Forbidden by Fate

Emersyn

I don’t know what came over me, but I couldn’t take it anymore. My heart and mind were being pulled in different directions, but as I watched two nearly grown men tumbling in the gravel, fighting over me, reality had reared its head. They both were treating me like a piece of property that they either owned or thought they deserved the right to own, and that did not settle well with me. While I know that I am still young, I am most definitely not a child.

I am being forced to make adult decisions, yet they treat me as if I am a child being torn between bickering parents. My wolf is on edge as well, I feel her anger seeping through my every action. I try to gently calm her in my mind, but she is still unsettled. I need to think, to clear my mind, but more than anything I need someone who will understand and still love me. I need my mother, and I hope beyond reason she will forgive the secret that I have hidden from her.

She pulls the oversized cedar door of the Alpha and Luna’s chamber open before I even have a chance to knock. The matching color of her eyes are all too knowing as she studies me for a moment, choosing her words carefully. “It took you longer than I thought it would, but I knew you would come.”

I fight the dam of tears that are threatening to break free as I whimper out, “Mother, I am so sorry.”

She looks at me with the undeniable love of a mother as she reaches out encircling me in the warmth of her arms as she says, “Come in, my sweet girl, tell me all about it. Your father is at meetings all day, so it is just us two.”

She leads me to the lounge in the small sitting area that overlooks the pack lands. I allow my eyes to focus on the snow-capped mountains in the distance, as the tears began to break free. She doesn’t say anything as she sits next to me and pulls my head on her lap, gently brushing the curls from my face. She just allows me to gather my thoughts as she begins to hum a lullaby that she often sang to us as children.

I lay there, allowing the silence to swallow me whole for what seems like an eternity, before I find the courage to begin. She doesn’t interrupt me as the confession of my true feelings pours from lips. I don’t lie. I don’t deny my truth. I tell her everything. She listens, and never seems to react to the burdens that I am now laying at her feet.

When I finish I say in the smallest voice, “I know you are angry with me and I am so sorry for lying to you.”

The deep blue hue of her eyes dance across my face as a small tear escapes the corner, “Emersyn, my stubborn and beautiful daughter, I am not angry at you. I told you a mother knows. It only saddens me that you felt you couldn’t tell me the truth sooner.”

Shock resonates throughout my body as I stare at her confused, “You knew?”

“Emersyn, you aren’t that good of an actor, and we are wolves. I could smell Callum’s scent all over you this morning. I knew that you would tell me in your own time. I was right.” She says with a loving look as she lays her hand on my shoulder softly. “Now, the question is what are you going to do?”

I sigh, unsure of myself, but certain of others. “I suppose I could always be a spinster.”

My mother laughs as she replies, “Emersyn, you will not. But you must make a choice.”

I cry out in frustration. “Liam will never forgive me for what I have done. And Callum is not an option.”

Her eyes soften as she replies, “You said that Liam fought Callum, right?”

“Yes,” I answer puzzled where she is going with this.

“Well, that doesn’t sound like a man that is done with you. It sounds like a man who is looking for someone to blame for hurting you. And as far as Callum goes, I love him like a son, but the boy is still very much a child in his thinking. I will not watch you forced into a marriage you do not want, but I will not watch Callum break your heart either.” She holds my face steady in her hands. “The choice is yours, but I am going to ask you to do something for me.”

“Anything,” I reply with certainty that the task she is going to require isn’t going to be an easy one.

“Give Liam a chance. If Callum really loves you like you believe he does, he will wait. If he does not then you will know for certain.” She says with a determination apparent on her face.

“And what if Liam can’t forgive me?” I question honestly.

“Liam is no fool, he has already forgiven you,” she says with certainty.

“How can you be so sure?” I ask perplexed by her assertation.

“Because a mother knows,” she says smiling. “And your father is speaking with him now and may have let me know through the mated link.”

A grin spreads across my face before I truly allow her words to sink in. “Wait, father knows?”

My mother grasps my shoulders as she replies in a soothing tone, “He only knows that you and Liam had a disagreement, and that Callum was involved. Liam couldn’t find you after you left them and got worried that you would leave. He asked your father to make sure you were okay through the link. Your father knew you were with me. He says to tell you that Liam is desperate to speak with you.”

I allow a sigh that I didn’t realize I was holding in to escape as I look at her bewildered. “Why, would he forgive me?”

“You’ll have to ask him yourself. He requests that you meet him by the stables. He says to tell you that he was promised a horse ride.” She smiles with a knowing look before she continues, “Give him a chance, to show you who he really is.”

I force a smile on my face as she wipes the tears from my cheek, “I promise.”

“That is all I ask,” she says still holding her hands upon my face. “And if you decide you can’t marry him, your father and I will support your decision. I told you before, but I will tell you again, you are our daughter first, and we love you no matter what you decide.”

I feel a wave of relief washing over me as I argue, “But the agreement was made long ago, I would be giving them cause for war!”

“Hush,” she says as she puts her finger on my lips. “You let us worry about that, we have been doing this a long time, Emersyn. Have a little faith in us! Now, go and see what adventures await you!”

I swallow hard as I shake my head in agreement and walk towards the door before pausing, “Mother?”

“Yes?” Her eyes look at me questioningly.

“Thank you,” I say simply.

“For what?” She looks bewildered as she asks.

“For always being my shelter in the storm and loving me no matter what.” I give her an appreciative look.

Her blue eyes tear up as she replies with adoration, “Emersyn, my love, it is my greatest joy to call you my own. No matter who you choose, you make sure that they feel the same way.”

I smile as I turn to leave her knowing that no matter what happens, I am loved. Somehow that is all that I need to find the courage to push myself towards the stables to face Liam. I don’t know what to expect, but I know that no matter what I intend to keep my promise to my mother. Callum has given me no reason to believe that he can change and right now my anger at him blurs the lines. I won’t deny I love him, but my mother is right. Liam deserves a chance, and for the first time I am willing to give it to him.