Lilith
Serene strides across the room with her arms wrapped around her chest.
She stands in front of my father with tears glistening in her eyes.
“It is okay, Alpha Victor,” she purrs.
“I don’t need an apology from her.
All I want to do today is to honor my Aunt Yvette.
She was taken from this world too soon.”
My father scowls in my direction and storms out of the room without another word.
Everyone follows him but me.
I stay behind for a moment, looking at the now ruined painting sitting in the middle of the bed.
My fingers graze against the canvas, and I can’t stop the silent sob that rises in my chest.
“I love you, Mom,” I whimper before turning away.
I leave my old room and make my way downstairs to find the pack house empty.
They must have left for the cemetery without me.
I should just leave.
I should run as far from this place as possible, but I can’t.
Since my mother died, I haven’t missed a birthday at her grave, and I refuse to let them take this tradition from me.
She is my mother, and I will honor her.
They can’t take that from me.
By the time I reach the cemetery, light rain has begun to fall, and I am grateful for it.
The drops on my cheeks hide the tears streaming from my eyes.
My heels sink into the soft ground as I approach her grave.
A crowd has already gathered.
My father speaks first, talking about how my mother was the perfect mate and Luna.
I don’t miss the way his eyes find me in the crowd when he talks about her sacrifices and how she always put the pack first.
Vanna speaks next, choking back sobs between her words.
She tells the pack how my mother was a kind sister and never left her out, even though she was younger than her.
She tells the pack how it was dark times after my mother died, and she didn’t think she would come out on the other side alive, but through my father’s love and devotion, she found the will to live again.
My hatred for her grows as I listen to her sob story.
It isn’t that I don’t believe her.
I am positive that my mother was everything that she said she was, but I hate how she is making her memorial service about her.
But I don’t know why I expected anything different from Vanna.
I stand in the back, letting the rain soak through my dress, and listen to the stories that the pack members have about my mother.
She was so loved by everyone, and it makes my heart ache.
So many people were affected by her death, not just my family.
Guilt rises in my chest for wanting to spend this day alone.
Everyone deserves to honor her and love her just as I have.
I am so lost in my thoughts, so focused on the headstone that marks my mother’s grave, that I didn’t notice that the crowd had parted and my father is now standing before me.
“Lilith,” his voice drags me back to the present.
I look up into his eyes and feel like I did when I was a child.
“Yes, Alpha.”
”Kneel.”
My brows knit together in confusion.
“What?”
”You have betrayed your pack and your family.
You have embarrassed the Moonclaw Pack.
You must repent for your actions; it is what your mother would have wanted.”
I can’t find it in myself to resist.
I drop to my knees in the cold rain without another word.
Members of the Moonclaw Pack surround me.
One by one, they accuse me of being ungrateful for what my father has provided for me and how I have dishonored the pack. The source of this chapter is g.com.
I can’t bring myself to look at them.
Instead, I look at the ground in front of me.
I focus on the way the wet earth feels beneath my knees and how it grows softer with each passing moment.
I focus on my breathing, making sure to keep it even and calm, but as the pack members continue to scold me, I find myself failing.
“She doesn’t even have the courage to admit her mistakes,” someone calls out.
Their voices rise, merging into one sound, and I can no longer distinguish between them.
It isn’t until Serene’s voice rises above them all that I lift my eyes from the ground.
“I think she has had enough,” she says firmly but coldly.
The Moonclaw Pack members listen to her.
I watch as they say their goodbyes to my father and Vanna.
I watch how they embrace Serene with love, before they turn to me with disgust.
I remember a time when I was loved by the pack members, but that time has come and gone.
When the last person has left the cemetery, Serene stands in front of me for a long time without speaking.
It is like she is weighing her options, deciding how she can hurt me more than she already has.
She bends down in front of me, forcing my chin up with two fingers so I am looking in her eyes.
They narrow for a moment, then she speaks.
“I was jealous of you when I was little.”
Her words take me by surprise, but I can’t bring myself to respond.
She rises to her feet, leaving me sinking in the mud before my mother’s grave.
She stands over me, waiting for me to say something, but I am so consumed by grief that I can’t.
I stay there, letting the rain wash over me, hoping that it will wash away whatever sins the Moonclaw Pack thinks that I have committed.
Instead of feeling clean when I get to my feet, I feel the same cold loneliness I felt on the day that I turned eighteen, and I fear it is a feeling that will never leave me.