As Rick entered the living room, he was surpised by two big, strong arms pulling him into a tight bear hug to greet him.
"Looks like we're in-laws!" Rad excitedly congratulated.
Pulling away from his embrace Rick looks around in shock. He didn't expect to see his old friends to be sitting here in his living room.
"What's with this pleasant surprise?" Luke sternly asked before Rick could even get his bearings.
"We came to talk to you son and your recent behavior." Zeev explained as his eyes motioned to Tala who was sitting between Diana and Baddy.
Luke could sense the tension in the room and he feel could Talas fear. Almost like it was his own. Her heartbeat almost drowned out the noise with how hard it was pounding.
Both Diana and Baddy looked like they were ready to pounce on anyone who came near them. Like two fierce wolves protecting their cub. In the moment, that's what he saw. Not the Tala that he's been drawn to but this fragile being that is so delicate and in need of protection. He couldn't scold himself enough for this entire situation.
Rick caught the look from Zeev and instantly shot daggers at Luke. His admiration turned into angry and his face showed it.
"Tala, go get Reika, you both need to go upstairs right now!" Rick demanded in a growl as he pushed Rad out of the way. Keeping his focus on Zeev and Gela.
He knew that they would never want to harm anyone, but werewolf lineage is law. It is frowned upon for any wolf to mate with a human but for an alpha to do it was forbidden. Any Alpha found to have broken this will face the punishment of watching their lover die. How could Luke have done this to Tala?
"Why is everyone telling me to go upstairs and acting so crazy?" Tala questioned as she stood up and took a step towards them. Confused by everyone and their behavior.
"Tala, just go upstairs!" Luke growled.
Tala took a step back, she could feel his anger radiating off his body and it terrified her. Was he angry with her? Tears began to well up in her eyes but before she allowed them to fall, she ran towards the kitchen stairs.
"We came to speak with Luke, but it seems that we should be talking to you." Zeev said turning to Rick.
"Fine but let's discuss this in the garden." He told them. Gela and Zeev follow him outside.
"Hey, are you okay?" Reika asked when Tala came running past her in tears.
She wasn't sure what was going on but she did hear her dad and Luke yelling at Tala to go.
As soon as Reika walked into the living room and seen the Alpha and Luna, she knew exactly what was going on.
"Please go make sure Tala is alright and safe." Diana asked her in a whisper as they watched their Alpha and Luna follow Rick to the garden. Reika obliged and rushed upstairs.
As Reika settled on Tala's bed, she watched as her sister was lost in thought. Her heart breaking as she watched her sisters being torn apart. Tala just stood by the window staring out into the night.
Too many questions were running through Tala's head. Why was Luke so mad at her? Was he ashamed of her? His stupid, insignificant fling. How could his parents be such horrible people. Who treats others that way?
"What's going on?" Tala asked in tears when Diana stepped into her room. Tala moved from the window to sit next to Reika who wrapped her arms around her sister.
"I'm not sure what's going on." Diana told her as she closed Tala's door to give them more privacy.
"But you know something and you're not telling me!" accused Tala. "Neither of you are. Those people downstairs, why do you call them Alpha and Luna? What the hell are you talking about wolves? Like the wolves that came here?! What are rogues? What history don't I know?! What the fuck is going on?" She began to sob. She felt as if her world had been flipped upside down and everyone in it was keeping things from her. Trying to calm down, she continued.
"So much doesn't make sense, some of it hasn't made sense for a really long time. I know that all of you have been keeping something from me." Tala sniffeled trying to keep her crying at bay. "I thought maybe one day, you'd trust me enough to tell me and I was okay waiting but I'm not anymore. I need to know what's going on because my heart can't take this."
"There is a lot we haven't told you, I wish we could Tala, more than anything I wish we could but we can't and it's not fair to any of us." Reika explained before sobbing herself, letting out a hurt she's been holding. The hurt that hiding her true self from her sister has caused.
"Mom should of been the one here to tell you everything but since she's not, you'll have to wait until Luke and dad can fully explain all of this to you in more detail. . . but what I can tell you is basically this, you know how we have a king right?" Diana asked.
"Yeah? What's that have to do with anything?" Tala looked at her sister confused.
"Well," Diana continued. "Zeev, would be that king which makes Luke . . . "
"The prince that's about to take the thrown . . ." Tala finished for her. Her heart sank.
"Yeah." Diana said softly.
"Which makes him completely off limits." Tala threw herself backwards onto the bed, wincing a little to the slight pain it caused her.
"There is no way he'd end up with a peasant farm girl like me . . " you could hear her trying to hold back the tears. "I was nothing but a fling to pass the time after all." she couldn't hold the tears back any longer. Turning over she buried her face into the pillow.
"I wouldn't say that." Reika started. "I think he does care about you." she waited for Tala to turn her face towards her before continuing.
"I think that this situation is very difficult for him. . . in many ways he's already been promised to someone else. Meeting you or feeling for anyone else is a bit of a problem." she tried to word it as delicately as possible.
How could she even begin to explain mate bonds and wolves being forbidden to mate with humans? She thought we were all human! No, no. she thought. Arranged marriage sounds much better. Tala turned back into her pillow and cried harder. Her heart hurt so much.
Meanwhile, outside in the garden.
"You need to explain, why is that human girl even here? Why is her aura so different from anything I've ever seen? Is she a witch? Half blood something? Who is she Alarick? I can sense great power swirling inside of her, and I can smell my sons sent all over her as well." Gela crosses her arms in disgust.
"She's not a witch Gela, she's a normal girl. Her and her mother came to me after a rogue attack killed her father." Rick spoke quietly. "They sought my protection. After a while she became like my daughter. She is nothing special. Just a normal girl who's smitten with your son as it appears, but it's nothing. Just a quick fling of the season." He explains.
"Why were you attacked by rogues? What were they after?" Zeev questioned. His tone staying calm and neutral.
"I don't know, I think they came to ransack the place thinking that no one would dare be out here with all the rumors surrounding the forest." Rick shrugged. His eyes never leaving Gela's.
"So just a random attack after all." Zeev said but by his tone you could tell that he wasn't completely sold on it.
"Now that that's settled, what do we do about this abomination of a union?" Gela asked still disgusted by her sons actions.
"I'm leaving tomorrow morning, before the sun even rises. Nothing happened between us but leading it on was wrong of me. The only one who should be blamed in any of this is me. . . I take full responsibility for my actions. I knew what I was doing, and Tala is innocent in all of this." Luke interrupted. Staring away from them he continued.
"I promise that what ever was happening is long over now and will never happen again."
"Very well. After you leave you are not to ever make contact with anyone from this household ever again, do you understand me?" His mother commanded. Luke's eyes looked to Rick apologetically.
"Yes, I understand. . . It's for the best." Luke said, a tear trying to escape down his hardened features. Unbeknown to them, Tala was listening by an open window. Reika and Diana had just left the room when Tala heard Luke's voice. Too bad he couldn't hear her heart breaking.
He doesn't want me at all? He's going to leave, never speak to me again and he's okay with all of that? B-b-but what did I do wrong? Tala sobbed to herself. What was she thinking, why would he ever want her when he's as important as he is?
An hour later Gela was helping Reika cook dessert in the kitchen.
"It's been so long since I've been in the kitchen." Gela laughs.
"It's nice to have someone to cook with again. I've missed it since my mom left." Reika explained
"Your mom?"
"Well my step mom, Tala's mom. She helped raise us. We used to cook together all the time but then one day almost a year ago, she had to leave us." Reika said with deep sadness in her voice.
"Do you think she'll come back?"
"She said she would but to be frank, everyone leaves at some point right?" Reika replied. She kept her eyes on the batter she was mixing. She knew it was worthless to have hope. When the phone calls stopped coming, she knew it was time to let go. Her reply broke Gela's heart. Why does a young girl of almost eighteen have to have so much hurt in her heart?
Out in the barn Rick, Zeev, and Rad were drinking and laughing over old memories. Looking over photographs from decades prior.
In the living room, Diana and Baddy were cuddled up on the couch watching a movie together. Blaidd was asleep on the sofa chair. He had tried to watch the movie with them but fell asleep shortly after the beginning credits started.
Not seeing Tala anywhere, Luke went up to her room to talk to her but found that she wasn't there either. After looking everywhere, he finally found her in the green house. Seeing her instantly took his breath away.
The greenhouse was pretty spacious and the family grew a lot of different fruits and vegetables in it. Tala was currently tending to the cucumbers. The lights inside were dim but Luke could still make out all of her features. His heart began to race as he got closer to her.
"It breaks my heart to see you go." she tells him sensing his presence. "I know you won't miss me or even give me a second thought when you leave." She tried to keep an even tone but it wasn't working. "I know that I am nothing to you. . . Nothing more than a season fling but yet, my heart beats for you anyway . . . There's just something special about you. You make me feel safe again. Something I haven't felt . . . ever really. I will think of you every day and . . . I wish you the best. ." Luke walking carefully up to her, her back still turned away from him. He lovingly caresses it. He knows he shouldn't, that he should just say goodbye and leave.
"I can promise you that I will think of you every moment of every day." He pauses for a moment knowing he's about to cross into dangerous territory if he goes any further but it was as if he couldn't stop himself.
"My heart will cry to be with you and it will shatter with every moment that I'm not." He whispered in her ear. "I wish I could stay here with you forever, to protect you, to love you." She slowly turns to meet his eyes. Those golden speckles hypnotizing him the second he sees them. As he stroked her cheek and gently cupped his hand around her face he had notice how red her face was from crying. Even now she was so beautiful to him.
". . . Wow . ." He didn't mean to say it but it was in that moment that he realized how much he loved her. How can I walk away when everything inside me is screaming for me to stay. Even my wolf is telling me to stay with her. So what that she's human? I've never wanted to keep something so safe in my life as I do her and fuck it, that's exactly what I'm going to spend the rest of my life doing.
"Wow what?" She asked looking up at him with her brows furrowed together.
"Wow you . . . I love you Tala Custos . . . I can't let you go . . . and I promise I never will." With one hand on her cheek he brushes his lips softly across hers in a soft romantic kiss.
"I love you too Luke." She whispered before kissing him back harder. His other hand laying softly on the small of her back pushing her lightly into him.
"What in the Tartarus is going on in here?!" Gela demanded catching them. "Luke, you get your hands off of her and come over here this once!"
"No." He said simply. Looking down at Tala with such adoration.
"No?" She said taken aback by her sons words.
"Excuse me but did you just tell me no?" She demanded trying to use her Luna command on him to make him submit but for the first time, she had no control over him.
"No mother, I'm not moving. I'm happy where I'm at." He said still lost in Tala's eyes, that currently looked terrified by his mother's outrage. Her Luna powers weren't working on his wolf. His wolf was making the choices now and Lycus will die before he let Tala go. "Don't worry my love, I won't move." He whispered to her and felt her relax a little under his hand.
"Love? How dare you say you love that . . . pet! This union is an abomination and you know it, I forbid this!"
"You listen to me mother!" He demanded, finally looking at his mother. His wolfs passion was consuming him and she could see it in his eyes. "I will not back away from her, she is not a pet! She is my queen!"
"Why you little . . . enchantress! You've put a spell on my son! You vile wretched . . . " Gela shouted, lunging for Tala until someone attacked Gela from behind before she could finish her strike.
Gela was able to throw her attacker down, but the attacker was quick, swift and strong. In mere moments the attacker had Gela by the throat. Luke was ready to pounce. Mad at her or not he will always protect his mom.
"WAIT!" Tala screams holding him back.
". . . Mom?" Tala calls out. "Mom is that really you?" Tears were now streaming down Tala's face once again.
"Hi honey, I'm home." Tami turned to smile at her dsughter.
Hearing the familiar voice Gela looks up at the woman currently holding her. Those eyes . . .
". . .Tamika?! Is it really you?" Gela couldn't believe her eyes as she lifted the woman's hood.
"Yes Gela. It's me." She hugs Tami who retracted her claws as they held each other. Gela was now in tears as well.
"All this time I thought you were dead?! What happened?" She cried but didn't even let Tami speak. "Oh how I've missed you but . . . Wait," Gela pauses as she pulls from the embrace. Suddenly putting the pieces together "Daughter?! Tala . . . is your daughter? But how? She's hu."
"There's much we need to discuss away from the children" Tami cuts her off. "Let's get inside and I'll make some tea for us. C'mon kids, let's get washed up and enjoy some of the dessert Reika and Gela have prepared for us." Tami told them and they follow towards the house. All in mutual confusion. Luke had Tala behind him out of protective instinct. Something wasn't right and he could feel it.
"Oh." Tala said grabbing her stomach. It looked as if all the blood had drained from her face. The once bright red face now looked pale. Lycus began whining inside of Luke's head.
"Tala honey?" Tami asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think I just need to lay down." She said sounding disorientated. She straightened back up and they began walking again. "I'm okay." She said when Luke tried to help her.
"Are you sure?" Luke asked. Lycus was still whining. She nods for him to go ahead. Her hand resting on his back as she followed him was the only comfort he had.
Until he felt like someone punched him square in the chest. Knocking the wind right out of him. Feeling Tala's hand slide down his back, he turned just in time to catch her.
"Tala?!" his voice filled with panic. She was unresponsive. "Tala" he yelled again. His wolf was now frantic, howling in his head. Even with the deafening noise inside his head he was trying to give Tala aid. He pulled off his shirt and put it under her head. Laying her gently on the ground. Grabbing her hand, he kisses it. "Tala, please." He pleaded with her. "Open those beautiful eyes of yours.". He jumps back as Tala begins to convulse. "What do I do?" He yelled at Gela and Tami.
"She needs to be taken to a hospital right now!" Gela panics. Pulling out her phone to call for an ambulance. Tami grabs her phone before she can. "Hey" She protested.
"Diana! Rick!" Tami begins screaming as she rushes to Tala's side.
"Mom?!" Diana asks in surprise when she got to the back door. Her eyes locked on to her mother and she felt as if she were seeing a ghost. Her eyes then fell to Tala who looked like she was seizing.
"Tala?! What's wrong?"
"MOM!" Reika rushed out. "Oh my gods, what's going on?" She gasped as her eyes fell on Tala.
"Diana call Chythonia now. Don't stop until she answers" Tami instructed. "Reika, baby, go get your father. We need to get her to the living room as soon as she stops. Luke stay with her and watch her until I come back."
Though she doubted Luke would of left her anyway.
She had gotten to the farm before Gela and Zeev arrived. Watching and waiting. She had hoped not to reveal herself until they had left. She had even caught a bit of the intimate moment between Luke and Tala. She was leaving to give them privacy when she noticed Gela storming off in that direction.
"You want to explain to me why you're calling that witch?!" Gela demanded following behind Tami as she rushed to the kitchen, but Tami ignored her question. "Talk to me damn it!" She demanded again as Tami dug through the kitchen cupboards. "She's an evil, manipulating bitch, she can't help you. Only the pack can help you! You need to take her home to our Lotas. We have an amazing Theta. She is a legendary healer. She's taught our Lotas so much and she can help Tala."
"I don't need your healers Gela. Just be quiet, please. If you want to help, then find me the powdered elderberry." Tami said finally snapping.
"I got her on the phone and the guys are waiting for your okay to move her." Diana told her breathlessly as she ran into the kitchen.
"What's going on?" Tami cried to the voodoo queen. When Diana put her on speaker phone "Tala is convulsing and foaming from the mouth."
"What was she doing prior?" Tia asked more alert. She was asleep before she got the call that had startled her. She was groggy before but now she was alert. "Who was she around?"
"I . . . I don't know, she was walking behind us and then suddenly she collapsed." Tami told her "Oh, she had bent over right before that, I think it was stomach pains. It all happened back to back."
"Us?" Tia yawns. "Whose us?" Diana already told her that Rick and the girls were inside when it happened.
"Gela and her son." Tami said.
"Son? So they had a son?" Tia's voice sounded saddened. She snapped herself out of it. Tala needed her to be focused. "Has she been around this son a lot."
Tami looked to Diana who looked at Gela and then to Luke who was in the doorway. She didn't want to hurt Luke or make things worse with all of that, but Tala'a safety was more important.
"Yes." Diana responded.
"Have they been affectionate?" Tia asks.
". . . " Diana was almost scared to answer. "Yes."
"Has she complained of any pains before this? Other than her injuries."
"Yes, her stomach, she said it felt as if she was being burned up and torn apart." Diana continued.
"This started recently?" Tia shot off another question. She needed to figure out what exactly triggered this response.
"Yes . . . As soon as she met Luke. When she described it to us it sounded like it was a mate bond but what started out as tingling became burning and painful." She confessed.
"And did he feel this bond?" Tia asked. Diana, Tami and Gela all looked to Luke.
He walked up towards the island that they were currently surrounded around to join them. Looking down at the counter where the phone was. "Yes." He looked up at his mother who remained emotionless while he on the other hand was filled with tons of mixed emotions.
"I felt it as soon as she got close to me. It wasn't painful, apart from my wolf howling so loud he was giving me a head ache."
"Your wolf responded to Tala?" Tia asked surprised.
"Yes. When I'm with her he's upset and worried about her, when I'm not he just whines to be with her."
"Let me speak with Tamika privately please." Tia bitterly snapped. Tami grabbed the phone and took it off speaker. Everyone began to move closer to her until Tami held up her hand to stop them.
"I warned you to never allow anyone but family there! Now I find out you let them . . . of all the people in the world you let them there? What were you thinking? You knew her mate was in that pack. That with the close bond that has been shared between your bloodlines that there was a chance they would of ended up being fated mates? They were the worst of people to be there. How irresponsible! I mean seriously, how could you leave her with those beasts? We had a deal!" Tia yelled.
"What's happening to my baby Tia?" Tami pleaded finally breaking down.
"Her wolf was awoken by her mates. With every interaction, it helped him dig to her. Her wolf is too strong and is going to tear her apart from the inside." Tia said bluntly.
"What do we do?" Tami pleaded.
"We wait, no one has ever survived this, and it will take time to see what happens. Her wolf is strong . . . but our Tala is stronger." Aunt Tia explained.