to quiet my father’s roars of frustration and aggravation. My mother’s soft sobs and firm hisses echo my father’s wrath. They don’t argue often. Less than a handful of times over my fifteen years with them. My parents only argue when I’m involved.

My father wants me to live freely and run wild. He wants me tough enough even without my wolf to defend myself from any attacker. He is the current beta to the pack and I am his daughter, and I refuse to disappoint him. My father wanted me to be the incoming beta to Aaron’s alpha but Aaron’s father wouldn’t hear of it. Now I train with dad early every morning, working on my strength, my core, and whatever else he throws at me. My mother is vastly different and it’s of no fault of her own. Before my mother rescued me, Decora Clawstrike, was a powerhouse of a beta female. Standing at over six feet she absolutely took no s**t and no prisoners or so my father told me. How my mother and I met is the reason my mother is as broken as she is today.

My mother was out on patrols when rogues ambushed her and the other three warriors she was with. The rogues killed the other warriors before the pack could get there and they took my mother with them. I remember vaguely seeing her from where I was chained as a child. She looked like a goddess as she stomped through the camp the rogues had made. Blonde hair like sunflowers and blue eyes made up the sky to match as my mother started fighting rogues like an alpha wolf. No fear in her at all. She kept screaming at them to kill her because no one would ever lay a finger on her and live. They drugged her and did the worst things imaginable to my mother as she lay there prone under them. Oh she fought them back still as they tormented and forced themselves on her. Then they silvered her and started carving her face in horrifying ways. Drugged and silvered my mothers wolf couldn’t help or heal her. She lay for two weeks with only me caring for her as she slowly rotted away from blood poison. I freed her. I freed us both because I already loved her as my mother. I couldn’t stay still and watch her die when she had so bravely fought for me. It took everything in me to drag her away from there that night. My father found us a few hours later and at his back was the pack. My mother claimed me in front of the pack as she lay suffering. She protected me. Mom has always protected me. I didn’t find out until later that the men who held me and had hurt Mom were Lycan rogues. Mom is terrified of Lycans and losing me now.

The mumbling, curses, and yells pick up from behind the door and I’m feeling anxious for my mother. My mother and father are two more people I can’t tell what the pack thinks of me. I would never burden my mother like that. Mom yells and it feels like I’m shattering with her. She’s scared and furious because I could feel it blowing off her like shrapnel from a grenade. It struck my chest and heart causing me to bleed right outside the front door. I had to know what had upset her so much so I cracked the door and listened.

“You are not selling my daughter!” I heard my mother roar with a scream.

“It’s not selling Decora! The money has already been spent thanks to the f*****g James! She belongs to him!” Dad groans loudly at her. I can tell he’s tired of the conversation.

“Listen to me Harold!” Mom screams and I hear something glass shatter followed by a loud thump on the floor. “You’ve groomed our baby for years just for this monster to come to collect her! Look at my f*****g face Harold! This is what those beasts do! I can’t even tolerate you touching me because they have! You will not sell my daughter to beasts!” My mother broke down in heart wrenching sobs and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I was my parents' only child, my mothers only daughter. My mother’s talking about me! I could feel the tears bubble in my eyes and flow freely from them. Why would my dad groom and sell me? Panic begins to climb its way like something oily into my veins and clog my senses. I can smell the acidic scent of my own fear and I scrambled away from the door in time to hear my father’s voice.

“I can’t talk to you when you're like this Decora. You only see what you want to. I’ve tried for years to explain the arrangements we have made with these men to prevent a f*****g m******e of this pack. If they want her, they’ll have her Decora! None of us can prevent that now. They’ll be here in two days and you’ll stay away from our daughter until after they meet. Is that understood mate? I command you not as your mate but as your beta you will say nothing to our daughter!”

The command rolled off of my father’s lips in a threatening growl. He has never treated mom this way before. Never. Oddly his emotions are a mirror of my mother’s own fear and anger and I can’t make sense of anything I’m hearing. My father’s shadow starts heading toward the front door and I close it shut softly. My heart’s hammering in my chest and I’m drowning in my own fear now. I think in this moment I realized how truly human my parents were. Tucking myself into one the linen closets closest to our suites, I held my breath and willed my heart to slow as I felt him. Fear in great rolling waves swept through me as dad almost ran from our suite door. I knew by the direction he was headed he was going to Aaron’s father Alpha James. The alpha does not like me as much as his son does nor what his Luna used to. Goddess I loved that lady like a second mother and she helped mom through so much. When she died in childbirth I cried for a week right along with Aaron and Gavin.

When I was sure my father wasn’t coming back, I slipped into our suites. My mother’s frantic eyes met mine in a silent plea to understand her. My father had sealed her lips, that I understood.

“I heard mom but I don’t understand.” I whisper to her as I fall head first into her lap. Her scared face puckers as she struggles to speak to me.

“Follow me.” She muttered and jumped up so quickly I almost hit the floor. I walked quickly after her. She was practically running and just seeing how upset she was elevated my own sharply.

“Can’t have you!” She bit out and opened an empty guest room of ours. Her face was a twisted dark mask of pain and determination. The scars on her face almost seemed to pulse as she forced her way through my fathers command. Tears rolled down her cheeks but she would stop.

“Mom please!” I begged her. I didn’t want her hurting herself like this.

She hugged me tightly to her and growled ferociously. This was her love for me! I could feel it, a mother’s true love for her daughter. I could even feel her true fear for me as well. Gripping my hand tightly she pulled me over to an empty closet and opened the door with enough force to pull it from its hinges. Growling she dropped to her knees with enough force to vibrate the floorboards under my feet. Mom started to claw at the baseboards around the inner part of the closet. She crawled further into the dark small space and the entire time I was silently crying. I could feel it, something coming to an end. Something bad is on its way. Something wicked and unwelcome.