Big girls don't cry

Miliano’s POV

She jumps on me with her teeth showed, and she manages to bite my shirt, making a small mark on my skin. Killian tries to calm her, but she bites his hand hard enough for him to scream. She backs away; her chest races up and down; she’s pissed off. Her eyes are dark blue; that’s not the eye color she had a moment ago. Two of my warriors run inside the room; Killian probably has called them via mindlink. They grab Aleida, and I can see that they have to make an effort to hold her down.

“I’m going to kill you, you son of a bitch; you’re going to pay for every little drop of blood you evoked from my parents. You understand!?” she screams so that the windows rattle.

Her eyes release angry tears. I can see her feelings inside her; they show themselves clearly over her face—anger, pain, sadness, loneliness, and grief. I can understand those feelings all too well; I want so much at that moment to run up to her to take her in my arms. I want to hush her and persuade her that everything will be all right; I want to kiss her plump pink lips and wipe away her tears. I want to kill every son of a bitch who ever made her feel pain.

“Who were your parents?” Gina asks quietly while Aleida is still sobbing.

“Alpha Romeo and luna Clara, of the Rose moon pack,” she silently responds with tears in her eyes.

Everyone in the room gasps. Aleida’s parents are legends. But according to the rumors and myths circulating them in recent years, even their only child, a little girl, died.

“That’s not... That’s not possible,” Gina stutters.

“Well, it is!” Aleida growls.

“That would mean that you’re an alpha, and you clearly aren’t,” Killian suddenly says, and I give him a warning glare.

“And how, Mr. know-it-all, can you know that?” she snarls at him.

“Because if you were, you wouldn’t have been beaten during the fight when we found you,” he answers and grins. “So, little girl. If you are whom you say that you are, prove it”.

She takes in a deep breath before she growls;

“KNEEL!”

Everyone in the room does as she says, even I do, and I’m an alpha. I’m not supposed to react to the orders from another alpha. They all look at her with amazement.

“Gina, could you be so kind as to take a look out in the hallway, please,” Aleida says, awfully calm while Gina rises and walks out in the hallway; she gasps loudly and walks back inside the room. “Well, Gina, what did you see?” Aleida asks innocently and smiles.

“Every... Everyone is kneeling,” she answers, terrified.

“That’s what I thought,” Aleida says and walks back to the hospital bed to sit down, Indian style.

“Rise,” she says calmly, and we all do. “Does that answer your question, beta?”

“Yes, but something doesn’t match up. Why did he beat you in the first place?”

Aleida’s POV

I’m fuming right now. I don’t know where all of this rage comes from. My memories of the day this pack found me bring many angry thoughts inside me.

“I was fighting for the alpha position,” I answer, and they all look shocked. “But Jonathan couldn’t fight me without his precious bitch for a luna, so she attacked me at the same time. Besides, I had injuries from a few hours earlier when I had to take my punishment. Despite my injuries, I got up again and again. I had a fucking silver dagger in my stomach and a damaged leg, yet I got up!”

No one dares to say a thing, and I can feel my tears well up in my eyes again.

“And do you wanna know what the worst part of all this is? The worst part is that I’m stuck here with you. Above all you, you dirty mutt!” I scream at Miliano, and he looks deeply hurt. “You are a dirty dog and because you didn’t allow me to die there and then when I wanted to. I’m asking you to do it now. It’s my choice, and I couldn’t care less anymore.”

He looks shocked at me. To call another werewolf a dog is the same thing as calling a dark-colored person the N-word. It’s not something to take easily. Yet, he just sits there, with tears in his eyes, and I can’t understand what the fuck is wrong with him. I sob uncontrollably. I scream out in pain suddenly, and I don’t know why it hurts. My heart hurts like hell! Now my legs, arms, and the rest of the body. It doesn’t stop.

“For fuck’s sake, kill me now!” I scream out in pure agony.

Killian’s POV

“For fuck’s sake, kill me now!”

Her scream echoes through the hospital, and we don’t know how to help her. Miliano is by her side and holds her near. She keeps on screaming her lungs out. We have no idea what was going on. I can see the panic in Milo’s eyes when he holds her near and not being able to do anything.

“Make it stop!” she keeps on screaming.

Suddenly, she stops. She’s just lying there in complete silence. She looks cold and numb... Empty. She rises and sits down on her bed again.

“I’m sorry for my outburst; it’s been a long day,” she says in a cold voice.

Something is wrong; I can feel it deep down in my stomach. There’s this darkness over Aleida now, not the innocent and beautiful she-wolf anymore.

What the fuck is happening!? Miliano asks me in our mindlink.

I have no idea, Milo.

That’s not her anymore, can you sense it? The evil?

Yeah, I can. Something is very wrong. What should we do?

For the first time in my life, I have no idea.

With that, he closes the link.

“How are you, sweetheart?” he asks her.

“I’m terrific now, alpha, and I hope you are as well, my love,” she answers politely with a cold smile.

He smiles and lifts her hand into his. Like electricity shocked him, he quickly drops her hand. He keeps the smile on his face, and when he turns to me, the smile is gone. I can see that he’s terrified.

“Killian, can you please accompany me to the office? Aleida needs her rest,” he says, sounding nervous.

“Certainly alpha, rest well, luna,” I say before we all walk out of the room.

We walk in complete silence until we reach the office. Milo stands at the window, his mind far away. I cough, and he turns slowly to me before he sits down in the chair behind his desk. I take an opposite seat side of him and wait for him to start talking.

“I couldn’t feel it,” he whispers, and I give him a confused look.

“What do you mean, Milo?”

“I couldn’t feel the mate sparks from her when I touched her,” he says sadly and looks me in the eye. “There’s someone else inside her, the anger and everything else; it’s not her. Some sort of invisible force is controlling her.”

I am stunned. What did he just say?

“With all due respect, alpha, but how can you know this?” I ask, and he looks me straight in the eye with a rugged look.

“I can feel it inside me when I’m with her. It’s. Not. Her,” Miliano punctuates the three last words.

“Well, then who...” I stop my sentence when I understand; Miliano nods slowly.

“N-no, it- it can’t be!”

“It must be her; I can’t think of anyone else who would want to kill my mate,” he says.

“Jana is banished from this town, Milo! To do something like this, she has to be in town; she can’t be too far away. Her powers don’t work that way.”

“And how do you know!? She was banished six years ago; we have no fucking idea of how much power she has now. We don’t know who helps her, how much power she has, and we don’t know where she is! But the worst part is that I seriously don’t know if Aleida is going to survive inside her own body...” he cries silently, and I walk up to him to clap his shoulder.

“I’ll call the elders; maybe they can help.”

“Thank you,” he whispers.

I walk out of the office and close the door behind me. Figured that my alpha probably needs a minute to himself. It must be hard for him. I continue my walk until I’m outside the elders’ cabin. I knock, and the door opens almost immediately.

“We know why you’re here, beta son, and it’s not Jana,” the old woman says. “We can see the darkness from the hospital, hear her evil whispers in the wind, feel her power and sense how Aleida is dying.”

Wait. What!? Dying!?

“What do you mean dying? We have to help her!” I exclaim, and the older woman looks sad; she closes her eyes for a minute and breathes in a deep breath.

“Lead the way.”

When we’re back at the office, Miliano is pacing the room. He sits down immediately when he sees us.

“Explain what happened,” the woman says.

And Miliano explains the whole situation precisely what happened from the beginning to the end. He even tells her how we found her. When he’s done talking, the woman is stunned, and I can actually see how a tear travels down her cheek.

“Oh, dear moon goddess...” she whispers.

“What? What do you mean?” Miliano asks and looks worried.

“You’re not going to like what I’m about to tell you, but I can see that I have no choice...” she looks at Miliano and me sympathetically. “Have you ever heard of Monica Ravers?”

We shake our heads, and she sighs.

“A long time ago, there was a woman named Monica Ravers. She had the most beautiful black hair and deep blue eyes. She was a witch and a compelling one indeed. One day when she was out in the woods, she met a werewolf man. She immediately fell in love at first sight and tried to kiss him. He stepped back and didn’t understand what she was doing. This wolf already had a mate, and he loved her. Monica, desperate for his love, tried and tried to make him go with her to her home. He rejected the offer and explained that he already had a family that he loved. Monica got mad with grief about the rejection. She made a decision and cursed everyone who dared to reject her or anyone else in her bloodline, through the end of time...”

“Wha-what does this have to do with Aleida?” Miliano asks, both of us feeling confused and stunned.

“Do you remember that Mr. Ebenezer’s girl, Hailey?” the woman asks, and Miliano nods.

“You rejected her six years ago, am I right?” she asks, and he nods again, more and more confused.

“Well, I’m very sorry to say that you pissed off a descendent from Monica, and this means that she’s out for blood,” she says, and we both freeze in our places and look at each other.

“That’s right,” the woman continues, looking really sad. “She’s in constant pain right now; even if we can’t see it, she’s suppressed. Aleida is sadly going to die, and there’s nothing we can do to save her.”