Chapter 10
686
I walked down the street facing my mom’s home as slowly as I could. It was a lively street that was named Flowers and Rues. I used to love this place. It housed most of the facilities that entice a child and the flower arrangement- was mind-blowing. It was planted by one of the past Lunas who after her death, her husband decided to give this place its name. How he came up with it is a mystery anyway.
Standing in front of my parent’s house brought many memories back to my head. It was as if I was back to being sixteen and ready to sneak into the house after spending the night out with my friends. I took in a deep breath as I opened the front door.
“Hey Mom,” I called out into an empty space. Not even one sound could be heard from the house. It was as silent as a graveyard.
“MOM!” I yelled out again. I walked into the bedroom she shared with my father and didn’t find her there. I checked the closet. I went back out to check the bathroom. I also went into the kitchen and found her phone lying there on the kitchen
counter.
Through the kitchen window, I could see a shadow cross my peripheral vision, I almost panicked until I saw the silver-kissed hair that belonged to my mother. She was in the garden while I looked for her through the house.
“Mom!” I called as I came out to the garden through the backyard. She looked up with a smile on her face as soon as she saw me. She removed the earbuds and I shook my head. That was why she didn’t hear me.
“Angela. You came,”
“Of course, I did. That b*stard brought my child back here,”
*You mean, Darius. The man of your dreams,” she replied and laughed. I gave her a bad look but soon resigned to my fate and joined her. I once believed that was who Darius was to me and to whoever cared to listen, I never hesitated to tell them
that
“I was so st*pid and gullible,” I lamented.
“No! You were in love,” She corrected me.
“yeah, st*pidly in love,” I shrugged. I took a closer look at my mom. She had lost a visible amount of weight. Her ey lost its color. She looked as if she bore the weight of the world on her shoulders. She had planted this garden with l together with my father. No matter how much she tried to pretend and c*ack jokes, I know she’s not fine.
“You didn’t lock the front door. I walked in and couldn’t find you, I thought you got kidnapped or something.”
“I didn’t lock that door because I knew you would be coming.”
“ooh,”
“Who would kidnap me here in this pack? Our pack was nominated as the safest pack in the North
“Really? That sort of nomination would make you guys a target
It was her turn to shrug. “Not when our guards are equipped with guns like that. No one would try to mess with Darius or his pack. He’s brutal,”
I nodded, taking in her words. I can’t pinpoint where I’m supposed to take the conversation to. It’s been so long we sat to talk and this civility between us might just be a façade. I would prefer for her to scream or yell at me. At least, she would be showing some emotions that way.
“Are you okay, mom?” I whispered in hushed tones as if the winds could carry my words to a faraway place.
1/3
III
O
13:00 Tue, May 28 MM.
Chapter 10
68
“I saw Reina last night. She’s a spitting image of Darius. Your gene didn’t put a fight,” She joked. I scoffed, almost calling her a meanie for her words but something came to my head making me stop.
“You saw Reina last night?” Even though it was a rhetorical question, I still wanted an answer from her.
“Yes, she spent the night with me. She’s such a lovely girl, you did a great job, Angela”
I opened my mouth to say something but I paused, rethinking my words so I wouldn’t say something disrespectful. “I called you last night, Mom and you couldn’t tell me that my child was with you.”
While I was out there losing my mind, she was with my mother who didn’t deem it fit to give me a call and tell me Reina was
safe.
“You only asked me if Darius was back in the pack and before I could give you an answer, I asked what was wrong and why you were looking for Darius. You didn’t trust me enough to tell me what was wrong. How was I supposed to know he took Reina away from you without your permission? I thought you consented to him bringing her here,”
To be honest, she had a point. I decided to drop the topic. “Fine Do you know where she is now?”
“You should ask Darius that question, love. He came for her this morning and told me he brought Reina here without your
consent.
I shook my head. “He’s crazy. He’s gone mental,”
“He wants you here, Angela,”
“He wants his child here, he doesn’t give two f*cks about me,”
She gave me the stink eye and I quickly muttered an apology. My mother doesn’t want people swearing around her. Growing up, she enforced that law so hard we had no choice but to follow it.
“You should stay. It’ll be good for Reina,”
I quickly disagreed and tried to dismiss that idea as soon as possible. “That’s impossible, mom. I have a whole life out there. You can’t expect me to leave everything behind and stay here. What about my job? What about my friends?”
“I don’t know what life you’ve built for yourself out there or how incredible it is but I know it must be nice considerin you loved it more than your parents,”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, confused and honestly frustrated.
“When he left you, Angela, you didn’t think for a minute to come home, to us, your parents. You left without a note”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I yelled.
For the next few seconds, neither of us said anything to the other person.
“As much as you don’t want to stay, I also don’t want to force you to stay but for the sake of your child, you should think deeply about it. She needs to grow up with her roots, her soil, her heritage. You shouldn’t take that away from a pup, Angela. She’s not human, she’s a wolf. Soon enough, she would start seeing how different she is and she needs all the support she could get. You’re done running from your people, it’s about time you stay, my love,”
She lovingly placed her palm on my cheek. Warmth seeped through and I realized how much I’d missed my mother. She gave me a small smile before she walked back into the house, removing the dirty gloves in her hand.
was torn. Deeply torn between staying or leaving. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I brought it out to see it was a message from my boss, Charles. I’d been fired from work with immediate effect.
“F*cking hell,”
2/3
။။
O