Chapter 20: TWENTY
The caretaker
She kept on crying for hours. She cried so much so her eyeballs threatened to pop out. But she didn't care; she wanted to cry as much as she could until she would no longer be able to feel the pain, but it didn't seem to be working, as the intensity of the pain only increased.
The tears from her eyes blurred her vision and she wasn't able to see when a grey-haired middle-aged woman entered her bedroom holding a tray in her hand.
"Oh goddess!" She squealed nearly dropping her tray after taking one good look at Ava, who looked so awful after crying for so long.
The caretaker of the Dawn pack, Nani Rosalyn had been excited about the news of Lucas's mate coming here today. Her Lucas would finally be happy after so many years of unfulfilled sadness, his mate would finally bring joy and laughter into his life, she thought. Her excitement got her busy and she'd spent the whole day gathering ingredients to make a special meal to welcome the future Luna. Maybe this was not a good time, but what made the girl cry so much after coming here? She wondered. This girl has been crying since, and she felt sincerely bad that she hadn't come to check up on her earlier, but not to worry, things like this were Nani Rosalyn's specialty and if it were only because of her, this girl would cry no more.
"That's enough crying for you, young lady," Nani Rosalyn snapped, making Ava turn in her direction.
Who was this woman and why had she entered her room? Why wouldn't she let her cry in peace?"
Nani Rosalyn dropped the tray on table in the room and made her way to the windows, pulling the blinds open so fresh air could enter. She then opened the door that led to the bathroom, bringing out a box of wipes and handing it over to Ava.
"Clean your face up dear, we don't allow crybabies in this house."
"B-b-but you don't understand," Ava sniffed. "H-he hates me."
With what she said, Nani already knew who she was talking about. She creased her brows at the realization. So, it was Lucas that made her this way.
"Cheer up dear,..." the only person the master hates is himself. She caught the last few words before Ava could hear it, it probably would not be a good idea to tell her about master now. She deserved to know, she was his mate after all, and the time would come soon for that, but not now, especially when she was like this.
her.
Ava slowly took the box from Nani's hand, she withdrew a wipe and dabbed her eyes with it slowly, the tears threatened to come out more, but she pushed them back after seeing the stern look Nani gave
"Now tell me," Nani began as soon as Ava's face dried up. "What happened between the two of you?"
Ava was skeptical; she didn't know this woman; she didn't know if she could tell her the truth. Could she trust her?
As if Nani read her mind she said, "Honey, if your problem is with the master, then I'm your best shot at getting someone to help him forgive you, now don't be so hard on yourself and tell me what the matter is."
Nani walked over to where she sat and pulled her up from the floor, she reached and brought her to sit before the table in the room and sat beside her.
"Now," she continued. "Tell me what the matter is."
This was going to be a long conversation, but Nani wasn't bothered by the time at all, she stared at Ava, nudging her head for her to continue. Ava sighed and began.
"My name is Ava Maynard, and from the very first day I was born, I was chosen for a position, a position many girls in my pack hated me for. They always thought I was so lucky but they had no idea what I had to go through. I attended grooming sessions all my life, learning to be the perfect Luna for my Alpha. A Luna should do this... shouldn't do that... was the majority of the words I'd heard in my life. I liked Ray, my betrothed, and the idea of getting married to him even though I wasn't mated to him didn't sound so bad. So long I was performing my duties which involved pleasing my alpha, I thought it wasn't bad at all. Until, she hesitated. Until..."
"Until you met Alpha Lucas," Nani finished the sentence for her.
"Yes," she responded weakly.
Nani already knew where this was going, she knew her master too well, too well as someone who didn't like it when people touched his properties or anything that belonged to him, she knew this might be the reason but she wanted to confirm it from the girls mouth herself.
"So, what exactly was it that made the both of you fight?"
"I mated with Ray;" Ava confessed.
But that's not all, and Nani knew. She gave her a look that asked for the remaining details.
"I mated with Ray after Lucas claimed me."
Nani let out a sigh.
"I won't lie to you; this is really a difficult one. This has never happened before. Master has never been cheated on nor rejected, and its even worse when it's the same person who caused both actualities." Ava dropped her head, guilt coursing through her marrow.
"But it wasn't your fault, you didn't choose to be mated to Lucas, neither did you choose to be betrothed to Ray. To tell you the truth, I've never seen master this way before, it's like he's a different person since the day he was mated."
"I don't understand."
You will soon, but for now, we have to help you, the both of you have to be on good terms if we have to make this work.
Ava still didn't understand. "Make what work?"
"Your union of course, don't you want to be joined to him? Isn't that why you're here?"
"No, no, not at all," this woman was misinterpreting everything; she might have felt bad about the fight between her and her mate. She might have felt hurt seeing the way he pushed her aside, but that didn't mean she wished to be joined with him, she didn't like his behavior, and talk about the fact that he kidnapped her and held her here against her wish, all because of a rejection, she didn't like him for that at all and she didn't want to be joined to him."