Chapter 175
30 i
125 Points
After Liam left, the house felt too quiet and too big. The silence was heavy and I wanted my kids back but I could hear the noise outside that the games were continuing and I was probably not going to see them anytime soon.
I needed somebody though, I needed people I could actually trust especially because the one person that should be here is not.
I picked up my phone and made a call.
“Ma? Pa? Can you come over for dinner?”
They were the only two people in the entire pack that I knew were safe. They were humans. If someone was using black magic or mind control to manipulate the pack members, it would not work on them
They were just normal people, and that made them the most important allies I had right now.
Thirty minutes later, there was a loud knock on the door.
I opened it, and before I could even say hello, I was flying in the air.
“Faithy!”
My pa scooped me up in a giant bear hug. He lifted me right off the floor. His laugh boomed through the quiet house, filling up the empty spaces.
“I missed you, Pa!” I squeaked, trying to breathe.
“I missed you very, very much, my little girl,” he said, squeezing me tight one last time before putting me down.
My Ma was standing behind him, smiling. She was holding two large baskets covered with checkered cloths. The smell coming from those baskets was amazing. It smelled like home.
“We knew you wouldn’t have time to cook,” Ma said, walking into the kitchen. “So, we brought the feast to you.”
They were the perfect kind of people. They knew how to cook up a storm. They unpacked the baskets, and suddenly my kitchen table was full. There was roast chicken with crispy skin, mashed potatoes swimming in butter, green beans with bacon, and a fresh apple pie.
“Sit, sit!” Pa ordered. “We eat first. Talk later.”
We sat down and started to eat. For a few minutes and everything felt normal. It felt like the old
19
1/5
O
< Chapter 175
days before I came back here, before the wars, and before all the heartbreak.
The food was delicious.
“How are you two doing?” I asked between bites. “Is it hard living here? I know a pack full of werewolves can be scary for humans.”
Ma shook her head, her eyes bright.
“Oh, no, Faith,” she said happily. “We have never been happier.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised.
“Really,” Pa agreed. “Here, we have a very big family. In the human world, people are lonely. They stay in their houses and don’t talk to their neighbors. But here? Everyone looks out for each other. We cook for the young wolves, and they help us with the heavy lifting. It is honestly more fun than the human world. We have a purpose here.”
I smiled. I was glad they were safe and happy. But I couldn’t ignore the dark cloud hanging over my head. I put my fork down. I needed to ask the hard questions.
“Pa,” I said quietly. “I need to ask you something important.”
He stopped chewing and looked at me. “What is it?”
“Is there something wrong with Astor?” I asked. “I saw him briefly, and Liam told me some things. But I don’t understand what is going on with him. He seems… different.”
The happy mood in the room vanished instantly. Ma looked down at her plate. Pa sighed a long, heavy sigh. He wiped his mouth with a napkin and leaned back in his chair.
“Everybody has been talking about his behavior,” Pa said seriously. “It is not a secret, Faith.”
“What are they saying?” I asked.
“He looks like a ghost,” Pa said. His voice was sad. “He used to be full of fire. He used to be human
but now? He walks around staring at nothing.
He genuinely seems like he doesn’t like people anymore. He said he prefers being alone. He locks himself in his office or wanders the woods by himself.”
Pa looked me right in the eyes.
“There is something terribly wrong with him, Faith. He is not the man he used to be.
I felt a cold knot in my stomach. Hearing it from my Pa made it real. Liam was right,
“When did all of this begin?” I asked quickly. “I need to know the timeline.”
215
III
O
< Chapter 175
Ma looked up. “It happened about two months after you left,” she said.
Two months.
$28 Paints
My mind raced. That timing was in line with everything because I started to notice the differences with him 2 months after I left.
“And,” Ma added, “that was the exact same week Annabelle came to live in the pack for the first time.”
I slammed my hand on the table. “I knew it!”
It all made sense now. The pieces of the puzzle were coming together. Annabelle arrived, and Astor turned into a ghost. Annabelle arrived, and suddenly everyone was obsessed with her.
“Whatever is happening,” I said, my voice shaking with anger, “she is involved. Annabella is doing something to him. And if she is here, and Astor is acting like a puppet, then his mother, Ovelia, must be involved somehow too sinces she’s the one making the decisions now.”
I felt a surge of energy. I was ready to fight. I was ready to go to war for my mate.
“I am going to fix everything,” I declared. I looked at my parents with determination. “I am going to expose Annabella and I’m going to break whatever spell he’s under and bring my loving mate back. I will make Astor the man he used to be.”
I expected my parents to cheer. I expected them to tell me, “Go get him, Faith!”
But the room stayed quiet.
“Sit down, Faith,” Pa said. His voice was not loud, but it was very firm.
I looked at him, confused. ” is something wrong.”
“I heard you,” Pa said. “But you need to listen to me now.”
He looked sadder than I had ever seen him.
“Nothing will probably bring your loving mate back,” he said bluntly.
I felt like he had slapped me. “Why would you say that? I mean, Astor–is strong. He is just going through something.”
“He may be going through something,” Pa said. “But you have to look in the mirror, Faith. At the end of the day, you are one of the reasons why he’s in that condition.”
My mouth fell open. Tears stung my eyes. “Me? Pa, how can you say that? I left because I had to!”
“Did you?” Pa asked.
375
O
< Chapter 175
He stood up and walked over to me. He didn’t hug me this time.
cavis Points
“I love you very much, Faith,” he said. “You are my daughter, and I would die for you. But I have to tell you the truth because nobody else will.”
He took a deep breath.
“The truth of the matter is that you are a coward.”
The word hung in the air. Coward.
“You ran away,” Pa said. “You say it was for duty, but it was also because it was hard. If you really cannot tolerate Astor, if you cannot handle the mate bond, then it’s easier to just rip the band–aid off. Just leave that man for good.”
“I don’t want to leave him for good!” I cried. “I love him!”
“Then stop acting like this!” Pa said, his voice rising. “You cannot constantly leave and come back. Relationships are not a game, Faith. You don’t get to press pause and play whenever you want.”
He pointed a finger at me.
“Especially when you are parents,” he continued. “You have children to think about. You don’t just get up and leave and then come back whenever it suits you.
You cannot expect that man to be still standing exactly where you left him.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks. His words hurt because a part of me knows that they were partly
true.
“He is broken, Faith,” Pa said softly now. “Maybe Annabelle is doing something bad. Maybe there is magic involved. But the crack in his heart? The hole that let the darkness in? You made that hole when you walked away.”
I sank back into my chair, burying my face in my hands. The dinner was forgotten. The delicious smell of the pie meant nothing now.
“So what do I do?” I whispered through my tears. “Is it too late?”
Pa put a heavy hand on my shoulder.
“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “But you can’t just fix this by fighting a bad guy. You have to fix what you broke between the two of you. And that is going to be much harder than fighting a war.”
