Chapter 2 - Remembrance

Reed’s pov.

Today marked one month since I left her. Since she left me. I closed my eyes, and the same memory from the forest haunted me.

"Please take your warriors back to your pack with you." she said and quaffed loudly as if she were trying not to break into tears in front of me.

"Your warriors didn’t deserve to die, and that was such a horrible death, especially for me." This time, she looked away. "Please order them; if something happens to any one of them, I won’t be able to forgive myself." A single tear escaped her eye, and something inside me stirred.

I can’t get myself away from her. And now that she knows everything about me, she is my light. I placed my fingers on her chin and made her look into my eyes to show her I was sincere.

"You are their Luna. Every warrior, every member of my pack, wants to save Luna’s life even if they know what it could cost them." I said, and Esma shook her head almost in renunciation.

"Why can’t you get it through the thick skull of yours that I don’t want bloodshed? Neither your people nor mine." I don’t know what to say; she was one more second away from a breakdown, and it hurts me to know it was because of me. She took several deep breaths before finally gathering herself.

This time, when she opened her eyes, they were devoid of emotions; they were cold and lifeless. Her mind was resolved, and her eyes were determined.

"Either you take your pack with you out of my boundaries now or." She stopped mid-sentence. How could she say that? After all of this, we suffered and shared. She was now threatening me to leave her. My mate?

"Or?" I asked challengingly. She looked up, and her eyes were filled with strong conviction.

"Or I will never come back with you to your pack." she said, and I swear my heart stopped beating. The ear-deafening silence filled the forest, and my insides boiled with so much rage I could burn the whole ground with me. I balled my fists and tried to control my anger.

My chest hurt as if someone punched me in the heart or stabbed me with something sharp. This was worse because I could still feel it twisting around my heart.

How could she say it like it was nothing? I will never come back to your pack. My pack? It was our pack, dammit. Or maybe I deserved it. This is how it feels to get rejected.

There was a storm brewing inside me, enough to consume everyone. With all the hurt and anger, I looked straight into her eyes.

"Okay, Alpha." I snarled, and with that, I quickly turned to my heels, left her there only, and didn’t look back.

The sound of someone knocking on my door brings me back to reality. I turned to look and sighed.

"What is it, Asher?" I asked without looking back again to acknowledge him. I could feel his racing heartbeats and his short and labored breaths. He was disturbed and maybe scared, or maybe a bit of both.

I drink whatever the maid serves me in the glass in the name of wine. It tasted like dead meat. I drink it anyway. Nothing was bitterer than what she told me.

"Okay, take your time. I walked towards the balcony and sat on the chair. The moon was peeking through the clouds. For some sick reason, I couldn’t look in its direction as well. I fear the moon goddess would be sitting on her throne, laughing at me with her sardonic smile.

Asher walked slowly until he was a few feet apart from me. "Alpha?"

I gulped down the remaining liquid in one go and threw the glass on the wall. The glass broke into a thousand pieces, resonating with my broken heart.

As if on cue, two maids ran into my room; their gaze soon found the glass, and they hurriedly walked in its direction to clean the mess.

"No need," I ordered dismissively. They stood there, and I raised my eyes chillingly. They bowed and soon left us alone.

"Bring another bottle," I ordered just as they closed the door behind them. I sighed. A maid soon returned with the chilled bottle and left at the same pace.

Asher kept looking everywhere but at me. I gestured for him to sit beside me.

"What are the reports?" I asked, finally handing him one glass, which he took willingly, much to my surprise.

"Everything is fine and normal." he said and looked lost in thought. "It is too normal to believe that everything is fine." He was talking to himself, and there was the same fear and distress in his voice.

I finished my glass and refilled it almost immediately. "Then?"

"I don’t know; something felt off, alpha." He was right. Since we left the blue moon pack, the attacks on my people had suddenly stopped. Although I knew my pack was cloaked with Diana’s spells, we changed positions with the positions of the moon; every fifteen days, Diana changed our current location so that Oracle wouldn’t find us.

It is a very powerful spell and requires much energy, but for some strange reason, Diana performed it successfully, and that was with my blood. You cannot avoid bloodshed, Esma.

"Tomorrow is a full moon; have you contacted Diana yet?" I filled his glass, and he didn’t refuse this time either. strange. Asher never drank too much, not with me.

"I have; she will be here by morning." he said and gulped the whole drink in one go.

I filled his glass again. Asher was the only one I could trust now, even though I knew he didn’t like me much earlier. Now I have gained his trust, along with the trust of my people. I liked sitting with him. He and I were the same, two pieces drawn from the same cloth.

"What about the one warrior we send to check on them?" I asked. Even though Esma had cut all her connections with me, I couldn’t. I ordered my pack to quickly leave her territory, but I left one warrior to check on them. Also, he had found his mate in their pack. That way, no one would get suspicious.

"He is fine, and according to him, everything is fine there, alpha. I don’t know; it all felt off. Like someone is conspiring against us, playing a much bigger game than all of us." he said, and I feared that he was right. This only cleared my doubts.

There was someone who tried to get me away from Esma and succeeded.

"I should go and check the borders now." he said before bowing and starting to walk towards the door.

"Asher?"

He turned back.

"Get some rest. Go home. I will assign someone or go patrolling myself." I said, and he nodded unwillingly.

I checked the bottle to find it was already half-emptied. First things first.