Chapter 149 Past memories
Past memories
Damon's POV
\[“fifteen years ago…”\]
"Again!" Father's voice boomed across the training ground, scaring the surrounding scarecrows that flew into the air.
I was just seven years old. My body hurts everywhere, but there is hardly any time for rest. We had been training since sunrise.
"I can't," I panted. "I'm tired, Papa.”
"Tired?" Father grabbed my shirt, lifting me up to my trembling legs. "Real Warriors, don't get tired! Again!"
He threw me to the ground. I got up slowly.
"You're too soft," he said. "Just like your mother."
Mother stood by the door, watching. She never said anything when Father was like this. She just watched with sad eyes.
"Please, Marcus," she finally said. "He's just a little boy."
"He's the future, Alpha!" Father roared. "He needs to be strong! And fearless. He needs to face his fears."
That night, I heard them fighting.
"You're too hard on him," Mother said, her voice soft as usual.
"And you're too soft," Father replied. "He will thank me one day."
But I never did.
"Mama, Where's Selen?" I asked Mother.
My older sister has been gone for three days now and counting, but she has not returned from her hunting.
Mother's eyes filled with tears. "She... she left."
"Why?"
"Your father..." she stopped. "It doesn't matter. She is gone."
“Gone where mama, did she leave me…”
“It's time for bed, Damon, and please… speak no more of this…especially to your papa.” My mother hid her face under her wrapper.
The sound of his name was like a wake-up call for me.
“Yes mama”
“Good boy”
I found out later that Father had tried to force Selen to marry someone she didn't love. Someone who would make the pack stronger.
So she ran away in the night when she couldn't bear it.
Father was so angry for months. He broke everything in his office, my training hours doubled, and the little time I had to myself was scrapped off to be replaced with hours of pure hell.
"She's no longer my daughter!" he shouted. "No one speaks her name again!"
I wanted to hate her for what she did, for leaving without her little brother. I would train all day, wear the mask of the ruthless and strong alpha my father wanted, then on the night…
I would wet my pillow. I missed her. My sister used to laugh at my jokes. Who used to sneak me extra food when Father punished me.
Gone,
Without me.
thirteen years ago...
I was ten when I first shifted.
It hurt so much, the feeling of bones breaking, skin tearing.
"Control it!" Father yelled. "Don't let the wolf control you!"
But something was wrong. My wolf was different, bigger, and angrier.
When I finally changed back, I was covered in blood.
But the blood was not mine.
My mother's horrified eyes said it all… the blood with
"What did I do?" I asked, scared.
"You lost control," Father said. "You're cursed, boy. Just like your grandfather was."
"Cursed?"
"The beast curse. It runs in our blood. You must never let it out again. Learn to control it, else it risks causing pain to the people around you.”
But how could I stop something that was part of me?
The sound of an iron door slamming shut echoed, followed by latches of locks coming together. The last thing I saw was my mother teary face, before I was left alone,
Alone to face the monster I had become.
twelve years ago...
After multiple training sessions and a painful routine. I learned how to manage the curse, barely without going feral like I did on my first shift.
Mother got sick, really sick.
"It's her heart," the healer said. "Too much stress. Too much sadness."
Father blamed me, the cursed child. "If you were stronger, she wouldn't worry so much."
I sat by her bed every day.
"I'm sorry," I told her.
"For what, my sweet boy?"
"For not being good enough."
She touched my face. "You are perfect, just the way you are. Never forget that."
She died three days later.
Father didn't cry at her funeral. He just stood there, cold as stone.
"Tears are a weakness," he told me.
So, I learned not to cry.
ten years ago...
The Council's horn blared one fateful night without warning.
Hundreds of them.
"Surrender!" they shouted. "Your pack has broken the laws!"
"What laws?" Father demanded.
"Harboring cursed one, according to the prophecy the beast must die."
They meant me, They came for me.
Father laughed, a cold, bitter laugh that lacked humor.
"My wife is dead. We have stayed on our own without disturbing any law, which laws have we broken.”
“Hand over your son and wife,”
“Over my dead body." My father growled,
And that's exactly what happened.
The fight was horrible. Our pack fought hard, but there were too many Council soldiers, and they came prepared.
I watched Father fall at the hands of their leader. A spear through his chest.
"Run," he gasped at me. "Run, boy, with your mate”
For once, I listened to him.
I ran, together with my mate, on the prepared horse that had been set prepared in case of emergency.
Behind me, my pack burned.
Everyone I knew, my father, my mother, died at the hands of the council, who didn't stop their pursuit
They gave chase, through the thick forest nonstop, could see the fear flash in her eyes, the way her hands covered her postruding belly,
The only remaining legacy my father had died for, my pack had fought to the death ,just to keep…
“Damon!…”
My ears perked at the sound of her voice. My mate had been most of the reason I have been able to control my curse.
But when I turned to answer my mate, to assure her that we would be fine…
I froze.
Not because I was cold, or because I didn't know what to say… No,
“Luna, your chest…”
The Council had caught up with us.
"No!" I screamed as my mate struggled for air. The curse roared like a lion coming out of a cage.
"Now we will take you back to our king.”
I didn't hear them. All I heard was the blinding urge and hunger that consumed my soul.
The last thing I saw was Luna's face, as she took her last breath from the sword that went through her heart.
"I love you," she mouthed.
Then she was gone,
I let it out, like a raging storm.
I became a lonely walking beast.