Faith’s Pov I felt like I was walking on eggshells when I arrived back home. My parents ignored my presence, as they always did. And it luckily prevented them from pestering me. I spent time in the pack library or locked up in my room. I took occasional walks through the pack lands, enjoying the quiet. Nobody asked me to do anything. The people around here were good at treating me like I didn’t exist. Then the calls started. The first time I received a call from Astor, my heart beat a little faster. For a moment, my hand twitched towards it. What would he say? Would he be angry? Worried? Would he even care? I almost answered it, but I didn’t because I already knew that I was setting myself up for failure. I had to kill this hope in order to survive this separation. I didn’t answer each time it rang. I left it. I put the phone in a drawer, out of sight. I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t want to hear his voice or what he might say. I didn’t want his words to pull me back to that life. My parents let me be for a couple of days until the questions came and I continued to dodge them until I couldn’t. When they called me downstairs 5 days later I knew time had run out. l found them in the sitting room and l could tell that it was a meeting specifically called for me. “Faith! Why are you here? Is everything alright?” That was the first thing my mother said. There was no “we missed you” or “how have you been.” Not even a smile on their face. I joined them and sat opposite them. I hadn’t seen them in months before coming days ago, and the only time we’d seen each other in the last three years was for a meeting between my father and Astor. “I missed you, so I came back to visit you.” I said, but I didn’t get the reassurance I was hoping for. Even though I was lying, a part of me missed them. “A visit? Without Astor?” My father asked. “He’s very busy with a seminar,” I said quickly, trying to sound casual. “He said I could visit for as long as I can.” I knew my lie was probably going to blow up in my face if they’d talked to Alice. But if I knew her as well as I thought I did, she wouldn’t tell them in order to stay there without my parents dragging me back. I was surprised when they didn’t pester me much about it, and I thought they were going to forget for a few more days, but I was wrong. “You’re going back to your pack tomorrow morning. It was a really kind gesture for him to do this but you can’t stay away from you mate and your pack for this long” My mother said when we were having dinner. Usually, I would nod my head and let them make any decision whatsoever without consulting me, but I have already managed to leave that pack, and it was hard because I left the men that I love. But living with him while he barely tolerates me and his people don’t have any kind of respect for me as something that I don’t plan on going back to. “No.” I cannot explain the lightness I felt when I said that, without fear or cowing down like I always did. To say they were shocked would be an understatement. “What?” My father stared down at me. On a normal day, I would bow down because he intimidates me, but I looked at him. “I said I am not going back to the Eternal Night Pack.” I put down my fork and looked them straight in the eye. “I did whatever you wanted three years ago, despite the fact that none of you asked me what I wanted. I played the perfect daughter and I listened, but enough.” “Have you lost your mind?! Tomorrow is Astor’s Alpha succession ceremony and your Luna ceremony. Why aren’t you going back? You’ve been here long enough.” My mother said with a no-nonsense look on her face. “I’ll say it again, go back tomorrow and complete your Luna ceremony. And if you don’t, then so help me God, because I will drag you there!” “If you think your threats will make me compromise, you are wrong.” I stood up to leave because this was starting to get heated, and I didn’t want to argue with them. They never wanted to know my thoughts or respect my decisions. “SIT DOWN!” My father said, his eyes burning into my soul. “What makes you think you can treat your mother like that?” “Mother? No, you’re Alice’s parents, and I’m just a charity case that you decided to take in because you didn’t want people to think that you were terrible people.” I said. This was something I’d been holding in for quite some time. I should have given them a piece of my mind, because they’ve always invalidated me and made me feel like I wasn’t enough. The problem has never been me; instead, it’s always been them. “We have never treated you and Alice any differently, but you’ve always been a difficult child, so don’t blame it on us. ” “Difficult?” I looked at them incredulously. “I am the one who never got in trouble. I did whatever you asked me to do without question. What makes you dislike me is not that I am difficult to deal with, but that I do not have a wolf, right?” “Isn’t that true? If you weren’t Astor’s fated mate, Alpha Xander wouldn’t have made you the Luna of the Eternal Night Pack. You’re lucky.” My mother looked at me and said. “Stop being jealous of Alice. You should reflect on why everyone prefers Alice over you!” “Do you want us to give you an award for that? I’m sorry that you don’t feel like you were appreciated enough, but that doesn’t mean that you have to be jealous of Alice,” my father said. Talking to them about this was like banging my head on a wall. “We’re not going to agree on this, but I don’t want to go back there. Those people hate me, and I’ve tried to win them over, but nothing works. I could handle that if it was only them, but Astor doesn’t love me either, and I’m tired. I’m tired of begging because I will never be enough,” I said. “Well, you should try harder, because that is not a good enough reason for you to leave.” I wanted to go on, but it was worthless. There was nothing else to say. I just looked at them, my voice steady. “Call Astor. Tell him our wedding is over. I am not going back. I’m Done” I’ve never had to be physically afraid of my father at he pulled me by the arm roughly all the way to my room. I screamed and kicked for him to stop dragging me, but it was falling on deaf ears because he didn’t care that he was hurting. He basically threw me in, and I landed on the floor in tears. I’m being treated like this all because I said no and it’s not fair. “Don’t do this to me,” I begged, but he simply looked at me in disappointment and pulled the door shut behind him. I stood up and ran after him, but he locked the door before I could get there. I banged and knocked, but it was pointless, so I ran over to the windows, and it was stupid because this room was an office before, so the windows are not big enough for anything. I heard my phone beep in the background, and I went to check it. ASTOR: Faith. This is getting out of hand. I’ve been expecting some form of communication from you, but you’ve been ignoring me, and I’m tired of it. if you don’t come back as soon as possible I will not hesitate to take away your Luna title and give it to someone who truly deserves it.