I felt numb. I could see Autumn talking to me but I couldn't understand a thing. I could recognize Rudolph and Harry, but I didn't hear them either.
And just like that... Everything became blurry.
-
When I woke up I was in my room. I could recognize it. In front of me, the door. To the left, the window. On my right, the walk-in closet. The room was bigger than any master suite I've ever been to.
In this room mom and I talked about Iris for the first time. She was happy I had met my mate so quickly and she was eager to meet her. I know Iris was excited to meet her as well. I started imagining how awesome it would've been if Iris and mom met. Iris had a good relationship with my other mom, and she was mature enough to understand many things involving werewolves, which meant she would've been great friends with mom. And now, that couldn't be.
That couldn't be...
But why?..
I was angry. I was frustrated. I was partially in denial of what had happened two days ago. Why does this happen to me? Why was she gone?
Why?
-
After I settled down in my room, I decided to go downstairs to eat something. It was two in the afternoon and I was a bit hungry. I expected to see Autumn. Actually, I wanted Autumn to be there. I had talked with her the day mom had died, but I hadn't since and I needed someone I could talk to about how I felt. I thought of Jo, I hadn't called her for some days. She was probably wondering how I was. But I couldn't just go ahead and tell her such bad news. Same with Iris. She wanted to meet her pretty bad. The two of them had even made plans to meet inside pack territory. I couldn't just call her and say "Hey, my mom died!". I needed someone that knew more than I did at the moment. I needed to talk to Autumn, but she wasn't there.
I just settled to eat a ham sandwich with a Caesar salad on the side and drink an Ice tea Arizona can. But I only half ate the sandwich and the salad. I didn't feel that hungry. I just wanted to rest.
While I was walking up the stairs, I felt Autumn running toward the mansion. She entered through the front door and walked toward me.
"I need you to come with me." She told me with a serious glare.
I simply nodded and left with her after changing my clothes. We reached the pack prison and met with Rudolph and Harry. They took me into an office to talk to me apparently. I was sitting down in a chair and Harry, Autumn, Rudolph and some of his guards were standing around me.
"Two days ago, your mother came to the pack prison early in the morning to meet with a prisoner. The rogues came straight into the pack prison to kill this prisoner, they found her and killed her off as well. Four of my men also died." Rudolph put his hand over my shoulder. "I know how terrible this must be for you, which is why I'll be glad to inform you we have an idea of who sent these rogues to do this."
When he said that, something triggered inside of me. Someone was guilty of this. There was a murderer on the loose, and I was already plotting in my mind a way to end his or her life. Whoever it was, was going to pay. My mother's body couldn't even be kept in a funeral or anything. She was unrecognizable from what Autumn had told me. I was going to leave the body just like hers, or worse.
"Who?" I asked in a husky and angry tone.
Rudolph seemed to regret telling me what he knew for a moment. He looked at Autumn and when she nodded, he proceeded.
"The rogues are usually bloody, but they prefer living outside the packs with the humans... peacefully. We've heard of female wolves being kidnapped and then forced to mate with strong male wolves to have pups." Rudolph was telling me in a calm tone. "We have evidence that suggests that your mother was a victim of this crime." I was holding my rage inside. "The day we found her, the prisoner was forcing her to mate with him. He was the Beta of a pack far away from ours."
I felt slightly glad that the son of a bitch was dead. But there were more unanswered questions.
"What pack?" I asked in a calmer tone.
"Gazer pack." Rudolph answered.
"But why would they kill him?" I asked.
"From what a rogue told me with his last words, he knew too much and so did your mother." Rudolph said.
"As if it was her fault!" I shouted from the back of my lungs. It sounded like a growl, which was a first for me. I was losing it. I was so enraged and I didn't even know to who I should direct my rage. I was simply angry and not thinking straight.
"If you had let me go with you this wouldn't have happened." I was meaning to shout at Rudolph, but I only managed to shout at the floor because I couldn't turn to look at him when I said that. I was angry and I knew that what I had just said wasn't true. I was holding on to a metal desk, but maybe I was holding on too hard. There were marks of my fingers where my hand was, and my hand hurt.
"Aiden, Aiden look at me." Autumn said holding my cheeks with her hands. "We know who's responsible and we're going to bring him to justice, alright?" She was trying to make me feel better, but I had never felt worst.
I bet I looked like a crybaby or something. I was angry and I couldn't help but kneel on the floor as if I was pleading for justice. Rudolph got closer to me and patted his hand over my shoulders.
"We are thinking of going to war against these assholes, and I must tell you something. You're the son of an Alpha. Which means you're stronger than most. I want you to help me put this pack down to the ground where it belongs." Rudolph told me. He was talking in a very serious tone, and he had made an ally with me.
"If it means I can kill him. Then you must say yes, Connor." My wolf said.
"I accept." I said.
-
We entered the mansion a little bit after. We planned a way to end Gazer pack, but we needed to know the why, where and when of their plans. Autumn decided to contact some of her rogue friends to spy from the inside of Gazer pack.
I was settling in my room when Harry got in. He had a serious look on his face, mixed with a bit of pity.
"There's something you must know about your mom." He told me and it looked as if he was regretting telling me. "She has a twin."
"What?" I was confused and tired, and I did not expect to discover that.
"She lives in Puerto Rico. She's the Luna of the only pack in the whole country. The pack is called Ceiba Negra. You should go there and introduce yourself. They'll accept you." He told me.
"Thanks." I said. He turned toward the door to leave but I had another question I needed to ask.
"How do you know this?"
"I overheard part of the conversation the prisoner and your mother had, which is how we knew what pack is responsible. Your mother knew I was there. She faced her fears so that the prisoner could finally spit what he knew, or part of." He told me and then approached me and pulled me for a hug. When he pulled back he looked at me with compassion. "She was brave, Aiden."
"Now we have to finish what she helped start. I'm not going to let her death go in vain. There are others girls suffering. We must do them justice." I told him.
"I agree. You should go sleep. We'll talk to some packs tomorrow. We should try and convince Rudolph on letting you go and meet your aunt. Hopefully there won't be any troubles." He said.
"Alright. Goodnight Harry and thanks."
"Goodnight Aiden."
At least with these news I know I still have a family.
Hopefully they'll accept me.
-
I had a weird nightmare, but more than it was scary, it was just plain weird. Nothing about it made sense.
I looked into a mirror and saw Autumn. She looked at me with dreamy eyes and a broad smile. Then she got angry and broke her side of the mirror and disappeared. I started walking to moms room, only to find her chained up with a sock in her mouth right outside of it. When I tried walking toward her, a black figure growled at me and jumped me.
The silhouette ended up being a wolf, and it bit chunks of skin off, but instead of seeing it myself, I was seeing it from afar. Then, it consumed me. Then everything became bright. There was nothing, only light.
Then I woke up.
My room was still the same, the door was in front of me, the window was to my left, and the closet, to my right.
I decided I should call Iris. Tell her what happened. I needed to talk to her, I needed to hear her voice. I wanted to smile about something, since it felt like I hadn't smiled in a long time.
I called, it rang for a while and then, it told me to leave a message. It was her voice. She said she couldn't answer at the moment, but that as soon as she could, she would. Now, I just needed her. I called once more, but this time it didn't even reach voicemail. It seemed her phone had shut down.
I decided I should listen to music instead. I looked for my music to find something that would make me feel better. I found the song "In loving memory" by Alter Bridge being good enough.
I listened to it over and over, my eyes filled with tears and they started falling.
I was sitting down on my bed, alone, listening to the saddest song I could had.
I had previously bought the song because it made me feel grateful I had Jo and Rachel. Now, I knew why I had it. It was uncalled for, but sometimes, the most important things were.
I got out of my room, walked outside, to the amazement of some guards, since they hadn't seen me for a while.
I looked at the sky. It was gray and dark, with shades of blue in some areas. I felt the rain falling over me and closed my eyes. I stayed there for a long while, not caring about all the times I had done the same and Rachel had said it could leave me sick. I felt the rain falling over me and taking every single concern away, every sad memory faded away that moment.
I was still sad. But the gray skies had cleared my head.
I went to the bathroom in the hallway in front of my room and took a shower to wash away everything. I went to my room and fell asleep. The song, the rain, the shower. All these things didn't bring my mother back, and I was still sad, but these things made me feel grateful I met her. I rested my head to fall asleep, with tears falling from my eyes.