Scarlett: The Lost Luna

Andres POV I would have loved to make a call to my dead father, but the dead have a very bad habit of not returning calls. I don't think I want to be kept waiting after having a thousand questions sitting in my thoughts. I live at home. Mom used to say but not with flying fists and a mouth filled with curse words. From a man that had no sense of family, who threw his hands on anything that touched it. There was more to all of this, and I see the grief Mom held in her bones. "f**k! Why on earth is she doing this to herself." I asked into the void as I saw mom insisting that she stayed with him until the Elders had decided his fate. Perez stood beside me with his hands deep into his slacks. His curly hair was dishevelled, dancing on his face as he moved and he didn't mind. He has been in the studio all day, painting God knows what. It was difficult to know what he was feeling, Perez has always been the quiet one that preferred destruction in a quiet mode. That was how he sought for his prey each time he went hunting. I always said that he should have taken my place, then allowed me to fade into nothing. I was too disappointed to hold the mantle of this family, businesses and all. Perez wasn't as interested as I was. I was desperate to please Dad that I ended up being an experiment for his boxing lessons. "Even as a strong Luna, she is still tied to her former self. The life she had before she became a wolf, before she was turned. She believes he can still come back to life." "That's ridiculous. The dead should stay dead." "That's what we believe. He demonstrated with his hands. Tell that to her who has lived with the same man for that long. I am yet to understand how she loved this man like he wasn't a monster." "You think he was a monster." I asked Perez He sipped his bottle of scotch and sighed before giving me a reply. "Yeah. After all that he has done to both of us, I'm happy he died the way that he did." I swallowed a chuckle inside me. "Well, he would be with the Moon goddess. I hope he gets the torture befitting of his character." Mom was approaching where we stood, at the door. We had to move everyone downstairs, the wake was still happening but we weren't ready to lay him to rest. "I heard you." She glared at me fiddling with the rosary that snaked around her white frail hands. Her silver hair was let loose. She held my hands with hers that trembled every now and then. Here we go. "You have to forgive your father for everything he has been doing to you and your brother. He is still your father, however strict, he is a loving man." I was confused. "He is in a good place right here with us." She made a grand conclusion with that Spanish accent of hers, that made her words so slippery. Perez was unfazed by her words. Made it certain that I was missing a piece in the f*****g puzzle. "Something is definitely wrong with her." Perez gazed at me with a flash of worry in his grey eyes. With Perez, there is always a secret that he kept in his eyes, he held onto it until it was time to let the cat out of the bag. "Yeah, she has been talking about him as though he was still alive with us. She had it worse on some days. She poured her hot tea on a staff member who tried to sympathise with her saying, 'Alpha is dead and with the goddess in the heavens.' I had to pull her away from Ma." "How come I'm just knowing about this?" "Have you forgotten that you had your own fair share of worry and stress. This isn't something that we can hold anymore, it is beyond our grasp. Her grief heightened her depression and she has forgotten how bad he treated her in those later years. She is losing it, if she isn't gone yet." "What do we do?" "I was thinking…" he paused. "I was thinking we would send her to The Sanctum." "Hell no!" It was an immediate decision. That place ruined a lot of people who were just going through something similar and worse. We keep them there for their own safety and fit the pack too. When a wolf got loose, it was almost like they were corrupted with no sense of sanity left to tie them to themselves. They become wild and some eventually enter a phase of a kill spree. Dad didn't make sure that place was safe for those that lived there, in fact he took people out of there and used them as slaves. That deal could still be ongoing even if we have tried our best to place that place on high security alert. I was still sceptical about sending Mom there. "That would be best, Andres. If she stays here any longer it might be more terrible since we are still yet to find out what she is capable of. Who knows if the next Incident won't be a kill just because of the level of her grief. The Sanctum would be good for her. "I really don't know about that." We walked away from the room where Dad was kept and strolled over to the study. We still have some work to do, I didn't want to worry about what the Elders might need for the funeral of their former Alpha. I ordered the staff to inform them that the ceremony was over, it was not the time to brood over a lost feeling. Perez was with me in the study as we went through contract details. "Sometimes you need to trust that you did a good job in making that place a safe house as it was first intended. Everything changed under your rule, trust it. If it will make you feel any better. I will make sure she is in a really comfortable place and would make sure she gets privileged treatments, and also put someone to always watch her too." "That won't still be enough." I avoided his gaze. I didn't want him to see the worry that spiralled in my eyes. Worry tightened my bones and flowed in my blood,fear was eating me up. Losing Dad was easy but I won't forgive myself if anything happens to mom. That might be the last straw "I will go to see her every now and then. Would that make you feel better?" He relaxed, making his demands with an end question. "Why are you clamouring for this to happen? She is your mother and she is supposed to be here with us, in some building with a bunch of wolves she doesn't know." Perez sighed. He removed his mask of indifference, and I saw it all. "I know she is my mother. Things would be difficult for us from now on. We are going to be hunted and sometimes feel haunted." There was something that no one ever knew about my brother. He was a dream weaver and most of his dreams come alive through his paintings. If he was talking about this, that's because he has dreamt about it and probably painted it. I don't want to know what it looked like but I believed him. "Why do I feel like you are not saying everything." "With all of that I have seen, I know dreams are just one out of a thousand possibilities. That doesn't mean we should relax on this. We can't be worried about that and have mom here. It is going to be a death trap, we have to take her to where it is safe." He said calmly. I nodded agreeing to his suggestions. There was still a good level of doubts in me but I think it was a good idea. The question was what is it that would be coming after us that seemed to have shaken Perez like this. We were lost in every contract detail when one of the guards carefully walked like he was walking on eggshells. "Speak." "The Harpers are here to see you." I groaned. It was like they brought my betrothed with them. I could catch a strange scent that seemed to capture my attention. My wolf growled, in arousal. What's going on? I asked myself. This was very unusual. Each time I think of my betrothed, I think of Annabel and my possible mate who is still yet to be found. Then, this excitement that has risen inside of me can only mean one thing. She was here. Questions came rushing in, who was she that caught my eye without even seeing her at first? What does she look like? How do I approach her? The scent was something enticing, like the gentle smell of rain on the soil. I dashed out of the study, looking for the source of that scent. I followed through the many hallways. I was standing above them , holding the rails upstairs. The harpers were waiting for me obviously because they also wanted to pay their respects. Freddie Harper always knew how to make an entrance. There she was standing close to Freddie Harper. I felt Perez, presence beside me. "Who is she?" He asked. I wasn't interested in knowing what expression he had on,I bet he was smiling because he predicted this moment. "My mate."