Chapter Six

“But Mother, why didn’t you ever tell me what happened. You only told me Grandmother had died of an unknown illness” I finally asked the question that has been bugging my mind since Mother told me the truth about her mother.

Mother pulled out of my embrace and wiped off her tears as she tried to calm herself down.

“I didn’t want my daughter to think of me as a child that pushed her own mother to her death” She sniffed and continued “I always felt guilty every time I remembered my mother died because of my stubborn and disobedience on the attempt of wanting to be free. It’s good to want to be free, Alice… Very good because it gives you a sense of independence but sometimes, when warned; even though you can’t see why you’re told otherwise, you should still adhere”

“Alice, I promise that I don’t go strict on you simply because I have some kind of instigation towards you, that’s very untrue. You are my daughter after all; but as you were growing, you were this stubborn kid who was convinced that rules are meant to be broken and that things are meant to be done in the way a person deems fit… Life, unfortunately isn’t like that and I didn’t you to get hurt like me and that’s why I’ve always been strict with you” I understood Mother, in fact, this was the very first time I’ve ever tried seeing things from her point of view and she was right. But I still felt there was somethings she took too far. For example: Why she wouldn’t let me train.

”I understand you, Mother but why wouldn’t you let me train?” I voiced out my thoughts and kept my head down so I don’t see the angry look finding its way to her face. Unexpectedly, she didn’t react that way, she only sighed and grabbed my hands.

“Moonlight Shadows is very complicated and I’m afraid yours would be much more complicated”

“What do you mean, Mother?” My brows scrunched up in confusion as I tried to comprehend what she said

“What do you feel around Gabriel?” She asked and my eyes widened the size of saucers under her scrutinising gaze. What does she mean? Wouldn’t I be embarrassing myself by telling her these things? What would she think of me?

“Do I really have to tell you that, Mother?” I asked, blush creeping onto my face as I felt slightly embarrassed.

“You don’t have to feel shy and embarrassed, after all, I’m still your mother” Mother said, stretching out to brush off what I assume to be a dead leaf off my hair. We were still in the forest anyway.

“Yes, I do. You know we don’t talk about stuffs like guys or crushes or even love, Mother… We were always arguing” I said the last part a little low but loud enough for her to hear me. I, on my part, wanted her to feel guilty for all those years she spent arguing with me instead of trying to lecture me on what I should and shouldn’t do when I experience feelings towards the opposite sex that I can’t even explain and yet, she just wants me to tell her what I feel for Gabriel. That’s very impossible.

Yes, I get that she lost her mother at a young age and didn’t want the same for me but it really was a bit selfish. If she had just dedicated her life to teaching me about a lot of stuffs, I probably would not have been this rebellious.

“Alice, I know how you feel and I’m really sorry about that. I wish I could make up for all those times and only now do I realize how much of a bad, terrible and inconsiderate mother I’ve been. Please, forgive me; I want to start all over with you and be a better mom to you. After all, you’re still my only child and I don’t want people to think bad towards you… hmm?” I nodded my head begrudgingly. I guess it’s not to late to start patching things up now. Mother flashed me a really beautiful smile before she suggested we go home and talk things over since we’ve been standing in the woods for God-knows-how-long, to which I cheerily agreed to. Not a big fan of this place.

So here I am, sitting across my mother on the kitchen island holding on tightly to my cup of hot cocoa, afraid it will pour over on my skin as my mouth hung wide in surprise. I was gobsmacked. I actually want to believe that all Mother just said right right now was a joke. It gave me the strangest feeling but yet, made me feel sweet. To say I was confused would be a big understatement, I was mortified.

Gabriel was my mate! Gabriel is my mate! Gabriel is my mate. Gabriel… is my mate. In all seriousness, he’s my mate? But how can he be my mate? How? What if he rejects me? A huge feeling of sadness sunk in my stomach. What’s there about me to like? I’m just this ignorant adult who is always arguing with her mother and barely understands half of the things going on around us. I suddenly feel useless. I slowly dropped my cup on the island as disappointment and self-doubt etched itself on my face.

“Alice?” I looked up at my mother, tears pooling in my eyes. I’m a failure; a total failure. “Hey, don’t be like that” She stood up from her seat and came around to mine before wrapping me up in her arms as I sobbed quietly. It sucks being like this.

“i feel so useless and incapable” Mother told me everything I needed to know about werewolves and our pack, I had known at that point that she was stalling about Gabriel. I thought she was saving the best for the last and technically, she was but I didn’t expect her to just drop that kind of bomb on my head. At first, I was excited knowing I wasn’t mated to just anyone but the alpha of our pack and the strongest werewolf known… Mother’s words. Gabriel is very much close to the definition of ‘Perfect’ and me, his mate is… I would rather not say.

“is there something I’ve missed?” I heard Father’s voice echoing from the doorway but I made no effort to go greet him.

“Alice, why don’t you go up to your room and take a rest. I’ll drop by your room later and in the mean time, do not think about it, okay?” Mother placed a kiss on my forehead as I pulled out of her embrace, nodded my head at my father before slowly making my way to my room.

“What’s up with Alice? I’ve never seen her that gloomy before” Father’s voice was faint but I heard hm clearly.

GABRIEL’S POV

I stood in the middle of my large study, my arms folded, a grin stretching onto my face as Thaddeus and Zara scrutinized me with their gazes under the bright lighting of the room.

“Are you gonna tell us why you seem like you’re going to burst out of excitement or…?”

“Or why your grin looks kinda creepy to me?” Thaddeus chipped in, earning a glare from me. “What? I’m just saying, it actually looks creepy” He said, raising his hands in surrender. Zara shook her head at him, feeling he could be hopeless at times.

“Forget him, tell me why you’re in such a good mood?” Zara offered

“Babe!” My sister rolled her eyes at her undeniably down-to-earth and annoying assistant in training the youngies. He’s cute and young but very annoying, reminds me of Alice. Thinking about that, I totally forgot about Thaddeus’ annoying remark about my grin. It’s best not to listen to him at times.

“Or? Could it be?”

“Could it be that what?” Thaddeus pressed further, curious to know what Zara was on about. “Quick, say it. Stop keeping me in the dark already!”

“Alice is your mate?” I frowned. Zara is so annoying; why did she guess that? I wanted to kill them with curiosity and then when I get satisfied, I’ll rub it in their faces but no! She’s too smart.

Thaddeus gasped loudly, holding his chest as he stared at me in anticipation. What is wrong with him today? I’m starting to think some nuts are loose in his head, I’ve always thought that actually.

“Is she? Come on, spill already!”

“Shut up” I glared hard at Thaddeus, wanting to behead him right here and now but Zara will behead me in return.

“She is!” Zara declared, her face breaking out in smiles. Here we go. “I knew it! I literally could smell it off of you two. I didn’t expect Alice to figure it out just yet but you… you were a little slow” There was an air of pride around her as she finished talking.

“No way! Alice is your mate?” My nose scrunched up in confusion. Why is he sounding sad? Or is it just my imagination?

“You’re such a dumb guy. How come you didn’t know?”

“Uhh… not everybody is as smart as you, Zara but I’m simply amazing” Thaddeus stood, showing off his biceps. I swear, there’s something seriously wrong with this guy.

“Yea, sure” Zara said, mockery obvious in her voice “When did you find out?”

“When I first saw her” I’m not an Alpha for nothing and I’m not a rookie werewolf either.

“Ooh. Did you tell her?” Zara was excited, no doubt and me? I don’t know. Maybe?

“Nope”

“Why?!” Thaddeus asked, distraught about my response. I shrugged, clearly unaffected.

“Should I have walked up to her and be like: ‘Hey Alice, did you know you’re my mate even though you know nothing about werewolves. I’m trying to scare you away’” My voice held a tone of frustration “She’ll find out herself. Besides, she has her parents to guide her through, I’m sure it won’t take so long”

“Anyway, how are the new werewolves settling?” This was me brushing off the topic. I didn’t want to talk about it any further. Both Zara and Thaddeus sighed, shaking their heads at my indifference

“He’s a lost cause” Thaddeus nodded in agreement to what my sister said.

“You know, it’s obvious you’re trying to avoid this discussion because Thaddeus and I always send you a detailed report of all the new intakes. Your mind has been elsewhere and occupied by a certain person whose name starts with ‘A’ and honestly, I don’t know why you’re avoiding it; you’re simply not one to not ever finish a discussion but this time, I’ll let you off the hook” Zara stood up, dragging dear Thaddeus with her “Best advice, just let it happen. No pressure. We’re going, goodnight” 

I’m not worried about me, I’m worried about her. Considering the fact that she’s new to all these, she might as well freak out and I’m not aiming for that. She seems interesting though, very interesting. I stood there, in the middle of the room, a particular round face with long ink black hair and beautiful brown eyes. She’s clumsy a bit, I can tell and she’s very rebellious… well that’s a plus for me, I don’t fancy submissive girls, they’re way better when they are wild to a certain extent. She fits my criteria.

A loud knock on the huge mahogany door demarcating the study room and the hallway. A frown settled on my face. It’s late already, who could it be? The knock came again, its sound resonating through the room. 

I stood straight and went to the back of the table that carried documents and paper and settled on the swivel chair I’d gotten familiar with over the past few months.

“Come in” I stated, an air of authority around me. The door creaked open, revealing the beta, Kass.

“Alpha Gabriel” Kass greeted respectfully, entering the room and shutting the door behind him. Kass is the strongest werewolf after me, making him my right-hand man and the pack’s Beta after the death of our parents. Physically, Kass is like the genie in Aladdin… Strongly built with large arms, strong arms and a serious face but a bit playful. Kass and I have been friends since childhood even though he’s two years younger than I am, not that I mind though. We didn’t fight a lot growing up, we mostly agreed on almost every single thing but Kass is a really serious person, not really though. He’s the type that’s serious when he should and is playful only when he feels like it, just like right now when he’s been really serious. 

“Beta Kass” I smiled, returning his respect “Come, have a seat. How was the journey surveying Gadir?”

“I’m afraid it’s not really a good news, Gabriel” I sat up properly, eager to listen to him “Dead bodies of some of our pack were found on the Northern wing of the woods in Gadir. It’s terrible. It wasn’t just two bodies or three, almost a hundred. We tried tracking the scent of those responsible but we could barely get past the creek at the border, the water seemed to have washed away their scents so we’re basically clueless. I don’t know who could be behind it and I don’t want to point fingers either but it is not a good sign. Whoever it is, they are probably back” I sighed tiredly as I loosened the first two buttons of the tee-shirt I wore. This has been the usual news since Father’s death. There was someone out there who was seeking for the downfall of the pack and the most annoying thing was that we had no idea who was behind it. I didn’t want to point fingers at the humans, they barely know anything about us… even if they did, they would be powerless against us. It can’t be the werewolves from the neighbouring towns and villages either, we simply are not at odds with one another and if they are the ones responsible, it wouldn’t be hard to tell. Besides, there’s no valid reason for them to kill their kind.

“What can we do, Kass? I’ve thought hard about it and I just cannot place my finger on a possible perpetrator”

“The truth is Gadir is known to be very peaceful, even among the werewolves so it’s hard to just find a reason to start a massacre. Your father’s rule was the most united and peaceful amongst us werewolves and the humans” I nodded in agreement. Father made sure to hide us werewolves well, the humans didn’t really like us but Father was able to wipe out every rumor about werewolves in Gadir since the beginning of his reign so the younger generations of humans have no idea about us and the older ones that do, have doubts because it’s been so long they heard or have seen us; their mouths are therefore sealed.

“Even so, I think for now, instead of searching all over for the perpetrator, let’s take in more youngies and hasten their training so they can help in protecting the pack. We have no idea what is coming and when it will come”

“That’s great, Alpha” Kass stood up slowly and bowed “I’ll pass your order to Thaddeus and Zara. Have a good night” He exited the study, intimidation and authority exuding from him.