Unwanted

1

I look around my empty apartment one more time. I don't want to leave anything behind when I go, because I know I won't be back for a long time, if ever.

I don't know what will happen when I go back to the pack, but I know they won't let me leave as easily as they did last time, although I did tell them I was going to college, but then forgot to mention I wouldn't be coming back, and that I wouldn't be staying in contact with any of them.

Of course that has now changed, somehow my oldest brother found a way to contact me, to send me the letter. The first thing I have seen of the pack in almost four years.

I was angry when I first saw the letter. I thought I had made it clear that I did not want to be a part of the pack anymore, but then I read the letter, and it brought me to tears.

My mother had died, and it was time for her funeral.

Out of everyone in the pack. I loved my mother the most. She understood me, she realized I didn't want to live the life we lived, I didn't want to hide away from the world, I wanted to thrive and find my own way, not live off of our trust fund that somehow only kept building.

I think she was the least surprised when I stopped calling home.

Now, after I had missed the last few years my mother had, I feel an aching hole in my chest where my heart use to be. I didn't realize how much I missed my mother, how much I missed the pack.

I swore to myself I wouldn't fall back into the trap, I would not go back, but now? I'm not so sure if that was a good idea.

I always wanted to be someone, and I am. I graduated law school in two years, a record according to them, and for the past two years I have been working my way up the ladder. I've become what I have always wanted to be, but am I happy? I worked hard for what? Money? Fame? But then I forget my family, and my mother, the only one who truly understood me, dies.

I don't even know how she died, it could have been a miserable death, it could have been quick, but I do know that I wasn't there as she took her last breath, and I'll never forgive myself for that.

I never sent anything back saying I would be coming to the funeral, which was probably not smart on my side, but I didn't want to the chance of being ridiculed by my family.

So, I decided to just show up unannounced. Probably, not a good idea, but I'm not really thinking straight these last days.

With a sigh, I shoulder the duffle bag that was by my feet and grab the handle for the suitcase sitting next to it. Without a backward glance at my once homey feeling apartment, I leave.

Xxxxx

When I first make it to Willow, I can feel the difference in the atmosphere. I can feel the presence of a pack, of others not in a pack, but most importantly, I can feel my pack.

I know that they would never bury mother in a public cemetery, it would be asking for an omega to come and eat her body. They would bury her in the meadow, her favorite place on the whole pack property.

I park my rental car, next to the pack house, where others I haven't seen in years, or don't know at all, walk in the direction of the meadow. I follow their lead. Blending in. I don't know why I feel shy all of a sudden, but I know that I could either be welcomed with open arms, or be met with resistance. I know the hardest will be my father, the Alpha of our pack. I assume he was the most surprised of me leaving.

When I finally make it to the meadow I have to blink back the tears from the amount of memories I had here with mother. I was always a mommy boy, and I always seemed to be around her when I was younger. I can hear my delighted screams as Mother changed me around in her wolf form. I can see the radiant smile she always wore. I can see her.

They couldn't have found a better place to bury her than here. A place she loved.

A shoulder hits my own, knocking me out of my daze. I shake my head as I continue walking in the direction of the casket, seeing the open lid. I never really thought about how I would react to actually seeing mother in the casket, but I can feel a single tear slip down my cheek as I near, and my breathing picks up speed.

I am standing at the bottom of Mother's casket. Looking at her peaceful face. I can't see what caused her to die, but I can faintly smell the sour scent of wolfsbane. If it wasn't for my extreme sense, more sensitive than anyone in my family, I wouldn't have been able to smell.

Hunters, they had taken my mother from me. From the pack.

I reach down and touch mothers leg. It's cold, has no life to it. It doesn't seem real. I focus as I close my eyes reaching deep inside of me for a part I have long given up, long before I left the pack.

Mother is laying in bed. She has been feeling under the weather lately, which is odd since she is a shifter and can heal faster than she could get sick. She doesn't know what is wrong, but she hopes she can get better soon.

A man walks in, claims he is from the hospital wing and that her husband had asked if he could come and give her something to make her better. Mother is suspicious but agrees when she hear her mates name. Her mate would never hurt her.

The man smirks as he injects her with a clear liquid, but as it enters mother, it turns black. Mother tries to say something, but she goes lax, looking up at the man with half lidded eyes. It only takes a second before all of the life drains out of here, and the only scent you can smell is sickness. No wolfsbane, no nothing.

I jerk away from mother, breathing deeply as I furiously blink the black dots away from my vision. My legs feel weak from the amount of energy I have used, and for what I had seen. I am just barely recovering when I hear someone speak behind me.

"Noah?"