Chapter 47

DAKOTA’S POV

We both went into the house from the back door and walked over to the front door where Anna was speaking to Odin. Alan and Akela immediately flanked her sides, and the aura coming from them was very easy to read. If they put one foot wrong in front of the other or sneeze the wrong way, they were going to get the trouble they were undoubtedly asking for.

“Ah, Alan. My good friend. How are you? It’s been a while since we’ve seen you. You have been quite scarce.”

“The same can be said for you, Odin.”

From the look on his face, we could tell that he didn’t like the subtle disrespect of not being referred to with his title. He looked at Alan from head to toe, as though trying to size him up for a fight.

“What do you want?” Akela said. I grabbed Akela’s hand, as though telling him to let his parents handle this. And I didn’t like the fact that Odin now had his eyes on me, and I didn’t like the sly smile on his face.

“Oh, I am here to see your little girlfriend.” Akela held my hand a bit tighter. “Hello, Dakota. How are you?”

“I am very fine, thank you.”

“That’s good. Considering that I come bearing not-so-good news…”

My heart jumped into my throat, and it was just a tad bit difficult to breathe properly.

“Oh.” He nodded. “What news?”

“You must be aware that your mother was residing in Russia since her humiliating dismissal from the pack.” I didn’t like where this was going, and from the way Anna, Alan, and Akela took defensive stands around me, they didn’t like it too.

“Yes. What about it?”

“Well, reports are reaching me that she has been in some very ghastly incident. It seems that she committed suicide.”

I stared at him, stunned at the news, convinced that I had heard wrong, but by the look on everyone’s faces, I heard just fine.

“What do you mean my mother committed suicide? She would never do that!”

“Hm. But she did. I think I understand her…”

I stared at him in confusion, as tears began running down my cheeks.

“What?”

“I understand why she would want to kill herself. I mean, if my ‘supposed mate’ had betrayed me like that and then having a failure of a daughter such as yourself…” Alan and Akela growled loudly at him, and he raised his hands in mock surrender.

“Okay, okay… I was just trying to say the truth. But it seems that that isn’t welcome in this household.”

“I think that you should take your leave…”

“Wait…” I took a deep breath. “What do you mean by ‘supposed mate’ and ‘betrayed?’”

“You didn’t know?”

“I think you should leave,” Alan said, moving to close the door.

“No, no, no, wait. What do you mean?”

“Enough.”

Alan slammed the door shut, and we all heard laughter on the other side of the door as he walked away. The tears were flowing freely down my cheeks now. I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me.

“Dakota…” Akela wrapped his hands around me, and that was enough to release the waterworks. I didn’t know how long I stood there crying, but by the time I was done, I realized that I was alone.

“Are you okay?”

“No…” My voice shook. Akela nodded. He scooped me into his arms and walked us to his bedroom. He dropped me on the bed and lay beside me, just holding me in his arms.

I allowed myself to go back in time and remember how we were before my father challenged Odin. All the time we’d spent together. I closed my eyes and tried to block out the memory. I couldn’t bear to believe that my mother was no longer alive.

“Dakota… Do you believe your mother would kill herself?”

I thought about when last I spoke to my mother—she seemed fine. Living her best life. I found it very hard to believe that my mother, who loved life so much, would try to kill herself.

“No, I highly doubt that.”

“I hate to be the one asking this, but…are you sure?”

I thought about that question. Was I sure? I tried to imagine my mother being so frustrated that she would want to take her own life. The only reason I could have come up with was that she missed her mate, and she couldn’t bear the bond of living without him. But that wasn’t the case here. My mother had moved on. If I wasn’t sure of it, I became sure upon our trip to Russia. She looked better, livelier, than she did here.

“No…I don’t. Something isn’t adding up here…” I sat up on the bed and rested against the headboard.

“What do you think it is?”

“For starters, why would Odin make such comments? What did he mean by ‘betrayed’ and ‘supposed mate’? I don’t understand.”

“Me too. That was a little confusing.” The room was dead silent as we were both stuck in our thoughts. “When you guys were still together…before the whole challenge and everything, did you have any reason to believe that your parents weren’t their true mates?”

I shook my head immediately; I didn’t even have to think about it.

“No. They loved each other very much. Yes, they fought and had disagreements and all that, as all couples do, but I never had any reason to believe that they weren’t mates.” Akela made to say something but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Anna opened the door a crack and popped her head in. Her eyes landed on me, and she gave me a sad smile.

“Hey, sweetie.”

I felt the tears coming back to my eyes, and I had the overwhelming urge to run into her arms and cry.

“Hi…”

“Are you okay?”

“No…but I will be.”

She smiled again.

“Yes, you will be.”

I nodded and forced a smile to her lips. We heard Alan yell something from downstairs, and she immediately remembered why she was there to begin with.

“Oh, I forgot. Alpha Orion just called.”

I jumped off the bed and was at the door, opening it wider for Anna.

“What did he say?”

“Nothing.”

“What?”

“He didn’t say anything. He is only insisting that you come to Russia. He doesn’t want to give us any information over the phone.”

“But why?”

“I’m not sure. Although I am quite certain that it is concerning the…situation at hand. Alan and I have been trying to make him see reason. You’re grieving and all…”

“No, no, no. I want to go to Russia.”

“Are you sure? Don’t you think it’s a little too soon?”

“The sooner the better.”

Anna looked at me for some time, as though compelling me to change my mind with her eyes. That wasn’t going to work. And she seemed to have figured that out. She sighed.

“I’ll tell him to expect you in two days.” I nodded and smiled at her. I joined Akela on the bed.