Book 2 - Chapter 42

Book 2 - Chapter 42
Chapter 42 – A Mother’s Sacrifice

Serena

An audible gasp escaped from my mouth, and I raced to cover it with my hand. I heard Elijah and Adamar wince. I saw Donna stiffen. Aero himself was frozen, his eyes constricted with surprise.

“How dare you speak to our mother like that!” Aurora shouted, shooting daggers through her eyes as she stood face to face with Aero.

The latter growled and returned her glares with equal force. “You don’t have the right to talk to me like that or slap me! I am your alpha king! I hold power over you!”

“You are my brother first!” she cried out, her eyes welling up with tears. “And I implore you to listen. Our mother, she’s in pain too! Our mother suffered too!”

I held Aero’s right elbow to stabilize him. Make him feel that I was—no, our children and I—were here for him. But it seemed his mind was too clouded with anger to notice us.

“How many times have I stood in front of your castle wanting to tell you the truth—thousands of times!” Aurora continued. “Every time, she told me to stop. She said that you would never listen because of that hatred of yours against my gender. But I still pressed on. I didn’t want to see her cry and cry secretly every night—every damn night—longing for her son. For you! Do not ever think she never loved you. She does, and she still yearns to reunite with you until now. But as you are right now, even when you are married, your hate remains. Will there be a day when you truly accept her? Us?”

Aurora looked at me with understanding. Although I saw differently when it came to Aero’s change of behavior—it was positively progressing, in my eyes at least—, but the truth remains, he still had a difficult time fully trusting women. It was a thorn that had deeply buried in his heart and needed time to heal.

“Do not turn the tables on me, woman.” He gnashed his teeth and looked down on Aurora like a pest. “I’m the one being wronged at. I’m the one who stayed in that blasted castle hoping for a mother’s love. Thinking that I’m unwanted. Thinking that nobody loves me. I received nothing but scorn from a woman I thought to be my mother. I am the one who had a child’s heart—frail and weak—wishing for a miracle...yet none came.”

“I couldn’t meet you then, Aero. Gideon wouldn’t let me,” Donna finally stepped in. She brushed Aurora aside and issued her to stand back with her eyes.

“Your words mean nothing to me anymore,” was his cold answer.

I squeezed his shoulder and tried to reason with him. “Aer—” But I was cut off by Donna’s stern voice.

“No! Listen to me now! You are here for that right?” Her brows knitted so hard it mirrored my husband’s. “This is why all of you came here. To know the truth. To see the light at the end of the tunnel. For you, me, Serena, Elijah, and Aurora to be finally at peace. This is a sadness caused by two dead people. We are still alive. We don’t deserve to be dragged to their grave too, so you listen to me.”

That somehow got Aero’s attention, but he didn’t return to his seat. He just continued standing and so did all of us.

“It is true that Gideon was my true mate. Like any other she-wolf finally paired by the Universe, I was happy and excited. It didn’t matter if he was to become the alpha king. What mattered to me was his love. However, that love was already given to someone else. Olivia. He rejected me the moment he found out about our situation. It devastated me, but it would have been okay on my part. I was trained by my parents to persevere. To look at the silver lining past the cloudy skies. However, Gideon used me to fill his carnal lust. He assaulted me, raped me and you, my son, was born from this forced union.”

“So you were forced to have me. Why didn’t you just kill me instead while I was still growing inside your belly? You never wanted me!” His heart bled to say it, and I felt it too. I wished I had the power to heal this part of him, but I knew only Donna could do it.

“I wanted you!” she shouted with force. “As appalling as how you came to be, I wanted you. You are my son and the son of my true mate. You are my blood. It broke my heart, yes, that he had to reject me all because of Olivia, but he gave me you, so I continued my pregnancy. I already loved you even before I brought you into this life. I just didn’t expect Gideon would steal you away from me too once you were born.”

Tear dripped from her eyes unhindered. Aurora thoughtfully gave her a handkerchief, but Donna declined it.

“I couldn’t count how many times I pleaded for you. Gideon never even gave me a chance to hold you.”

“You were frail and weak,” Aero replied, looking at his mother with a disgusted face. “You allowed yourself to be bullied.”

“Yes, I did, and I’m embarrassed to admit it.” She pointed to her chest, and I admired her so because of it. It takes a lot of courage to admit one’s mistake after all. “But was it wrong of me to wish that things would get better? That your father would accept me back as his true mate after you were born?”

“Obviously, your wish didn’t come true,” was Aero’s insensitive reply. I stopped the urge to smack his head. This man was really returning to his former dick self.

“And it gave me so much pain, Aero,” Donna replied, seemingly with a mountain of patience. “Believe me, it killed me inside. It killed me still today.”

“You never fought for me.” This time, Aero’s voice dialed lower. “You. Never. Fought for me!”

“I would fight for you anytime, anywhere, but Gideon held my father hostage!” Donna broke. She was talking about the Alpha of the Bastion pack. Alpha Edmond’s rogue friend. Sharon’s killed mate.

All pieces of the puzzle now fit.

“He made me believe he wouldn’t kill my father if I just stay silent. Meek. Away from you as you grow older. But he killed my father anyway when he saw the need to do so just to show his rule over his subjects. It devastated me. I saw my mother drown herself in sorrow. I saw her crumble. A proud luna of her time turned into a grieving widow. It momentarily blinded me. I momentarily forgot about you.”

I noticed Aero’s hand clench and shook. I enveloped it with my hands and with this, he finally sensed my presence. His haze of anger lifted.

“Your father exiled me to the farthest region of Phanteon. Calahiem took me in. Gave me home and food. I restarted my life here on Earth. I had moments when I wanted to fight for you again, but I admit, I didn’t have the courage to truly act on it. You were already growing so handsomely, filled with pride and honor. You wore the Phanteon crest so well. You were born to be the alpha king. I couldn’t deprive you of that.”

“I would have given my status, the kingdom—everything—just to have my real mother’s love,” Aero answered, his voice softer now. He closed his eyes, lowered his head and took a deep breath.

“My son, I’m sorry I caused you pain.” Donna moved forward, reaching out to touch his head, but Aero stepped back.

“Serena.” He turned to me and gave me a pleading look. I understood it right away.

“Donna, give him time to process,” was all I said before we both vanished from their midst. Aero and I returned to the manor and in his bed, I cuddled him close, provided silence and warmth, and time to heal the wounds in his heart.

In my eyes, this was a man who just wanted to be surrounded by love and I would give it to him. Give it to him until my last breath.