“You knew my mother?”
Kimberly couldn’t believe that this stranger knew her mother. How is that even possible? She wondered, but immediately shook off that thought. She wanted to know more about her mom from someone else other than her dad, who only told her how much her mom loved her and how she would’ve loved to see her grow into the woman she is today.
“Your mother?” Alan asked, sounding even more surprised this time.
“Y-yes. She was my mother.” Kimberly quietly replied, her brows furrowed in confusion.
“You’re trying to tell me that you’re not in any way Hailey?”
She nodded in reply this time, not trusting her voice as she was now aware that this stranger mistook her for her mom because she was her spitting image from head to toe.
Kimberly had lived with that pain everyday she lived with her dad, knowing she was the reason her dad had to go through the torture of being reminded of the woman he loved each and everyday, preventing him from moving on.
Roy was confused, this wasn’t how he expected their meeting to turn out. How did hell did his uncle know Kimberly’s mom, Hailey? That name rings a bell, but he wasn’t completely sure where he heard it.
“Can you tell me what you know about my mom… please?” Kimberly timidly asked the shocked stranger.
“O-oh, s-sure. What would you like to know about her?” Alan stuttered out of his shocked state.
“Whatever you know would be fine.”
“Alright, before we start with the story telling, I’ll make us some coffee so we can have it with the cookies I’ve made… I know you two must be starving.” Christine interrupted them, gesturing at Roy and Kimberly who had barely had any proper meal for days.
“Christine, is this where you’ve been coming to for the past weeks?” Alan asked, only noticing his mate’s presence now.
“Yes. Roy needed my help.”
“And you didn’t think it was necessary to tell me about it?”
“It’s my fault, uncle. I asked her to keep it a secret.” Roy cut in before his uncle will get mad at his mate.
“And you..” Alan continued, pointing his finger at Roy.
“you have to explain everything to me from the very beginning.”
Roy was trying to crying to control his wolf who was slowly getting angry for being spoken to in that manner by someone of a lower rank because this was his uncle whom he loved so much and he understood why he was upset. This is the first time he was keeping something this important from him.
“I’m sorry.” He replied through gritted teeth.
Alan immediately got the hint that Roy’s was upset, so he didn’t say anything more.
Kimberly just watched between them, amazed at how they suddenly acted like she wasn’t even present.
“Um, are we still having coffee?” Kimberly then suddenly asked, successfully bringing them back to the present.
“S-sure. Can you give me a hand with the coffee?” Christine replied with a smile to ease the tension a bit.
Kimberly nodded and stole a glance at Roy, who was already staring back at her. There was something in his eyes but, she couldn’t quite tell what it was.
Was it fondness, love or lust?
Gosh! Why is it so hard for her to read people’s emotions, she internally groaned as she walked up to Christine to help her with the coffee.
While waiting for the coffee, both men made their selves comfortable on the island stool in the kitchen. Roy couldn’t take his gaze away from his mate as he let his eyes roam her body, from her slightly damp hair to her beautiful neckline. He would certainly mark her someday, he could already imagine himself doing it.
His eyes slowly wandered to her breasts, they were round and firm. Gosh! Her nipples were driving him crazy as they looked hard, pointy and ready to be sucked.
Why didn’t she wear a goddamn bra? He mentally questioned, as he was already getting a hard on just by staring at those soft and tempting breasts of hers. He hesitantly turned his eyes away from his mate so he doesn’t do something stupid.
Christine and Kimberly were finally done making the coffee. Kimberly placed a cup of coffee for both men who thanked her, while Christine placed a large bowl filled with cookies on the island bar before taking a seat on a stool beside her mate, leaving Kimberly with no other option but to sit on the only available one left which was beside Roy. It felt awkward, considering their last conversation didn’t end on a good note.
Concluding within herself not to waste any more time, she nervously sat on the stool beside him. Her arm accidentally brushed his, causing Roy’s wolf to jump with excitement from the body contact.
“Your mom… Was a werewolf.” Alan began when they all had their full attention on him.
Kimberly stared at him with wide eyes.
“T-that’s impossible!”
What this stranger said can’t be true. Her mom was human, so is her dad. If her mom wasn’t human, she would’ve at least been told of her mom’s root. Her dad could’ve brought her to these parts for a visit to get her acquainted with her mom’s family, but rather he kept telling her about how dangerous the woods were and prevented her from going anywhere close to the woods because he was scared that something bad might happen to her.
Could it be that all this time, he was only saying those things to prevent her from finding out something about her mom?
Alan quietly watched as Kimberly was mentally struggling to take in this new information.
“I know this is hard for you to believe, considering your mom has been keeping her true identity a secret… I keep wondering how she even managed to do that.” Alan said, mumbling the last part to himself.
“I never got to meet her.” Kimberly murmured, avoiding eye contact with the stranger.
“What do you mean?” he asked, suddenly confused by her statement.
“She died during child birth.” She replied, quickly wiping her tears, as she mentally told herself that this wasn’t the right time to cry.
After all, she never got to meet her mom in person and that, that was what hurt her the most, knowing that her mom died because of her. She never should’ve been born.
“I’m sorry.” Kimberly heard the stranger say.
She didn’t have the energy to talk, so she just nodded, forcing a smile Christine’s way to assure her that she was okay as the older woman stared at her with pity.
“I’m Alan by the way, Christine’s mate.” She knew this stranger was trying to change the subject to lighten the atmosphere and she was glad he did.
“I’m Kimberly.”
She had no idea what he meant by mate and didn’t want to seem weird by asking, so she remained quiet.
“I better start talking then, cos I know you’ll be eager to learn something about your mom. But I must tell you, I don’t know much about her in person as she was from the white moon pack. I got to know her cos she was mated to my nephew, Hugh.”
“What’s that?”
“What?”
“That word.. mate.” Kimberly finally asked, when she realized that Alan would be using that word more often.
“Mate is, uh.. you know, humans call it soulmate… Life partner.”
“Oh.”
Roy could tell, Kimberly was sad even though she was trying hard to conceal it. He knew talking about her mom stirred up something inside her and it wasn’t a good feeling. All he wanted to do right now, was hold her close and soothe her but, he couldn’t so he just watched her.
“It’s a soulmate our moon goddess blesses every werewolf with… Someone who will share in your joy and pain, someone you will love for eternity. One can’t leave without the other and I mean that literally.” Alan explained.
It sounded beautiful but at the same time shocking to Kimberly. She knows everyone goes through a heartache and feel like dying when they lose a lover but dying, that’s extreme. The conversation was making Roy a bit uncomfortable because he didn’t want Kimberly to feel obliged to be with him, he wanted her to do it out of her own free will.
“What do you mean by that?” she quietly asked, hoping Alan won’t give her the answers she was expecting.
“When a werewolf loses his or her mate, they go crazy due to their inability to live without their mate… After a short while, he or she dies.”
“Was that the case of my mother?”
“I don’t think so, since she wasn’t marked and claimed by her mate… Your mom rejected her mate because she fell in love with a human, whom I’m guessing is your father.”
Kimberly nervously gulped, wondering if she was indeed ready for this conversation. Her dad is a loving and caring man whom she loves so much and wouldn’t want to change that, even if she had the chance to.
“We attended high school in the city of California with the humans and not back here, at home. That was how your mom met your dad… At the beginning, I didn’t think she was serious about the relationship when they started dating, but as time went by, I noticed she was already into him… I tried talking her out of the relationship but she paid no attention to me.” Alan said, taking a sip from his coffee.
“Why didn’t you guys just school here?” Kimberly asked before Alan could continue his story.
“Being born into the families of Alphas entails that we have to school outside, to interact with the humans… Your mom was also from a notable family, the family of healers… They are of great importance to the pack. The females from the families of healers always get mated to Alphas, whereas the males mostly end up being the pack doctors… They went into extinction. Your mom’s family were the only ones left in the region and she was an only child. So, there was no doubt that she would be mated to Hugh, the son of the then Alpha of the white moon pack.”