Chapter 176
I sat frozen in my chair. My Pa’s words were ringing in my ears like a loud bell.
Coward.
It was the worst thing anyone has ever called me. I wanted to be angry. I wanted to scream at him and tell him he was wrong. I wanted to tell him that I was a warrior, an alpha, a Luna, a leader. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t say anything because, deep down in my heart, I was terrified that he was right.
Tears blurred my vision.
But Pa didn’t stop there. He wasn’t done teaching me this hard lesson. He saw my tears, but he didn’t rush to wipe them away or console me.
“Faith,” he said, his voice dropping to a lower, gentler tone, but still very serious. “You think love is just butterflies and happiness? You think it’s just kisses and sunny days? No. Love is painful. Love is work.
He reached across the table and took Ma’s hand.
“Look at us,” he said, nodding toward Ma. “We have been together for more than three decades
Faith. Do you think every single day was easy? Do you think we never fought or hurt each?”
Ma shook her head slowly, looking at him with soft eyes.
“We made it,” Pa continued. “But it’s not because we’re perfect. There were times when we were so angry, so tired, or so sad that one of us wanted to pack a bag and leave.
There were nights when we slept back–to–back without speaking.”
He leaned forward, his eyes boring into mine.
“But we knew that we couldn’t leave,” he said firmly. “Why? Because we promised each other ‘forever.‘ When we stood at the altar, we promised ‘sickness and health. We promised ‘death and afterlife.‘ That is a true oath, Faith. It’s not something you just up and leave when things get hard or
complicated.”
I wiped a tear from my cheek, sniffling. “I know, Pa.”
“Do you?” he challenged me. “Because to my understanding, the mate bond, the thing you feel with Astor is even worse than human love. It’s deeper. It’s stronger and it ties your souls together.”
He let go of Ma’s hand and leaned back, crossing his arms. His face looked pained, as if he was remembering something terrible.
“And that’s exactly what you put Astor through,” he said heavily. “You broke that bond, and we watched him bleed.”
Pa took a deep breath.
“The first month after you left was heartbreaking,” he began. “That man tried so hard. He tried to put on a strong face in front of everybody. He went to meetings. He trained the warriors. He smiled when he had to.”
Pa shook his head. “But it was a mask. We could see through it. He was withering in front of all of us, Faith. It was like watching a strong oak tree dying because it had no water. Inside, he was screaming.”
I covered my mouth with my hand to stop a sob from escaping.
“The second month was just terrible on him,” Pa continued, his voice rough. “The mask fell off. We
could see that he was losing weight. His clothes were hanging off his body. dark circles appeared
under his eyes because he was losing sleep. He stopped eating. He stopped laughing.”
Pa looked out the window, staring into the darkness.
“And then,” he whispered, “he just turned cold. The light went out in his eyes. That’s when he
became the ghost Liam.
I closed my eyes. I could picture Astor, thin and tired, sitting alone in his office. My heart broke into a million pieces. I talked to him a lot within that first month and I don’t understand why he couldn’t tell me that he was struggling with the distance. I thought I was our relationship but I was killing
my mate.
“I understand,” I choked out. “I understand what you are saying, Pa. I hurt him. I broke him.”
I opened my eyes and looked at my parents.
“But,” I said urgently. “There’s something else. Today, when I saw him… there was something up with the way he looks at me. I know he’s hurt. I know he might hate me right now. But when I looked into his eyes they looked… empty,” I insisted. “It looked unnatural. Even if he’s heartbroken, those eyes? They were dead.”
“Maybe,” he said. “Maybe there’s something happening to him.”
But then he pointed a finger at me again.
“But before you run off to play detective,” he warned me, “before you try to figure out if something is wrong with Astor, you need to answer one question.”
The room went deadly silent.
“Ask yourself if you are willing to stay with him through everything,” Pa said. His voice was like iron “Through the anger. Through the healing. Through the bad days that will come even after you fix
this.”
He waited for a moment to let the words sink in.
“If the answer is no,” he said, “if there is even a tiny part of you that thinks you might leave again, then you need to go now. Now is the perfect time for you to go and leave that man the way he is.”
“Why?” I asked, my voice trembling.
“Because if you leave now, he will never have to suffer your absence again,” Pa said simply. “He is already cold. He is already numb. Don’t wake him up, make him love you again, and then leave him
to die a second time. That would be cruel.”
I looked down at my hands. They were shaking. It wasn’t just about fighting bad guys anymore. It
was about promising my life to my mate, no matter what.
I thought about Astor. I thought about his smile, his warmth, and the family we were supposed to have. I realized that my fear didn’t matter. My freedom didn’t matter. Only he mattered.
“I’m staying,” I whispered. Then I said it louder. “I’m not going anywhere. I will fix him, and I will never leave him again.”
Pa watched me for a long time. He was looking for any sign of a lie. Finally, his face softened. The hard lines around his mouth disappeared.
He walked around the table and pulled me into another hug, but this one was different. It was gentle. It was comforting.
“Good,” he said into my hair. “That’s what I needed to hear.”
He pulled back and looked at me with a small smile.
“And you know,” he added, “if you decided to leave, we would have packed our bags tonight.”
I looked at him in surprise. “What? But you said you loved it here.”
“We do,” Pa said. “But you are our daughter. We are a package deal, Faith. Where you go, we will
go.”
Fresh tears filled my eyes, but these were happy tears. Even when he was scolding me, even when he was telling me the harsh truth, he was still on my side. He was still my Pa.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “Thank you for telling me where I was wrong. And thank you for never leaving me.”
“We are family,” Ma said, coming over to join the hug. “Family stays.”
