Confronting Him

“Ebony,” he called my name, shaking me more. I didn’t want to wake up. There was only a nightmare outside. “Wake up. We need to talk.”

It should be fine as long as I close my eyes. No one would know that I knew what they did behind my back. I would escape and live with my child, away from all this.

I am tired. Exhausted. I don’t even find the energy to be angry.

“Frederick, I’m sorry. There is too much work to sleep. It seems I drifted off,” I smiled. “I want to finish all these quickly so I can be free on Nialliv’s birthday. I don’t want to miss it. She is my best friend.”

I stood up and went to my desk, skimming through the paperwork, as if looking for a specific document. As long as I didn’t allow him to talk, he’d let it go. I didn’t want to listen to what he had to say.

He is here to tell me about Nialliv.

“It’s not important now. We need to talk first. There is something important I want to tell you,” he moved behind me, massaging my shoulders like a dutiful man. I trembled despite myself. He peeked at the papers as I sat down. “Do you need help?”

“I don’t think so,” I sighed. This was the first time he suggested this. “I am almost done with the project. I think…” my voice trembled.

He let go of my shoulders, cupped my chin and raised my head. I felt the tears running down. Why was I crying now? I shouldn’t. I didn’t cry last night.

“Why are you crying? Did something happen?” his smile looked kind and heartwarming.

I never called him Fred. He hated me calling him that. He said it made him childish so I always called him by his full name. He wouldn’t reject me now, right? It would be bad timing, especially with the rogues growing active.

Moreover, I had nowhere to go. My aunt died last year. My family from my mother’s side didn’t accept me. They said if she saw my face, they’d kill me for being born a human.

“Can you tell me what day it is today?”

He shook his head, confused. “A normal day. This isn’t important. We have to talk. I will ta-“

“I saw you with her,” I slapped his hand away and moved a few steps in his opposite direction. “I saw you,” I nodded. A heavy sigh escaped my lips. “I don’t want to listen to what you want to say. I am pregnant, Fred. I just wanted to tell you about it yesterday. But you didn’t even bother remembering my own birthday.”

My heart was broken. I cried like I never did. It was as if I lost someone important to me, like the day my parents died. My father first then my mother, they both left me to the world when I was twelve.

 “You’re my mate, Ebony. Damn you! I am doing it because I need a strong Luna. What’s wrong with securing our happy life? I am not the weak one. Do you think that sitting behind a desk is enough to be a Luna? No, it’s not.”

“Do you know what I did when I found her on top of you?” I cried. “I ran away, tiptoeing so you won’t learn about it. I didn’t want to ruin what we had, for the child. This is what I thought. You will claim another one as your mate, right? You will claim her. Since when? When did it all start?”

I refused to talk about the ability he said I had. I wanted to show him that I didn’t stay. I needed a little bit of time before leaving. I needed to build something, a guarantee. If I left, no one would take me. I would be lost. I’d never go down when I still had some fight left in me.

I was contradicting myself. Even my heart didn’t agree with my mind to leave. “You are telling me that I am the weak one, which means I am useless,” I cried more, inside and out. “Why did you claim me when you could have rejected me? I would have left with my dignity instead of enduring the whole bullying and terror.”

“Since you have no wolf, you cannot understand the pull we have. I couldn’t do it. I am stuck to you like gum. I tried to help you to get where you are now. I wanted my mate to be useful to the pack, not just as my mate, for bed. I wanted you to prove that you can do well but it failed. No one wants a Luna that stays inside an office. The pack wants a strong one, someone to lead, to run at the front. Luna doesn’t stay back at home when there is a fight. Don’t blame me for doing what’s right for the both of us.”

He left, slamming the door behind him. My body slowly crumbled on the chair, exhausted. I guess he didn’t say what he came for. I smiled, happy for the small win I earned. But he returned.

“I almost forgot about it because of your ranting,” he growled. “I will take Nialliv as my Luna. You’ll stay as you are, doing what you know best but you’ll lose your position. You’ll stay my woman of course.”

“I worked for everything here,” I yelled. “What did you even do? You took all my achievements as your own, painting me as the weak one. What can she even do? She knows nothing. Moreover, you never saw me as your woman. You don’t even touch me. Let me go. I want to leave.”

“I can’t let you go. You know why. Since you want me to touch you, I will touch you,” he cut the distance between us and grabbed my wrist roughly. He threw me over the desk. “If you’re so hungry for it, you should say so.”

He started tearing my clothes, a cruel expression on his face.

This isn’t Frederick I fell in love with.