Chapter 18 My Mate and My Mother

Angela looked at the woman who was claiming to be her mother, in her heart, she felt a pull, her mind was also telling her to be wary. She was torn between believing her and running into her arm or finding way out of this dreamscape and forgets she ever met her.

"Stop, stop right there. I want you to explain how you are my mother," she halted her with her nards before she could say anything else. Angela did not want some random woman to give her hopes only to shatter them when she was fully invested. She was also weary of the people she had been meeting recently; they all seemed to have an agenda

"My Name is Celestine Adolfo, daughter of Emperor Casper Adolfo and Luna Samara Colton. I was mated to the rogue crown prince, Liam Black who was supposed to take over the throne from his father the king of rogues, Black. I met him by chance one day when I went for a run into the woods all alone after a light with my mother. I had wanted to participate in an open combat contest between the warriors but because I had been trained in secret, I could not participate. My father had doted on me so much that he did not want me to train, despite my mother being a super warrior. He always said that when I took over as the empress I would not need to be in the battle ground because I would have an army. As you can imagine, they did not see eye to eye concerning my upbringing and just to spite him for not allowing me to train my mother had me trained in secret by uncle Jasper. He is Carita Bennet's mate, l assume you already know who she is," she asked Angela.

“You mean Camilla, Grandma Alice?" she asked not sure if she was the same person they were talking about.

"Yes, that's the one"

"Is this mate thing like a husband?" Angela asked. She had been hearing this word being thrown around so much lately that she thought it was like a trend or something with these people.

Celestine's eyes turned warm as she went back into the past, she remembered the love they shared with Liam Black. Just as fast, as she had lightened up, her eyes turned sad and a dark aura surrounded her as she remembered his death.

'"A mate is a person's destined soul mate, your other half. Without them life feels incomplete, but when you are with your mate, you feel like you can take on the world," she said as a stray tear escaped from her beautiful eyes. A sharp pain pierced her heart as it always did when she remembered the love of her life, Liam.

She wiped the tear and composed herself by breathing in deeply and sighing, she looked at Angela and said something that made her heart constrict with the pain of longing but igniting a spark of hope at the same time.

“Even though you take after me, you have his eyes. He too had mismatched eyes, one blue and the other green,”

"What happened to him?" Angela asked.

As I was saying before 1 got sidetracked, I had fought with my mother for refusing to allow me to participate in the open contest. I was being spoilt as usual because if my father found out that I had been training; he would have killed the head warrior for going against him. I ran from my room and into the forest to pout but before 1 could arrive at my hideout by the river, I smelled the most amazing smell I had ever smelt, it smelt like rain forest and wildflowers combined. I couldn't help myself, I was captivated by his rugged looks,. He was more affected by the bond than I was that immediately he lay his eyes on me, he wanted to mark me there on the spot. I had to plead with him to understand that my father Would start a war if he knew a rogue had marked me. We agreed to wait for a while, he would go to his father and ask for his advice on how to proceed," Celestine sat down heavily on the love seat that was by the window in her room. She seemed to be deep in thoughts; something seemed weigh heavily on her heart.

After waiting for a while and not wanting to sound rude but anxious to hear the rest of the story, Angela asked her, "What happened?"

"We were too you and selfish, we kept putting it off but continued to meet in secret. He would sneak into my chambers and spend the night then he would leave very early in the morning before anybody was up. I had given him a special perfume that only the royals possessed, it masked his smell so he was able to come in and leave without being detected."

Why do you speak of yourselves as if you are animals, talking of rogues and of smelling each other?" she asked curious to understand and join the dots of what she was missing.

"You have no idea, do you?" Celestine looked at her daughter and sighed.

"No idea about what?"

“this may be hard to take in but there is no way about it. We are werewolves' dear child, you are one too," she said and paused waiting for her to react.

"Hahahahaha. are you for real? Which world do you live in lady? Did ljust risk my ass to come listen to this crap?" Angela was incredulous.

Celestine looked at Angela sadly, *I know it is unbelievable but just think. The people you have been meeting since you came here, they have blue or golden eyes that shine, they have extra strength, they have a temper, unnatural speed, and should I go on?"

Angela could not dispute the words coming from this woman, she had been curious about the same things. Even Zander and Greta seemed to have glowing eyes especially when they were angry and she could not really write the woman off as crazy because after talking to Mizpah as though she were talking to another human, everything seemed possible,

"I guess you have already met Mizpah," Celestine asked Angela.

*Okay okay, let's assume I believe you, how am I a werewolf?"

Not so fast, I only need you to listen with an open mind. You need to know who you are and what await you alter you leave the dreamscape and the responsibilities that your name carries."

“Okay, carry on. I am curious to know what you have to tell me," a tinge of sarcasm could be detected In her voice but Celestine let it go and focused on recounting how she met with Liam Black.

“I had been planning on going to my mother to let her know that I had met my mate and tell her who he was but before that could happen, my mother was killed. She was stabbed with a poisoned dagger just outside the field where my eighteenth birthday party was going on. When the killer was tracked, they found Liam unconscious just inside the border of our pack. He had killed my mother but why he did it no one will ever know because he was killed by father on the spot."

"I am so sorry, that must have been painful," she went to Celestine and patted her on her back as she sat there sobbing. Memories of the pain she had had to endure came flooding; she continued to sob as Angela held her.

"I lost my mother the same night I lost my mate," she said.

Angela did not say a thing as she waited for Celestine to compose herself and continue telling her about herself. She wanted to hear what this woman had to say but at this point, she was scared of finding out what she would tell her next.

Tears were falling out of her eyes, the sadness in Celestine's eyes was infectious, Angela could not imagine how painful it was for her to lose a lover, but she understood the pain of losing a mother.

"At my mother's burial, I collapsed and was rushed to the infirmary. The doctor who attended to me would not meet my eyes after he had carried out tests to determine what was ailing me. He said he would wait until my father came so he could talk to him. A few minutes later, my father came rushing in worried to death concerning my health. They left me alone in the room and went to the doctor's office, when my father came back he had this worried look on him but at the same time I knew he was raving mad. He took me back home and would not talk to me for almost a week. I was alone even though it may sound farfetched given that we lived in a palace. Greta was my nanny and she took on the role of a mother when mum died.”

"Did your father talk to you," Angela asked.

*I got tired of waiting for him to come to me so l went to him. I was spiting mad, he either talked to me or kill me, I was tired, and I felt I had no reason to live. My mate's death was the end of happiness for me even though sometimes if you are lucky you get a second chance mate. I did not want a second chance mate; Liam was the only man for me. I went barging into his office where he had a meeting with council members and Alphas from other packs."

Celestine smiled when she remembered how stupid she felt after her antics of getting her father to talk to her. "I opened the door but everything that I had been planning to say to him got stuck in my throat when I saw all the people that were with him in the office."

That's not a funny situation, Angela smirked.

Celestine laughed aloud, Angela thought she had a beautiful laugh Oh yeah, I was red as a tomato but father came to my rescue and excused himself from the meeting taking me by the elbow taking me back to Greta," she said as she continued to laugh. It was so good to hear her laugh; Angela had not realized how much she wanted to see this woman happy.

"That evening he sent Greta to tell me that I was having dinner with him, I was exhilarated. I had missed him so much and since mother died, I had had no one to really talk to. I felt father would understand. I expected to find him alone at the table but he was with Cassandra, his beta's wife and his Beta Jacob. When I sat down to eat, the smell of beef hit my nostrils, and I had to rush to the bathroom, Cassandra came to help me as I emptied all the cookies I had ingested earlier into the toilet. I had been throwing up every day but mostly in the mornings. I had attributed it to the stress of losing my mother and my mate."

"I wanted to go back to my room but Cassandra insisted that we should go back to the dining hall where my father was waiting for me. I told her I felt too sick but she insisted and promised to take me back to my chambers immediately I was done speaking with father. We got back to the table and the banter that I expected from my father and his beta was not there, instead they sat there each lost in his own world.”

Angela did not speak as she waited for Celestine to keep talking at her own pace, she felt it would be rude to interrupt her thoughts so she kept silent and waited.

I sat near father and he took my hand in his holding it tightly, I could tell he was tense but I thought it was the stress we all were going through that had him tense. 'Child I want you to be honest with me, who is the father of the child you are carrying? he asked me with tears in his eyes. I was too shocked to say anything but the sadness I saw in him prodded me to speak. I said I was not pregnant but he disputed it and showed me the doctor's report. Memories of Liam were still too fresh and for some reason I did not want to give up his identity. If they knew who had impregnated me, they would also kill the child I was carrying I was not prepared to lose the only thing I had that would be a part of him and the love we shared. I had to lie, I said I did not know who it was that had raped me but I was too ashamed of saying it. I had to protect the child I was carrying."

“Did they believe you?"

“Yes, I was taken to my maternal grandmother's pack where I stayed until you were born and came back here where they had already concocted a cover up story. Nothing about me being raped was ever mentioned and their story of my mate dying just a few weeks before my delivery was what people believed.

“Where is that child today?" Angela asked.

Celestine looked at Angela for a very long time and finally spoke up.

“You are that child, you are my Kharisi!"