The Two Lunas

Chapter 46

Niles and I were still in mourning. We knew Aries had all but rejected us. We also knew the pack wanted his head. He would be dead soon, there was no doubt. The pack could be vicious. And they felt wronged by their Alpha. And they felt he had wronged their Lunas. This became evident very quickly.
Our house became a revolving door. Omegas, teens, parents of children and just general pack members came and checked up on us. They brought food, they played with our children they helped clean our house, they gave us random gifts, letters of appreciation, and showed us how loved we were. We were grieving but we weren't ever alone. We got cards from the children of the pack. And everyone did their part to lift our spirits.
I was incredibly sad. But because of the slight disconnect I had with my Cheetah, I was beginning to heal. Niles was a different story. I worries some days that I might lose him, but he always promised never to leave me, so he held on. I made love to him every single night, showing him how much I loved him, by lathering love onto his body. The first few days he barely responded. But slowly and surely he began loving me back.
It took three weeks before he fully engaged, but when he did the reward was spectacular. We made love all night. This became the new norm. No matter how sorrowful we were, we spent the night showing each other how much they were loved. I would talk to him, tell him how amazing he was, tell him all the things I loved about him all day long. Then show him how much I loved him all night. I made sure he never doubted how much he was loved. It was a month before we showed our faces in public again. People had been coming over the entire time, essentially nursing us back to health. It was surprisingly how many people came. I expected teens or parents with children. But it seemed to be everyone. We had warriors, trainers, tackers, border patrol.... Literally everyone was showing us their love. And we found great comfort in that.
Tyler had told us that Aries and Courtney were found dead in their home almost a week after he showed up at the potluck with her marked. He said Aries heart had been ripped out and head cut off. They had completely destroyed his body. Making sure he could never come back from the dead.
There was a comfort in knowing that the pack had been so angry with the way he had wronged us, that they had killed him in retribution. But there was also a sadness. Our mate was dead and gone. I chose not to dwell on it too much, my main focus was Niles.

It was mid February and Niles was 8 and a half months pregnant. He was essentially full turn. I knew it was hard to move around, but we needed to go to the potluck, this was the first week that Niles seemed mostly okay. He still radiates sorrow, but he was beginning to responding to people again. I called Reagan and she helped me carry the babies as we lead Niles to the pot luck. We didn't cook anything, but it didn't matter. People made it clear they just wanted to see us there again.
I handed Damon over to Niles and grabbed his free hand. I squeezed it gently and smiled at him. His lips twitched, which was as close to a smile as he ever got any more. His eyes shone so much pain, it broke my heart. But I refused to give up. I would spend the rest of my life trying to bring him back to me, if need be.

When we got to the potluck we were swarmed. Everyone wanted to show us love and support. I smiled at everyone. "Thank you everyone for showing us so much love and support. I truly believe we wouldn't be here today without all of your help. You have been so kind and patient with our healing. And we appreciate all of you. I can honestly say with certainty, we have the best pack around. You make me so proud and you give us hope. So thank you." I said quietly, but with resolve. I felt people hug us and kiss us and tell us how much they loved us. I gave everyone a small smile. As I spoke Niles nodded along in agreement. That made me glad. He had moments were he was almost non-responsive. So today was a good day for him.
What Aries did to us made me angry. I honestly hoped he was in hell, looking up at us, and regretted everything he ever did to wrong us. It wasn't often that someone would hate there mate, but I could honestly say I hated him, loathed him, for how he hurt Niles. I would never forgive him for hurting my sweet little wolf like this. And if he never recovered I would go down to hell myself and make sure to punish him. I honestly didn't know if there was a hell, but I hoped so, because I wanted him to spend eternity in absolute misery.

I grabbed a couple plates one with small pieces of food for the kids, and another for my sweet wolf. I walked over and handed Niles his plate. I fed the kids pieces of food. When I saw that Niles wasn't eating I set the plate down for the babies to grab the food themselves and pulled Niles onto my lap. I began spooning small amount of food into his mouth.
"You're doing so good.... I love you so much.... I am so proud of you..... Thank you for eating...." I gave him praise each time he took a bite. He didn't want any, but he was too depressed to fight me. So I fed him until he seemed full. I kissed his cheek when he was done. "You were great sweet wolf, I am proud of you for eating so much. I love you baby" his lip twitched and I smiled. I kissed his lips and set him in the ground so I could grab some food for myself. My new purpose in life was to bring my lover back from the brink of death. And I would never give up. Not until he lost the battle of his life. Then, I would join him in the grave. I knew this. But I would fight with every fiber of my being to keep him here on earth. And as long as he was here, there was the option of him recovering. I couldn't give up.
I grabbed a little bit of food. A few people talked to me and I smiled and talked back. It was mostly pleasantries. And I responded in kind. I walked over and pulled Niles onto my lap. I ate slowly with one hand and lay my hand on his stomach with the other. I rubbed where ever the babies kicked and talked casually to Niles. I knew he wouldn't talk back, but it was like when I was pregnant and lonely, I talked anyway. And maybe he would eventually come back to this world. I knew he was more gone than here. I knew there was a high likelihood he was just holding out until the babies were born. But I remained hopeful that he would surprise me and pull out of this. Without that hope I would crawl in bed with him and never come back. The only hope we had was to tether him to this world. I was his only hope of survival. And I would spend every waking moment trying.

I talked to people like nothing was wrong. I ate, took care of my babies and I behaved as though my world wasn't slowly dying before my very eyes.
We stayed for about an hour, then I asked Ryder to help me bring the babies home.
I talked a little to him, mostly about everyday mundane things. I asked if he was excited about Niles babies being born, I asked about Reagan's twins. How her pregnancy was going. I will admit, I only half listened. It was mostly just to fill the void with talking. So it didn't seem so lonely and dark. I had begun doing this increasingly. I did it with Niles, I did it with the babies, I did it constantly. In the silence I began to think. And thinking was dangerous. Thinking was toxic. I couldn't allow myself to think. I focused on talking and doing. As much as I talked continually. I also was always doing something. I would dress the kids, feed the kids, changed the kids, bath the kids, play with the kids. And when the kids were sleeping I would clean or cook. I would be either talking or moving constantly from dawn until dusk. Then I would make love to my sweet wolf for a few hours before passing out from shear exhaustion.

Another thing I noticed was people visited every day. Just to make sure we were still alive and well. They never had much to say, just casual meaningless talking. That's how I knew they were check ups not friendly visits. But I still invited them freely. I needed them to keep coming, because I could see the inevitable as much as everyone. I wasn't blind to the trajectory Niles was heading.

For a while he almost looked like he might get better. But then he sank back into himself again. It was a slow descent and at first I almost didn't notice it. But he stopped giving me little twitched of his lip for a smile. He stopped engaging in sex. He still was great in bed. But he was the love of my life. So of course he was. He still moaned quiet and reacted to my touch. But he stopped grabbing my shoulders and wrapping his legs around my waist. He quit kissing me. He reacted but never truly engaged.
And when he began to regress again I knew, this would be the end. He handled being rejected once. But twice was too much. And his wolf was dying of a broken heart. I know his omega wolf was fighting to stay alive long enough to give birth to his babies, but then he was done. But if I thought about that right now, I wouldn't be able to get out of bed, so I shoved that thought with every other thought to the back of my mind and continued talking and doing.