Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
“Wait, what? You didn’t tell us that there was someone else.” Noah was shocked and nervous about what I was going to say.
“Who else was there? Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?” Carter looked hurt, like he thought I was holding out on him.
“Well, I didn’t tell you two about the other visitor earlier because I wanted us to be together as a family when I told you who else was there.”
“Riviana?” Dad looked at me with a knowing look, his eyes filled with sorrow. “Who was the other person you met with?”
It was like he already knew. And, judging by the look on Mom’s face, she had guessed it as well. Grandfather looked like he might know, but didn’t want to hear it. The three of them looked like their hearts were already broken from the news that I hadn’t shared yet.
“The last person that Danu brought to talk to me was my mother.”
The gasps were only from Noah and Carter who hadn’t suspected that yet.
“Oh my.” Mom put a hand over her mouth and looked like she was about to cry. Dad and Grandfather just looked at me with tears in their eyes.
“Riviana, what did your mother say? Tell me, please.” Grandfather looked like he didn’t want to know, not really, but it was also like he needed to know.
I took a deep breath and calmed my nerves. I know that this was going to be hard on all of them, especially Grandfather.
“Mom told me something that we all need to know. Grandfather, she didn’t kill herself. She didn’t leave us on purpose.”
“What?” Grandfather stood from his chair angrily.
“But how? How did she die if she didn’t.. if she didn’t k..k..kill-?” Dad was unable to get the words out, his tears had started, so had Grandfather’s.
“Riviana, what happened to her.” Noah begged me.
“Sweetheart, what did she say?” Mom cried, and Carter was the only one who didn’t say anything.
“Edmond had intended to make her forget everything, and she did for a time. However, after a while she started to remember. The memories of that time started to come back, but she didn’t tell you. She didn’t want to hurt you, Grandfather. She didn’t want the sorrow to get to you all. Grandfather, she said she was sorry. She was sorry she never told you even after she remembered, and she didn’t want you to think she blamed you for anything. Dad, she said you were the best brother she could have asked for.”
They were all crying now. Dad and Grandfather were sobbing the hardest. Mom was crying silently while rubbing circles onto Dad’s back. Noah’s face was in his hands while he cried to himself softly. And Carter just stared at me with tears rolling down his cheeks.
After a few minutes, Grandfather spoke up and asked me something else.
“If she didn’t kill herself, then how did she die? How did my baby girl die? What took her from us?”
“The spell on her memories. When it faded and she started to remember, the spell killed her. She said she could feel it eating away at her quickly. She didn’t have much time when she realized what was happening to her so there was no point in telling you. It would have made you hurt that much more.”
“So he killed her? That son of a bitch warlock killed my baby sister?”
“He took her from me. He took her from me twice. That warlock stole my baby and destroyed her innocence, and then he killed her.”
Grandfather cried uncontrollably. I couldn’t bear it anymore, I needed to comfort him. I walked over to him and put my arms around him. I held him for several minutes while he sobbed, crying over his lost little girl.
When I took my arms away from Grandfather, Dad hugged him next. He put his arms around his father, and the two of them cried together. They had finally learned the truth of what had happened, why their family had been destroyed all those years ago. I watched them, wiping the tears from my eyes as I did.
Noah and Carter didn’t hug Dad or Grandfather, they came over and hugged me. Both of them put their arms around me at the same time. They held me tightly and cried with me.
“I know that must have been hard on you, Riviana.” Noah sobbed into my ear. He had been the one who knew my mother the most out of the three of us. He loved her, and he missed her the most.
“I know you’ve wanted to meet her your whole life Rivi, I’m glad you finally did. I’m sorry that you had to hear that though.” Carter’s words were soft and soothing.
“I..i..it’s b..b..better knowing than n..n..not. Now w..w..we know th..th..that she d..d..didn’t l..leave us o..o..on p..p..purpose. N..now w..we know th..that sh..sh..she l..l..loved us a..all and w..w..wanted t..to b..be with u..us.” I blubbered when I spoke, having trouble getting the words out.
We all stayed like that for a while, just crying and holding each other until we finally left the office with red swollen eyes.
****
Riviana
****
That meeting with my family had been very emotional. I knew it would be though. After the meeting we all basically went to bed, our eyes too tired to do anything else. That night when I slept, all I wanted was for Joaquin to hold me close. I needed to feel his comforting warmth as I fell asleep. His arms anchoring me in place was all that would make me feel better.
The next day I decided to spend time with my family. I didn’t want to miss things with them right now, I wanted to be part of it all. We went to the festivals, which this time included magical gardens that were growing all over the courtyards.
Most of the Fae that didn’t live in the castle didn’t have access to the crops that were grown in the castle. They needed to grow them on their own and those without nature magic tended to have a harder time with that.
The point of the nature days of the festival was to spread that bounty with everyone while celebrating the natural parts of the Fae magic. Noah, with his affinity for earth magic, was actually close to the nature side of magic. He even engaged in a building contest with someone else who was making things out of rocks. All the Fae were quite impressed by him since he was a wolf with little Fae blood. I had to wonder if Danu was going to bless the rest of my family with Fae magic, or if they already had it, and we just needed to learn how to use it.
On the third day of the Nature festival, I went to see Athair m贸r. I wanted to tell him about the meeting that I had and to tell him what his son said. I didn’t want to take too long before I went to see him, but I had needed a day with the family. Not to mention that Reagan and Rika had loved the gardens and groves of trees so much.
I arrived at Athair m贸r’s place for lunch. It was going to be just the two of us, I thought that would be best. When I went inside, he ran over to me and hugged me tight. He was so happy to have a family now that he couldn’t get enough of all of us. I just hoped this didn’t break his heart too much.
