The Alpha's forbidden omega mate - Chapter 25: Chapter 25

I was eight years old, playing near our old house in the forest. My parents weren't part of a regular pack, they were rogues.
This meant we had to be super careful and live far away from everyone, especially the mean pack that wanted to hurt us.
"Catrina!" My mom called out.
"Come inside, sweetie!"
Mom was beautiful back then, with long red hair and bright green eyes. She was gentle and kind, not scary like the wolf I once saw her turn into.
I skipped back to her, my braids bouncing.
"Yes, Mom?"
She hugged me close and smelled my hair.
"Your dad needs to talk to us. It's important."
I could hear Mom's worry. Something wasn't right.
Inside, Dad was waiting with a serious face. He looked strong and cool, with messy black hair. When he looked grumpy, you knew to pay attention.
"Maggie, Trina," Dad said in his booming voice.
"There's trouble. Those awful Magnus wolves found us again."
Mom gasped and hugged me close like a shield. I didn't quite get everything, but their scared faces told me this was bad.
"Henri, no..." Mom whispered, using Dad's real name like she did when scared.
"What are we gonna do? They want to hurt us!"
Dad ran his hand through his hair, frustrated.
"I know, honey. We might have to run even deeper into the woods, far away from here."
Mom started to cry softly, her whole body shaking. I hugged her back tight, scared too.
"Don't cry," Dad said, trying to sound brave.
"I'll keep you both safe, no matter what. Even if we have to fight..." He mumbled the last part real low, almost a growl.
My eyes got big - Mom and Dad only turned into shifted to their wolves when things were super serious. But if those bad Magnus wolves were after us, maybe they had to this time.
The next few days were awful.
We were all on edge in our tiny house. Dad stayed up all night listening for intruders. Then one horrible night, everything went crazy.
I woke up to scary growls and yelps that made me shiver under the covers. Suddenly, the door to our room flew open with a bang!
There was Mom, all wolf with her fur puffed out and teeth showing, but I still knew it was her because of her pretty green eyes.
"Run, Catrina!" she shouted, her voice sounding half-wolf, half-human.
"Go to the basement, now!"
Before I could even say anything, the whole house shook from a loud crash.
Mom roared like a beast and charged out of the room on all fours. I heard fighting - growls, ripping sounds, and bones crunching - it was terrifying!
Peeking out from under the covers, I saw a giant, black wolf walk in. It was huge, at least four times my size, with glowing amber eyes! It lunged for me with its mouth wide open.
"Papa! Mama!" I cried out, terrified.
Dad must have heard me scream because he burst into the room like a furry gray rocket. He was enormous like he was getting bigger by the second as he turned into a giant wolf.
Daddy and the black wolf started fighting right away, biting and scratching each other like crazy. I'd never seen anything so violent, it was awful.
Mom came in behind Dad, hurt with a bloody scratch on her arm, but she was still trying to fight. I wanted to go to her, but she yelled at me to hide.
The battle raged on right in front of me. The black wolf was one of the bad Magnus wolves Dad warned us about.
It was way stronger than Mom and Dad, and every time it hit them, they stumbled back.
At one point, Dad managed to bite the black wolf's leg. It howled super loud in pain and kicked back with its strong back legs, hitting Dad right in the head.
There was a really scary crack sound.
Daddy was thrown backwards, slamming against the wall with a loud thud. He didn't get up, just lay there still in a heap of fur.
"Henri!" Mama screamed in her human voice, rushing over to him.
That moment of distraction allowed the black Magnus wolf to stand up again. With incredible speed, it jumped straight for Mama, its powerful jaws opening wide.
I couldn't look away, even though I wanted to. Mama howled and rolled, trying hard to keep the jet-black wolf from biting her throat. Blood flew through the air as they struggled, Mama kicking and thrashing.
Just when it seemed hopeless, Daddy suddenly jumped up with an angry growl. He crashed into the Magnus wolf like a train, his jaws clamping around its throat.
Mama joined him, and together they overpowered the enemy wolf through pure fierceness.
There was a horrible crunching sound as Daddy's powerful jaws closed. The black wolf's eyes went blank and it fell to the floor, not moving.
Daddy and Mama changed back to their human forms, covered in blood and breathing hard. But they were alive.
I felt relieved, but also shocked and horrified by the brutal thing I had just seen.
My own parents... were killers.
I woke up from that awful dream, the kind you wish you could forget forever. I couldn't even remember what pack my parents used to be in. But then it hit me like a ton of bricks.
The pack my parents desperately tried to keep me away from, the one they were even willing to die to escape – that was the same pack I was tangled up with now…
How could the world be so cruelly unfair? To give me the chance of finding love and belonging, only for the ugly past to come crashing back in revenge?
I unconsciously put my hand on my belly as another wave of nausea hit me.
The second I thought about it, my throat felt like it was closing up. It was like I might be carrying the answer to this whole mess of old fights and secrets hidden right inside me.
Feeling totally out of it, I stumbled to the bathroom, needing a break from all these awful thoughts, even if it was just for a minute.
I turned on the faucet and let the cold water run while I splashed some on my sweaty face.
"Come on, Catrina," I whispered to my pale reflection, my hands gripping the sink so hard they turned white. "You can't fall apart now."
After my parents took me away from that bloody clearing in the woods and moved us to a regular town, I really thought we'd left all that bad stuff behind.
I thought we could just forget about all the wolf fights and start over.
The more I thought about Rowan's family history, the sillier my old way of thinking seemed.
It was like a little kid's dream, not strong enough to protect me from the truth about my past.
But a tiny part of me still hoped things weren't so bad. After all, a lot could have changed for the Magnus pack since my parents left.
Maybe they weren't so violent anymore and had learned better ways. If there was even a chance of that, I had to hold onto it for my baby's sake.
Taking a deep breath, I straightened up and looked at myself in the mirror with a serious face.
"One step at a time, Catrina," I told myself. "First you figure out what's really going on. Then you'll deal with the rest."
I gave a quick nod to my reflection and walked out of the bathroom, feeling more determined than scared. I couldn't fall apart now, not when I had to solve this mystery.
I heard a soft knock on the door. I jumped a little, my heart racing, until I recognized the voice.
Rowan's deep voice came through the door, calming me down even though it also made me nervous at the same time.
"Catrina? It's Rowan. Can I come in?"
Taking a deep breath, I straightened up and opened the door a tiny bit, just enough to look up at his face. I tried to hide how I was feeling.
"Is everything okay?" His golden eyes looked me up and down like he was trying to figure out what was wrong.