Kierren

I sit on the edge of the bed wringing my hands together. It's been exactly ten days since Anastasia has been healing, but her healing is not as fast as I hoped it would be. Ralph is checking her vitals, and he dabs her bruises with a cloth dipped in ointment.

"How's the progress of her recovery?"

My youngest sighs, folding the cloth inside out on his lap, "it's slow. Slower than anything I've seen. She's holding onto trauma instead of releasing whatever is holding her back from a full recovery. I tried her reflexes, and they're not good."

"Hmph," I grunt through my nose, "has she at least woken up since she's been here?"

"Twice. Amelia tried to feed her, but she doesn't have much of an appetite."

I sigh in frustration, wondering how much longer it would take for her full recovery. If she ever does recover fully. It's been over a week, and she's been inside the mansion for two days already. It pains me to watch the way she breathes, her chest shuddering every time she inhales, like her lungs are wounded.

"Have you found out what might have happened to her?"

"My friends in the Blood Moon Pack are being very tight-lipped. But they seem to think she's dead."

"Hm," I wonder out loud, "maybe she ran away from them. Don't let them know she's here. Not until she's woken up and I can find out what really happened that night."

As Ralph continues to nurse her until Amelia comes in with a tray of food, I sit there and watch my daughter sleep. She's so much like Cassandra, the resemblance so uncanny, if it wasn't for the light gray shade of her eyes, I would have thought that Cassandra had been reincarnated. Of course Anastasia shares at least one feature with me - the color of our eyes.

Those eyes I pray to see soon. I spend most of the day waiting, delegating other members of the pack to stand guard at the border in case anyone came for her. But no one does, and as time goes by, I realize that maybe her pack does believe she's dead.

Did she suffer the same fate as her mother, who was cast out of the pack because we weren't fated mates, who mated and did in fact produce a child. I wonder if my father knew what I know now, would he have exiled Cassandra after all? And were packs still as traditional as ours was? I could only hope to do better as the Alpha of Moon Valley, and as Anastasia's father.

I think back to when I met the Alpha of her pack - a young man named Jacob. He seemed like a capable character, but I recognized the way he looked at her when I found her escaping the burning building. Like he couldn't lose her. But Jacob told me he lost his fated mate, which meant that Anastasia wasn't to him what Cassidy had been to me.

She is to the Alpha Jacob what Cassandra had been to me.

~

It's around midnight when I tap lightly on the door to Anastasia's bedroom. I'm struggling to sleep, and even though I've hunted tonight and my belly is full enough for me to pass out, I can't. I just can't see the same mistakes of the past being repeated through my daughter and the man who loves her.

Anastasia is sitting up, stirring her cold porridge with a spoon. I notice her struggle to lift her head, her eyebrows knitting as she strains her eyes towards me.

"Hi, I didn't want to disturb you. Just checking in to see if you're okay."

"No," she says and drops her spoon, then shuffles to one side of the bed, "you can come in."

I walk inside lightly, and gesture to the bed. If I'd known she was coming sooner, I would have prepared the room better for her arrival. But under the circumstances, this spare bedroom would have to suffice. I've already got Emilio and Warren on woodwork, preparing more furniture that I think she might appreciate. If she's anything like her mother, she'd appreciate an earthlier feel to be living in.

Hm… I wonder if she'd consider living here. I hope she knows that my offer still stands - for her to live with us, her family, and become the Luna she was always meant to be.

She nods her head slowly, even though the movement seems to hurt her. She winces, but still manages a pleasant smile as I hesitantly take a seat there. If what Ralph said is true - that she's holding on to trauma - I would have to tread thin ice around her. The last thing I want is to scare her away.

"How are you feeling?"

She picks up the spoon again, and I notice the bruises around her knuckles, as if she'd been in a horrible fight. "I'm in a lot of pain, but it's nothing I can't handle."

"Of course you'd say something like that. You have the powerful Alpha blood in you. But you're taking too long to heal."

Anastasia sighs, "the fall was really bad."

"The fall?"

Anastasia looks down and nods, her eyes filling up with sadness, "I fell off the cliff and into the ravine. The rogues - they came for us, and I tried to lead them away from the others, and ended up falling with him."

"You mean you tried leading them away from Jacob?"

She looks up with shock widening her eyes, and she shakes her head in denial. Gently, I fold my hand over hers, "You can't fool me, Anastasia. I've met him before, and I know he loves you."

"He doesn't. He hates me," her voice quivers.

"Hate is a very strong word, Anastasia. I know exactly what's going on between you two, but I blame the old traditions for your reluctance."

"What do you mean?"

"You see," I begin, "I would have come to find you a long time ago if I knew you were born. Sadly," I sigh, "I didn't know your mother was pregnant when she left. And she didn't leave because she wanted to - she left because she was exiled."

"Exiled? For what?"

"For being with me, even though we weren't fated mates. Back then, the elders believed that if an Alpha didn't mate with his fated mate, they wouldn't produce any offspring. But there was an exception to that belief. You."

"Me?" she lifts her brows in question.

"Yes, you," I pat her hand softly, "you're proof that because your mother was a descendant of a true-blood Alpha, she was able to bear my child even though we weren't fated to be. I loved her very much, but they cast her out for disgracing the pack. When I first saw you, and recognized the way you tied Jacob's tie, I knew you were my daughter, and since then I wonder if the elders would have allowed us to be mated if they knew she could bear my kids."

"My mother did find her mate," Anastasia tells me, "the only father I knew growing up. But he was horrible."

"I too found my mate after your mother left. But she died shortly after giving birth to our son."

"You have a son?"

I nod my head and smile tenderly, "Ralph, the were-healer who's treating you."

"Oh!" Anastasia wiggles her way into a straighter position, "but why does he look so much like me? I definitely don't get this from you," she chuckles and lifts a piece of her hair.

"Cassidy was your mother's cousin. Unfortunately, she wasn't the woman I loved, but she gave me a beautiful baby boy who looks just like you," I titter, and reach out to pat the top of her head, "but I don't want you to make the same mistakes we made. If Jacob is the Alpha, he can change the minds of the others."

"I don't want to go back there," she pouts, dropping her eyes to her linked hands. "There's nothing left there for me."

"You know you can stay here, amongst the Moon Valley Tribe," I assure her, "it's what I want. But I also think you should go back and let them know you're alive."

"They wouldn't care if I was alive or dead."

Sighing, I sit back and watch her face as it twists from anger to sadness and back to anger again. I know there's something stopping her from going back, and I have a feeling it's the unexplored feelings between her and the Alpha. It's the old traditions that hold her back, but if she's here, she can learn about our ways.

"I think you're wrong, Anastasia," I wait for her to look up again before going on, "I think we should go back and tell them. If there's anything I do know, it's that Jacob really cares about you. Just for his sake, we'll go back. But only when you're ready."

Anastasia nods hesitantly, "thank you."

"For now, just focus on getting better, and when you are, you can learn about my pack. We were once your mother's pack too, you know?"

"I know," she offers me a smile.

"And when the time is right, we'll go back. And it's for you to decide if you want to formally cut ties with them and stay here with us, or go back to someone who cares for you, okay?"

Anastasia nods again, but I can see that she's not really sure about that last part. Regardless, I decide that we would go back to Blood Moon soon, because it's the right thing to do.