Punch!
"Five brothers got killed to make your father the Alpha. So, you could be the Alpha. Not just by inheritance. You have earned this. Young wolves look up to you."
Punch!
"I want rip your apart, like you ripped my Leo! I want to wash my hair with your blood! I want to drink your blood! I want you dead!"
Punch!
"What do we say to ourselves when we are confused?"
"Pack comes first!"
Punch!
"He is hurt. Guilt has filled his mind from what he did to his sister's mate, last night. Only a powerful and brave Alpha is capable of showing his vulnerability."
Punch!
"Only true prayers come true, Alpha Pete. You truly wished to be like your founder and here you are, looking like him about to forward your hand towards us in begging."
Punch!
"Won't ya ask for your own mate? Her name?"
I gritted my teeth. Punch!
"Willis died! We don't want to see you dead too!"
A knock came upon the door. Punch!
"Misty saved you last night. She was the one who concluded you were here. It's your time!"
Punch!
"Your mate will reach you in ashes!"
Punch!
"You won't live with us anymore! You are not my son! You are the Alpha! We will come to you! Get out of this house! Now! Don't call me mother!"
My nostrils flared as the breaths turned ragged. Punch!
"Your mate will reach you in ashes."
I squeezed my eyes and growled hard. Punch!
"Your mate is dead already by being a Lycan, brother."
"Alpha?" Another knock came on the door.
Punch!
"She ran from her home to this enchanting border in search for you. She almost touched the border and got herself hurt."
Punch!
"This pack has once survived without a Luna. It can survive without a Luna, again!"
Face shook in the heat I felt inside. Punch!
"I will do anything for you, Pete. I look up to you."
The knocks turned louder. "Alpha? It's Natalie." The loud voice came.
Collecting the fistful of energy, I punched for the last time.
The punching bag scurried away, swinging madly while I removed the gloves and threw them away.
"Come in!" I said, growing lowly as I felt the heat spreading all over my body. Grabbing the towel hanging on the chair, I wiped the sweat off while the door opened slowly.
"It's Natalie."
I stared at the mirror observing my triceps burning red. Hell, my core was burning too. Wiping the sweat off my taut torso, I observed the brown stubble on my face. It made me look more like father.
I liked it. Like a companion to end my loneliness. Or rather celebrate it.
"Your father too."
My movements halted and I nodded slightly. "I am coming."
Nirvan nodded while looking at me in the mirror and turned around to leave the room. He shut the door while I rushed towards the bathroom, not wasting anymore time to bathe out the sweat.
The day had to be busy. I needed to make it as productive as it could be.
Wearing the T-shirt hurriedly, I ruffled my chestnut hair with the towel and walked out of the room. Reaching the couch, I sniffed as the scents had filled all of the living room.
"Father. Nate."
Natalie got up while father was still looking around the house. He was standing near the wall, observing the wide chart of maps Ivan had drawn.
"Brother, you called me." The nervousness in Natalie's eyes was rich.
"Yes," I said, glancing at father who sighed and came back to the sofa to sit beside Nirvan.
I sat opposite of Natalie while Nirvan was on the right couch. Intertwining my fingers, I blinked slowly.
The glimpses of that burned and dead rabbit appeared so fast and smooth.
My heart shuddered slightly. I blinked and cleared my throat, to ease out the mind.
"Why?" Natalie asked curiously. Her gaze going back and forth between me and our father.
When she didn't know things, she would hurt herself and others too. She was dangerous. It was better to keep her informed from now on. The little pup in her was always dreaming of a house and her prince. But I could see the thirst in those emerald eyes when I told her that I won't be letting her participate in any plan.
"You said you wanted to help." I said, looking at her nodding the head.
She gulped hard. "Yes, brother." She lowered her eyes. "Keira helps with Ivan. Eva is calling Thomas and informing stuff. I want to help too. I made a mistake and I want to pay for it," she said, guilt dripping her voice.
Father cleared his throat and sipped on the water from the glass that Nirvan served him and one for Natalie too.
"You'll be given a chance to payback." Father said while looking at her.
Natalie nodded curiously and glanced at me.
I sucked in a breathe and explained, "You will participate in the plan and help us by going to the city."
Her eyebrows furrowed and widened immediately. "What?"
"To Misty's home. To her Gran," I said, glancing at father who was listening quietly. "Rose's cousin sister has a family of her own to live with. Now, she has to leave and Rose will be alone back at home. Your job is to accompany her and keep her busy enough to not let her worry about Misty's absence."
"You want to send me away?" Natalie choked out with tears filling up her eyes. "I did what I did to save myself. I did enough to save her too. But you threw her away. If anyone should leave this pack, it should be you!" She screeched while letting out a sniffle.
"Enough." Father said, raising his tone slightly. "No one is leaving this pack. You are being given a duty. You have been a great liar. That will come handy in keeping the old woman entertained. You tried to run away to that city with Misty and Thomas. Now, this is your chance to stir up the curiosity."
Natalie gave him a hurtful look. "Father, please."
"And help the pack," added Nirvan while I wiped my face as the mere helplessness started disturbing the back of my mind again. The glimpses were trying to cover my eyes.
Her lips trembled as she shook her head. "I have never been to the city. How am I going to live there?" She asked reluctantly.
"Misty has never been to the Lycans. But she is there. Isn't she?" Nirvan said, giving her a straight look. "I will be the one driving you to the city."
"Let it be Axel," Father said while giving me a blank look. "Full moon is closer."
"Then, must she go tonight only." I said while rubbing my hands and nodding at him. "Ask mother to inform Rose about letting her sister pack her bags to leave."
Father didn't react but I knew he had listened.
"For how many days?" Natalie said, letting out a soft sniffle.
I sucked in another breathe while Nirvan shrugged his shoulders. "Until Misty returns," I said through the clenched jaws.
Natalie whimpered and shook his head. "Father, do you hate me so much? Brother, you too?" She said while sobbing hard and giving me the pleading look.
"Not as much as I hate myself, sister." I said, while taking out the notepad from the box under the table. Opening it, I started studying the pages.
"No. I don't want to,"said Natalie, weeping softly. "Please, brother. I will do as you will say. Even if it is about entering the territory and bringing her back," she choked out while glancing at the other two men.
"You say those words after doing the suicidal stunts so you can not enter that territory?" I said, looking at her, controlling my anger.
She flinched.
"You all know, I am more capable than Eva or Keira. You are doing exactly what you just did to me before the Ceremony. Not listening to my opinions. Not valuing my words. Even when I am as old as Thomas is." She said, lowering her eyes.
Silence settled in the room.
"You can send Alyssa and Thomas there. How would I stay there alone with an old woman?" She said, shakily in frustration. The tears sliding down her cheeks.
"Old woman?" Father hummed slowly. "You are not just going to lie to her. You will live with her, be a grand pup to her like the human pup was." He said in his deep rough voice. "Take care of her."
Natalie blinked while flaring her nostrils in hurt.
Nirvan nodded with a smirk. "We have prepared all the schedule. The woman can cook and do all the chores. All you have to do is enjoy her house and the luxury of being surrounded by humans. Use the gadgets or do anything. Busy her with your stupid gossips. Misty must have some cool clothes back there. Wear them. Play dress up. Be nice to the old woman and she might take you aroundn the city too herself. "
Natalie glared at him.
"She is diabetic," said Father while staring at the table. "Thomas will give you details of her medicine routine. She will keep asking you about where the human pup is. You will have to make it sound. . ."
My heart started crumbling.
He breathed roughly. ". . . Like she is with us and enjoying it here."
I gulped fast and clenched my jaws. Holding the pencil tight, I cut Natalie's name off the list in the plan we had made.
"We will give you a phone," said Nirvan, while looking at her. "And no talking to the neighbors."
"Right," I said, scratching my temple. "They are a bit nosy and caring too. You have to avoid them at all costs."
Natalie lowered her eyes, wiping her cheeks with her left hand. "What are you going to do behind my back?" She asked quietly.
"Axel will let you know," I said, giving her the look that she would have to respect anyhow.
Her eyes flickered over my face and she lowered them, nodding slowly.
"Why is it me going to the city?" She asked, sniffling slowly. "Is it because I kept my conclusions to myself? Do you think you all had trusted me if I had told any of you what I saw the full moon night? Even if you all did, you would have saved her? Instead, the very plan of her return to the city would have been cancelled too." She said, raising her tone and ending up letting out a soft sob.
Father rubbed her forehead and hummed slowly.
I knew he was thinking about it. If he had trusted her words or not. Would I have trusted her? Maybe, not.
The full moon night was much more than Natalie's adventure and putting Axel and Misty's lives into danger.
It was the night when the Moon Goddess had signed me my fate.
The very picture of what would happen if my mate crossed the border. The truth. The reality.
Yet even after four years of knowing that she existed, I couldn't believe it. Did she really exist? How old must she be? How far she would be? Would she care about me being a wolf? A Rucussan? Did she already hate me?
The scent of rabbit was telling otherwise.
She wanted me to know, it was her.
The first ever gift from my mate. Yet the border couldn't show mercy and let the rabbit live.
All my childhood, I had hunted the rabbits with Ivan on our wolf runs. Since that night, my eyes couldn't even bear the sight of a rabbit, fearing it would die too in my hands.
Or was it really a taunt by her instead? Like everyone thought, the sign of a mockery from Lycans it was.
But I smelled the soothing scent of my mate. She was worried and petrified. She was fearing for her life. She was trying to tell me that she needed me as much as I needed her.
Yet the border was there.
Behind that border was now Misty too.
The human sister who defended me in front of the great Alphas and Lunas. The courageous one. She had the power to spread her light everywhere. She was the life of the party. The one who could fight for her loved ones, despite knowing how all these years, none of us never even acknowledged her existence.
Even my own thinking changed since the day she came her and grew on us.
All these years, meeting her on the birthday, I would only see her as the extra flower in the garden of Rucussa. The one that grew because of a foreign bee roaming around.
I had plucked that flower now, and thrown it away. Like the monster of a brother I was.
I sighed and gulped fast.
"The Lycans have seen you."
.
.
.
_____
.
.
.
Nathan.
You are the second example after Alpha Rucus who inspires me to have control. To love my family. To choose pack over our mates.
Your Aunt was gone. My sister is gone. At least, you have been saved from the sin of throwing her away. I now know how Beta Iago feels all the time.
I wonder if you too felt this emptiness inside you every second after knowing that your mate is so close yet so far. Did you too feel like there is a wall that is between you and your mate and slowly, that wall is coming closer to crush you?
The Alpha in me is positive for the future. He is proud of what he has done. He has saved his pack from the wrath of the Goddess, saved his mate from the hate of her own pack, saved Misty's mate from the years of anticipation.
But this mind and this heart, crumbles when I realize that I have been no saint. I have hurt people. Physically. Mentally. Emotionally.
My own mother hates me, brother. My own family. My mate must hate me too.
How did it feel when you knew it was one of those Lycans? Did you feel the hatred or just the lack of luck?
Did you even know if she wanted you?
I do, Nathan. I feel as if she wants to be here with me.
Alpha Rucus said that there was no barrier between lovers.
I wonder if those words mean breathing in the scent of my mate just four times in four years.
Not-so-typical romance. Isn't it?
I have grown up seeing my parents fighting and loving each other. Loving and fighting. But they are together. And they are happy.
Would I be happy too, someday?
Maybe, only after reaching the Moon like you. After finally being with my mate.
I hope, you are with her now. Happiest.
Happy Birthday, Nathan.
Putting the Jasmines, I stood up and let out the heavy breath.
Blinking twice, I stared at his tomb and of his mother. I had already given her the flowers before I gave him.
"That was a long prayer."
I stepped back, walking out of the little fence and closing the gate.
Four steps away, I reached the old man. He was dressed in black suit and pant like the yearly ritual. Pushing his specs back on the bridge of his nose, he squinted his eyes under the sunlight.
"It was a conversation." I said quietly.
His eyebrows raised and he tilted his head. "Taking tips on how to be without a mate?"
I lowered my eyes. "More like asking how long the pain goes until the end arrives."
Stephen gulped slowly. The sunlight highlighted his faint wrinkles. His throat rumbled with a slight cough.
"An Alpha must only think of his end for his pack's welfare, Pete. What you are thinking is called being suicidal. This is not pain," he said, observing my jeans and black shirt. "This is the confirmation Gods take before showering blessings on you."
"You did what any ideal Alpha would do. But as a brother?" He sighed heavily. "When I saw Nathan's dead eyes for the last time, they had that regret of never crossing the border and taking the risk for his mate. That one last wish to see his mate was there."
I gulped the lump in my throat, flaring my nostrils to control the shivers that ran through my soul.
"The same emotion was there that I feel everyday without Lisa," he said mournfully. "Then, a brother like Iago who pushed Valeria away was greater than a brother like me who didn't want her to go to her mate."
Collecting my lips, I looked away from him to hide the feeling of being overwhelmed spreading in my eyes.
"Then, must I say it. You sent Misty dearest to her mate. One day, she will stop cursing you and ask the Goddess to shower all the blessings upon her Alpha brother, Pete dearest."
He patted my back when I started to take long breaths to calm my emotions.
"But injustice has happened. I will have to bring her back to give her the chance that I had snatched from her that night. To choose between her mate and her life."
"What difference will it create?" He asked, smiling at me. "Earlier, the Lycans were helpless and caged inside the border, unable to touch you. You, the descendant of Rucus with a Lycan Luna just like him. Now, you will enter the territory to let them reach you and kill you."
"I won't rest without a try," I said, my nostrils flaring in confidence. "Thomas can be the Alpha. Fred and Jiro. The new one could be a male too. This pack won't be an abandoned."
The old man chuckled lightly.
"But her mate will be abandoned."
I blinked.
"The pack across the border is afraid of getting shrunk to zero. Here, you are showing the Goddess, you are unafraid of dying and leaving your pack in the hands of your younger brothers." He said, sighing heavily. "The thought of saving her is courageous. But being confident that her mate will let it happen, is underestimating the possibilities, Pete."
"That is the only way to bring Misty back." I said absentmindedly.
"If she could come back so easily, Goddess wouldn't have send her there in the first place. A precious soul like her doesn't leave hearts and minds so easily." He chuckled to himself. "Places too. They don't know what creature has entered their territory."
"She has a life back at the city." I reasoned. "There is no other way."
"You are doing what you can to fill her places," he said, making me sigh. "But if you really want to give her a chance, it must be after the full moon."
My eyes narrowed immediately. "No," I whispered. "You know why we have been rushing with the plans just so we could save her from the full moon-"
"This pack has young wolves who needs you to protect them on this full moon more than Misty does."
I chuckled humorlessly. "Protect? I had hurt Axel on his first full moon myself. I am dangerous for this pack," I said, giving the sad smile. "If Misty's mate marks her on the full moon, she would never be able to cross the border. I have called Clark already. He has told me that Luna Elsie is studying the stars. She will tell us the right way to execute the plan."
Stephen nodded, curling his lip in amazement. "The right way. Yes. But the right time is after the full moon. Smelling your mate on the full moon is suicidal. They are Lycans, the royals. They are superior because they know how to control their beasts. We don't. It will take a single word from them to trigger you. Their anger will be their strength, but your anger becomes your weakness."
My jaws clenched slightly in helplessness. "Father said, he couldn't smell him because of the rain. No one else did. The two that came with Kingston were a Beta and a young male. Though, it doesn't matter if he has a rank or not. A Lycan is superior to me in all angles."
Stephen glanced at me. "To a mother, all her pups are same. There might be a favorite. But she would not be partial. Thus, no one is superior, Pete dearest. A being's good traits make him superior that he gains on his own. Not a body that he couldn't choose for himself but was gifted by the God. The kind doesn't matter. Especially, when a human is present between them now."
He hummed slowly while patting my shoulder. "Though, the rank will matter during the escape, Pete dearest. A common wolf could be overpowered by numbers. An Alpha blood will only enjoy the audience."
"What must I do then?" I asked, staring at the tomb, wishing how the spies could find Luna Severa's tomb so easily.
"Skip the full moon. This will be the first one after the Mating Ceremony. The packs are filled with new couples and newly shifted pups. It's a sensitive time." Stephen said while curling his lip in thought. "Goddess won't be happy to see two mates getting apart on the full moon."
"So, you believe it can happen?" I asked, catching his words.
Stephen chuckled. "I believe that you can get hurt too and so will other who are going to accompany you. Decisions taken hastily are dangerous."
"If I skip the full moon, Misty can get marked. All hopes of bringing her back will be broken."
"Your mother went for her freedom and self-esteem after marking and two pups with your father," he replied.
"There was no border."
"For a human, there is no border too." Stephen said, making me narrow my eyebrows. "Especially when her mate is aware of how important and sensitive she is as a human. The Alpha saw the six packs fighting each other for this one human. He knows the value. So does her mate. They won't take the risk of hurting her by any means. She will be safe this full moon."
My lips parted in disbelief.
"But your army won't be. Keira has suffered the heat and now, it is her first full moon. Both her father and Ivan will be stressed. Nirvan will be already be controlling makes like Axel and other pups who created havoc the last full moon. Other packs have new couples and new shifted pups too. Thus, Luna Elsie will be busy with her pack and won't be able to help you before this full moon by any means. Leo's sister can't leave her mate's pack before the full moon. Thus, Eva won't be able to focus on her contribution in this plan too."
I blinked and nodded in understanding.
"The most important thing," he said while facing me properly, giving me a knowing look of warning.
"Your mate has smelled you during the ceremony, right after the previous full moon. Her thirst to meet you and reach you was rich. She is begging the universe to be with you. Or why would a Lycan girl arrive on the full moon to send a rabbit to you and come again on the third night of the Ceremony, before the Alpha of her could begin his journey to be here and get the new bride? She was arriving here secretly to find you, Pete."
Chills ran down my spine.
"I might not be right. But I am the medic and can say this with ninety nine point nine per cent assurance. . ."
My heart started crawling back in my chest in suspense of what he was about to say.
"That this full moon might trigger your mate's heat too. So, if you put your foot on that territory, she won't be able to control herself from coming to you. Her pack members will be there to stop her from reaching you."
My eyes widened slowly as the fear of uncertainty started crawling on my chest. Gritting my teeth, I curled my hands into tight fists.
Stephen smiled sadly.
"But you know what happens to the females who are kept apart from their mates during the heat," he spoke firmly.
I gulped hard.
"They bear the pain of longing hundreds times stronger than what you feel everyday. She will have to suffer the trauma of not having you with him."
His words started echoing in my mind.
"It might even kill her if she's too young."
_____
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