CHAPTER 41

ALPHA MARK'S POV.

As soon as Ava opened the door, the first thing she noticed was my disheveled, sullen look.

Her eyes widened in surprise at what she saw.

“Mark, What happened? You look terrible,” She said softly, concern evident in her voice.

With the weight of my problem pulling me down, I stepped into the house slowly, “Ava, I need to talk to you about something,” I managed to say as I walked in.

She placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, “Take a deep breath Mark, you look like someone who was hit hard on your way here. Why don’t you sit down and allow me to get you a glass of water for a start?” Ava asked rhetorically.

I nodded, before allowing myself to fall freely and collapse into one of the sofas closest to me, the exhaustion I have felt from the last few days catching up with me instantly.

As I waited for her to get the glass of water, my mind did not fail to bring me back to the trouble of breaking the news to her.

Ava returned after a few moments with a glass of chilled water, which I drank, in a bid to satisfy my parched throat and calm my nerves, but it didn’t.

“Do you have any liquor?” I asked with a voice tinged with desperation, since the water did not affect the way I felt, probably a strong liquor would.

Ava was stunned by my request for liquor, which was understandable, she hadn’t seen me like this in a long time now, and it was obvious that she was concerned and bothered.

“Mark, what about you come and have dinner with me instead of giving in to drinking?” She suggested gently, staring down at me, “You need real food.”

Reluctantly, I nodded my head. Not because I agreed with her that what I needed at the moment was solid food instead of what I had just requested, but because I wanted to please her, to ease her worries, even if only a little as I have caused a lot of banging headaches overtime and I can’t afford to do that now.

I slowly got on my feet, and allowed Ava to lead the way to the dining table.

“Where are the children?” I asked when we got to the dining table on seeing it empty, I was expecting to see them munching on their food and not a space.

“They went for a short walk with the maid, Jane,” She replied, “They will be back soon.”

We settled into the dining, where a simple, yet inviting meal was laid out.

Ava had prepared fried chicken for dinner with mashed potatoes and vegetables as a side.

I went straight to eating after Ava had dished out my food before me and also did the same for herself, tension hanging like a thick cloud of rain over us.

After a while of stuffing the properly cooked mashed potatoes into my mouth and nibbling on the succulent chicken's lap, I couldn’t hold back what I had to say any longer.

“Ava,” I began trying to steady my voice that was still coming out shaky,

“Martha has been kicked out of the pack house.” I went on to break the news in the best possible way I could.

“What happened?” Ava asked, raising her head from her food in shock.

I took a deep breath, in a bid to steady myself again.

“Her lies have finally been found out, all her allegations against you cheating, were all lies. It has been found out.” I said calmly.

Dropping her fork that clinked noisily against the plate as it dropped, Ava's face was flushed pale.

“What are you talking about?” She whispered, her voice trembling.

Not being able to keep up with sitting still any longer, I got up and pushed myself to her side, taking her hands in mine immediately after I got to her.

“I know this is difficult to hear, but that is exactly what played out in the park yesterday,” I replied.

“Yesterday?” She went on still very much shocked, her palms were moist from the anxiety that was surging through her, and shaky from the shock.

“Yes,” I said, “We were all in shock with the revelation that has finally come to the limelight.”

“This isn’t happening,” Ava said quietly, “Tell me this isn’t happening.”

“I’m so sorry, Ava, I’m so sorry that I allowed Martha's lies to cloud my Judgment instead of believing you.”

Ava went completely speechless, tears welling up in her eyes.

She broke down into hot tears, sobbing hard to the extent that her body jerked with force to the rhythm of her sobbing.

I didn’t even know how best to calm her down as I was also caught up in my emotions, I felt utterly useless and helpless at the moment.

“Please Ava, I want you to understand our actions, the elders, and mine, weren’t deliberate ones, we were all cajoled and blindfolded by the lies that filled our ears,” I said, fighting back my tears.

For a long time, we stayed like that, Ava crying earnestly and me trying to console, comfort her, and beg for her forgiveness for myself and on behalf of the pack at the same time.

Eventually, on her accord, she began to calm down, and her sobs subsided into soft sniffles.

We returned to our meal when Ava was very much calm, the silence between us greater than the first, with words left unsaid and buried in our stomachs.

Ava was still processing what I had just said, I could tell that by how she looked distantly at her food and picked her meal slowly.

I decided to also stomach everything I had left to say because I would rather not strain her emotions any further.

Just as we finished eating, Jane returned with the children.

Their cheerful, light chatters filled the quiet house as they got in, the energy they brought in with them a stark contrast to the one that hovered around the house initially.

Catching sight of them as they ran into the dining area screaming, ‘Mummy!’ Brought a bittersweet smile to my face.