My Brothers Best Friend

Chapter 12 - Teen Angst

Caleb's P.O.V

"But Dad!" Imogen yells at me the moment we return home.
"No, I said wait until you finish school, and that's final" I reply.
Imogen storms out of my office with a huff, "Mum!" She yells, stomping off to find her mother.
"Don't even try that angle, she agrees with me" I yell after her.
"Not getting involved" Cora adds.
Our argument makes its way into the corridor,
"Dad please, I need to start being taught to be a Beta and it's easier if Uncle Adrian can mind link me" Imogen begs.
"If he thought the same, he would discuss the matter with me"
"He's afraid Dad. We all are."
"What?" I reply.
"Has the thought ever occurred to you that people don't talk to you about things because they're afraid? Why do you think I waited so long to tell you about Dean? And yet I'm here arguing with you right now because I'm the only one who's willing to fight you because a part of me isn't afraid. Mum doesn't even want to get involved. What does that tell you huh?"
Cora appears at the top of the stair case, "how dare you say that?!" Cora yells. The both of us silence.
"Honey, please it's fine" I say trying to hold back my hurt feelings and restrain my angry mate.
"Caleb no" Cora replies, "are you just going to sit around and let your 16 year old daughter disrespect you? I'm not afraid of him Imogen and how dare you say that. I'm staying out of this because moving packs is part of you growing up and finding your mate. I would love you to stay but I know you're not. I'm okay with that but you're father isn't, so if he asks you to stay while he adjusts, obey him" I had only ever heard Cora use that menacing tone once before at my Father after he disrespected my authority. The house was silent as Cora and Imogen stared each other down.
"I'm leaving and you can't stop me" Imogen speaks.
"If you move in with you mate you'll only end up pregnant. Enjoy trying to finish high school with a werewolf baby and if that happens don't come crying to me, asking me for help, because I tried to help you and you threw my help back in my face" Cora speaks, her voice cracking as she holds back a tear. I envelop Cora in my arms, hiding her crying from Imogen. My eyes continues to watch Imogen,
"Good bye" she says sadly, "don't follow me or even try to" she replies leaving the house, silently crying.

A few days later wolves from Aidan's pack are sent to collect Imogen's things, her room an empty carcass of life, barely showing that someone ever lived in there.
I sit in my office filling out paper work to document Imogen's leave from my pack, a feeling I'm only waiting for. As I sign the paper, I feel Imogen leave my pack. She's really gone. Moments later I am filled with the feeling of depression, not my own feelings but my mates. She's always been susceptible to this kind of emotion. I follow her scent and my instinct and I find her, sitting on the floor of Imogen's old room, her knees pulled up to her chest, silently crying. I run to her side and embrace my mate, she buries her head in my chest and cries.
"Shhh, it's okay baby, I know, I know" I speak, a singular tear escapes my eye, landing on Cora's head, she grasps me tighter. Together we sit and mourn the loss of our daughter to her mate.

2 Years Later

Adrian's P.O.V

Henry my cousin stands in front of me, in my office, pleading with me to help fight their war against their packs ex Beta. He's been around for years, since my Mother was young.
After my sisters deterrence from our pack, the bond between us and my cousins pack has been weak. Sometimes I see Imogen, when she's covering at a pack meeting for Henry, sometimes just in town. Both my parents are still negatively affected over my sisters deterrence. My mother mourning the loss of her daughter as she does her parents.
"Why?" I ask Henry, "why should we risk the lives of my pack members for yours?"
"Because we're struggling. My pack army is wounded and falling a part, if I can't get your help my next and only option is to employ every person in my pack that can shift, trained or not and I really don't want to force the young people of my pack into a suicide mission"
"Okay, we will help you, but if any of my soldiers are killed, we retract immediately"
"Thank you"
"Henry, my sister, will she be fighting?"
"Of course not Adrian...you don't know? She's expecting her first child, and soon"
"What? She's only 18?"
"I know, she's just having these last few months off school until she has the baby and when any sign of her pregnancy is gone, she'll return"
My mother's heart is going to shrivel and die, when and if she finds out. The hardest part for her has been having to miss out on all life's milestones with Imogen. Every time she finds out something like a school achievement or even pup, I see a part of her die and it kills my father to see her like that and not be able to fix it. Imogen has no idea the damage she has caused to this family. My mother is a broken china doll glued back together and barely holding on, and my father is the silence right before a storm.
We haven't just missed out on my sisters growing up, but much of my cousins too, as my parents refuse to visit their pack. I used to hear my father on the phone with Uncle Aidan, begging him to convince her to come home. My mother and her brother were always so close, as he used to be her only living relative that she knew of. Now they barely speak.