Pausing

We were waiting that was all since the moment we left the tension in the air tripled and there was not much we can do. Many of the families went home but the rest of us just sat in the pack house main room not talking none of us being able to explain what this was doing to us. The loneliness as felt throughout each member of the pack if we weren't hoping that our mates were coming home then we were hoping our fathers or brothers or maybe even our best friends but each of us in that room could never stop thinking about how we knew this could go wrong. We knew there was nothing to do but there was so much that we all wanted to do the worst part of it was the small group of children who sat with us as their parents fought and the mothers sat there terrified and some of them even risked losing both parents as we had women fighting for us as well they sat there clearly trying not to do much but feeling lost sitting there.

"Luna" I hear a young but clearly distressed voice call out from behind me and I rather quickly turn to see a young girl who seems to be only 14 maybe 15 and she is cradling this new baby in her arms but she looks so torn and confused as she is rocking it but the baby is continuously letting out little wails and she nods her head towards the smaller more private front room so I walk out trying to send a smile to them and trying to keep them calm but I hurry into the room and as I do the girl is facing away from me but from here I can hear her small sniffles over the baby's continuous wails

"Please help me Luna I..I..I'm not good at this I don't know how to take care of her" She says looking at me her eyes pleading with me and I sigh not really knowing what to do but I gently take the baby out of her arms and after I do she visibly relaxes

"What's your name?" I say trying to stop her cries as well as the baby

"I'm Melody" She says nodding her head to the baby as she continues "that's Skylar, dads out fighting with the Alpha " she says and i give her a smile yet one question is still unanswered so i take a leap and decide to ask her

"What about your mom?" She stills and flinches at this but a repulsed look crosses her face and she sits inviting me to sit on the sofa with her

"My mom and dad weren't mates but they were pretty old when they mate older than normal mates would be so they gave up looking and found each other and then after a year or so they had me and they were so in love they were so happy and then about a year ago they found out mom was pregnant with Sky" she takes a breath before continuing "Then about 6 months into her pregnancy a rouge comes into the pack and they're mates "she lets out a choked sob " She decided that when she had Sky she was just going to leave and go off with him and she has never looked back leaving dad heartbroken and now Sky won't have her around" I stare at her for a moment my heart breaking because their mother had just left them because of mates

"I'm sorry Melody you deserve better than her" I say the sympathy clear in my voice but she looks up at me with a clearly fake smile and broken eyes

"It's not me who my heart aches for" She says running her fingers gently over Skylar's "It's her I know Mom left and I grew up with a mother she won't, Dad can barely cope at this point, He is heartbroken can barely sleep at nights. He says he is fine but I know he can't sleep in his bed anymore and he spends most nights watching over sky" I lean forward and capture her hand in my own.

"She may have left Melody but you are always going to be stronger than her" I say trying to think of the right things to say to her "Life is not about hating those who made mistakes in your life but about trying to be as strong as possible for those who are around you" She looks at me and silent tears run down her face

"Thank you" She says and she takes my hand and leads me out of the room and up the stairs and then she leads me to one of the many apartment type places that exist in the pack house and she shows me where to put Skylar before she leads me to another one of the rooms and she pushes it open but makes no move to enter and she leans solemnly against the frame. I look in the room I see messy bed sheets that clearly haven't been touched in a while a layer of dust lays over everything.

"This was their room but no one has touched it ever since she left, You know she didn't even hold Skylar once she just left her in that hospital cot in the middle of the night and left her and my dad there" I can tell that she doesn't particularly want me to say anything so I stay quiet

"She didn't even say goodbye to me" She says finally turning to me "Do you think she thinks about me?" she asks me looking up at me with eyes that once reminded me of my own the brokenness and swirling confusion

"I'm sure she cares but we can't spend the rest of our lives wondering whether our parents care about us " I say and she looks up at me with a new expression which I can't quite make out but as she opens her mouth to scream there is a sickening scream from the floor below that sends me sprinting down the stairs and they seemed to take forever but as I burst into the room to see them crowding around one of the women who was currently sobbing on one of the chairs with the others around her and I move them out of the way and do the only thing I can think of and I pull her into my arms and I start stroking her and soothing her to the best of my abilities. I look around for an explanation and one of the others speak up

"Her mate got injured in battle " She says quietly almost as if she was trying to avoid retelling the crying girl. More of the women started to be in pain so I started going around the room trying to talk a lot of them through everything trying to help them the best way they can. After a while I was in the kitchen making warm drinks and food to help them the best I can but eventually I get sucked into calming one of the younger mates and we sat there me holding onto her when this intense feeling in my sides starts burning up and I have to step back and I grip onto the wall my head spinning taking sharp inhales of breath and I see them look at me with a very worried eyes but I stand straight trying to put the pain aside but as I go to walk my knee's give out as if they don't work and my head spins until it all stops and in that moment I have never felt more pain and I just sat there and I couldn't do anything sitting on the floor the pain washing over me in waves and I feel some of them try to help me but i shake my head and tell them to help the others as the pain was wearing off and I stood back up and I got mind link from Lorcan

'we are returning many of them are injured please set everything'

"Hey I know this is painful time for us " quite literally but never mind "They will be here soon and i want every that is able to help me step up a triage area outside so the pack doctors know who to help first" they all simply nod at me and in this moment I couldn't feel more like the true Luna of this pack they all make a move to grab casual things like blankets, water first aid kits and ever medical person was swarming the front of the pack house and we standing waiting as wolves began to come out of the forest but my attention was solely focused on finding my mate and my heart drops as I watch Lorcan walk out of the forest with what I can instantly tell to be my mates wolf form laying lifelessly in his arms and I can't move I'm frozen in this moment watching as he walks closer it seems like the stars have stopped shining and the world has given up the pain in my heart feels like it's being continuously ripped out of my chest the sadness made me feel like I'd never feel happy again and I instinctively try to go to her and I can't hear anything except the beat of my heart and I'm pretty sure I'm screaming but I can't see anything as the medical team swarm her and I feel a small cool hand on my shoulder and it shocks me back into reality and I realise the uncontrollable sobs coming from me have yet to stop but the screams have and I turn to see Indigo with sympathy in her eyes and I fall into her arms breaking down knowing my mate was laying limp and hurt in their arms and I couldn't save her.

"Emmy I know this is all so much right now but we have got to get you out of the cold" Indigo says pulling away from me and I finally see that everyone was taken care of and it was only a few of us hanging around to clean up the field.

I'm at a complete loss for words so I keep silent but give her a simple nod and she leads me into the hospital where there's a lot of nurses bustling around with bandages and water, she keeps pulling me to the back and she sits me in one of the seats but I'm immediately back up pacing looking into the room where I could sense her but all I can see is the doctors blue gowns. Pacing across the floor my wolf growling in my head and my worry increasing and being able to do nothing leaves me feeling alone and helpless eventually I decide to give up pacing and I lean against the wall an my legs barely have any strength left so I just slide onto the floor my eyes still glued to the doors that my mate is behind. After what seems like a gut-wrenching eternity the door swings open revelling a rather petite woman and she looks around before her eyes settle onto me and she walks over and gives me a soft smile and she bends down in front of me and I prepare myself for the worst

"Is she dead?" That's all I ask before she even gets a chance to speak the broken sound of my voice shocks me and I look into her eyes mine filling with tears as her silence exists for too long for comfort

"No, the Alpha is alive" She begins yet I could sense the but from a mile away "however she shows no signs of waking up and it seems although she has slipped into a coma"

"Will she wake up?" I ask terrified for the answer

"We believe she will but we are unsure when that would be" It's like the world stopped again she was still with us but not truly I know what can happen in times like these "Would you like to see her Luna?" I look up from the spot that I had been glaring into on the floor. We stand md she leads me into one of the room and I see her just lying in that bad with tubes and wires and I don't even know what many of them do, I'm frozen and I can't move as I just stand taking in every aspect of her body wrapped in bandages and I can't help her I can't fix her I can't do anything and I just sit there beside her and I grab her hadn't watching the slow rise and fall of her chest. It seems like forever when I'm sitting there until I feel a light tap on my shoulder and I turn to see an incredibly nervous nurse she clears her throat before starting

"I'm sorry Luna but you can't stay here overnight" I look at her my mouth open as I simply nod at her as I have lost my words but I walk out and make my way out of the room but not before placing a gentle kiss on my mates forehead and I make the slow walk back over to the packhouse not having the will to go to our home, the pack house came into view and I looked up to the room where we would stay sometimes if we couldn't be bothered to walk home. I opened the door and the place was silent as if no one was here at all I looked at the stairs but decided I had no energy left to climb them so I just lay on the sofa and pulled the blanket over me which was rather comfortable.