Chapter 12: Breaking the Bond

***Rose***

I sat back and reread the letter I’d received from Beta Alex

“Dearest Elders of the Lunar Moon pack,
It is with great urgency that I write you this letter, a very important individual in our pack has been mated with the daughter of a traitor. If this match continues through it could lead to the destruction of our pack. If you have any know,edge on how to break this bond, please contact me at your earliest convenience.
May you continue to be blessed by the moon,
Beta Alex of the Blue Moon pack.”

When we’d gone over the letter in the meeting of the Elders. I felt obligated to write back to Beta Alex. I’d grown up in the Blue Moon pack and still had many friends and family members in the pack. I didn’t want to see it fall to ruins. During the Elder meeting I’d told the other elders that I knew nothing of breaking a mate bond besides the typical rejection of the mate. The Lunar Moon pack frowned upon defying the Moon Goddess. They considered mate bonds to be law and opposed to the thought of breaking them. I didn’t want to upset the other Elders of the pack with my knowledge from my own family history. Once I got back to my house, I hurried to my small collections of books and opened up my Great Grandma Esmerelda’s diary. Scrolling through the pages until I came across the entry I was looking for. May 10th 1950

****Esmerelda ( May 10th 1950)****

“Ahhhh, I screamed in pain clutching my chest and squeezing my eyes shut trying to get past the pain. My mate Alfred was cheating on the mate bond again. This has been a daily occurrence since the pack doctor told Alfred that I couldn’t have children. At first I didn’t blame Alfred for cheating. I knew that Alpha’s needed an heir, but since that day, he’d already impregnated three willing She-wolves. He had an heir to the pack, plus two spares. Yet he continued to screw different she wolves daily. And he didn’t try to keep it a secret. Everyone knew that Alfred was stepping outside of our bond. Alfred had gone out of his way to denounce me as Luna, in front of the entire pack. He chose the mother of his first son, Lucius to be his chosen Luna. Lucius’ mother Caterina hated me. She despised the fact that I was Alfred’s rightful mate and that I’d always belong to him, so she had me thrown into the servants corridor and demoting me to a kitchen Alpha. Alfred didn’t care about the way I was treated. I had disappointed him. I was a failure of a mate.

“Esmerelda,” my friend ,Margery grabbed my hand, helping me to a nearby chair,”Are you okay? Is it Alfred? Eze, he’s going to kill you if he continues to cheat on this bond. Doesn’t he know how it effects you?”

"Of course he knows Marge, he just doesn’t care.” I sighed, the pain finally subsiding, “Margery, I need to go lie down, I’ll be back to help for supper service.”

“Yes Luna Esmerelda,” Margery says curtsying at me.

I shake my head and laugh as I walk away. Margery always knows how to lift my mood after an episode, she is among the few pack members that refuse to accept Caterina as their Luna. Instead of heading towards the servants corridor, I make my way upstairs to the Alpha’s quarters, deciding to once again beg Alfred to stop cheating on the mate bond. I enter into my old quarters and I am shocked to see Katerina lying naked in the bed, with Alfred beside her, last I’d heard Rosalina was Alfred’s newest wolf of the day.

“Alfred, can we talk?”

“You filthy mutt, how dare you address your Alpha as if you’re equals. You’re nothing but a lowly omega bitch.” Screamed Katerina jumping from the bed and smacking me across the face, “Lower, your eyes and address your Alpha by his title.”

“Alpha Alfred,” I said looking down at my feet, not wanting to cause trouble with Katerina, “I need to speak with you regarding our bond.”

“Shut up!” screeched Katerina, “How dare you insist there’s a bond between the two of you! You mean nothing to our Alpha!” Katerina punched me in my gut until I toppled over and the. She began kicking me repeatedly in the stomach, “you mean nothing to our Alpha. You’re nothing. You’re worthless!"

As my eyes started to flutter shut, I could hear Alfred laughing in the background “okay Katerina, you’ve had your fun, come back to bed now, you putting that filth in her place has made me crave you again.”

I was engulfed into the blackness.

“Esmerelda, Esmerelda,” I hear a woman’s voice calling to me, “Esmerelda, my child, I am so sorry.”

My eyes begin to flutter open and standing in front of me is the most beautiful woman I have ever met. She had long curly black hair, captivating blue eyes, and a crescent moon tattooed between her eyebrows.

‘We’ve been graced by the presence of the moon goddess herself’ my wolf speaks to me for the first time since our fall from society.

“Has Alfred finally killed me?” I ask.

“No, Esmerelda, you’re not dead. You’re in the in between. You’re in a safe space.”

“Moon goddess, why did you mate me to Alfred?” I find myself asking.

“Esmerelda, when I had planned out your future, you and Alfred were the perfect match, two souls that would combine into one. Unfortunately I do not control all aspects of life. As a pup, Alfred had a rough upbringing. His mind was corrupted and poisoned by Jupiter. I didn’t know about it until I heard you calling out my name asking for me to spare you from this bond.”

“Are you able to break this bond?” I find myself feeling hopeful for the first time I’m over a year.

“Yes,” replied the moon goddess, “There is a way to break the mate bond once it’s begun. You’ll need to find someone willing to love you and want you, despite you being already mated. If you can find a wolf willing to love you despite your mates mark and you being bonded with someone else, then and only then will the bond break, and you will be freed from Alfreds grasp. Now sleep my child. When you wake all your wounds will be healed.”

****Rose- Present Day****

I instantly teared up reading my great grandma’s journal entry, even though I knew she’d be successful at destroying Alfred’s mark, it still didn’t stop me from sympathizing with the agony she’d had to go through, until she found my great grandpa. I didn’t want to see another girl tormented by the mate bond the way my great grandmother had been, and that was the only reason I’d written Beta Alex back letting him know I knew of a way to break the bond but that I couldn’t provide any information by letter, and that I’d need to meet with someone from the Blue Moon pack in person. I received a letter back by hawk that same day advising me that Alpha Damien would be visiting the Lunar Moon pack and that we would meet under the pretense that Alpha Damien had information regarding my family.

I put both of Beta Alex’s letters back in my drawer, pondering on who this important person could be that both the Beta and Alpha were getting involved with helping him break the bond from the Traitors Daughter. I glanced up at my clock, noticing the time and sighed, The Alpha and his mistress would be here soon. I got up from my chair and went to the kitchen and placed a kettle on the stove to heat some tea before their arrival. Tea will help calm my jittery nerves and provide me comfort as I relive my great grandma’s past with mere stranger. My tea kettle screeched signaling the water was hot, at the same timeI heard a light knocking on the door. I sighed removing the kettle from the stove and walked over to my front door, as I opened the door, a small smile lit up across my face.

***Dearest readers, I hope you're enjoying my novel thus far. Happy Memorial Day****