Ellie POV
'We can't do this! He needs us!' My wolf whined in my head. Her whimpers on separating from our mate blocked my ears from the noise of nature around us, 'He didn't mean what he said! He loves us!' She tried to tell me.
'Then he wouldn't have told us to leave', I spoke back to her.
After almost three months of accepting us, he changed his mind. All it took was three words for him to no longer love me, to make my entire world shatter around me.
My wolf, Raelynn, continued to sob in my mind as I pushed to go faster. We had to make it to the border while we still had a head start.
'We need to go faster', I yelled to her.
She whimpered more at my request and my urgency to be as far from our mate as possible, but she did as I asked.
The darkness of the forest lit up as we neared the pack border. All I had to do was cross the line and never look back.
I was about to cross over when I heard her try to reason with me once more, 'What if he changed his mind? What if he really does want it?'
I shook my snout in response to her, 'He was disgusted by the mere thought of this child. He believes I lied to him. He thinks that this child isn't his.'
'Just go back and talk to him', she pleaded.
'If I go back, he will kill our child on sight. I will not let him hurt it, I reasoned with her.
'But—'
'There is no but, Raelynn,' I interrupted her, 'He swore to kill us and our child if we ever stepped foot back on his land. If we hadn't of left, he would have executed us on the spot.'
'We are his mate. He wouldn't do that to us,' she tried again.
'He rejected us. He used us, Raelynn. There is no going back.'
I shut off the mind link between us as I crossed the border. Fire burned my mark as I sprinted into the forest.
I pushed through the pain, refusing to turn back as a distant howl cracked my already fractured heart into shattered pieces.
***
It had been 7 years since I was forced to flee from my home, my life, my mate.
I try not to look back at the life I had lost so many years ago. But as I look into the eyes of my child, all I see are her father's. Her bright blue pools reflected the part of his soul I had fallen in love with. Every time I looked at my child, I replayed all the memories I had shared with her father, from the love to the betrayal.
Zea danced around the field, laughing at her own silliness. Happiness seemed to surround her, a feeling she gave to all who knew her. Over the years, being away from my mate broke my heart into a million pieces, but just being around her would put a smile on my face.
She was only six years old, yet she was my life line to living a life I could be happy in without him. She was the greatest gift I had ever been given.
I watched as she played in the field behind the pack house. Her laughter filled the air around me as she giggled about some secrets she was sharing with her Aunt.
After I was forced to flee from my mate, I travelled around the country. His pack tracked me down, but I was able to escape them at every turn. I was only ever caught once by his gamma; however, he couldn't bring me back after I told him the danger I would be in. The gamma's job was to guard the Luna from any threat, even from her own mate, and that's what he did. He let me go, so my child and I would live.
When she was born, I moved to the Blue Moon Pack. The Alpha who had just arisen was my brother's best friend, Madden. He promised to hide my child and me in his pack because of the great threat looming over us.
As the years went by, Madden and his mate, Layla, became the closest thing to family. Since I would never be able to return to my original pack after an encounter with rogues, I haven't seen my brother in almost seven years. I wondered some days if Zea would ever meet her Uncle Xander, but I know it would be too dangerous for her to ever travel to my old home.
I refused to think of her never meeting her father, of never knowing the kind hearted man I had fallen in love with and not the beast I was forced to flee from.
A voice took me out of my thoughts of the past, "They still out there?"
I turned to Madden as I nodded my head, grinning at my child and his mate, "They have promised the best bouquet of daisies for the dinner table."
He laughed at their ridiculousness as we both remember that they had said the same thing about roses for yesterday's lunch, "I love the way they act around each other. Layla will be a perfect mother."
I watched as his eyes shimmered at his love for his mate, my heart ached slightly that I would never see that in my own mate's eyes when he watched our daughter.
I took a small sip from the cup I held in my hands, "When is the littlest addition to our ever growing family supposed to be arriving?"
He gave me a smile as he realized that I knew, "In about 7 months. How did you know?"
I looked at his bewildered expression, "I have been pregnant before," I said all knowingly before bringing my drink up to my lips and mumbling under my breath, "And she told me two weeks ago."
"Of course she told you. We were supposed to be keeping it to ourselves until the 12 week mark," he said.
"I am her best friend, of course she told me. We don't keep secrets from each other," I said, before quickly adding, "Just you."
"Secrets like what?" mischief shining in his copper eyes.
"Now if I told you, they wouldn't be secrets anymore," I laughed as a slight frown took place over face. I took a deep breath before continuing, "I understand wanting to wait."
"After what happened last time, we didn't want to take any chances," He said, his voice shaky as worry started to set in.
"It's going to be alright," I assured him, "Nothing is going to happen to either of them this time."
He gave me a small smile, "Thank you. Honestly, if you and Zea weren't here, I don't know how Layla would be doing. After she lost it, Zea was the only one she would talk to. She made Layla happy again."
I turned back to the perfect angel running around the field, "That's what she does. She makes people happy, just like me."
We watched in silence as Layla and Zea continued to pick flowers and chase each other around the field. It was a perfect day, filled with happiness and laughter.
Then Layla and Madden froze as horror crossed their faces. Their eyes glossed over as they were pulled into a mind link.
In a split second, the perfect day came crashing down as the first horn whaled out over the trees.
As each horn blared, fear seeped into my bones. The sentries around the pack only sound for one thing.
Rogues.
