Athena"Alpha, we are sorry but your mate suffered a miscarriage." The faint voice of a female buzzed into my ears.Despite having half of my consciousness lost somewhere in the dark, the news left me paralyzed. The surface underneath me felt stone cold like a rock, my body refused to move, my eyes wouldn't open and in my perturbation I keep trying to feel my baby's presence, convincing my ears that what they had heard was a lie but every time I was struck with the truth that hurt me more than any weapon in this world could.At one moment, it felt like I would never be able to remove this weight off of my body and get up, deep down, the thought of watching myself die underneath this crushing weight began to settle but then, another voice spoke."Okay," It was his voice, low and calm, however, unsuccessful in masking the ache behind it, "How month was....our child?""One month. Just like typical werewolf embryos, your child was at its developing phase too and unfortunately, it couldn't
Present TimeAthenaThe silence of my apartment forced me to drown in the same awful memories again and again. The sight of Sebastian today, had awakened all my nightmares, freshened all my wounds and put me in the same spot I'd found myself six months ago.Guilt began crawling up my insides, like venomous spiders it surrounded me, some even went up and down my throat. I fought hard to not let a word leave my mouth. I did not want to cry because that only made me feel weak. I did not want the grief to touch me or even brush past me, cause no matter how much I grieved, the pain would never end.One question repeatedly rang inside my head— Why is he here?The thought of his sudden appearance not being a coincidence dragged me into an emotional upheaval where suspicion wouldn't let me stay still even for a mere second. My restlessness was killing me from within, it was eradicating my sanity, and it made me question my dignity every time a surreal emotion passed through me at the thought
AthenaThere had been times when distractions became my saviour, when work helped me forget for the sake of my peace and small affirmations to myself helped me calm my racing heart down but today nothing helped.Even as I finished tons and tons of chores, more than what I was supposed to do, from neatly cleaning my entire apartment, to placing even a small pencil in its place, and now at the bakery, doing more work than I had in my duty, nothing gave a hand to reducing my anxiousness I tried to keep hidden but perhaps, partly succeeded."What happened sweetcakes?" Shelly asked, surely not mistaking the worry written all over my face for something else."Oh, nothing. I am just a bit tired." I blurted out without thinking anything at all."What? Then why are you here, Athena? You should have stayed at home and taken a rest," She instantly spoke and her face showed concern, "But here you are, working double the number of your usual duties.""I will be fine, Shelly. Don't worry." I flashe
Athena"Hello, I am here to deliver this order for room 237," I told the receptionist, showing her the card for our bakery."Can I get the name?""Uhm..."After quite an amount of struggle, I fetched the paper from my jeans pockets and looked at the info, "Oh, it's for Miss...Cora.""Give me a second," She checked the entries, "Sorry, but there's no entry in the name of Miss Cora. Room number 237 is booked for Mr Val--""Could you please check with the guest if someone else they know has ordered this for them? The location given to us was this one and we received the order around 2.00 PM. The payment has already been made," I requested, "It'd be unfortunate if we can't deliver this order.""Sure, I can do that for you."She soon dialled the number and called the individual staying in the room, "Hello, Sir. Sorry to bother you, but we have got a small issue over here. It appears that someone named 'Cora, has placed an order for you," She spoke, "Would mind confirming if you are aware of
SebastianAs I watched her leave, my heart sank, far deeper than it ever had because I fucking knew how she saw the situation. After a whole half a year of fighting the world alone and dealing with the grief, and darkness by herself, the last thing she had expected was for me to show up in her life, all of a sudden and for my presence to threaten her walls again. It was evident. She hadn't seen it happen anytime soon.And even if she had, of course, it was more than just obvious that she hadn't expected me to be with another woman.But I was not. Cora was not my girlfriend.Flashback"You know, instead of cutting a stupid piece of cake I'd prefer you to leave me alone and go back," I let out, reclining against the chair and pinching the middle of my forehead."You know, instead of trying to send me back, you can celebrate with me," As always, her response was quick, "It's been four months of your therapies and I am glad you are recovering, and it's a good thing. Why can't you just b
AthenaTill I reached home, my eyes were weighed down. Red, swollen, and full of tears. I did not know why I was getting so affected by the fact that Sebastian had found someone to move on with his life when I thought I didn't have any hopes remaining in my heart. Or maybe I was wrong.Maybe I did have hopes. In a cruel way that ended up hurting me.Maybe I'd thought that he was true to his words that the day I had left. My poor heart, in the hopes of being loved, deep down believed that he was truly guilty for everything he did and put us through.Not that his guilt would have made anything better or turned the tables. But, it was easier to live with the knowledge that your mate, the culprit who left no scope to hurt you in the deep urge to destroy you, was at least aware of what he had done and in comparison to the pain I was carrying over my shoulders, it was the least on his part to at least carry, perhaps, just a bit of remorse?I wondered if he even remembered about our child w
AthenaIn the midst of everything she had destroyed with her own hands, with her tears pouring freely and proceeding to slide down her cheeks, her screams sounding louder than the waves of the sea, her eyes red and her soul having more pieces than the things she'd broken in the hopes of buying herself a reason to feel less devastated than she was, sat a woman— A broken woman with scars that'd take years to count. A woman who had once dreamt of being loved. A woman who had once imagined a life with her child after her mate who never wished to keep her in his one.And that woman was me. I was that ill-fated woman.Why couldn't he just love me?— This question would never stop asking me to be answered.Why did I had to lose my baby?— This question would always keep hurting me.Why hadn't I put myself first?— This question would allow me the guts to forgive myself.I had never known before meeting Sebastian that love can be so lethal. But, thanks to him, he made it possible. I owed him for
CoraI couldn't just leave this boy all on his own and alone, so after much consideration and evaluating the given chances of his supposed conversation with Athena ending up in an adverse way, I decided to stay. Cause I knew Sebastian would not be able to handle it. He was incapable of even thinking straight.He was guilt-ridden to the point where hurting himself seemed like the only way he could make up for his mistakes— A sick recompense he thought was the only way to his salvation. I'd been treating him for months, and this period was enough to let me know how worse his condition was getting each day and the only way to give him hope was to tell him that he was recovering, to try to introduce him to new ways of happiness and peace.But, No. Nothing had helped and would perhaps never. His whole life only circled Athena. Her name alone shattered him into small pieces, every day.The mistakes he had made in the past were still suppressing him deep in the darkness, no matter how much a
Sebastian"Sebastian, you have to talk to Vincent. Enough is enough; I can't handle him anymore," Athena walked into the room, her hair cascading down her waist, her skin flushed with frustration, "Moreover, we don't even have enough room for toys and dresses now. There are still hundreds of things that Asher hasn't even tried yet, but he just dropped off more than ten bags full of outfits, just now! Asher's growing so fast; he won't even get to try all of it. It's all going to be a waste. God, I can't take it!"She threw her hands over her head. In her flowy white maxi dress, with no bra on, she did indeed look tempting. It might make me seem like a complete jerk, but I wasn't paying the least amount of attention to her words compared to what I was paying to her body now.Oh, how I would love to tear that dress off of her and have her on the bed, clutching onto the sheets with her silky hair sprawled all over the pillow while with each thrust, I'd drive deeper into her—it'd be a deli
Athena"Luna, there's someone who wants to meet both of you," the maid informed us."Who is it, sweetie?" I asked as I gently placed Asher in his crib. This was his second nap of the day, and in his soft snores, there was a hint of Sebastian. He had definitely taken after his father in terms of looks and a few habits."He says his name is Tristan Perez.""What, Tristan?" I asked, my brows rising in surprise, and Sebastian's reaction mirrored mine as he immediately closed his laptop."Bring him in," he said, “Right now."The maid promptly left the room.It had been four months since that fateful day when Sebastian, after apologizing to Tristan, me (even though I was unconscious at the time), and our newborn baby, disappeared. He had promised to return the following day, but Tristan had vanished without a trace. No phone calls, no visits, no messages, and no news. Cora had been devastated, but she eventually found the strength to move on, accepting the possibility that he might never re
AthenaFour Months Later"Sebastian, Vincent, I need to feed Asher. You two need to give him to me, right now!" I yelled for the second time, standing at the doorway with my arms crossed over my chest."Do you want to go to Mama?" Sebastian asked, planting soft kisses on Asher's cheeks, eliciting a chorus of giggles, "We don't think so. He's happier with Daddy and Uncle Vince.""Yeah, our little fighter is happier with us than with you, Athena. You seem to bore him all the time," Vincent chuckled, gently taking Asher in his arms and playfully nibbling on his ear, "What a big boy you are, huh?!" He planted a loving kiss atop Asher's head."Yeah, Mama's boring," Sebastian joked, pretending to lie down across Asher's lap. Asher, ever the daddy's boy, leaned in and gave Sebastian a kiss of his own, complete with a cute but slobbery open-mouthed smooch. That was his way of kissing."See, even Asher agrees with us," Vincent said with a proud grin.Goodness! When I had Asher, who could have
AthenaEverything around me felt too light, and my body felt burdened by an inexplicable weight. I was acutely aware of my own breath, the gentle touch of someone's fingers caressing my cheeks, and the faint, delicate movements of a small figure nestled in my arms.Do the departed continue to breathe? Perhaps in their consciousness, or maybe in a manner imperceptible to the living. Do the dead really breathe?Am I among the dead now? If I am, then why do I still sense that touch, one that seemed to coax my soul to the surface with every stroke? Why do I feel the presence of someone incredibly dear to me, as though a part of my essence had drawn near?Thoughts raced through my mind, clamouring for attention, until one realisation surfaced — my baby.My eyes slowly fluttered open, adjusting to the soft, ambient light. The surroundings were unmistakably familiar — our very own home, and our shared place—Our room.So....we made it?"Love," Sebastian's voice whispered beside me, and I turn
TristanI had made a mistake. A great one. One that I couldn’t undo no matter how much I wished.Cora handed me the diary as we all stood outside the hospital. The morning winds were bitterly cold or maybe, it was just the cold within me."This is Celine's diary," she said, her demeanour different today, unlike the times when she used to follow me around in an attempt to make me acknowledge the mate bond I had been denying until now. Of course, I knew the reason—she had seen the kind of person I had become.And who would ever want to be with a man like me? Worthless.I hadn't done this right. I made Athena pay a price she wasn't supposed to pay—all that pain and suffering just to see her child's face once. She had endured too much for my revenge, a revenge I shouldn't have sought in the first place. But what else could I do? I wanted to hurt Sebastian, and she was the only one who truly mattered to him in this entire world.Celine died to save Athena. Had I made her sacrifice go in va
Athena"What kind of sick joke is this?" Sebastian growled. "She can't even breathe, and you're asking her to push? Is this another one of your schemes to put her through even more suffering? Listen, Tristan, why don't you just leave? You've already succeeded, then just go.""Look, I'm not lying. I know I should be the last person you'd trust, but if you want to save her, this is the only way. It had always been this way.""Do you expect me to believe that? You're the one who brought my mate and child to this condition. And now, you suddenly change your mind and say you're willing to show a sick way to save her?""I don't know why I'm doing this, okay?" Tristan shouted. "I still don't know if I'm supposed to save your mate and child and give you a happily ever after when you've ruined hundreds of lives, including the one I loved. I'm not even sure if I won't regret my decision if I save her... but," his voice dropped low, "I don't know if I'll be able to forgive myself if she dies bec
Vincent"Where could it be?!" I scoured every corner of the room that my sister had once lived in. Each belonging I touched, felt like a piece of my soul leaving my body. She had degraded herself into being someone's... object, all to avenge a duty that was never meant to be hers in the first place.I had failed as a brother. First, I couldn't save my wife and child, and then my sister— I had failed as a brother, a husband, and a father. Perhaps, at some point, even as a son, the day I emptied all the bullets in my gun into my mother's body.What else could I have done? She wasn't the mother I once knew, or maybe she never was. She’d become just a wife, a woman consumed by revenge for her husband's death, stooping to any level she could."Fuck, I need to find it!""Do you really think she wrote about it in her diary?" Cora's voice was laced with frustration, mirroring my own. Despite her wound, she'd insisted on coming with me. Seeing her struggle and fight through the pain just to be
AthenaIn just a matter of minutes, perhaps five at most, another howl echoed from the same direction I had just fled. The urgency to rescue my child and escape intensified. The deeper I ventured, the jungle's darkness engulfed me, beyond the approaching dusk, as if the very terrain absorbed my every pawfall.Adjusting to my newfound lupine form proved challenging, despite the profound potential it held. Joy should have welled within me, had circumstances been different. Amid this life-and-death urgency for my child and me, my half-life of hell ended. The ash-hued fur now enveloping me marked my shift – bones realigning, former doubts erased. A single question remained, paramount: Can I save my baby?I did not know but I knew, I had to. No matter what, I had to.Irrespective, I surged forward with unrelenting speed, and the strength in my body grew. But the abdominal ache deepened, sapping my strides. My efforts persisted, each second ticking toward an impending reckoning. My deliver
SebastianThere was no trace of her anywhere. Every search and every query yielded negative results.Fuck this!A bead of sweat trickled down my forehead. My heart's rhythm grew louder, each passing second eroding my grasp on composure—I can't forgive myself if anything happens to her or our child. Past mistakes already burdened me, and failing them now would be unbearable."Any leads?"."No, Alpha. No sign of her," came the reply."Then search around! Why the fuck are you calling me without anything to report? Damn it!”"Apologies, Alpha. We'll expand the search."I disconnected and flung the phone away. This situation was maddening. Worry consumed me, and Aaron's tactics, unexpected. I had misjudged his feelings for Athena, forgetting the twisted core that might lead him to harm her for his ego's sake.Damn it! I should've seen this coming. Accompanied her instead of letting her go with Cora.How could I act fucking careless?!I sped up the car, the dark night heightening my fears.