"Daddy!"

Charlie is being held against his will by one of the Dark Moon pack's warriors. He is trying to fight him off, but he is just too strong. We are outside of his school. Richard showed up with his men to take my son away from me.

I tried to come after my son but another one of his men held me back. Meanwhile, my son is crying out for me to protect him. I am devastated by this. I am doing my best to get away from the man who is holding me but he is too strong for me.

Charlie is crying as the man forcibly puts him in a dark sedan parked outside of the school. Richard looks at me with a malicious, boastful smile.

"Did you really think you could keep my son away from me? You, an Omega? You will never see Charlie again!" He boasted, just before getting into the car and going away forever. The man who was holding me back tosses me on the floor then takes off on a motorcycle parked nearby. I look around to see a Regency Falls warrior down on the ground, bleeding out.

As the car was exiting, I could still hear my son crying inside. Crying for me to save him, but I couldn't. He has just been kidnapped right in front of me. And my whole world has just ended. I am bawling my eyes out with never ending tears at the loss of my precious baby... *sniffs*

I woke up panting from the horrible nightmare.

Literally my worst fear has come to pass in the most horrible way. I cannot allow Richard to take my son away from me, I just can't. I refuse to let him win again. It is not only unfair to me as a parent, but especially to my son.

How the hell is Charlie supposed to be taken care of by a person who never bothered to pay him a visit? Not once, even as a baby. If he wanted to ignore my son for all his life, that is his right I guess. But he can't decide to suddenly become a parent just because he can't seem to be able to have another child.

I did not ask the Goddess to punish him in that way. If I had that kind of power, I would have been mated a long time ago and would have been living next to my mate in love and harmony.

I bet Stephano would have accepted me as his mate even if I was presented to him with a huge pregnant belly. For the man that he demonstrated to be so far, there is no doubt in my mind that he would honor me and our bond together, just as he accepted me with a pubescent boy at face value.

I mean, we haven't declared the acceptance speech as of yet, but I am pretty sure he does. Actions speak louder than words, at least they do for me. And so far he has done all that he could to show me he would be there for me, that he is onboard with our mating.

On Monday, Olivia Pullman - Stephano's mother - helped me along with the process of enrolling Charlie in middle school. He had already lost a week of classes after I was forced to uproot our lives in fear of Richard coming to take him away.

My mate offered to pay for a private tutor to home school him, but I thought enrolling in a normal school would be better for him. Charlie needs to find new friends here and school is the best place to do so.

I am still not sure how long we can stay in this town, but we should try to make a life here. This is as good a place as any, especially with my mate here. Of course, Stephano makes all the difference. And it's not only because he is such a good kisser... *swoons*

After I dropped my son at school, I was feeling the most vulnerable I have ever felt thus far. I am dead scared of Richard finding us and taking my son away from me, so anytime Charlie is not in my eyesight I feel scared.

But I needed to work through my fears. I can't let my son be a prisoner of his second father's shadow. He was more than happy to go back to school, though of course it won't be the same here as it was back in our town where he had friends since elementary school.

Sensing my troubled spirit, Stephano kept me company after I returned to the pack house. One thing led to another and we spent the morning kissing each other. It was enough to make me feel safe and comforted. I have long been taught about the effects of the mate bond, but I could not truly feel it until now. It is a remarkable force that us werewolves get to experience.

It is a power unlike anything else in life, except for the bond between mother and son. Though there is no comparison that could be made to that. However, we cannot feel when our child needs us, unlike the mate bond which is very telling.

In all honesty, I could easily go further than kissing with my mate but he was a true gentleman and kept things civil for he knew I was in a vulnerable place given my son's absence. After some time, he left me alone just before lunch was served in the pack house.

For a moment, I almost asked him to take me back to his place but if I did, I would not have left his house with my neck intact. And it's far too soon for that. This is not what I should be focusing on right now, not by a long shot.

I don't know what tomorrow will bring. I can only hope Richard won't find us here. I like being mated so far and I have a feeling I will like it even more as I spend more time with Stephano. He is already talking about introducing me to his family. Me and Charlie, of course.

When I picked my son up later that day, he was mostly quiet. I tried to pry some information out of him, but the only thing he admitted to is there was a girl that was very nice to him and that she is really pretty. Awww... my son has a young crush.

I understand starting school in a new town can be a daunting task, but I do hope he can make some friends here. When I parked my car in front of the school earlier this morning, I saw the warrior that Stephano had promised to station in protective detail.

While Charlie went straight for the playroom to enjoy video games, I waited around for my mate to arrive once again. If this was back at my home town, I would be doing house work but in the pack house there are people for everything except to clean your room and do your laundry. Which reminds me, I should get right on that.

Stephano arrived and I immediately took in his scent as if I were a junkie and he was a drug. It is impossible to describe how wonderful his scent is to me, my mate's signature mark. Our sense of smell is our most powerful sense of all, so this means a lot.

Werewolves are largely oriented by our noses and with our mate's smell it wouldn't be any different. I just didn't know what it would be like for me until now that I am finally mated. He smiled at me as soon as he laid eyes on me and I retributed it.

We talked for a while about our day, how he is dealing with his 'staycation' and of course my son's first day at school. He sensed my apprehension all day, even when we were apart from each other. He wanted nothing more than to reassure me of his safety, but no one is all powerful. This fear is not going anywhere any time soon, but it's okay.

I have to cope with this dreadful fear of losing my son or Charlie will never step away from my eyesight ever again. That is no way of living, most of all parenting. I do not wish to raise a codependent boy. On the contrary, I am raising an Alpha.

"If you want me to start his training, just say the word and I'll make it happen." Stephano suggested to me, concerning Charlie's physical and combat training that all Alphas must go through in order to qualify for the position.

"I don't, but thanks for offering. I want my son to enjoy his childhood as much as he can before all that starts. I'm sure there is no rush for Richard to step down any time soon. He is the same age as me." I told him, dreading having to mention his name in the conversation.

As much as it pains me to realize this, to even put it into words, the message from the Moon Goddess was clear. She does not want Richard to have any more children, anyone that he could use to be his successor for the Alpha position.

I am dreading to have this conversation with my son. To be honest, I really wish he could be just a normal boy with not a care in the world. I am raising him to be a strong, confident but caring man. But I could never have imagined that I was raising the next Alpha of the Dark Moon pack.

There is no recorded history of an Alpha who failed to produce an heir. At least one. Of course, I am including in this statistic queer men who got mated to Omegas like me. Never in my life have I heard of such a case.

Though I would have preferred that the Goddess would punish Richard in a different way for his assault on me, I can certainly understand the power move at play in this scenario. If you were a powerful Goddess, it'd be beneath you to smite Her subjects. I would never advocate for Richard's murder, but he does deserve a severe punishment.

Anyway, it is not about me anymore. The true meaning behind this move from Her was to secure my son's heritage. Alphas are always born of other Alphas. It is the way that has worked for thousands of years. Though in the beginning, they didn't have different musculature than other werewolves or the famed ability to command their members into submission. This took centuries of evolution to come into play.

If you look at it from an outside perspective, it seems insane that She blocked Richard from producing an heir with his given mate. Again, this has NEVER come to pass. It would be unthinkable to any living werewolf. Unmated pups are looked down upon in our society.

But this is an entirely different ballgame. It means that my son is going to have to face some hard truths in life, especially his role as the future Alpha. I just hope to put off any of this for as long as I can. I want him to live his life free of the pressure that comes with this.

In all honesty, I just want my son to live fearlessly.

A|N: This chapter was not supposed to end here.

Once again, I just ended up overwriting and now it can't fit the entire writing.

Anyway, tomorrow the rest will be posted right on schedule.

It's called "Take My Breath Away."

A classic soundtrack from an unforgettable film.

Love,

Léo.