Alpha Nicholas
Chapter 38 –

Bonnie

After a few minutes of him running his hands through my hair and taking lots of deep breaths, he finally starts talking. "So you remember me telling you about Lottie's mom turning up here when she was 7, right?" I nod yes because well, how could I forget what she did? "Well, her wanting money for Lottie wasn't all she wanted when she came for that visit.

"She... when she first turned up she wanted me to take her as my chosen mate, to be a family with Lottie but that was never going to happen, and after she didn't get the response that she wanted she blackmailed me by demanding that I give her money or I would lose Lottie."

I'm not that surprised that she wanted to mate with him "What else did she do?" He takes a deep breath and all I see is a pain in his eyes, and it feels like my heart is breaking for him so I reach out and take his hand in mine hoping to bring him even the smallest of comfort. He gives me a gentle smile but it doesn't cover his hurt.

"After I paid her she left the pack or so I thought. Tony and I had personally walked her to the border and watched her walk away but within 30 minutes I had a link of the guard that was protecting that area informing me that she had come back and she was asking for me and me alone. I was still with Tony at that time and there was no way in hell of him letting me go there alone and he would have never forgiven me if I had ordered him as his Alpha to stay there. We've been best friends since nursery and I knew he wouldn't stay there unless forced because I wouldn't do it either if I was in his position. Fuck, do I wish that I had made him stay."

"Anyway, I told my guard to keep her there as I didn't want her on my pack lands and we headed back to the border to see her. When she had first come to me she looked worn out and honestly like she was seconds away from death but this time she looked different... strange even. She still had the same worn out almost at death door look but whereas her eyes were a dull green before, they had now become a crimson red and she seemed to stand a little taller."

"Wait... was she a witch?" I don't mean to blurt it out but my brain-to-mouth filter isn't exactly working right now. He nods as he starts to gently rub his thumb across the back of my hand. He's so lost in that moment that I'm not even sure if he realizes that he's doing it. "So what happened next?" He jumps as my words drag him back to the now then lets out a long breath.

"I asked her what she wanted and again she said me, her, and Lottie as a family but I still refused. I didn't know her but she had abandoned my daughter and then when she couldn't use her to get me she used her as a cash cow and that showed me enough of the person she was. Before she had showed up that day I had never once hated her. I never understood how she could just abandon my baby girl as she did, but I understood that she had her reasons, she had gone through hell and couldn't cope and that was ok because sometimes it happens. Lottie had me and my family, she was happy and healthy and so loved that I never let any hate for Lola set but what she did completely flipped my hate switch."

"Once she realized that I wasn't going to be with her she started to lose her ever-loving mind. She was completely insane sprouting shit about how she had birthed my child so she was entitled to be my mate. How Lottie would grow up hating me for rejecting her mom. How after all she had been through the Luna title was the least that she deserved."

"So she asked for you to be a family then when you said no she sold Lottie to you then she still had the goddam cheek to come back and ask you again?"

"Yep!"

"I'm guessing her little meltdown wasn't what brought your hatred out?" He shakes his head as he lets out a long sigh. "No. If anything I just found her outburst amusing and somewhat pathetic. No, whilst she was still in the middle of her meltdown Tony started laughing and then I started laughing. I wasn't even laughing at her, just wait until you hear Tony laugh and you'll understand what I mean. He has one of those laughs that just has everyone laughing with him even when they don't know why. Anyway, his laughing just pissed her off even more and then she said the words that to this day haunt me."

"What... what did she say?" I don't want to rush him but I'm getting impatient here. "She said that she was a hybrid part wolf, part witch just like Tony's mom, and that we wouldn't get away with disrespecting her. She... fuck, she told us that while we were busy laughing that she had placed a curse on us both. She told us that she was just going to... to stop us from ever being able to meet our mates but us laughing at her deserved more punishment so she changed the curse and she made it so that when we met our mates, our mates would... fuck she made it so that our mates would only live for several hours after we met and then they would die in the most painful way."

Holy fuck! My head starts spinning as I take in his words but then I realize that I have already known him for several days and I'm fine so maybe she was lying. "I don't understand though... I mean I'm your mate and I'm still alive. Maybe she was lying?" "I know and I still can't figure out what's happening. After she told us what she had done she turned around and walked away like she hadn't just potently destroyed our lives and after a lot of talking both Tony and I agreed that we didn't think that it was real, that she had just tried to scare us and agreed to not bother mentioning it to anyone and in all honestly, as time went on we both just ended up forgetting about it because we truly believed that she was lying. How fucking wrong we were!" "What do you mean?"

"About 2 years after she had visited, we were invited to attend an Alpha crowning ceremony at the Red Stone pack. It was a small pack just a few hours away and unless there is a good reason an Alpha never refuses to go so I went with Tony, Cole, Ryan, my brothers, and several guards. Anyway, at the ceremony Tony met his mate Opal. She was so small and reminded me of a pixie fairy, the kind you see in children's cartoons and Tony was instantly in love so much so that they mated and marked that very night. Since Tony had met his mate and she was the now Alpha's sister we were invited to stay the night and I knew Tony wanted to so we all stayed, there's no way we would have left him there on his own."

He takes a deep breath and I feel him tense up before his pain-filled eyes meet mine. "The following morning we were woken up by howls and screams and quickly realized that the pack was under attack. It was some new pack that wanted to overthrow the Red Stone pack and claim its lands. They had double the numbers of Red Stone and had some incredible fighters which didn't end well for Red Stone. Every one of their members was killed and two of my guards were seriously injured but we managed to get out of there."

"That's awful, Nick. Wait... what about Tony's mate? What happened?" My blood runs cold as he tells me everything that happened. The sound of pure emotion in his voice only making my heart crack a little more.

"She didn't make it. She and Tony got separated in the fight and by the time we managed to replace her, she was already being torn apart by two wolves. They tore her skin from her bones before finally ripping out her heart. She must have been in so much pain, so much agony, her screams tore across the battleground and I'll never forget them." I don't realize that I'm crying until I feel him wipe his thumb across my face. "Are you ok, sweetheart? I know it's a lot to take in, believe me, I know."

"I can't imagine what you went through witnessing that. Goddess that's just awful. Poor Tony. He met his mate just to lose her less than 24 hours later... Lola... the curse... She was telling the truth wasn't she?"

He nods then makes me jump when he suddenly hocks his hands under my arms and lifts me before sitting me on his lap so that I'm straddling him. "It appeared so, the area that Opal was killed in was the complete opposite side of the pack lands from where she had been seen just a few moments before she was killed... it seemed as if she was set up somehow. Either way it was heartbreaking I still don't understand why it hasn't... why nothing has happened to you." He pulls me into him squeezing me a little tighter and the thought of what could be has me returning his hug just as tightly

"It's been almost 8 years since it's happened and Sometimes I still have nightmares about that day. Some nights I lay in bed and can hear the screams, her screams."