Secrets and shadows from the past
1143 Words
The day after our shopping trip, a heavy knock rattled the door of Maria’s and my apartment.
Maria frowned, wiping her hands on a tea towel as she crossed the room. I glanced up from the book I’d been reading on diagnostic spells. Something about the air felt... off.
Maria opened the door to reveal a courier in formal Blue Coral Pack attire, holding out a sealed letter bearing the pack’s crest.
Her expression darkened. “What is this?”
“An urgent summons from Alpha Rowan and Luna Isolde,” the courier said, bowing stiffly. “They request your presence. It concerns Seryna Vale’s biological mother.”
Maria took the envelope with a curt nod and shut the door without another word. She turned it over in her hand. The seal was marked in red wax—urgent, official, and not to be ignored.
“They must be desperate,” Maria muttered.
My stomach dropped. “What do they want?”
Maria broke the seal and scanned the message. Her lips tightened with every line.
“They claim your mother is dying. That she’s asking for you.”
I blinked, caught between disbelief and unease. The bitter woman who had never once treated me with love or care—asking for me now?
“I don’t know what they’re playing at,” Maria said coldly. “But I’ll be damned if I let them guilt you into anything.”
I sat quietly for a moment, heart tangled in sorrow, confusion, and caution. “I want to go,” I said finally. “Not for her. For myself. I need to see it through.”
Maria gave a solemn nod. “Then we go together.”
That evening, as tension lingered in the apartment like fog, I sat alone on my bed, eyes distant. Rose? I called inwardly.
I’m here, she replied gently.
We’d learned so much in the last year—how to sync our thoughts, wield our strength, shape our shared magic. And yet, some questions still haunted us.
Why do we have this power? I wondered. Why are we stronger than even most wolves? Our aura could flatten a training ground. My wolf form had grown after my first shift—something no one had seen before. We were a mystery, even to ourselves.
I don’t know, Rose admitted. Even I don’t know everything. But I do know this: no one can hurt us again. Not now.
Despite the nerves swirling in my chest, I took a steady breath. I wasn’t that scared, beaten girl anymore. I was something more now. And this time, I wasn’t walking into that village alone.
Maria and I returned to the village the next day. It wasn’t far, and neither of us wanted to delay. The sooner we arrived, the sooner we could leave.
I was directed to the pack hospital—a place my mother never would’ve been allowed in when I was a child. Apparently, death had finally earned her a place among the elite.
When I stepped into her room, my breath caught.
She lay there, a shadow of the cruel woman I remembered. Her red hair was tangled and dull, her skin pale and stretched thin over sharp bones. Even the hospital gown hung loosely on her frame.
“Seryna...” she whispered.
“I’m here,” I said softly.
Her once-vivid emerald eyes flickered open. Recognition flared. Tears welled. Her voice was hoarse with sobs. “I’m so sorry... for all the years I failed you. I drowned in bitterness... in alcohol laced with Baneheart. It was the only thing that silenced my wolf’s sorrow after losing your father.”
I stiffened.
“He left me,” she rasped. “I couldn’t accept his rejection. Every time he touched his new mate, I felt it. The pain... gods, the agony. It never stopped. So I numbed it. I drank. I raged. And you... you looked too much like him.”
She paused, breath rattling. “You took care of me when I didn’t deserve it. You cleaned the house. Kept food on the table by doing errands for Maria and the few kindhearted wolves who didn’t spit at us. You even washed me. Combed my hair when it matted. And still... I took every coin you earned and bought more liquor. When I saw you could earn, I quit working. I let you carry it all.”
My eyes burned.
Her fingers trembled as she reached out. “When I saw your wolf... that silver fur, those glowing eyes... I knew. You were the one from the prophecy.”
I blinked. “What prophecy?”
She swallowed hard. “It was passed down through our bloodline for generations... I thought it was just an old story—something the women in our family whispered to children. I never imagined it would be you.”
Her voice cracked. “I expected you to come crawling to me, begging for a dress for your shifting ceremony. But you didn’t. You wore someone else’s gown. You stood tall. And for the first time in years... I sobered up.”
She coughed violently, her energy waning. “I tried. I took a job at Maria’s old clinic. I cleaned floors. But the Baneheart... it had already done too much damage. Nina tried everything, but I was too far gone.”
She squeezed my hand weakly. “I spent the last year in recovery, thinking about everything I’d done. I had a daughter who truly loved me... and I destroyed that love.”
I held her hand and nodded, the weight of her confession crashing into me. “I never stopped loving you. And I never will. For what it’s worth... I forgive you.”
My training had taught me the horrors of a shattered mate bond. It didn’t excuse what she had done—but it explained so much. The pain. The madness. The poison—Baneheart—used in war to weaken wolves, and by kings and alphas to punish rogues. It had eroded her soul.
A fragile, broken smile touched her lips. “You’re too kind. I don’t deserve your forgiveness... or your love. But listen to me—I told that Luna not to summon you. You can’t stay. They only want you now because of your power. The Luna... she’s not what she seems.”
Her voice dropped to a rasp. “Go back to our home. I left something there. It will explain everything. But after that... leave. Don’t come back. Not for me. Not for anyone.”
She exhaled one last, trembling breath. “I love you. I’m sorry.”
The heart monitor flatlined.
I stood frozen, her lifeless eyes still open.
And inside me, a storm of grief and revelation rose, wild and unforgiving
- Writer
