Chapter 42 - A couple of years later.

LENA THOUGHT THAT IT HURT when Alaric came around, but when he no longer showed up in the mornings, it started to physically ache. She missed him and had to keep on reminding herself why she had left. She loved him, but she needed to be able to be her damn self as well and there was no way she was going to be able to just be a blood witch while she was his Luna.

As time went by, Lena learned to live without Alaric and Rebecca around. The pain was always there, reminding her of what she had left behind, but it eventually became bearable. Her nausea was explained after she had been back home a couple of months. She went into labour in the early hours of the morning and panicked at first because she had to do it all alone. It was the only time she wished she had stayed at the pack house, but once she held her son, she knew she had done the right thing to leave.

Alaric would never know he had a son and her son would never know his father was an alpha werewolf, but she could live with that knowledge. Since nobody seemed to come around the coven grounds anymore, it seemed safe to raise her son there, so she stayed. She was sitting on the porch watching him play in the dirt when the bushes rustled not too far away from them.

Lena held her breath as she rushed over to pick him up. They were concealed by her spell, which meant that if anybody was there, they wouldn’t be seen … Or so she hoped.

LENA HAD BEEN GONE FOR FIVE YEARS, and Alaric didn’t want to go to the coven grounds, but Rebecca was old enough to receive her gifts and she insisted. She had been talking about her blood witch heritage for the past couple of months and although it drove him mad, he indulged his little sister.

He should have known that she would have hidden some of the books in the library before he had them all burned! He figured out that he was a half-blood witch and after Rebecca had some trouble shifting when she turned fourteen, it became evident that they could no longer hide what they were from their pack. It was a shock to the pack to find out that their previous Luna was actually a blood witch and it took some careful navigating to show them.

Especially since he burned all the damn books that proved it … Or so he thought. Eventually, the pack grew used to Rebecca’s magic and things settled back down again. Today, however, was her birthday and she would be receiving her magical gifts from her family as well as her actual witch powers. The only place they knew to do it was the old coven grounds.

They walked into the clearing and he sighed as he looked around the deserted village. So much happened there that he now regretted it, but if it hadn’t happened, he would never have found Lena. Rebecca handed him the book and he followed the instructions to the letter handing over the athame they found that used to be her mother's as well as their mother’s grimoire.

Rebecca looked around as if waiting for something, but nothing happened and Alaric frowned when she sighed.

“I was hoping something would happen.” Rebecca shrugged and he burst out laughing.

“Maybe we did it wrong or something.” Alaric read the instructions again and Rebecca sighed, taking the book from him as she shook her head.

“No, we didn’t.” She packed it into her bag and took another look around the place. “The gifts should have been given to me by mother. If she gave you yours, then you might have been able to give them to me, or even Lena, but since a blood witch hasn’t given them to me …” Rebecca shrugged and Alaric felt like an idiot. Why hadn’t he thought of that?! Rebecca probably insisted on coming here in the hopes that Lena had returned!

They were just about to leave when he noticed something strange. In the sand there were tracks. Not footprints or animal tracks, but it almost looked … It looked as though someone had drawn a tiny racetrack in the sand! His eyes snapped up and he scanned the village but there was no sign of life anywhere. His mind was racing as he thought of every possible possibility, but one jumped out at him with such vigour that it shook his entire being.

Could his son have made these tracks? Was that why Lena left? Did she have a child?!!! He walked around the village to see if there was any sign of life, but there was nothing. Besides the tracks, it didn’t seem as if anybody had been there in years. It didn’t make any sense! His eyes snapped over to where Rebecca was frowning and Alaric knew what he needed to do.

LENA BREATHED A SIGH OF RELIEF the moment they left and she tried her best to keep her son’s questions really quiet. To make sure he understood the importance of his silence, she had always told him the story of the black beast that killed everyone in the village and he had to be quiet so the beast didn’t come back to kill them.

She knew she wasn’t being fair to her son, but she had no other choice. Seeing both Alaric and Rebecca broke her heart all over again. Rebecca had grown up and become a beautiful young woman and to be able to see that was amazing, but it hurt more than she ever thought it could. Lena wondered why they were here and she thought back to what they were doing.

Alaric was going through the birthday process! Lena looked at her little boy as she realized how much time had passed since she left. Rebecca was old enough now to receive her gifts and her powers but … But she didn’t have a living blood witch relative to give her access to the powers. Lena felt the tears run down her cheeks as she realized that she was the only person who could do that.

From the day she mated with Alaric she became their only living blood witch relative that she knew of. She was the only one who could give both of them access to their powers. Sitting on the floor with her son for a while, Lena debated going back and what that would mean for her and her child and, in the end, she knew she couldn’t. She just couldn’t give up his future. She had to be more careful. She had become way too relaxed since nobody ever came around anymore.

REBECCA FROWNED AS ALARIC GRIPPED HER arm on their way back to the pack house. He was walking as though the devil was right behind them and he wasn’t saying a damn word.

“Alaric! What the hell? What’s going on?!” She was finally able to ask him when they walked into his office and he closed the door behind them. He paced back and forth for a moment and then glared at her.

“I think Lena was there and I think she had our son with her.” As he blurted out the words, Rebecca burst out laughing, which made him throw his hands in the air in frustration.

“I think your entire celibacy thing has made you crazy.” Rebecca waved her hand through the air, pointing at his body, and he frowned. After Lena left, Alaric went a little woman crazy and he really tried to make out with every female that was single, but when he figured out that it didn’t work, he had no other choice but to accept he would have to stay celibate. The mate bond was a really strange thing. It made sure mates couldn’t cheat on their destined mates. In Rebecca’s mind, she believed things worked that way not because of the cheating thing, but to stop mates from making the kind of mistakes that couldn’t be forgiven.

“Rebecca, I saw tracks in the sand. The same kind I used to make for my toy cars.” Alaric sighed, pulling his fingers through his thick hair and Rebecca frowned.

“Dude, you have really lost it. Anything could have made those tracks.” Rebecca frowned at him as she said it. She had way too many of her own problems on her mind. She didn’t have time to indulge her brother one second longer. Lena was gone and it was about time he made peace with that fact and she told him exactly that before walking out of his office.

Rebecca couldn’t imagine that Lena would keep Alaric’s child from him. Then again, she also couldn’t imagine that Lena would run away after accepting Alaric as her mate, but she did. Rebecca shook her head as she went to her office to read through the remaining books she had. She needed to find out what was missing from their little exercise. She wanted her powers. She needed them if she was going to become a full-blown blood witch.