2

Alpha Frederick dashed into the hut in which his wife had given birth with a beaming smile on his face.

He could not contain the joy he felt in his heart as he laid his eyes on his precious little daughter that was held on to by his wife, who wore a satisfied smile on her face. 

With careful steps, he moved closer to his child, eager and excited to finally hold his child in his arms. It had taken them over seven years of marriage to finally be able to bear a child of their own. Celia had unfortunately suffered several miscarriages and this time while she was pregnant with their little angel, they had taken a lot of preventive measures to make sure she delivered her child safely and soundly.

Frederick and Celia had fallen in love with each other the minute they found out they were fated to be mates at the age of Eighteen and Sixteen respectively. They had immediately become inseparable to the point where it actually hurts whenever they were away from each other. 

"Thanks be to the moon goddess for she has graced us with the presence of an angel like no other." he said with a grateful heart.

He leaned down and kissed the forehead of his wife before she handed over the baby carefully to him. He smiled widely as soon as she was placed in his arms with her little fingers wrapping itself around his index finger allowing a new and unfamiliar feeling of fulfilment overwhelm him.

Just then, Marcus, the wolf who had informed Frederick of the Silvermoon pack invasion dashes in with a desperate look on his face. 

"Alpha, I've just been informed through a mind link that they are getting closer and it's getting harder for our men out there to actually hold them off. They came in battalions, Sir." Marcus informed Frederick.

Frederick sighs with a small smile tugging on his lips. He stared at his beautiful child one more time and his confidence skyrocketed when he realised just how much of a blessing she is to him and to the pack. 

"We will have victory over them today because today is the day my angel was born and not a single one of them shall leave my territory alive! They will regret ever messing with us." He grunts in a low and dangerous tone.

He places a small kiss on his daughter's forehead before handing her back to her mother. He smiled at his wife once again, giving her hands one last squeeze with both their eyes saying everything that needed to be said. He leaves the hut in a hurry to fight against the daring Silvermoon pack who had gone too far by evading his territory. 

Celia grunts in pain once Frederick was out of sight. She had felt immense pain below her stomach but had to pretend all was well because she didn't want Frederick to get all worried about her and ignore the war at hand. 

"Luna, are you okay?" Marlene asked, noticing the beads of sweats that formed on her forehead and the quiet whimpers.

Before Frederick had come in, Celia had made Marlene act as if everything was okay so as not to make him more worried in the state they were in.

She was finding it hard to breathe and was losing a lot of blood but that was the least of her concerns. The war happening was her utmost concern, as she knew what could happen if things went south which is why she had come to a decision to make sure Fredrick fights and hopefully wins so as to protect every member of the pack and their little angel.

  She knew if she made the slightest mistake and expressed her pain, he wouldn't leave her side and the enemies would succeed in coming further into their land and in the process, they would end the lives of way too many.

She just had her little angel and wouldn't want to see her daughter die right before her eyes.

"I..." Celia choked on her words. She knew her time had come and as much as she would love to die beside her husband, she knew it wouldn't happen and it hurts her to know how heartbroken he would be when he comes back to meet her cold body.

"Celia, please, try to breathe, I beg you. Do it for your child." Marlene said, wishing and hoping that things didn't turn out for the worst. Deep down, she already knew Celia wouldn't make it or at least not easily. She had faced way too many complications during birth and once the baby came out, she started to lose a lot of blood.

A teardrop rolled down Celia's cheek and as if sensing her mother's distress, the baby in her arms began to cry profusely.

"M...my precious one." She stuttered as her heart broke into thousands of pieces. 

Marlene takes the baby away from Celia carefully and starts to rock her slowly to keep her from crying..

"T...take care of y... yourself my child." She mutters in a low voice as her voice begins to fail her. She wished at that moment that her child could understand her so she could tell her a thousand times just how much she loved her. 

"Marlene, please take...care of my baby and tell... Frederick, I'll always be with him." She says, inhaling and exhaling with great difficulty. 

  She knew she was running out of time but she was helpless, she had so much to say to her child but couldn't voice them out. She cried because she wished her daughter would understand the words in her heart and hold onto them tightly. If only she had a chance to be a mother to her child. 

"I love you my dear Kira." Those were the last words Celia struggled to say before she could no longer fight her fate. 

Marlene's movements immediately halt when she realised that her dear friend was no longer breathing. A lone tear rolled down her cheek as a wave of sadness hit her hard. 

She and Celia had been friends since they were children and she couldn't help but feel heartbroken by her dear friend's demise. 

She didn't know whether or not she should break down in tears and grief her friend but then again, she knew she had to stay strong for the baby and also for every member of the pack, especially her friend Frederick whose reaction she can't even bring herself to imagine. 

She moved closer to her friend, leaned in and used her hands to help shut her eyes.

"Rest in peace my dear Celia." she whispered with a heavy heart. 

*****

Alpha Frederick shifted into his wolf form as soon as his eyes met the Silvermoon pack warriors. His heart broke for the number of he would have to kill at this very moment. No matter how ruthless he was, he hated the fact that his hands were getting dirty on such a good day. He wanted to end it all as soon as he could and go back to his wife and precious child. 

As soon as his claws came in contact with anyone around him, they got bruised terribly and started bleeding profusely causing them to lose control of themselves and involuntarily switch back to their human form. He was merciless towards them, tearing them apart with his teeths and using his claws to leave deep scratches on them.

He felt a different kind of power surge through him as he attacked his enemies, leaving injuries that would take them longer than expected to heal and that was if they survived.

He growled. He was so happy and that happiness had given him enough strength to tear them all into shreds and return back to his daughter.

  When there's a full moon, it is said that the strength of a werewolf is ten times its normal strength but for Alpha Frederick, it almost felt like the full moon wasn't the only thing that made him more powerful.

Getting the invaders out of his territory was much easier than Frederick had expected. To his utmost surprise, he didn't feel the least bit tired and was ready to go to the war front and fight off the enemies.

He growled while thanking the moon goddess for his precious child and the strength she had given to him through his daughter. He couldn't wait for all of this to be over so he could hold his precious daughter in his hands. He felt euphoric and eager.

He wanted to use his mind link to ask his wife about their daughter but went against it as he thought she would be too tired to communicate with him.

*****

Layla tended to the wounds of her mate gently, watching over him and making sure no one came anywhere close to where they hid. She had killed the wolf who had hurt her man and now she had to make sure he didn't die from his injuries.

Luca groaned in pain as she applied medicine on his deep wounds and tears rolled down her cheek as she watched him cry in pain. 

Layla could stand the sight of dead bodies littered all over the place with blood of several of her kind spilling all over, their depressing cry of agony and the aura of death that hovered around her each passing second but one thing she could not stand was the obvious hurt on the face of the man she loved. 

She was well known to her pack as an heartless and ruthless warrior but when her Luca was involved, she became an entirely different person. She was the complete opposite of everything she made people believe she was on the outside and only he knew this.

Luca felt bad that she had always been the one protecting him. He felt weak and wished he hadn't gotten hurt and made her fight his battle for him. 

"I..." Layla cuts him off.

"Don't say it. Don't bother saying anything." She said strictly, making sure he doesn't speak so his injuries can heal much faster. 

Luca groaned as he clenched his fist. He felt weak and thought of what he could do to help himself get better as soon as possible so he could protect her instead.

Layla got back on her feet and stretched her hands forward so Luca could hold on to her to help himself up so they could go back to the main quarters. 

  Luca refused her help, got up by himself and began to walk ahead of her. Layla knew of his inferiority complex and how it made him distant from her most of the time. She frowned at him but he couldn't see her and although he sensed her anger, he didn't bother turning back to look at her. 

*****

The Silvermoon pack had retreated back to their territory. They had lost a lot of their warriors and knew they had to put a stop to the war in order to avoid losing any more of their men. 

Alpha Frederick went back to the headquarters with joy in his heart to see both his wife and child.

When he arrived at the hut, something was off and he could most definitely feel it. He tried shrugging out his negative thoughts as he didn't want any negativity around his family especially after the terrible battle that just took place. 

He looks around the hut and a cold air of discomfort hits him as the deadly silence of the environment threatens to play with his mind and his sanity. He expected to see his members celebrating not only their victory against the enemy but also the birth of his first born after years of waiting patiently but instead of this, he could only see the sad faces of the nurses who were in charge of assisting Marlene in birthing his child. 

In an attempt to understand what it was that could make everyone around him look so down and unhappy, he tried using his mind link to communicate with his wife but to his surprise, he got no reply and that was when it finally hit him. Nothing was okay at the moment. 

He dashed into the hut to see his wife and child and make sure they were okay but as soon as he barged in, he was welcomed with the quiet sobs of a few members of his pack who seemed to have formed a circle around his wife's bed.

His heart started to feel heavier as he made his way slowly, towards his wife's bed.

He spots his child lying peacefully in Marlene's arms and he felt more at ease seeing that his angel was safe and sound but then when he turned to look at his wife, he knew something was terribly wrong and his heart dropped. 

He shakily took her palm in his and her palms immediately felt cold against his, sending a sudden feeling of disarray and emptiness down his entire being. 

"What...no...no...no..." He trailed off as he stared back at his wife's motionless body.

The pain he felt right at that moment was not something he ever thought he would feel in his lifetime. He couldn't even comprehend how empty and dead he felt on the inside. He wanted to speak up, say something to her, yell, cry and beg but he just couldn't. Everything in him felt like it was starting to slowly shut down and the feeling of helplessness killed him even more. 

"Cel... Celia?" He called in a low voice but got no reply.

Marlene sniffled, struggling to hold back her tears as she watched Frederick slowly lose himself, "I'm so sorry Frederick. I really..." She's saying but he cuts her off harshly.

"What happened to her!" He growled, his eyes immediately turning blood red with rage. 

The tears Marlene had fought hard to control started to stream down her face without control and as much as she tried controlling herself, she just couldn't do it anymore. 

"She's... she passed away Frederick and there was nothing we could do to save her." She informs him shakily and although he already knew what had happened, hearing it from someone else made him realise that the love of his life had left and now he had no one. 

With rage and pain in his heart, Frederick immediately changed to his wolf form, carried his dead mate on his back and bolted out of the hut and out into the forest where he planned to mourn for the rest of his life.