Berlin
"Maxie..." I drawled out, my voice thick with sleep as I stretched my short limbs out underneath my cream colored sheets. A thin ray of sunlight filtered through my curtains, marking a new day. A smile tugged at my lips as I rolled over, seeking the warmth of my mate's broad chest to start off my day, only to be met with cold, stale air.
These days, all of my mornings start this way. Even six months after the accident, I'm not used to him being gone. I am rewarded a few moments of bliss as I wake up every morning, my mind tricking me into thinking for a moment that my mate is still here before reality collapses like a painful ton of bricks on top of me again.
He died to save me when it should have been the other way around.
I laid in bed quietly for a couple seconds, staring at the ceiling before sitting up and brushing my sleep-strewn hair away from my eyes. I glanced at my bedside table, sighing nostalgically as I my eyes locked onto a picture of Max and I. I'm sitting on his lap in the photo, and we are at the annual pack bonfire, laughing without a care in the world.
With a heavy sigh, I slid out of bed and walked into the bathroom, taking in my appearance in the mirror. My brown eyes have lost all of their sparkle and over the past months, and dark bags have appeared underneath them from both lack of sleep, stress, and the overwhelming grief that I battled with every day. My body was slightly emaciated due to lack of appetite, but I don't pay much attention to that. I've always been small anyway, so no one really noticed my lack of muscle.
I was born a triplet, one of three boys, but you could say that I've been different since birth. While my two brothers were born healthy and large, I was born underweight and small. As time went on and they grew to heights taller than six feet, I was perpetually stuck in a purgatory of five feet and three inches. I was the late bloomer. This especially manifested itself when I failed to shift into my wolf at thirteen, which pretty much branded me as an outcast. While my friends and brothers were allowed to join small hunting crews, I was kept inside to learn household skills with the human female mates of our pack. I finally shifted into a small, grey and white wolf at age 16, but by then the damage was done. I was forever to be the runt of the family. The 'odd one out.'
Even when I'd become the Luna of our pack a year ago after my father passed the Alpha title to my mate, the pack still didn't exactly take a liking me. They'd fully expected and hoped for my older brother, Corey - who was a wall of muscle, strength, and exuded an aura of leadership - to find his mate and take the title, but I'd unfortunately beaten him to that. Shaking my head to rid myself of troublesome thoughts, I dragged my body into my glass shower for the last time.
Today was moving day. After the attacks six months ago, it was found that the rogues were contracted by another pack we'd been at war with for a few years. Crescent Falls was their name, and they planned to use the rogues to weaken our forces before infiltrating our pack and simply taking over. Seeing as to how they are a much stronger and larger pack, their plan worked perfectly. They gave us six months to get our belongings and personal matters together before we were to be completely assimilated into their pack, and today is the end of that grace period.
"Ouch!" I cried out, biting my lips as I looked down at my leg, the area where my shaving razor cut slowly dripping crimson blood. I groaned internally before turning off the water in defeat, deciding that I am the cleanest that I need to be for our trip today. With a chilled shiver, I grabbed my towel and rushed out of the bathroom.
I tugged one of Max's old, grey hoodies that I left out for today's move over my head, the hem falling to my mid-thigh. Staring in the mirror at my reflection, I took in my meager appearance, although one thing caught my eye.
The sun glinted off of the bright golden locket that laid daintily on my chest, disappearing just as it slid underneath the collar of my sweater. I sucked in a breath as I reached my hand up, grasping the delicate jewelry in a small fist.
"I miss you..." I whispered softly, letting my fingers slip from the cold metal and wrapping my arms tenderly around myself gently as if it were Max holding me instead, as he used to every morning. I stood in silence for a couple moments, breathing in his scent that emanated from the sweater until I couldn't stand it anymore. I shook my head, snapping myself out of my trance before quickly tugging on my light blue briefs and black skinny jeans and grabbing my phone.
Turning around at the door, I scanned over the bare room I once shared with Max for the last time. We had made so many memories in this room in the short year were were mated, and my chest hurt as a few images of us flashed across the forefront of my mind; us cuddling and watching movies as I tried to toss popcorn into Max's mouth, him comforting me on the day I would be announced as Luna, or just after our mating was announced, when he lowered my trembling form onto the bed...
I shook my head to stop myself so that I wouldn't start crying before heading out of the door to my room, and closing the door softly, only to be met with the loud, chaotic movement of my pack.
I'd become invisible to my pack again after Max's death, as I didn't even hold the title of Luna anymore. According to everyone else, I was once again the little runt who found his mate too early for the true Alpha to be appointed. I was reminded of my place as a pack member bumped into me with a box and I stumbled to the side. He passed by me and down the stairs without so much as a sorry.
"Berlin! Can you help me with this? I have two more boxes to get into the car, and then we can leave!" Called a voice from downstairs. Peering over the railing, I spotted my Dad holding a box of my things in his hands and standing next to another one of my boxes, the word 'Max' scribbled sloppily on top of it in my loopy handwriting.
"Yeah, Dad. I'll come down now." I replied calmly, walking to the stairs and trying to stay out of the way of other pack families as they brought box after box down the grand staircase. When I reached the landing, I bent down and grabbed my last box, my Dad flashing me a smile as he led the way out of the front door and towards our family's car where Papa, our former Alpha, was waiting for us with a crooked smirk on his face.
"You guys took forever. I was beginning to think that you left with another family!" Papa joked, leaning down to peck my Dad's lips and take the box from him, taking mine also a moment later and loading them into the packed trunk.
"Oh, shush Ray. You weren't the one that had to do all of the packing!" My Dad pouted at Papa as he slid into the passenger seat and buckled himself in, quickly settling in with his black neck pillow for the few hour long drive. Papa chuckled deeply, holding his thickly muscled arm out to his mate in a boastful manner after settling himself into the driver's seat.
"I carried each box that you packed with these guns. Don't complain, bunny." My Papa winked over at Dad when he used his pet name, causing Dad to roll his eyes in return and rest his head against the window in defeat. Thank the Goddess my brothers were finishing up some affairs and would be arriving on their own a few days later, or else I'd have to deal with four crazy family members when my dads are more than enough to handle on their own on a cross-country trip.
I smiled at my parent's regular joking attitudes as I slid into the open seat in the back, the left side window seat, and buckling my seatbelt. I slid in my earbuds, choosing my travel playlist from my phone and closing my eyes as we drove away from my pack house for the last time.
|Many Hours Later|
My eyes fluttered open as I woke from my nap. I found myself blinking rapidly for a few seconds to adjust to the light before yawning and glancing out the window. My eyes opened wide at the sight before me. The dense, green forest seemed to go on for hundreds of acres before disappearing into tall mountains. Deer openly grazed along the side of the gravel road as we drove along, and the blue sky was filled with hundreds of colorful birds.
"... Alpha Osias will be at the ceremony, I heard..." I snapped out of my trance at the sound of my Dad's soft voice, turning my head towards him and biting my lip as a pang of pain tears through my chest at the sight of him and my Papa holding hands on top of the center console.
"... Asshole tore apart our families. They choose their Alpha differently here..." I caught the tail end of Papa's words just as we pulled up to the new pack house that we would soon call home.
To say that this pack house was a mansion would be an understatement.
This house was gargantuan. It was a multi-mega mansion, complete with a fountain in front and roundabout driveway. As we pulled up to the giant gate, a large man who was almost as large as Papa began to bang on our window, causing Dad and I to jump in surprise at the same time.
"Show me your identification." the man said in a deep, demanding voice, his eyes covered with dark shades even though it was not painfully sunny out.
"We're from the Moon Star Pack. We don't have identification yet." replied Papa in a respectful manner, well aware of the low status we have in this new pack.
"Then you must exit your vehicle here. Leave the keys and your belongings, and we will handle the rest." the man said in return. Papa seemed slightly stunned but otherwise obeyed the rule, releasing his mate's hand before getting out of the car and walking around to open his door for him. Dad jumped out of the car with a slightly annoyed expression, holding his neck pillow tightly to his chest and hitting Papa on the arm with it when he tried to pick him up out of the high-sitting SUV.
I slid out a the car a moment later, joining my parents as we began walking towards the front door of the pack house, my Dad nervously biting his bottom lip as he always does when he feels intimidated. As we approached the large, wooden door another large, menacing man with long, black hair approached us.
"Names." he stated with a bored expression, glancing at a clip board in his hand but not once at us.
"Rayson, Danny, and Berlin Cahill." Papa replied, holding my Dad tightly against his side to ease his nervousness, and Dad melted into Papa's embrace. The long-haired man checked something off of on the paper before nodding at us and gesturing to the door.
"Your rooms are on the third floor. Number 355 for mated couple Rayson Cahill and Danny Cahill, and room 375 for Berlin Cahill. Your belongings will be brought in after they are scanned for contraband and you are required to be at the ceremony that will be held tonight in the grand ballroom. If you do not attend, punishment will follow." The man rattled off, seeming all to eager to be done with us completely.
"Thank you." Papa replied for all three of us. My Dad was paralyzed with fear, which usually happened when he was around any large man other than Papa.
We walked towards the door of the pack house, knowing that in only a few short hours we would be losing one of the most precious parts of being a wolf. Losing your pack connection is like losing a part of yourself.
As I buried my face into the long sleeves of Max's sweater and inhaled his scent, I couldn't help the tears that threatened to fall as I thought to myself.
What did I do to deserve losing both the love of my life and my pack in less than a year?
I guess that the goddess has a grudge against little old me.
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