Aiyana
While Henry is holding his meeting, I am in the fields. I don't have the physical strength to help move the bodies, but I'm helping comfort the families left behind and I've even started helping the doctors and nurses in the medical tent with the wounded.
Henry is the rightful Alpha of this pack and as his Luna it is my duty to take care of our people. Some of them are shell-shocked because they've never seen the fallout from a battle before but I think some are shell-shocked because they've never seen me outside of the dining room.
After a while, I make my way to the school, curious to see if it's changed at all since the last time Damien let me go. As soon as I turned 13, he had me with a tutor saying something about needing to keep a closer eye on my education.
Looking back, he wanted to separate me from my friends and anyone who might try to "poison" me against him.
The school is a separate building just west of the pack house complex with 10 classrooms and a preschool. Once someone turns 16 and turns for the first time they're considered an adult and are only required to finish the year they started.
I walk past the upper-level classrooms first. Since they're all empty I wander around, looking at notes left on the board and any posters they have hanging up.
I figured the preschool would be empty too but when I get there, the room is full of children and teachers. Best case scenario, the parents are helping with clean up. It breaks my heart to think some of these children will no longer have fathers to soothe them to sleep.
I watch the children play, the thought of my own child being in the room in a few years bringing a smile to my face.
When I look up I see one of the teachers looking at me. She looks familiar but the look on her face tells me she knows me past seeing me next to Damien.
She walks over to me, only breaking eye contact to watch her steps.
"Welcome Luna. What can we do for you?"
"Nothing, really. I just wanted to see the school. I'm sorry, you look so familiar."
She smiles nervously, "I was best friends with Liam growing up. The three of us were inseparable before..." she clears her throat and I can see tears building up in her eyes.
I smile sadly, "I remember you now. Cheryl, right?"
She nods, wiping the tears away. "Sorry, it's still so hard. You grow up thinking you're going to spend the rest of your life with someone and then... they're just gone."
I take her hand, "I understand completely. When I thought my mate gone forever I no longer saw the point in living."
"Your mate? Damien?"
"No." I smile tightly, hating that everyone here probably thought we were lovers. "My mate was Dakota. When Damien discovered us, he killed Dakota as my punishment."
"So him dying to protect you was a lie?"
I sigh, "All will be explained soon. The Elders are in a meeting as we speak with the Alphas and Betas of the packs that came to free us of Damien's cruel reign."
Cheryl is cut off when a child runs up and asks for her help to go to the bathroom. She smiles, nodding to me as she takes their hand and walks away.
I rest my hand on my belly, imagining what our child might one day look like.
I leave the room and head back towards the cottages. We stayed in my room last night so that I could stay close to the doctor but Henry is our true Alpha and as such should stay in the Alpha cottage.
When I get to what is left of the front door my heart breaks. I hope we never have to go through anything like this ever again, but somehow I don't think we're that lucky.
I start to clean up, slowly removing any evidence that Damien resided here. The sun starts to go down and I hear feet approaching.
I use my arm to wipe the sweat from my forehead, looking around to see how much I had gotten done.
"You really shouldn't be working like this in your condition."
I smile as I look up at Henry, "I wanted to get this place ready for us. I also wanted to get rid of any evidence that he even existed."
Henry walks over and wraps his arms around me, "I understand all too well my love. We still need to find him. We also need to deal with the Council. They won't like that we acted against their wishes."
I sigh, hugging him tightly. "They're just as bad as he is in my opinion. How long did they see how he was acting without doing anything? He should have been killed for what he did to our families and instead he was left alone to continue his reign of terror."
Henry tucks my hair behind my ears, kissing my forehead gently. "We will deal with whatever comes our way together. As it should have been all along."
I hug him tighter, thinking about what Cheryl has said. If Damien had never been a part of our lives would she be with Liam like she wanted? With us being pregnant together?
"Come my love, it's time for dinner and for us to talk to the pack. They should know what the Elders have decided."
He takes my hand and we walk back towards the pack house.