The Mate Inside Me

Chapter 34

Trigger Warning.

Reels after reels played before my eyes, all of which were centered around one docile looking black-haired, blue-eyed girl. These were mostly images of her from her younger days.

"Following the month after she gave birth, Maria developed postpartum psychosis. Normally, babies in this situation are kept with their mothers under a supervisor's watch but her strong werewolf genetics made her condition worsen. Every chance she got, she'd try harming the baby or herself. It was getting out of hand."

Splashing sounds, followed by more splashes, a baby was crying. My eyes zeroed in on the new reel playing before us. Maria's arms were buried inside a bathtub till her elbows. It seemed like she was pushing something down.

My eyes widened at the same as the midwife, who had helped Maria given birth, came screaming inside the bathroom before pushing Maria aside from the tub.

She hadn't just been pushing something down. It was someone. It was a month-old Amaya.

"Things were getting out of hand. The psychosis mixed with the guilt was eating Maria inside out. When she couldn't get rid of the source of her pain, she tried taking her own life in a miserable attempt to end her constant pain."

It was another image of Maria climbing up a chair, a noose made of sheets gripped firmly in her bony hands.

The next image I saw made me close my eyes in horror. Even though I had only looked it for less than a second, I knew the image would remain etched into my brain for a long, long time-the image of a body swinging from a ceiling fan.

"She was saved in time, but the incident revealed to Adrian how serious her condition had gotten. Maria didn't want to be in the same vicinity as the baby. She had made it clear."

I pressed my trembling lips. I still couldn't stop thinking about that horrifying scene.

"Therefore with a heavy heart, Alpha Adrian sent the baby off to live with her nanny in the city, amongst the humans. Adrian took Maria back to the pack house. Everyone in the pack was told that the baby died during childbirth."

The memories playing in front of us started switching rapidly.

"Following year, Adrian took Maria to see Amaya but the moment she saw Amaya, something inside her switched. She had remained normal for the most year but that day, she suffered from another episode. It seemed like there was more to her condition than they had initially imagined."

My eyes were trained on the birthday hat wearing one year old, dressed in a pastel blue frilly frock, she was crying loudly in her nanny's arms, her birthday cake turned upside down on the ground while Maria continued yelling,

"Shut up. Shut up. Make her shut up!"

The child's complexion had turned red-blue, her face was full of tears. Maria, on the other hand, was covering her ears while rocking back and forth. Adrian had rushed to his wife's side immediately, wasting no time in taking her out of the door. After some time, the room turned silent as the nanny had finally been able to coax the child into sleeping after feeding her through a bottle.

What hurt the most amongst all this chaos was the candle shaped as number "1" scattered in a mess on the ground. It had been crushed under someone's shoes.

"Marchosias, I can't handle the images."

For the first time since we started sift through my mother's memories, I turned to look at Marchosias. He was staring ahead impassively.

I watched his jaw tick for a slight moment as he answered me without turning to look my way,

"It was your command in the first place, master. If you wish to stop, you can command me once again to do so."