A/N: A long one that took too long lmao, but as promised, le reunion ✨(although not a total fan of how it turned out) 

Vince’s POV

“Your son,” I told Arthur as he drove over the dirt road. “You’ve never met him then?”

Arthur’s hands clenched the steering wheel tightly. “Once, he was an infant then. Hardly a few months old.”

“She never told you his name?”

He shook his head. “I told her to decide.”

“What would you do if you found him?”

“What is there to do? I don’t expect much, I’ve never been a part of his life. To suddenly enter it at this point would probably anger him.”

“But he’s your son.”

Arthur slowed the car. “And I’ve never been a father to him. It would be too much to ask for a relationship—or anything at this point.”

As much as I wanted to argue, he had a point. With that, Arthur drove a little faster, approaching the gates to the New Moon pack. The betas spared a curious glance at Arthur but ushered us inside once they saw me. Arthur pulled into the parking lot abruptly, his tires screeching as he pulled into a stall.

Through the rearview mirror, an angry-looking Aspen approached the car. Arthur observed him as he stepped closer, a curious look passing between them as Aspen neared the passenger side door. Arthur’s gaze lingered for a second before staring out the front window, almost zoning out. Aspen turned to point a finger at me.

“Where the hell have you been?” Aspen shrilled as he reared his head toward me. “Do you know how worried people were?”

I glanced at him sheepishly, spotting Sarah and Rowan behind them. Rowan was sound asleep in her arms as she bounced him. “I know, alright. I’m here now.”

He scoffed before looking between me and Arthur through the window. “Who the hell is this?”

Arthur, who had remained still at the wheel, finally turned to address him. I cleared my throat. “This is the northern pack’s beta, Arthur. I’ve been there this whole time.”

Aspen narrowed his eyes at him before sighing. “Sarah and I already visited her. Xavier’s in there now. Go.”

Letting out a shaky breath, I nodded. As I unbuckled the seatbelt, I looked to Arthur, who hadn’t moved since we got here. “Aren’t you coming? You said you knew her. You were close at one point, I thought.”

He raised a brow. “It’s not my place. Go, your brother’s waiting.”

“But—“ 

He shook his head. “I doubt she’d even remember me, Vince. Go.”

I frowned but opened the door, thanking Arthur before heading to the pack hospital. Aspen hadn’t followed, and Arthur hadn’t driven off, but I had to focus on more important things. A few of the pack members saw me, a couple bowing their heads as if offering condolences. It didn’t make me feel better, instead, my feet went faster. I needed to see her. 

It was only a couple minutes of walking, but it felt like a couple of minutes too long as I walked into the building, the nurses pointing toward her room, even though I knew exactly where it was. 

Before I even turned down the hallway, I could hear Xavier’s cries, and I had to remember to breathe. How long had he been here alone, was she already—

I gulped, before taking laborious steps toward the door. Even the breathing exercises Chase had taught me weren’t helping as I slid the heavy door opened. Xavier, who was seated beside the bed had jerked his head toward the door, a sob escaping him as he met my face. He pushed the chair back as I stepped in, closing the door behind me. I was grateful that the faint sound of the machines was still beeping. She was alive. She was still here, I hadn’t been too late.

I didn’t dare look at her, knowing that what I’d see would break me. Instead, I focused on Xavier, who scrambled over, wrapping his arms around me tightly in an embrace. I thought seeing her in the bed would break me, but his cries into my chest made me choke back a sob. 

“Vin—" he tried to say more but the crying continued. My hands shook, but I placed them against his back and head, coddling him as he let out those painful wails. 

“I’m here,” I told him. “I’m right here.”

My words probably couldn’t be heard through his cries, but I continued muttering it to him as the warm tears streamed down my face into his hair. I sucked in a sharp breath before daring to look at our mother. Her face was paler, the veins bulging from her skin like thin cords. Her face was almost unrecognizable from her old photos, so sunken in that I didn’t want to believe that it was her. The tubes sticking out of her face and arm seemed like something straight out of a science fiction movie, and I couldn’t imagine how painful and awful that must’ve felt. Even now, was she suffering?

“Where-where were you?” I could barely make out what Xavier saying.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said into his hair. “I’m here now. I’m here.”

I couldn’t remember the last time we had hugged like this, genuinely clung to each other like we’d lose each other. We stayed wrapped in our embrace until he sniffled loudly. He looked up at me, his face completely blotched and soaked with tears. 

Just as he had settled down, the machine near her bed made a continuous sound. Whipping our head to the monitor, the flat line send a chill down my spine. No, no, no. 

We stumbled to her bedside, as the loud sound echoed in the room. This couldn't be happening. 

“Please,” I begged, squeezing her cold hand tightly in mine. “Please don’t go.”

It was futile, I had known this day was going to come eventually, but I couldn’t help but feel the hopelessness consume me. How could I go on without her here, or for Xavier’s sake? How could we look out for each other on our own now? Even as full-grown adults, Xavier needed her—I needed her. And to know that I hadn’t been here for her hadn’t even tried to make more time for her, what kind of son did that.

As the machine’s steady beep drew on, our cries got louder. We were both begging at this point, both pleading for her to hold on, even for just a little bit longer. As we sat there, something hit me. 

Did she know I loved her? Did she know I cared, that I didn’t hate her?

When was the last time I told her I loved her?

The thought ripped through me, flayed me open as I leaned over the bed. I placed my forehead against hers, before I pulled away, fearing the heat from my skin would burn hers, even if that was impossible.

“Mom,” I said, just above a whisper. “Please…Please know I love you. Please.”

As I said that, it was as if I could feel the remainder of her very essence leave this room. 

She was gone. Dead.

The tears came slowly, then like a broken dam, I couldn’t contain. My entire body shook.

No, I needed to be strong, I reminded myself. Xavier needed me, I couldn’t be breaking down like this when he needs me. He was closest to her, had seen her through the years, talked with her until she couldn’t physically speak anymore. And I hadn’t been a part of that. I hadn’t even been here these past days. 

Did she even hear me? 

No, she had to know. She has to know that I said that, right? Please, I wanted to scream. Please tell me she knows. “Please.”

Xavier had reached for me, gripping at the shirt sleeve as I cried over our mother.

“No,” I pleaded, placing my hands against her hollowed ones. “Please. Please come back.”

“Vince—“

“Mom,” I wailed. “Please.”

Xavier gripped my arm tighter, but I tried to shrug him off. “Vince, enough.”

“No,” I mumbled, over and over again, before I pulled away from her. 

Xavier called my name again, pulling my arm toward him, so I let him. The sobs had stopped, but the tears were still running down his face. “Enough. She..she’s gone, Vince.”

It was the first time I could see just how much of a wreck he looked. When had he last slept? Had he eaten at all? Despite that, there was a mature look behind those sorrowful eyes. Despite how devastated he was feeling, he was trying to get me to relax, to breathe. I couldn’t tell you what broke me more at that moment. The way he looked at me, or the heavy feeling surrounding us, the thought that we were now all that we had. It would just be the two of us siblings from now on. No mother, no other immediate family around us except each other. 

“She heard you,” he said quietly, pulling me into another hug. Instinctively, I rested my head on his shoulders, wishing all the hurt and heartache would just disappear from our embrace. “I’m sure she did. She had to.”

I shook my head, feeling the tears again. “No, I don’t think she did.”

“She did, Vince. She knows…she knows you love her.”

My head shook violently as I looked back up at him. “No, no. She doesn’t—she doesn’t know. She couldn’t possibly have heard me.”

I couldn’t contain the sob that escaped me, knowing it wasn’t possible to have heard me anyway. The flatlining had started way before then, it wouldn’t have made sense for her to have heard me.

Xavier shook his head before looking at me crestfallen. “She knows, Vince. She knows, even if she didn’t hear you.”

“No, she should have heard it from me,” I told him. “If I had just been here sooner—or hadn’t left at all I could’ve said it to her sooner. She…she should’ve heard it from me directly.”

He didn’t say anything to that. We both knew that that was the truth, but there was nothing left to say, nothing we could’ve done anymore. 

Our mother was dead. 

———

The doctors had placed the white sheet over her hours ago, the cords and machines all removed and put away. They had offered us water and food, but we both could hardly speak, let alone even think to take care of our own needs. They gave us as much time as we needed to sit in the room to grieve, but there was never enough time in the world to grieve over your own mother. 

Oddly enough, Xavier was faring better than I was, even braving a sip of the water the nurse had given us. It had gone warm since they brought it, but he took a sip, then another, not realizing how dehydrated he was. Meanwhile, I could hardly stomach the idea of eating or drinking with her laying there. 

A part of me wished it was just a prank, that it was some type of nightmare or dream and that she’d sit up, welcome us in her arms, even say something. But it hadn’t happened, the sheets had remained motionless, not even moving up and down where her chest was. 

“We should go,” Xavier had muttered after downing the last of the water bottle. When I didn’t respond, he added, “Vince. They’ll have to move her so they can use this room again.”

With a nod, my eyes fixated on the sheet for a few more seconds before standing. I didn’t want to leave, didn’t want to walk out of here like this, but he was right. Xavier frowned as he looked back to the bed, then up at me. He opened his mouth to say something but he stopped, tears threatening to fall again as we reluctantly stepped out of the hospital room. 

“I should’ve been here,” the words spilled out as we headed down the hall. “Should’ve stayed here at the least, at the pack”

Xavier sighed. “You couldn’t have known.”

“We knew she was dying—“ I sucked in a breath. “I should’ve spent more time here, with her.”

He reached over, patting my shoulder. “I’m glad you made it back. We were so worried; we couldn’t find you, couldn’t even mind link you.”

“I’m sorry I made you worry.”

“Where’d you go?” He asked, despite knowing where I had been given the phone call. 

“I ran into their beta,” I told him. “The Northern Lights pack. He said he knew about our dad and Michael. He—Arthur told me about him, about what he was like; all the things we didn’t know about him.”

“Dad? He knew dad?”

“It’s a long story.” I sighed. “But I found out who Dad’s real mate was.”

He stopped in his tracks before turning to me. “His mate?”

I nodded. “He’s alive.”

“He—he was there?”

As much as I wanted to tell Xavier everything, try and put past these depressing emotions, the things Arthur had mentioned were just as bad. From the pictures and taunts to practically forcing Arthur away from his own son and faking his death. 

“Yeah,” I told him. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

He turned to me, forcing a soft smile. “I’d like that.”