3/3
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Nine
One month later.
It is strange how time flies. The hours turned into days, days into weeks, and a month had gone by.
Not a single day did I stop thinking about Thane and Axel; not a single day had I stopped crying. I was a mess. I thought I could heal from this pain, but I couldn’t. Once, I dreamt they came for me; oh, how real the dream felt, and then I awoke, and here I was, in the Raven Clan.
They say time should heal all wounds, but even time couldn’t heal this.
I woke up with a start.
It had been another dream about Thane. Another dream that felt too real.
I sobbed silently.
I had been here for a whole month and I had never left the room. I was a shell of the person I one was. I should fight this. Thane might be out there, with another woman standing in my place, and I would remain here, a total mess. I deserved better, yet I couldn’t find the strength to walk out of that door and meet new people.
My mother walked in, a tray in her hands; she didn’t bother looking at me, and only now did I notice that we haven’t talked in two weeks even though I saw her daily; she would always bring me a tray of food and then return after some hours to take back the uneaten food. The last time she spoke to me, she begged me to eat something I hadn’t said anything and maybe she finally did give up.
My mother placed the tray of food on the table, taking the previous one I still didn’t touch; her eyes teary as she walked to the door and then paused.
“Remember to take your bath,” she says before walking away.
Few more days passed with everything pretty much the same.
Just like the days before, my mother walked into my room, but unlike other days she didn’t have a tray of food in her hands, and coming to think about it, she was early today. Wait, what time was it?
“You are leaving this place right now,” she said, clearly furious.
“You can’t kick me out of this pack; I have nowhere to go.”
“I am not” she says, surprised I had thought that, “I meant you have to leave this room; you’ve been here long enough, and you need to get out there, socialize, meet with new people, meet other men. He is not the only man in this world!” She screamed at me, clearly frustrated by my lack of interest in basically ‘everything‘.
She had every right to be; I would be furious at myself if put in her place.
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Wine
“Okay,” I said, and she looked surprised by my answer.
“Okay,” she repeated, still shocked at how easily had agreed to this.
“I’ll need to bathe and get dressed,” I said to her
“I’ll be waiting,” she replied; the anger had disappeared from her tone..
Soon I was dressed in casual pants and a hoodie; I hadn’t worn this in what felt like years.
She led me out of the room.
“Where are we going?” I asked her
“Well, we ate going to have dinner with the whole pack. I just finished working, and I’m free for now.
“Working?” I questioned, “You work?”
“Yes, I do. I work as their cook, and they really enjoy my services.”
Oh, fuck. How far gone had I been?
“You don’t have to work..”
“I saved from my job back at the previous pack; while this doesn’t pay anything close, it’s still good enough. I kept my savings so you could start something with it.”
“Mom, you don’t need to work…” My words were interrupted by a blonde–haired man approaching.
“Alpha Nikolas,” my mother called, bowing her head in respect. The man looked to be forty, or maybe in his late thirties.
“Oh, I’ve told you to call me Nick; that’s what everyone addresses me as,” he says, and that didn’t make sense; he was the Alpha; he should be called by his title.
“Okay then, Nick, this is my daughter Riley,” she said, and his gaze shifted to me. For a long while he simply stared. Finally, he smiled.
“You must be the sleeping beauty. It is a pleasure to finally meet you.”
