The Mark

Family issues

Sofia, Alpha and Luna were inside the ball room again.

“You know the truth Sofia” said Dan. He was calm but his voice was firm.

“You can’t take her from me! I’m her mother!” Sofia was trying to keep her voice down so no one could hear them, but she was so distressed, it wasn’t easy.

“But you’re not! You’re not, and you know that! Stop denying that!” Celeste joined the conversation. She couldn’t understand how her brother is so composed right now. The lady in front of them stole his baby when he was grieving his late wife, and he didn’t even seem mad. How?

“I may seem calm Sofia, but I’m burning inside.” Said Dan just like he could hear what Celeste was thinking. “She’s my daughter and she belongs with me.” His fists were clenched. His sister looked at him significantly and he added “With us.”

Sofia was taken aback. Of course she knew, how could she not, but no one ever said that out loud. “But… but I raised her…” she wasn’t so sure with her words anymore.

“You may have raised her, but we’re her true family.” Replied Dan.

“Oh please, you always favoured your son. You think that we don’t know that?” said Celeste, not caring about tears coming to Sofia’s eyes.

“He left me because of her!” shouted Miles’ mother. “He left me, and it wasn’t my fault… You don’t know how it is to…” she continued, but Alpha interrupted her “To live without your mate? Is that what you wanted to say?” He wasn’t so calm anymore. Sofia took a step back.

“I had to live without my mate longer than you. And because of you, I also had to live without my daughter.”

“Why didn’t you give her to us if you detest her so much?” asked Celeste. She was mad, but also honestly curious. “Look what happened because of that.” She added pointing to the door to the terrace. Of course she was talking about Miles and Kie being mates.

“They are brother and sister!” Sofia was furious. Alpha siblings were in shock in how big denial this woman lived. She knew very well that they weren’t a family by blood, but still sticked to her version of events.

Sofia’s face was completely red from anger but also from embarrassment. Obviously, she knew that Kiara isn’t her real daughter, but keeping it a secret for so many years, it was like a face punch to hear that. Her true Kiara died. Dan’s wife, Luna was also giving birth, and it end up tragically. Everyone was mourning the loss of the Luna and her newborn. Alpha was devastated, his whole life collapsed. They tried for a baby for so long and were so happy when she finally got pregnant. Everything went great, Luna felt good through the whole pregnancy, she was glowing, the room was waiting for so much desired child. When it was the time for the little future Alpha to come into this world, they were already prepared with a hospital bag waiting for them. The beautiful day turned dark when they arrived at the hospital, and noticed that the bottom of Luna’s dress was all red. Before she fainted, she managed to say weak “I love you… please save her and love her for both of us”. That were her last words.

Paramedics immediately took her to the surgery room and performed a C-section trying to deliver the baby. Unfortunately, the little girl was already dead. At least that’s what they thought. After a long battle, Luna was pronounced dead. Dan was shuttered, his world collapsed. If only he could have known that all this suffering could have been avoided if not for Sofia and a midwife.

Miles’ mom's newborn was a premature baby and right after the birth, her little daughter was transferred to the ICU. Sofia was weak, but she tried to be next to her child as often as she could. One night the most feared thing happened, Kiara stopped breathing. Young mom was sleep deprived and shocked, she didn’t notice until a few hours later, when it was too late to do anything. After she realised what had happened, she fell into a Trans, she wasn’t acting straight. She just took the baby and left the room and for some reason she managed not to be caught, even though she wasn’t even trying. It was just some weird kind of luck. She took a lift to the ground floor and then went one floor lower, where the morgue was. Only personnel were allowed there, but again she was lucky, as there wasn’t anyone around. She sat on one of the chairs next to the door holding her dead baby like nothing happened. Suddenly she heard someone coming. She hid behind the wall. A staff member was pushing the table, probably with a dead body on it. Young doctor left the table on the corridor and went inside one of the rooms. Sofia leaned out to see what’s happening and what she saw broke her heart. There was indeed a dead body on the table; under the white sheet she saw a small silhouette. Her eyes were full of tears now. Suddenly the sheet moved. She didn’t know if she’s going mad or if she actually saw it moving. Fortunately she didn’t have to wait too long to find out the answer, as the little silhouette moved again. Young mom went closer to the table, still holding the dead child in her arms. She uncovered the little girl, who was still naked, in blood from the birth. Not giving it too much thought, she switched two girls. As much as she knew it’s extremely stupid idea, she wasn’t thinking straight. She wasn’t thinking at all. That was like an impulse, she just had to do it. She covered her true, dead daughter with the sheet, and left as fast as she could. She didn’t know how big a price she’s going to have to pay for that.

She came back to the ICU where one of the midwives was in her room. She was a young lady, Maria that was her name. She was furious and as soon as she noticed Sofia with the baby in her arms she started her monologue “What the hell? Why did you take her from here? You could’ve literally killed her!”. She almost ripped the child from Sofia’s arms, and put it on the diaper changing table. To her surprise the little girl was completely fine. There was something disturbing about that. Maria felt that something’s wrong, but she had no idea what that was. After a few more tests, she let them be, and told the doctors that she thinks, young mom and her daughter don’t need to stay at the ICU anymore. Sofia left the hospital two days later, happy to finally come back to her son and husband, who at that stage, didn’t suspect anything, and was just delighted that his family is healthy and reunited.

The Alpha family suspected something for a long time, but recently they’ve been more and more resentful. Now they were rightfully sure that Kiara is Dan’s daughter, but they had no clue how all of that happened. To this day she didn’t tell that story to anyone, but she felt like the first time was coming.