Mated to Vengeance

CHAPTER TWO: In the wake of the moon

Alpha Monroe got back home in the early hours of the morning, he savored the quietness before everybody wakes up and everywhere starts bustling with activities. He was startled to see Bernard standing by the doorway as he let himself in through the back door of the cottage he shared with his mate and their children, their house was just beside the pack house letting them have their privacy but also be close to the pack.

“Bernard,” he said stopping in his tracks, “What are you doing up so early?”

The little boy’s face crumpled and he ran into his father’s arms,

“She is dead, isn’t she?” his voice sounded muffled as he pressed against his father’s body. Monroe’s heart wrenched as he heard the pain in his son’s voice.

“I know she is,” Bernard continued when his father didn’t respond. “She didn’t come out of the room with the baby and they didn’t allow us into her room and you ran into the woods.”

“Does it mean we will never see her again?” he asked, his father’s silence further confirmed his suspicion, he let out a whimper as he finally let the tears he had been holding in all night drop.

Monroe swallowed the lump in his throat as he held his son tightly as he sobbed, they stood like that for several minutes, when his tears subsided, he held his son’s quaking shoulders and squatted till he was at his eye level.

“Look at me son,” he said sternly “Yes, we can’t see your mother again but that doesn’t mean she is gone forever. She will always be here with us.”

Bernard cleaned the remaining tears in his eyes with the back of his hands and met his father’s eyes, looking confused.

“How is she with us if we can’t see her?”

“That’s because she is right here.” Monroe touched his chest “She will always live in our hearts and she will be with you always. Do you understand?”

Bernard looked a little confused but he nodded eventually “ Yes, I understand.”

“But what is going to happen to the baby? “

“We are going to take care of her, you, me and Ian. She is going to be your only sister. Do you think we can do that?”

“Yes daddy. What is her name?” he asked

“Her name is Brienne.”

“Brienne,” Bernard repeated as if tasting the word on his mouth.

“I will take care of Brienne and make sure nobody can hurt her.”

Monroe smiled and ruffled his hair, “That’s my boy. Now you better get some sleep before the whole pack wakes up.”

He walked Bernard to his room, the boy climbed into bed beside his brother and was out within minutes.

Monroe stared at his sleeping children for a long time, he made a silent prayer to the moon goddess for strength, he ruffled their hair and let out a sigh before walking out of the room.

He looked into the next room and found his daughter sleeping peacefully in a cot, her tiny fists were clenched and she looked so tiny and vulnerable, the nursemaid, a middle aged lady called Hannah slept in a cottage beside her.

He stared at her for a long time

“She looks so fragile, I’m afraid we will break her if we even try to carry her,” the thick voice of his wolf filled his head, he felt relieved, his wolf had disappeared all night.

“Yes but isn’t she so beautiful?” He replied

“She looks just like her mother,” his wolf added sadly.

He left the room quietly and headed to his room, the place has been cleaned and there was no sign that anything happened, the only thing that changed was that Mevlyn wasn’t there anymore. He couldn’t bear to stay in the room so he put on some clothes and headed to his office, he couldn’t sleep anyway. He poured a shot of whiskey in a glass and sank into his chair.

“I should probably not be drinking now that I have a baby to take care of,” he mumbled to himself and discarded the glass. He stared at the door hoping his mate would just barge in like she used to and this will all be just a bad dream.

He was still in the same position when his beta opened the door to the office two hours later.

Later that day, the northwood pack held a quiet burial ceremony for their luna, a ceremony that had half of the pack in tears.

NINE YEARS AND A FEW MONTHS LATER

“Bri hurry up, we need to return before dad finds out we are gone.” Sixteen years old Ian yelled at his sister from the foot of the tree.

“One more minute, I’ve almost got it- ahh.” Brienne yelped as her foot almost missed it foothold.

“Bri!”

“I’m okay, my foot just slipped that’s all.”

“I told you to let me get the apples.”

“I want to be able to tell dad that I plucked the apples myself, it was my idea remember.”

They were both in the woods in the early hours of the morning, Brienne had dragged her brother out of bed and convinced him they to get fresh apples from the only apple tree in the forest.

It was their father’s birthday and Brienne was able to convince the pack cook to help them bake a pie for him, it was a special recipe of apple pie that their mother use to make when she was alive, Brienne had heard so many stories about her mother that it was like she met her herself. To make the apple pie, they needed freshly plucked apples that still had the morning dew on it, hence why they were in the forest so early.

They would get in trouble if their father found out they were in the wood so early.

Brienne landed back on the ground with a soft thud, she stumbled a bit but Ian caught her in time and collected the bag filled with apples from her.

He held her hands and they ran to the pack house, they dropped off the apples with the pack chef and ran back to their house.

Brienne was startled to see Bernard sitting on her bed when she snuck into her room.

“Uhm hi!” she said in a high-pitched voice.

Bernard simply raised an eyebrow.

“I only went out for some fresh air,” she laughed nervously.

Bernard looked out the window, “Yeah, right.”

“Did you get them?” he asked.

“You knew?!” He raised an eyebrow again

“Right, of course you know. Yeah we got them, she said it will be ready soon.”

“You might want to get back into bed before dad comes here.” He ruffled her hair and she swatted his hand away playfully.

“I thought we agreed that you’ll stop doing that,”

“You can try to stop me if you can.” He laughed and walked out of the room.

Alpha Monroe grinned when his daughter placed the apple pie in front of his later that morning and they all sang for him. It was hilarious to see Bernard and Ian try to match her excitement.

“Taste it, taste it.” She urged clapping her hands.

“You might just fall out of your seat if you don’t stop jumping,” Ian muttered but she paid him no mind.

Monroe took a fork full of the pie and groaned dramatically, Brienne giggled

“Does it taste like the one mom used to make?” he asked.

He was quiet for a few minutes and appeared to be thinking, Brienne held her breath.

“Actually it does taste very similar!” he said eventually.

“Yes!” she high-fived her brother.