Announcement

Standing in front of the house I had once shared with my father before become a Luna I hesitated. My father was a pack enforcer and a highly respected Beta because of how skilled he was.

My mother had died while giving birth to me and since then my father had raised me teaching me everything I knew. 

I knew how to spar, how to fight without shifting to my wolf. In a way he saw me as a son he never had and even though my wolf had emerged as an Omega he had pushed me to move from that rank to the position I found myself now.

If I told him this news I was sure it was going to break his heart to a million pieces. I stared at the wooden door my heart heavy, my tongue tied, my knuckles a few inches from knocking on the door.

But I knew I had to tell my father sooner or later if I resisted from telling him now it would be delaying the inevitable. One way or the other he was still bound to find out.

Gathering courage, I knocked on the door simultaneously hearing laughter from inside the house. The laughter confirmed the fact that my father was with a few of his drinking buddies from the pack.

Hearing that his daughter had lost her position as a Luna and her husband to another woman was going to turn his mood sour.

I blanked out deciding I couldn't go ahead with it. Stepping away from the door I hurried down the porch steps and stopped when I heard my name being called out.

When I looked back my father was standing there, one of his hands on the doors threshold.

"Ava? Where you the one who knocked?"

"Yes," I said feeling my voice become choked with emotion.

"Is something wrong you have never visited me as late as this before?"

Again considered telling him the truth or lying to him, as I battled the wage of emotions that was fast rising within me.

"Have you been crying?" He suddenly asked stepping out from the threshold, closing the door and walking down the steps to meet me.

I fought to make my expression go neutral and succeed just as my father came close to me.His blue eyes regarded me in that soft manner he usually did when I was a little girl and was crying over something.

"I'm fine Dad, just a bit tired that's all?"

He arched an eyebrow over at me clearly disbelieving my lie but not wanting to pry.

“Stress had never been an issue for you, I feel like there is something more. What are you not telling me Ava?”

“It’s okay Dad, I promise I’m fine,” I lied.

"You can come and join me and the guys for a drink. Luke's been complaining how he hasn't seen you since you became Luna; he’s in there whining about the good old days."

I smiled at the statement in a bid to throw my father off the emotional turmoil that was roiling within me.

"I'm fine dad, you know I don't drink and besides you seem to be having fun, don't let me bother."

"Doesn’t stop me from being your father when you need me" he said his voice going soft again said his voice going soft.

It was taking all I had in me not to break down and cry in from of him especially since his voice had gone that soft. I wanted to tell him everything, yet I couldn’t.

I took in a deep breath, "it’s okay dad, I promise," I said, lying through my teeth.

He stepped closer pulling me into a hug. "I know you need this hug and the fact that you are a Luna doesn’t stop me from being your father when you need me to be, I don't want you to ever forget that."

"Yes dad" I muttered against his shoulder my voice finally breaking as the tears streamed down my face.

"Ive watched you rise from nothing to something and that’s testimony to the fact that you are a warrior, whatever you're going through now you're going to be able to fight past it."

I was crying hard against my father's shoulders because for the first time I didn't believe his words. I didn't think I was going to be able to fight against this obstacle this time; it was slowly killing me inside.

"It's okay to cry Ava," he said, rubbing the small if my back, "but crying don’t solve anything. It didn't let you reach this position.

I wondered how it would feel to him if I told him I had lost the position; I wondered how he was going to think of me.

My father pulled away from the hug and his fingers rubbed at the corner of my eyes cleaning my tears and I felt like I was a little girl once again. His little girl with a broken heart.

"You're my daughter, a product of my loins and anything that comes from me is tenacious as fuck do you believe that?"

I didn’t believe it but I nodded slowly.

"Good, “my father said pulling me into another hug and we both remained like that, the sound of laughter in the house occasionally breaking the silence of the night.

                   *******************

The weeks went by in a blur and while I slowly accepted the fact that I no longer had a mate neither did I have a husband it still hurt each time I thought about it.

I still hadn't told my father about what was happening in my marriage ad my eventual escape from the pack with Nonna.

I planned to write him a note, hoping that would explain everything to him even though I knew deep down that either of the choices I was about to make was going to break his heart.

Zane and I avoided each other as one would avoid a leper. He had stopped sleeping in the pack house and chose to stay with Emma and each time he didn't come home, each night he stayed out late an image of him and Cassie on the bed naked stuck to my mind like a parasite.

Even though no one in the pack knew about the disaster that had befallen the packs

Alpha and Luna it was still evident that the pack knew something by the amount of hushed conversations I seemed to be walking into on a daily basis.

Members of the pack new something was up and there was nothing I could do about it. Tonight was the night Zane had told me he was going to make it official to the pack that he had chosen a second mate.

I wondered how the pack was going to react, Zane was practically doing something that had never been done in werewolf history; choosing a mate when your current mate wasn’t rejected and was alive and well.

Whether the pack would accept his decision or whether they were going to stand by me as their Luna would be decided today.

                                                                  

Standing in front of the mirror I took a deep breath and looked at my reaction as Nonna arranged my hair into a braided ponytail.

Either way, it turned out to be I was leaving the pack this night there was no going back on my decision.

"You're ready right?" I asked as Nonna put finishing touches to my hair.

She nodded a frown on her face.

"Still a little bit scared." She said in a matter of fact tone.

"That's alright but there is no need for that, we'll be out of here without anyone noticing.

Nonna nodded vestiges of that frown still on her face like she wanted to believe me but couldn't due to some reason.

"Done, “she announced getting up as I looked at my hair in the mirror.

I had no time to feel happy neither did I have time to admire it. The circumstances of this occasion wasn't one that I should be concerned about my looks or anything.

Outside the house, I could hear the buzz and excitement as the pack prepared for the ceremony which they knew nothing about.

Inside the room, I prepared myself for my escape, after packing my bags and other things I would need I took a deep breath.

Stepping outside the house I was taken aback by the number of people who had turned up for the ceremony. I stood on the porch steps watching as everyone trooped to the pack hall.

I waited for a few seconds taking a deep breath before mingling in with the crowd. The hall had been decorated in a hue of different colors but my focus wasn't exactly on them as my mind was going other places.

The podium had been cleared and there were two chairs there. On one sat Cassie looking nervous as hell and Zane in the other in his usual brooding manner, his face expressionless.

Get up here., Zane sent me a mind link and I obeyed, climbing the stairs that led to the podium eager for this moment to pass so I could make my way out of the pack.

I reached the two chairs and stood beside Cassie who could barely look at me as she played with her fingers which were resting against her thighs her eyes darting about nervously

I wondered why, this is what she wanted all along.

The hall was silent now as the pack was starting to notice something was wrong from the look on the faces of the ones in the front row.

Zane raised his hands and the hall descended into silence at once, not even a single noise rose from the many people gathered there. Every single pair of eyes fixed on the podium.

He stood up from the chair and took a few steps forward clearing his throat.

I closed my eyes knowing the time had come.