For Her Love - Sequel to An Alpha To Claim and Love

Twenty Three

Valerie had a small meeting with her father and Sebastian and told them what she wanted to do. Immediately, her father refused. "If you want to protect and lead them, you do it here in the Aster Empire."

"But dad-"

"No, Valerie," he sternly interrupted. She pressed her lips together tightly. "End of discussion. If you won't lead them here, lay low and stay out of the way. I do not need someone who can't even think about anything past themselves. What you had asked, was selfish of you." He looked at her disappointed then glared over to Sebastian. "Talk some sense into her." Not even sparing her another glance, Dante storms away. Valerie trembled with anger, glaring at the spot her father once stood. Sebastian sighs and gently forces her to look at him. "What happened, Valerie?"

Not wanting to, her tears poured down her face. "I don't want to witness her death. I don't want to see her leave. I refuse to, Seba."

"Silly girl," he whispers, wiping away her tears. "So, you're going to just ditch mom? You don't want to look at her one last time or hear her last wise words? I have to agree with dad, Val. You're not thinking properly. I could just imagine what you said to mom. She must have been so sad to hear those words coming from her one and only daughter."

"Why does she have to go?" She whimpers as she hugs Sebastian and cries into his shoulder. "I don't want to see her leave."

He hugs her back firmly, rubbing her back in a soothing way. "I know, love. I understand. I feel the same way. But if she's ready, we should at least be there for her and see her off. Don't you think so?"

Valerie shakes her head, refusing to adhere to his suggestion. He deeply sighs and pulls away from her and caresses her face. "Don't be like that. Sky would be upset too, you know. Both of you need to show mom how strong her children are."

"You're her child too," she sadly argues.

Sebastian lightly smiles. "Not by blood, but I love her just as much as my own mother who passed away so long ago. Leena raised me up, brought me up and made me who I am today. I am one of her children, but so is anyone else back home. She's our Alpha Queen, our Luna. We all look up to her and wish to protect her with our lives. Again, if she has already prepared to leave us, of course she'll leave us standing stronger together as a family and as a pack."

Valerie didn't want to agree with him, but of course she knew. Her mother always talked about it, growing up. Even now as she is mentally prepared to leave all of them, her last thought is of everyone's livelihood. Valerie knew her mother would give up her life in a heartbeat to save her people. Yes. Because that's who her mother was. Sebastian could see in her eyes the realization of her mother's sacrifice. With a smile, he kisses her forehead and leads them to their mother's room where Valerie and their mother reconcile.

For the next month, Dante was able to convince some of them to return to the Aster Empire with him and begin a new life. Others though, took a lot more convincing. In the end, though, they caved and went over with the others once they started to notice that there wasn't much of their kind left. In the Aster Empire, everyone was busy building a whole new town for all the newcomers. During the build, even new wolves wanted to be under the protection of Dante and when Alec caught wind of this, he was starting to grow wary by the day.

"Keep an eye on them," Alec quietly says to Juniper to hide his displeasure as they make their way through the new place. "I don't want this to get any bigger than it's set to be."

"I see nothing wrong with that, father. Dante does have a lot of influence from his realm. Other kings there highly regard him."

Alec stops walking and turns to his son. "I do not want this town to get any bigger. Do I make myself clear?"