"She is here, Alpha," Malachi speaks through the closed office door.
"Bring her in."
The door opens and Amira's mother steps through, her face rigid and body tense.
"Please, have a seat. I just have a few questions, and I hope you will answer me honestly," he says.
"Or what? You'll threaten me by using my daughter?"
He chuckles, finishing up the reports on his desk, before looking up at her.
"I can understand where your hatred toward our kind comes from, but you owe it to your daughter to tell her the truth. You knew this day would come, the responsibility is on you and no one else to handle this. If you would rather turn a blind eye, then I insist you tell me the truth and allow me to have her."
"Have her? She isn't an object you can claim, she is my only child, and she deserves to live a peaceful and happy life. I made the choices of my past out of love for my family and the unsuspecting baby I had in my stomach at the time!" she cries.
"Does your husband know?"
She narrows her eyes. "Yes, this was before he and I met. Amira was already six months old when I met Phillip, and he adopted her the second we got married, he has treated her like his very own from the beginning. He is her father and that is all she will ever know; do you understand me?"
He waves away her pointed finger in his face.
"What makes you think you're in any position to lobby threats at me? I'm trying to help you right now, or you might end up losing your daughter. Do you really think you can keep her past a secret with everything that has happened?"
This drains the colour from her face. "She changed, didn't she? Into… one of you, right?"
"Indeed, she did, we were all quite shocked, so you can imagine how she must be feeling. Her Lycan genes were hidden rather well, along with her Alpha gene specifically. How did you do that?" he asks.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
He slams his hand on the table and stands up, frightening a scream out of her.
"Stop with the bullshit. I know who her father is, there is no point in playing dumb anymore, Mrs. Altaha. Your daughter almost died tonight because his son has been seeking revenge all this time, blaming you for breaking up his family through your affair!"
"I didn't know what he was! I didn't know he was married, or that he had a damn family, okay? He didn't tell me anything until that night, but it was already too late by then, and I got pregnant with Amira. I wanted to do everything I could to protect that child, but at the same time, I was terrified of what she would be born as. I was a single human mother who was carrying a hybrid child, I was scared. I did the only thing I thought was best, I took her to a witch and had her genes removed, but clearly that wasn't the case."
Calix fights the urge to throw her across the room, reminding himself this woman is Amira's mother, but the more she speaks, the more that seems to not matter too much.
"What kind of witch? Whatever she told you was false, she had to have an ulterior motive to lie, or otherwise as blasphemous as it is to change one's natural born genes, it isn't unheard of or something extremely tricky."
"She had no reason to lie to me, she must have just done something wrong and only suppressed her genes rather than removing them."
Calix raises a brow. "You're quick to defend this woman. Is it safe to assume she is someone close to you?"
"Not to me, but to my husband. He is innocent in all of this and was willing to go to the ends of the Earth for Amira, I don't want him involved in this mess in any way."
"Then tell your daughter the truth, and I have no reason to hunt down that witch through your dear husband," Calix growls. His patience is growing thin, he wants to be back by Amira's side in case she wakes up and there isn't anyone to be there.
"Is threatening people the only thing you know how do to?" Mrs. Altaha yells.
"I also know how to carry through with them. You have 10 seconds to make up your mind before I kick you out and make a phone call." Calix moves his hand to hover over his cell phone on the desk.
"No, wait! All right, I'll tell her, but on my own time. I'm not about to give her another big shock right after she wakes up. If she asks me before she recovers, then I will tell her. Agreed?" she asks and sticks her hand out to shake on it.
Calix picks up his phone and she panics, but he turns it around to show her the voice recording he has paused, a wide smirk on his face.
"Agreed." He shakes her hand and pockets his phone. "That recording is legally binding. It was lovely chatting with you, Mrs. Altaha."
She glares at him. "Melania."
"What?"
"My name is Melania, not Mrs. Altaha. If you're going to be hanging around my daughter, I won't be made to feel like an old madam." She turns on her heel and leaves.
Calix sits there dumbstruck for a few seconds, for the first time realizing where Amira get's her strong personality and mood swings from.
It hits him a few minutes after what she truly meant by her words. Allowing him to call her by her first name and implying that he will be around Amira for long enough to use it properly means she has slowly started to accept his presence and his relationship with Amira. He can tell deep down Melania still despises the idea of her daughter possibly repeating the same mistakes she did, but she will come to see and understand through their bond that they are meant to be, and he won't make Amira suffer the way she did.
With that thought in mind, he rushes back to the infirmary ward and senses her awaken just as he steps outside of the door. He pushes through them and runs across the room to her bed as she is being helped to sit up by the pack doctors.
"Amira, are you all right? How are you feeling?" He pushes the doctors aside and helps her himself.
Once she sees him, she throws herself at him and starts crying against his shoulder.
"Calix, what happened to me? What am I? I killed someone, didn't I?" She begins hyperventilating and clings to him.
"Breath, sweetheart. You're safe now, everything is all right."
She shakes her head. "I remember it, I killed that girl, I was brutal…"
"What else were you to do, let her kill you? Whether it was by your hand or mine, her life would have ended either way for harming what is mine. You are the most precious thing to me, and she dared lay a finger on you, it was the moment she sealed her fate."
Amira continues to sniffle. "She was Evander's mate. I didn't even know her name."
Calix smiles a little, his theory of how he won the fight true, but he doesn't allow Amira to see. He hopes she will come to understand that what she did was necessary and also that if she is ever in that situation again, she will make the same decision. After facing the fear of losing her, he never wants to see it come true, but he can't always be there to protect her.
If Calix wants things to play out the way he imagines, a happy ever after with her by his side, ruling as his beautiful Luna, she needs to be accustomed to this life properly, and having an undiscovered wolf at the age of almost 19 means she has a lot to learn if she wishes to harness those genes or ignore them.
"Your mother is here." This means she has to understand where the origin of her Lycan genes begins.
Hearing this seems to perk Amira up, and he turns to the pack doctor to fetch her mother.
"Amira, honey?" her mother cries out frantically as soon as she enters the room. She comes running over once she sees her sitting on the bed but stops when she spots Calix holding onto her tightly, her face streaming with tears.
She gives him a fearful look, and he shakes his head.
"I said nothing," he says.
This calms her and she sits down next to the bed.
"How are you feeling, honey?" She pats Amira's hand, but her daughter slowly pulls it back.
"Why did you hide this from me for so long?" Amira whispers. "Do you know how frightened I was when I suddenly turned into a wolf? How painful and terrifying the transformation was?"
"I'm so sorry, my baby. I never meant for you to find out, especially not like this. I just wanted you to grow up and have a normal life," Melania weeps.
"Why do you assume my life wouldn't have been normal if I embraced this other side of me? Were you afraid that I would turn against Dad, knowing he isn't my real father?"
Her mother remains silent.
"Mom, I don't care who gave birth to me, the only person I ever remember being there for me in every way a father should be is my Dad. I wouldn't trade him for anyone else, but I deserve to know who I really am. Does he even know?"
"Yes, honey, of course, he knows. We met when I was pregnant with you, there is no way I could hide it, I was already halfway through."
Calix stands up and lets go of Amira. "I'll give you two some space, just tell the doctor to come get me when you need me." He gives Amira a kiss on the forehead and excuses himself, giving Melania a warning glance as he passes her, reminding her to keep true to her word and he will too.
He returns to the office where Malachi is waiting for him.
"We have some things to discuss," he says.
"If it's about your sister, we should wait until your father is present."
He scratches the back of his head. "Well, that's kind of why I'm here." He suddenly kneels down. "Please, my Alpha, I pray that you look favourably upon my father and his many years of service to the Highmoon Pack–"
"Malachi, stop. What are you going on about?" Calix hurries to help him to stand up.
"My father fears that our family will be reprimanded for my sister's reckless actions. He heard about the poisoning she took part in and how you were the one to end her life, it was her second offence after all."
Calix chuckles. "Leave it to your father to run rank until the very end, even in retirement. Tell him rest assured, I was going to apologize for my crass actions. Her punishment should have been carried out in a more respected manner, regardless of her crimes, our many years of friendship were still to be considered."
Malachi smiles gently, sadness in his eyes but relief on his face.
"Thank you, Alpha. There was one more thing I wanted to ask you about. What do you plan to do now?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you've marked your mate, and it turns out she is a werewolf-human hybrid, it's even more of a win for you. Do you believe she will take on the role of Luna?"
Calix frowns and rubs a hand down his face, feeling the exhaustion from everything they have gone through tonight finally settling in.
"I'm not sure, it isn't something to discuss with her right now. She has more than enough on her mind, I don't want to add to that stress. For right now she needs to recover and get her barring's, and I need to rest. So, get out."
He pushes Malachi out of his office before going over to the couch and crashing on it, his eyes closing instantly.