An awkward silence followed my words probably because they know I'm right. Who would believe me if I had reported the Gamma chief? Who among them would listen to me? Will I even have the guts to stand before any of them and report a whole council member?
"How would you know if anyone would believe you when you never even attempt to report your situation? Or are you deliberately trying to make me look bad right in front of the Alpha?" The Beta ask
'Oh, fucking hell!' I swear softly to myself. I already know I'm in trouble the moment I open my mouth to say nobody would believe me. Now he's going to put all the blame on me while guilt-tripping me in the process.
"You may leave" I hear the Alpha say and I nearly jump up with joy. I immediately turn to leave but the Beta's voice stops me dead in my tracks
"But I'm not done with her..."
"We're done with her for now, Hank. We'll call her back for further questioning if ever we have any!" The Alpha replies firmly and I hurriedly walk to the door. The room is becoming too stifling for me to be able to breathe in properly
"Hey, how did it go?" I hear Ethan's voice ask behind me as I step out of the room.
"I'm off the hook for now... They wanted to know about the Gamma chief. I answered their questions truthfully like you suggested and..."
"What happened to your face!? Did my dad do this to you!?" He asks, shock written all over his face. He raises my chin with his fingers to inspect the fresh bruise that was given to me by his father
"Yeah... He hit me when he thought I was lying so..." Ethan didn't allow me to finish what I was saying, he turns and start walking towards the Alpha's office in anger
"Ethan!?" I call after him but he refuses to answer me
"Ethan!... Where do you think you're going!? You're going to put me in more trouble than I'm in already." I hurry after him as I talk until I run in front of him and force him to a stop with my hands placed on his chest.
"Ethan, stop! Please..."
"This isn't only about you, Ash! It's about my father being an abusive jerk!... I'm sure he's treating other Omegas exactly the same way he's treating you and it has to stop!" He says and gently lowers my hands from his chest to walk past me. I watch him go till he turns left towards the Alpha's office.
Ethan never showed up after he stormed off to meet his dad and the Beta didn't show up to punish me like I thought he would. The rest of the day passed by peacefully and I breathe a sigh of relief when Martha close the kitchen and we finally close for the night.
We each immediately go to our rooms to shower before dinner when we arrive at Martha's house. For the first time in a very, very long time, I don't have to double lock my room and the bathroom before I can get naked and shower
After dinner, Martha brings out two hammock recliner chairs and we go to sit outside in the garden, not talking, just gazing at the stars. It's good to be away from the kitchen heat and the rush that comes with meeting up with time. I love the atmosphere and the serenity that is accompanied by the occasional sounds of crickets and toads, until Martha breaks the silence...
"Ethan likes you, you know that right?"
I smile coyly like the wet behind the ear girl that I am "Yeah, he told me." I reply
"And?..."
"And what?..." I ask not knowing what she's expecting me to say
Martha rolls her eyes... "And what do you think of him?... Not just as a person but as a man?"
'Ughhh!... Can we not make this moment awkward by talking about Ethan, please!?' I embarrassingly think to myself. I don't know how to answer her question since I don't know if she wants Ethan and me to be together or not.
"Ethan is a good person and..."
"I thought I told you to tell me what you think of him as a man and not just a person?..." She doesn't allow me to finish before she cut me off
"Okay, okay" I reply with a laugh. Martha is a smart straight-to-the-point kind of person. There's just no way around her.
"Ethan is a good man..." I say and briefly pause to consider if I should tell her about the kiss on the train or not.
I decided to just blurt it out.
"We kissed on the train!..." I say and watch in embarrassment as her eyes widen in surprise. Then she grins. Her face nearly split into two because of how big her smile is
"Do you like it?" She frankly asks while still smiling
I feel my face heat up
"I guess... It was nice"
"Thank God for that!" She says in relief and I laugh
"Why? You want me to be with him that bad?"
"No girl!..." She seriously replies "Ethan is not the right man for you!"
"Oh..." I say, feeling disappointed "...and how do you know that? How can you tell?"
"Because I was once as young as you and I know what it feels like to be with a man you truly connect with... And I'm afraid you and he doesn't connect on that level"
"How do you know we don't connect!?" I ask again not satisfied with her first answer
"Are you gonna keep asking me that?" She asks with a laugh. "Well, I know because I've seen and done a lot in this life. It's called, experience girl!"
I sit up in my recliner.
"Then what exactly do you mean by 'thank God for that?' I thought you said that because you're happy for us to be together." One can just never guess right with Martha
"I've known Ethan since when he was a little boy. He was a good boy who has grown into a good man. Any girl that ends up with him will be lucky to have him. Any girl except you, Ash"
I wanted to ask 'why' again. I feel sad and disappointed because I wasn't expecting her to say any girl but me. Is she telling me because I'm an Omega and a maid then I'm not good enough for Ethan? instead of asking another why, I sit back in my recliner to sulk and leak my wounds
Martha smiles when she sees my countenance has changed.
"Don't misquote me, Ash. I'm not saying you're not good enough for Ethan
I'm surprised that she read my thoughts quite well... "I never said you..."
"With that look, you have on your face?..." She interrupt with a raised brow. "Believe me, I know you long enough to know what you're thinking in a situation like this."
I snap my mouth shut, immediately swallowing the lie I was about to tell.
"I love Ethan like he was mine. The same way I love you, Ash like you were my flesh and blood..." Her words about loving me like I was her child pull at my heartstrings and my eyes soften since I feel the same way about her.
"I don't want to see you get hurt and I also don't want to see him get hurt. The world you're born into made it that way...
Your world is different from us humans...
In my world, we can wake up one day, meet someone, like the person and when the feelings later develop into love, we can decide to get married to the person. If everything works out, we live happily ever after and if it doesn't work, we get a divorce and go our separate ways...
But your world is not that simple! You don't just wake up and decide... I like him and want him to be my happily ever after! Your Moon goddess makes that decision for you and if it turns out you don't want to be with the person anymore, you can't consult with a lawyer to help you divorce your mate. I heard that the separation wolves go through is heart-wrenching and painful!
Ethan hasn't found his mate yet and maybe he's waiting for you to turn eighteen to find out if you are his mate, i don't know. But believe me, if Ethan was your mate you would never describe your kiss as just nice.
"Oh... Really!?" I ask, all my attention now focusing on her. "How will I know? What is the feeling like?"
A kiss with your mate, the wolf you will instantly fall in love with the moment you set your eyes on him will not be just nice... It will seem like a fire has been lit in your heart. A passionate fire that will burn and consume you from inside out..." She explains with a faraway look on her face and I wonder if she's speaking from experience.
"A wolf couple I once knew made the same mistake you were about to make with Ethan. A nice she-wolf and a good wolf-man, I used to work for him. They met through a mutual friend and fell in love. And then suddenly, he met his mate and everything shot straight to hell for them from then on...
I don't think he ever stopped loving her even though he left her. He just couldn't be with her because she wasn't his mate. On several occasions when I came to work in the morning, I met him dead drunk on the floor.
She had a son for him and that poor boy suffered the consequences of their breakup the most. In fact, she and his mate both gave birth to his sons on the same day.
"Like the two Quinn brothers that want to fight each other for the position of the Silver Moon's Pack Alpha?"
"Yes. I'm talking about the same family, actually"
"Wao... What happened to her now? The she-wolf I mean"
"She died! According to what I heard, her death turned her son into a monster. He's now known as the Viking devil who drink beer from the skulls of his victims…"