THE TWIST IN MIMI'S EPIC TALE

I found Mum and Ki hosting tea in the living room with Mimi and a man whom I was going assume was Alpha Mike. I took pause at the doorway not because Mimi was crying, for some reason, that felt kinda expected given the circumstance. My surprise was because the man obviously had his arm around Mimi's shoulders.

Mike. Why did that name ring a bell? I mean, I'm sure we had wolves named Mike in our pack. It was the most ordinary name, but I remembered there was something about that name... Oh right! The very evil twin brother in law - the one who killed Mimi's Alpha Mate. The one Mimi, carrying her baby boy, had to run into Night Leaf territory to escape the clutches of. I remembered the name because it was the most non-threatening name I had ever heard a villain own.

It really wasn't Lord Voldermort or Dearth Vadar.

In person, Alpha Mike, really did look like an Alpha Mike. He had a brown tweed traveling suit, and matching colored hair. When he stood up at my appearance, he wasn't particularly tall or menacing in any way.

"Alpha Princess is here." Ki announced, his gentle smile on.

Everyone had stood up. Even Mum. Which was weird, but I quickly returned the greeting with a quick bow to my elders, especially since Wolfgang wasn't here to mindlink about the Alpha not bowing to anyone.

Mimi dabbed her eyes with a crumpled handkerchief and bowed. Alpha Mike too. I know, he was a Minor Alpha, but I really didn't expect that. Especially since I wasn't officially the Young Alpha yet, especially since I was a girl, especially since grown Alpha men were supposed to be unbending and proud. Alpha Mike was really not keeping up with his villainous past repute.

"Bless you, princess." Mimi smiled at me through her tears the moment we had all sat down. Ki poured my tea and I tilted my head at Mimi's immediate address to me, "Although, I wish the situation could've been different, I do feel glad to see you well."

I nodded, not quite sure what to say in response. It's not like I could ask, "Are you okay?"

For goddess sake, she was crying in my living room! In what way was she supposed to be okay?

But it's not like I could say, "I'm sorry for your loss." Jude wasn't dead, not yet anyway. Although come to think of it, if convicted of treason, it was almost certainly a death penalty.

I swallowed and nodded. Then I looked to Mum to say something. Anything. Mum would know what to say.

Mum didn't disappoint me, "Sam had been worried for you."

"A beautiful princess with a kind heart." Mimi nodded, "Of course my Ju...Jude..."

And then Mimi broke down in sobs, "I'm sorry..."

Alpha Mike rubbed her back, "There, there, my love. It'll be alright."

Because that's how evil alphas talked.

"His... his heart was in a good place." Mimi said when she caught her breath from crying, "He was just led astray by that... that rogue harlot!"

Did she mean Ruby?

"Now... now... He's left to shoulder all the blame on his own." Mimi's tears fell afresh, "My poor boy. He's so pitiful. It's all my fault!"

Okay, now I was officially lost.

Luckily, Mum was around, "But how are YOU coping right now, Mimi? Congratulations on your mating, by the way."

"Oh." Mimi blinked back tears, temporarily distracted by the change of topic, "I'm... I'm doing alright. It's all thanks to Mike. I wouldn't know what I would do without him. He has really been my rock."

Mimi patted Alpha Mike's hand, the one that he was holding her hands with.

I did not jump up and point, "I thought he was the bad guy!"

I would like to say that I was far more collected than that, but the truth was I was just too bewildered.

I was also this close to casting, "Tell me the story of how Mimi mated Alpha Mike."

But I didn't. Mostly because I didn't need to. Mimi had decided to tell Mum her story all on her own.

It was really nothing short of a miracle. When our warriors had stormed Asphalt Moon's Packhouse, Mimi was left in shock on multiple fronts.

She couldn't believe what had happened. Her son was captured on grounds of treason. Her son's soul mate was this rogue zombie monstrosity. And the Asphalt Moon Pack was disbanded.

Her first thought was for the lost boys. They had come to her asking what they should do. Both Jude and Ron were uncontactable. Some of them wanted to band together to break them free from Night Leaf dungeons, but Mimi had found out and stopped them in time.

It wasn't the first time Jude had been taken in by authorities, but after a few days, things began to look serious. News from Neil and Jax seemed grim. And then finally, a legal notice from Night Leaf on Jude's admittance of treason, the cessation of property and disbanding of the Asphalt Moon Pack.

Mimi could not sit and do nothing. Admittedly, she had planned to do just that. She had been plagued with great guilt. She knew more than anyone how much Alpha Kingsley and his Luna had done for her and Jude. How could she face him knowing how her own son had turned to bite the hand that raised him?

Perhaps she should just let justice take its course. As much as it pained her that her son must be suffering, she could not bring herself to raise her hand on his behalf. She had only herself to blame, she felt sure of it. Perhaps she had not done as well as she had thought in bringing up her only son. Goddess knew she had tried, but remembering all the times she had begged Alpha Kingsley to intervene on her son's behalf, she couldn't help be feel that perhaps if she had left Jude to face the consequences of his actions instead of begging for leniancy, Jude might have come out better for it.

"I saved my son from jail, but that only led to his capital punishment." Mimi regretted tearfully and rather dramatically.

I didn't know what to say then, so I just let Mimi talk, but tbh, I didn't really think any of this was Mimi's fault. I mean, its not like Mimi was the one who decided to help the rogues or send his wolves to shoot at our warrriors. Jude wasn't a puppy. He was a grown up alpha making all these decisions all on his own - like literally so, he wasn't even listening to his beta's advice. Ron had been against it all this while, but in the end, he had to roll with his Alpha.

Ron was the really pitiful one here if you asked me. #betalife

But back to Mimi's tale: What did spur her to take action were the lost boys. They were so lost without their alpha. Mimi feared they would turn rogue. The Asphalt Moon Pack had garnered quite the reputation over the years and it was very unlikely that any of the other minor packs would accept these troublemaking riff rafts.

She felt terrible for their plight. Indirectly this was her fault too. (Mimi was blaming herself for pretty much everything that was happening.)

"You mustn't blame yourself, love." Alpha Mike told her, "These boys were fortunate to have you."

Which was true because what Mimi did was to bravely sacrifice herself for these boys, or at least that was her intention. She decided to return to Alpha Mike, her brother in law who had murdered her soul mate in cold blood, she would put herself at his mercy and see if she could convince him to take these boys in.

She had been prepared to face any amount of humiliation. What else could she do? She was but a woman, and quite clear that the beauty of her youth had long passed. But Alpha Mike welcomed her warmly and treated her gently, and to her utter surprise, turned out to be her real soul mate.

"What?" WTH was with this story?