**— VITA.**
ㅤ
Rain falls on us, crying, grieving the most beautiful soul this world has ever seen and who, unfortunately, is no longer with us. I wonder if heaven celebrated her arrival, the return of an angel who shouldn’t have been gone so soon.
She shouldn’t have left so soon.
In this suburban cemetery, with so many gravestones around us, life seems so simple and fragile. The knowledge that it could all be over in a flash should scare me, but I’m too numb to feel anything. In fact, I’m so numb that I don’t care about the rain pouring down on my head, wetting my black hair, running down my face, and mixing with the tears that flow without me even noticing.
“I can’t believe it...” Queen Mother mumbles, and I can’t see her face now, but I’m sure it’s flooded with tears. Her back doesn’t look as imposing as usual, even in such an elegant black dress. Her shoulders are slumped, as is her lowered head, staring at the gravestone in front of her.
I purse my lips, feeling an excruciating pain... so intense that it could tear my chest apart.
Queen Mother advances, stepping out of the shelter of the umbrella that Wanda holds over her, and falls to the ground, kneeling in front of the tomb, trying to suppress her sobs to save a little dignity. There are few occasions when the mother of an Alpha, a former Luna, could kneel — and grieving is the cruelest of them.
Running her finger over the sweet engraved words, she cries louder. I try not to read it, but my mind keeps repeating again and again inside my head: BELOVED DAUGHTER AND SISTER ALICE.
Suddenly, a cry escapes my lips, and I find myself surprised to let it out. My blurred eyes make it difficult to observe the scene before me, and all my numbness is shattered by the shock, by the cruel reality that breaks me. Because Alice is gone... she really is gone... forever.
I try to cover my mouth and cry silently, but my cry reaches the ears of the Queen Mother, who turns sharply away, glaring at me with harsh, furious eyes. She gets up with difficulty, staggering and almost tripping over her own feet. “What are you doing here?”
The woman comes at me quickly and doesn’t give me time to answer... Her hand slaps me hard across the face, and the impact makes me lose my balance and fall to the ground. The sound of the slap is so loud that it stuns me, leaving me resistant to the pain of my aching face.
“How dare you show up here?” She asks with contempt, pure and true hostility. “You put Alice on the ground, and you still dare show up here, pretending to grieve the loss of my daughter?”
I shake my head in despair and search for the Queen Mother’s feet, raising my face to look at her, with rain falling on my face, “Please, auntie, listen to me...”
“Auntie? Don’t call me that, you wretch!” She kicks my hand away, her black heel bringing me a slight pain. “I should kill you, just like you did Alice! You should be on this tombstone — not my daughter!”
I sob, lowering my face, trying to cover my mouth and hide my sobs that continue to escape stubbornly.
Kill Alice? I could never do something like that!
If I could be in her place, I would do it with pleasure. I’d give anything for Alice to be alive, smiling, looking at me with those bright eyes. I’d give anything, even my own life...
So how can they blame me for something like this?
“It wasn’t me...” I say between sobs, closing my eyes tightly, “It wasn’t me...”
“You really have the nerve, don’t you?” Queen Mother lifts her chin, and I find myself looking at her again, receiving nothing but disdain. “I knew it... I knew you’d bring misfortune into our lives. You’re a monster; everything you touch gets crumbled and destroyed. I should expect that from someone who isn’t any kind of shapeshifter and now even less human-looking.”
My body shudders, and I swallow the lump that forms in my throat.
“How on earth did my sweet Judy end up with you as her daughter, anyway?” She shakes her head in disappointment. “The only reason I’m not killing you right now is because of your mother.”
“Auntie, please don’t be so hard on my sister...” Wanda approached slowly, placing the umbrella over the Queen Mother’s head. “I’m sure it was an accident... Vita wouldn’t set Alice up in the pub and leave her at the mercy of those brutes... She wouldn’t be heartless like that... Would she?”
I feel my chest sink even further, and my eyes overflow even more...
Even you don’t believe me, Wanda?
“My poor Alice, so young, she’s just turned eighteen, and you took her away from me... What did my daughter do to make you hate her so much that you gave her such a cruel fate?”
I’m trembling, shaking my head desperately.
“How could you, sister?” Wanda looks at me fearfully as if she doesn’t recognize me anymore. “Did you really kill Alice?”
“No, I didn’t!” I shout, desperate, clutching the grass with my quivering fingers. “I would never hurt Alice!”
“But the pub...” Wanda looks at me suspiciously.
“It’s true, I booked the private room in the pub and got stuck in traffic. I was late, and I should have been there! But I didn’t call her out of evil intentions, but because Alice wanted to! She wanted to be free!”
Another hard slap crashes into my face, burning my cheek and moving my head to the side from the impact. I’m so tired and sad and destroyed that I can’t move. I can’t say anything else...
Derek...
Where are you?
... Suddenly, almost like he could hear my prayers... could feel my pain, Derek rushes beside me in his wolf shape, a huge wolf with fur so black it’s like an infinite darkness. He growls with his face turned towards his mother and Wanda, then he turns sharply towards me, looking straight at me with yellow eyes that glow as he starts to revert back to human form.
Heavy tears run down my face and mingle with the raindrops that continue to fall and cool my trembling body. I’m shivering so much, and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m hypothermic or simply because I’m dying inside.
“Derek...” I drag myself across the floor, digging my hands into his pants, hoping that he’ll look at me again and take me in his arms so that I can finally feel his warmth.
But when he looks at me with bloodshot eyes, I retract my hands immediately, falling to the floor... “Derek...?”
His eyebrows, so low, bring stiffness to his gaze and make my heart skip a beat. I gasp and clutch my own blouse as if this foolish act could ease the pain in my chest.
“You...” I whisper in a weak, choked voice. “You believe me, don’t you?”
He doesn’t say a word, just looks away, staring at Alice’s gravestone. His stretched throat allows me to see how his Adam’s apple vibrates when he swallows hard.
“Derek, you believe me!” I shout, feeling a sudden urge of adrenaline and desperation that makes me grab his legs again. “I’ve been your fiancée for two years! I’m your mate... I’ve devoted myself to you! You have to believe me!”
He still doesn’t look at me, but I can tell he’s struggling to fight the pain, being consumed by grief just like me...
“I love Alice,” I say with a sob, digging my fingers into his pants. “I love Alice like my own sister... How can you not believe me?”
Derek finally looks at me, and despite his cold eyes, I see tears streaming down his face. His expression softens, but when he seems close to saying something, Wanda’s voice sounds fearful...
“But you’re the last person who was with Alice and booked that VIP room, apart from those thugs... The evidence points to you, sister... If it was just a joke that went too far, a prank... Please, confess everything... I know that Derek and Auntie will have mercy!”
I cast a confused glance at Wanda, but I don’t have time to really understand what’s going on because Derek grabs me forcefully by the arms, lifting me so abruptly that it even causes me pain.
“A prank, is that it?” Derek pulls me against his body, but it’s a touch unlike any other. His eyes glow an intense yellow, thirsty for blood, for revenge. “Let’s see what you’ll feel when you go through everything you put my sister through.”