Chapter 6

• Setting: Yellow Moon Pack
• Draven Fox
• I paced in my parents' living room, waiting for my mother to come down the stairs. I needed clarity on the issue my father had told me since I hadn't slept a wink.
• "You don't look so good, honey. You didn't get any sleep, did you?" My mother had already analyzed me even before she got closer to me.
• I breathed out loudly, refusing to break down when I was going to be the Alpha in twelve days.
• "I'm fine," I lied, pocketing my hands to avoid running them through my hair.
• "Talk to me, Draven. Is it about what your father told me?” I looked at her briefly before fixing my gaze on my grandfather's portrait on the opposite wall.
• "Don't give me that look. Of course he told me. There are little to no secrets between mates, my son—something you would know if you had just accepted her. You would understand what I am talking about." She chastised, pulling me down for a hug.
• Her short stature wasn't to be joked around with, though; she became vicious when the need arose. She was extremely scary, even to the baddest warriors in the pack.
• "She doesn't want me." I repeated the same thing I had said to my father.
• "Did she tell you that?" I kept quiet.
• "Communication works wonders, my son. You can't know for sure what pushed her into Nathan's arms if you don't talk to her.” She further dove into the issue, making me shift on my feet.
• "I didn't come here to talk about me. I want to know the story between you and my father." I directed the conversation elsewhere, hoping my diversion would work.
• "I didn't even know I was pregnant when I escaped the pack I had grown up in," she started, pulling me to sit down with her on the gray leather couch. My face contorted; her statement raised more questions than answers.
• "I don't get it." I was honest, letting my mind drift off for a few seconds.
• "I escaped from the pack after the Alpha forced himself on me. I stumbled into this pack without knowing it, and that's when I met your father. He hated rogues, and he still does, but he was very brutal with them, so he swore to kill me even when he found out that I was his mate. He refused to accept me but decided to keep me as a breeder for him." As she narrated, I couldn't imagine my father doing all that to her.
• "He insisted that I was a spy and that a spell had been cast to confuse him into thinking I was his mate. When he found out I was pregnant after his doctor did tests to ascertain I was good to go as a breeder, he went ballistic. I... I almost committed suicide in the dungeons, but he came right on time and... took me out of there." I couldn't stop the growl that rumbled from the deepest part of my throat.
• She went through so much because of my father—the man I had grown to respect and look up to as a mentor. A silence settled between us as she gave me time to process the information. Just then, my father chose to make his appearance, irking me.
• "How could you?" I abruptly stood, pushing my chest forward as he approached.
• "Draven, that is your father." My mother's stern voice invaded my ears, but the boiling feeling inside wouldn't subside.
• "It's okay, Scar; let him vent," dad spoke, his nonchalance irking me even more.
• "For goodness' sake, she had been abused! What sort of monster were you to not take pity on her?" My voice rose, the love I had for my mother making me wish I could teach Dad a lesson. He deserved to be punished for what he did, even if it had happened years ago.
• "I'd say you're no different from me. You are already turning into one... a monster."
• "You tortured your own mate!" I pushed him before pointing at my mother.
• Surprisingly, his wolf was calm—but only on the surface. Had it been any other day, he would have unleashed his rage on me for challenging him.
• "You are doing the same to yours. Don't you see? My hardheadedness almost cost me your mother and our bond. Unfortunately—or fortunately—you inherited it from me." Itook a step back, another image of Melody invading my mind.
• "She accepted another man as her mate!" I finally let it out—the feeling that I had managed to suppress for hours.
• "Exactly what I said when I found out about the pregnancy, which your mother ended up losing."
• I turned to look at my mother; she was curled up on the couch, looking at both of us. What I saw was a powerful woman who had walked inside a furnace and come out shining like gold.
• "This is different." I lowered my voice, rubbing my temples.
• "How is it different when you haven't given her a chance to explain her side of the story? You said yourself that she asked you to save her." The moment my father said that, my mother stood, demanding attention from me.
• "What did your father just say?" Her voice changed—it was low and extremely heavy.
• "She asked me to save her." I might have been an Alpha by blood, but my mother made me tremble.
• "And you just left? I didn't raise you to be a selfish man, for goodness' sake! She could be in danger for all we know." She threw her hands in the air, making my father huff.
• "She isn't mine," I politely stated, my heart constricting.
• "Don't you dare give me that crap. She is your fated mate, and you will fight for her. I cannot even begin to wish the same struggle I went through on her. She deserves to be given a chance to talk and to explain herself." The more she talked, the more her voice lowered and her eyes softened.
• "Please, son, listen to us. A mate is a gift from the Moon Goddess. A bond creates balance; it completes us, Draven. Now that your wolf has had a glimpse of her, he won't rest until you have her. And if you resist, the desire for her will consume your animal until you lose your humanity and turn into something worse than a rogue." My wolf stirred, demanding at that moment to have her.
• "Mother, Father," I began, pausing when a wave of nausea hit me. I closed my eyes briefly, just as my pelvis cramped up, making me grunt.
• "Draven." My mother held my arm, while my father rushed to my side.
• "My head, my lower stomach... it hurts," I spoke, finding the pain difficult to explain.
• "But you were fine a few seconds ago." My mother hyperventilated while my dad helped me sit.
• His phone rang, and when he fished it out, the number was a new one. "Alpha Jaxon," he answered.
• "I need to speak to Alpha Draven right now!" The voice on the other side was hurried and hushed. Thanks to my heightened hearing, I could hear it—and so could my mom.
• "State your business." My father ignored his demand.
• "My name is Mason. I am Melody's friend." I snatched the phone from my father the moment he mentioned her.
• "It's Draven. What is it?" I uttered, clenching my teeth when the cramps intensified.
• "Alpha Nathan has just sentenced your mate to death by beheading." He didn't need to say anything else. I was rushing out of the house, mind-linking the topmost warriors, holding my damn heart in my hands