Liberty (A Barren Luna)

Chapter 14

"That was the past.. what skills do you have as a group that you can bring to the pack? We are in dangerous times from what I notice in the other regions. I want to make sure I have no weaknesses in my pack," I heard Haley scoff at this but mask it with a cough. Eyes turned to her but she kept her head bowed.

"We can all defend ourselves but we need to be trained some more. We will abide by the pack rules and make ourselves useful. We just need a place to stay, a place to have a new start. We lost a lot of people in the attack and it is best if we can leave those memories behind us," Once Mason said this a silence fell over the gathering. Luke stepped out of Lauren's grasp without even looking back and walked towards our group, stopping in front of Mason. Mason held his gaze without blinking and Luke moved down the line, staring at each of us. He got to me at the end of the line and my head was bowed.

"How old is he?" His voice shook me out of my trance like state and replaced it with confusion as I looked up, realising that he was asking about Mateo.

"He's one, Alpha," Once Luke heard my voice his eyes widened slightly as he looked pained. He looked at Mateo's sleeping form and then nodded his head, several thoughts running through his mind as he walked back to where an emotionless looking Lauren was.

"And the father?" He whispered, a sad look settling in his eyes as he stared at me. I felt a pang shoot through my chest as I felt myself going through all the memories of the last year. I remembered how I had nearly died when giving birth to Mateo and my eyes immediately zoomed in on Lauren. It felt like a knife was being driven into my chest once I spotted the all too familiar mark on her neck, the one that was shaped like the geographical location of the pack.

It was small, but my eyes saw all. I snapped my eyes back to him, trying not to break out of character. I wanted to shout at him, wanted to ram my fist on his chest and demand that I be given answers. However I did the opposite, I managed to curb my feelings and swallow them until they were at the very pit of my stomach. Luke picked up on my hesitation and my face must have shown something because he turned apologetic.

"I'm sorry to ask something so sensitive,"

"He died.. a long time ago," My voice came out colder than I thought It would and I could tell Luke was surprised. Mason was looking at me as Luke nodded.

"You shall be provided accommodation. Half of you can occupy one place while the others are given another place to stay,"

"Alpha, we only have each other and we don't wish to be separated. At least... not so early," Haley finally spoke up. She was playing the weak role very well and her eyes held so much emotion that Luke nodded and changed his mind immediately. The pack dwelt in what looked like an estate to the human eye, however most of the land was Tatum territory until the train station. Luke's family was quite wealthy, running a real estate business along with owning a chain of hotels.

"Very well, you'll be shown to your new home but I'll speak to your leader," Luke said before dismissing us. We were all ushered back into the cars which had brought us here and taken to a large house not too far away from the main Alpha home.

—

"I can't believe that's him, I have a strong urge to pummel him and shout at him for his stupid decisions," Haley said with a scowl as she walked around the room which Mateo and I would be staying in. The house had six bedrooms and I recognised it as a house which was used for guests from other packs.

"Well too bad you have to keep in character," I said with a sad smile

"And who does that girl think she is, holding his hand possessively like he would slip away if she did not. She's threatened by you and I can tell,"