TBMA [Complete ✔️]

6. Goodbye

Knox's P.O.V (T.W. chapter contains domestic violence, proceed with caution)

I was so tired my eyes refused to open even as I heard something going on around me. I knew I should wake up, that a commotion at what I assumed were very early hours of the morning would not be anything pleasant, but the terrors of yesterday kept me awake for the greater half of the night.

I tossed and turned for a while after seeing my father stare at me and Rose, wondering how long he had been there and why. Even as I managed to fall asleep, nightmares of my crying mother and the need to protect my sister from whatever mom was crying about would wake me up covered in sweat.

Nightmares weren't unusual. I'd had them for as long as I could remember, at first - because of the many dead pack members after attacks I saw as a young child, later about my father hurting those I loved. At some point, my nightmares were also about the friends we had lost in one of those attacks, but now, they were mainly fear of losing my mom and sister to those same attacks, or to my father.

I was scared even when I pretended I wasn't, lately more than usual. A feeling of dread had planted its roots deep within me, tying my stomach into a knot. It wasn't bad all the time, I didn't feel scared whenever I was at school, I knew my father was working then, and Rose was in school too, so we were all safe, I also wasn't scared when mom would make sure my sister and I could still get to play for a little bit like we used to when we were younger. It's only then that I get to see Zane, but he doesn't mind the fact that I can't play as often as we used to, he's still my best friend.

"Let her go, you heartless monster!" I heard my mother scream, my eyes snapping open, my mind completely clear as if I had been awake for a while. I threw the covers to the floor and looked towards Rose's bed, my heart dropping as I saw it empty. I ran as fast as my legs would carry, following the noise of my mother's cries.

My father was holding Rose in his arms, pressing her into his chest, most likely to keep her from screaming, as he quickly made his way to the stairs, my mother following after him. She gripped his shirt, but he yanked it out of her and sent her crashing to the floor to nurse her probably broken wrist.

I ran up to my mom and held her, trying to take her hand and examine the injury.

"Don't let him get away, please!" She pleaded, making me instantly drop her hand, nod, and run off. From the corner of my eye, I could see her cradling her wrist while trying to stand up, but she was strong, I knew she'd be able to do it on her own. Rose, however, was merely a child and couldn't save herself from our father's schemes.

I reached the two, screaming at the top of my lungs for him to let my sister go. Pack members that reside in the house had no doubt heard me, my father knew it too. He pushed me into the kitchen, mom managing to get inside just before he locked the door.

Rose used the time in which he was fumbling the lock to look at me, tears silently falling down her cheeks.

"Knox!" She called, her arms outstretched, urging me to hold her, to get her away from him. Anger pulsated in my veins as I watched him grip her hands and shove them to her body, her cries turning into sobs.

My sister didn't deserve this, a nine-year-old child didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve to see the nasty side of her father, to see him as the monster he really was, nor did she deserve to be scarred and scared of him.

My mother didn't deserve to have to fear for her and her children's safety. She didn't deserve to be slapped and humiliated by her own mate, the one wolf who was meant to keep her safe and love her. I've always promised to my mom that I would never treat my own this way, or disrespect her, but seeing him so cruelly ruin their bond for years now, I wondered if what they taught us at school was true.

If the bond was strong, why was it so easy for my father to disrespect it, to hurt mom? If mates were meant to be your other half, the one you love most and loves you most, why doesn't he love mom? Or is this what happens to all mates one day?

I listened to my teachers go on and on about how sacred and special the mate bond is, how it was the greatest gift of the Goddess, but now I wasn't sure I wanted one. I didn't want to become like my father, I didn't want to hurt an innocent she-wolf, and I didn't want anyone to feel the pain my mother has silently been enduring.

"You will not take my child from me!" My mother's tear-stained face got closer to father's. She was seething with rage, as was I. "Only way you're leaving the room with my daughter is over my dead body!" She continued to scream, while he continued to pull Rose away from her and keep her at a distance, all while my sister sobbed and begged me and mom to help her.

"You don't think that would be any challenge for me, do you?" My mom's confidence faltered for a bit, but she masked it well enough for my father not to notice. He was confident he could easily overpower her, but what scared me the most was that he wouldn't bat an eye while doing it.

My mother used his cockiness to her advantage and kneed him in the stomach with as much force as she could muster, but still, he only groaned and shut his eyes for a moment before regaining his strength.

"Don't you dare ever lay a hand on me!" He shouted, gripping her hair in his fist. My mom winced, her eyes red from the force she was putting into not shedding more tears. "Am I clear?" He tightened his grip around her light brown hair and pulled her in the air by it.

"Stop! Leave them alone!" I screamed at the top of my lungs again and ran towards them, kicking dad in the feet and gripping his arm to try and free mom from his grip, but he was much stronger and sent me flying straight into the corner of the table, my head taking the impact.

It pulsated with pain, a few tears slipping down my face. I could barely open my eyes, dizziness overpowering any strength I had mustered. Still, I tried my best and forced them open again, doing the one thing I had yet to try - beg.

"Please, dad!" But even my pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears.

At that moment, Rose kicked him, making him stumble, but sadly it once again just made him angrier.

"She is my daughter and I decide what to do with her!" He roared, shaking the room and everything in it. "She will be traded, so the pack can receive money and a new ally and you will not say a word!" He threw fist after fist at mom's head, dropping Rose in the process.

Her small, trembling body ran over to me, pulling at my shirt.

"Mommy!" She sobbed, trying to get me to get up. "Knox, he's hurting mommy!" I watched as father's fists jammed into her one by one, heard the ringing of their screams in my ears, but the impact on my head was worse than I had imagined. I couldn't get up, couldn't scream, couldn't save my mother as she fought for her life.

I pulled my sister into my chest, cradling her head, so she wouldn't see. I shushed her, willed her not to cry, coed in her ear to try and soothe what couldn't be soothed, to try and fix what was breaking by the second and wasn't done yet. I rocked her, so I didn't pay attention to how violently her body was shaking, to how terrified a child was of its own father. I tried to save her from how cruel the world was, but I failed.

The screams, along with the ringing in my ears, stopped, the room going deadly silent. I opened my eyes, which I had shut tightly to avoid looking as my mom took her final breath. This was it. I knew this was it and still, when I opened my eyes and saw hers closed, a scream so loud left my mouth, I was sure I had ripped my vocal cords.

My father glared at me, forcing me to shut up and cry quietly, to not make a sound as he grieved what he murdered. I looked at my once beautiful mom, now b****y and broken on the floor. Chunks of her hair covered the floor along with her blood. So much of it.

On the walls, on their clothes, on the floor, on her head. Bruises littered her face and arms, one eye blue and swollen. An end my kind, amazing, caring mother shouldn't have faced.

The monster growled, his feral wolf realising he had killed his own mate, as undeserving as he was of such title. He began tearing things to shreds and throwing them around, shards of a glass fruit bowl barely missing Rose's back by an inch.

I carefully picked her up, quickly turning us around so her body was shielded by my back, which became his new target.

"You!" He roared. "You did this! You killed your mother!" Still, I didn't turn around to face him, kissing Rose's head and holding her tightly while tears streamed down my cheeks in agony, realisation settling in. I had lost my mom, my sister had lost the only parent that cared for her. We were now on our own with a monster that was only beginning its terrors.

I took a sharp breath, silently wincing as a new object tore into my skin. I let myself hide into the depths of my mind, grieving for the one woman that loved me enough to give her life for both me and my sister. I made rules for myself I knew there was no way I would ever break after today.

Protect my sister.

Never let myself love anyone, never let anyone love me.

Never even think about a mate.

Never show emotions.

Never let your guard down.

Those were rules I had to set way to young, all while shards of glass and splinters of wood tore into my flesh, the flesh that shielded its sister from getting hurt, enduring what it deserved. I would protect Rose, I wouldn't break my promise to mom, even if I didn't manage to protect her.

A/N

Hi, Treasures! Make sure you join my F-a-c-e-b-o-o-k group Teddy's Treasures for extra content and discussions! This is the worst the violence would get in this book. This is the full story of how Luna Aria passed away, hope she found peace.