Chapter 0048
(James POV)
After my father and Beta Robert left the office, my mother placed her head in her hands and began
crying. All of the bitterness and anger in me immediately evaporated as soon as I saw her tears. I felt myself revert from a 26 year old man to a young boy who desperately wanted to make his mother feel
better.
Nick sat down in a chair while I knelt beside my mother and grabbed her hand. “Mom, what
asked gently. “Who is Tyler, and why are you so upset?”
is wrong?” |
My mother grasped my hand tightly, wiped her tears with her other hand, and slowly began telling us the
story. Strangely, that story started not with Tyler, but with Margie.
“I know that you and Nick both know that Margie’s parents were omegas. They were absolutely delightful
wolves. They were hard workers who loved their family with all that they had. They had eight pups all
together including Margie, and they had this light and energy about them that was infectious.
Robert’s parents were actually friends with Margie’s parents for years. However, their friendship ended in
a horrible way when Margie and Robert discovered that they were mates. Robert’s parents were openly
disappointed with the mating, because they had hoped that Robert would be mated to a she-wolf with
alpha, beta, or even ga mma blood.
Robert’s parents tried to talk Robert into rejecting Margie. However, Robert was absolutely smitten with
Margie from the moment that their eyes locked on Margie’s 20th birthday. They fell in love and were
married within three months.
Margie and I had been friends in school, but once Margle and Robert got married and moved into the
packhouse, we very quickly became best friends. We told each other everything, and we shared all of our
highs and all of our lows.
Robert wanted to have a big family, and Margie believed that having pups would force Robert’s family to
accept her. Margie also thought that having grandpups might somehow revive the friendship between
their parents. So, soon after their wedding, Robert and Margie began trying to have a pup.
Unfortunately, the Moon Goddess did not cooperate with their plans; they ended up trying for years
without success. After a year of trying, Margie began to worry that she was infertile. She went to the
pack doctor, but he could not find anything wrong with her or Robert. On my suggestion, Margie then
tried going to fertility experts in the human world who work with werewolves, but they also could not find
anything wrong.
All of the doctors tried to reassure Margie that sometimes these things just take time, and Robert,
hope. Every time Margie’s period came, she would end up crying on my shoulder for hours.
To make matters worse, Robert’s parents tried to use Margie’s inability to conceive against her. They went so far as to tell Robert that his duties to the pack required that he reject Margie and find a second
chance mate who would be able to give him an heir. A few times, they went even further than that,
showing Robert pictures of unmated she-wolves that they believed had ‘pup-bearing hips.”
Robert repeatedly tried to reassure Margie that he would never leave her, but as time went on, Margiel
was becoming more and more disillusioned. She started to think about leaving Robert so that he would
not have to feel guilty for leaving her.”
My mother paused, collecting her thoughts.
“I want you to know that I am telling you all of this because you need to understand just how much
pressure Margie was under back then. It was awful and overwhelming for her, and it was awful and
overwhelming for me as her friend trying to help her through it.
In fact, when Randall and I got pregnant, I was terrified to tell Margie. I knew that it would make her feel bad and it would only increase the outside pressure on Margie to produce a beta heir,
I ended up hiding my pregnancy from Margie until I began showing and she confronted me about it. Margie was really hurt that I had not told her about my pregnancy, and it created a small rift between us.
Thankfully, we were able to get through it, but it took some time.”
As I listened to the story, I wanted to be supportive, but I also wanted my mother to hurry up and get to the point.
“Mom, I do not understand. How does Margie’s prior issue with fertility have anything to do with Alpha Brett and Red River Pack? Or with this Tyler person? I mean, I am sorry that Margie and Robert had trouble conceiving at first, and that Robert’s parents were so awful to her, but they went on to have three healthy pups, so obviously things ended up working out okay in the end.”
My mother grimaced. “I am getting to that part,” she said softly. She then looked at me and Nick with obvious regret and concern in her eyes.
“James and Nick, before I tell you the next part of the story, I beg you to understand and put yourself in my shoes… I was so young. I was even younger than you are now.”
Nick wrinkled his eyebrows. “Luna Jane, what are you saying? It almost sounds like you are implying that you did something.”
My mother wiped a few tears away. “I am implying that because I did do something awful and I will regret what I did for the rest of my life.”
It was horrible and
“What… what did you do?” I asked.
“Tyler… Tyler was the name of Robert and Margie’s first son.”
