Page 57 of Her Reborn Mate
Or we can run away yet again,Will whispered in my mind.
We can’t always run away from our people, Will. Our happiness is their happiness. Never in my life would I have imagined I’d say such a thing. But now, it felt genuine. The pack was not a band of strangers to me anymore. They were family.
“I am glad that you are becoming accepting of the people around you,” Will said.
“Okay. We can rest for a few hours. Knowing Vincent, his whole celebrating thing isn’t going to start until the night,” I said, taking Will inside the house.
We barely had the chance to shower, change our clothes, and drink a cup of tea when Vincent knocked on our door and invited us outside. The sun had gone down, and the lights were up. Bulbs hung from posts, illuminating the commune, and the people were being their mirthful selves, cooking, dancing, singing, and talking to each other.
I went around the commune, meeting them yet again for the second time on the same day. This time, though, I was less overwhelmed, and the pressure to mingle was off my shoulders. The people were already doing that on their own. In the past couple of days, I discovered that alcohol had a way of making people’s inhibitions go down, including mine. Even now, there was a glass of wine in my hands that I clung tightly to. Any time it was nearing emptiness, I filled it up and went around making rounds of the commune, taking part in the celebrations with much more enthusiasm than before.
In all this, Will kept sitting with Vincent in one corner of the commune. The two men were barbequing some tikkas, or so it appeared. From across the commune, I called out to Will and asked him if everything was all right.
I’m just making sure that Vincent’s okay. I have to spend time with him to ascertain that he has truly recovered from his father’s death,Will told me.
It was a commendable thing that Will was doing. I wished I was doing something similar. But there was nothing to do except celebrate, drink, eat, and be merry.
Quietly, I snuck back into our home and pulled the curtains in the bedroom. Then I shut down the lights and pulled the blanket over me. Who knew how long these festivities might go on? I was tired beyond comprehension. Besides, what I had planned for tomorrow required a good night’s sleep.
Chapter 24: Will
“Yesterday, you weren’t there at the celebration,” I said.
Fred’s tiny house was like walking back in time. Everything was decades old and retained its original newness, a fact that amazed me. With Fred sitting by the fireplace in his wheelchair, stoking the fire with a poker, the room seemed like a museum exhibit.
“There was once a time when fathers who lost their sons would mourn them for years. It has not been a week since Maurice’s death was made official. How can I celebrate anything when my only son died?” Fred said. Unlike what I had been led to believe, Fred was able to put together more than just a sentence. He was completely cognizant and coherent.
“You mourn him even though you know of all the things that he did? He kidnapped my mate. He killed people, Fred. And in case you missed it, he was running an illegal, dangerous, and downright unnatural business with the vampires. Even still, you mourn him?” I hadn’t come here looking for a fight. I had come here to seek my brother’s counsel. However, the tone of Fred’s voice suggested otherwise. He seemed to be in no mood to entertain me or my thoughts.
“He was my son, dammit. You killed my son, Will. No matter what his sins were, he was born of my seed. I know that you haven’t had the chance to father a child, but the day you do, and if I am alive that day, I will ask you how it will feel if someone takes that child away from you. Until that day, I am afraid I have nothing more to say to you on the matter. You simply won’t be able to understand,” Fred said, turning his back to me.
It enraged me how obstinate he was being, even though he was my younger brother. I strode across the room and pushed his wheelchair so that he was facing me again.
“I am the Alpha of this pack, Fred. I lead the people. Each one of them is like my family. I know the pain of loss. Do not ever dare to say that I do not know that sorrow. I lost my entire pack. I lost Ariana. I have lost more than you know. While you were out in the world, living your life, marrying, and fathering your child, I was in chains, tied in the darkness. So if it is sorrow and loss we are comparing, let us not begin, for you stand no chance against the sea of anguish that I have braved through!”
It was the first time my anger had resurfaced ever since I had taken the potion. However, there was a difference between the two fits of anger. The one before was almost catalyzed by the smallest of triggers. This one, though, was righteous anger. I was holding my ground and standing up for myself. This anger was not unjust. And since it was a natural anger, I controlled it just as naturally.
“There you go again, going on and on about your woes. There must be a point even for you when that whole bitching tends to get tiring. Aren’t you tired of whining about the past? There’s more to life than what happened to you. Could you be any more selfish?” Fred spat.
Were he not so old and fragile and on the brink of demise, I would have grabbed him by the throat for his insolence. But age demanded respect, and it was this respect that was stopping me from turning this verbal altercation into a physical one.
“Are you saying that you know what Maurice was doing all along and chose to do nothing?” I asked.
“What I know matters not. I have been immobilized for the last twenty-five years as a result of a series of strokes that have left me paralyzed from below the waist. You were in chains, but at least you were free to move your limbs whenever you desired. When I wish to move my legs, I have to make peace with the knowledge that as long as I live, I shall never walk again,” Fred said, the bitterness gone from his voice. It was replaced with genuine sadness.
It disarmed me enough to say, “My brother, I am sorry. I didn’t mean to hound you.”
“And I didn’t mean to skip out on your engagement celebration either. It is okay. I am just coping with loss in my own way. Sadly, for me, it’s the cripple’s way. I can’t go anywhere, so these walls hold my sorrow,” Fred said, tears streaming from his eyes.
“I never intended to kill your son. Had he repented or turned to our side, I’d have spared him. But even after he had taken everyone to the culling field, he didn’t stop. He continued smuggling with the vampires, and he kidnapped my mate. If I hadn’t made him pay for all those crimes with his life, what good an Alpha would I have been?” I asked.
“If I were in your position, I would have done the same,” Fred said. “But when it comes to family, rationality goes out the window. How am I ever going to get another son at my age? A man only has one thing at the end of the day. His legacy. What about my legacy?”
“Your legacy lives on in the form of your grandson. He’s twice the man your son was, and he is loyal, brave, pure, and strong. Vincent is your legacy. You should rest assured of that,” I said, holding Fred’s hand.
“I suppose you are right. Now tell me why you came here in the first place. It wasn’t to scold me for not showing up to your engagement party, was it? You are troubled. Tell me what’s wrong,” Fred said.
“Before your son died, he said something that has been troubling me. He told me that someone has been working against me for the past seventy years, ever since I left Germany. Do you have any clue of an idea as to who that could be?”