The Howling Heart's Forgiveness

Chapter 18

Looking at myself in the vanity mirror, I make sure that no curl is out of place. It has officially been seven days since Golden Fang was attacked and today I will be initiated as their new Beta. I can feel my stomach flip flop with nerves as I wonder if I will do a good job without any Beta training. Miss Asteria, Albert and Marisol have stated that my instinct will guide me and that I have done well with the crash course of being a proper Beta that the three gave me the last few days. I just can’t help but think that I might be too young for this position.

I still occupy my room in the pack house and have yet to move into my cottage, too busy the last seven days with Organising training schedules, patrol shifts and hunting parties with Quincy and Miss Asteria. Gale decided he would delve into his Luan role early and began planning where to place a new green house and large garden beds, deciding to leave the leading to us. He even took over leading the Omegas which left me feeling empty for a moment as I had grown a bond with them.

“Brynlee?” Quincy’s voice sounds from outside the door. My hand pauses and a smile creeps along my lips. Quincy has become a good friend of mine, the two of us relaxing after a long day of rebuilding Golden Fang in the sitting room downstairs. Pushing the chair back, I stand and silently pad towards the door. Quincy has a bad habit of leaning on closed doors, nearly falling on his face a few times when someone opens it.

“Brynlee, are you in here still?” He calls out again just as I open the door and watch as he looses his balance and stagers forward a bit.

“Were you leaning on the door?” I ask while laughing, watching as he straightens.

“The door frame. I didn’t think you would open the door.” He grumbles out, making me laugh harder. I take in the red head’s appearance and note that the track pants and t-shirts he usually wears when running around the pack are gone, replaced by a pair of fitted jeans and a white dress shirt. His usually un-tamed hair is slicked back with gel. Every part of him screams male and I find myself unable to take my eyes off him.

“Take a picture, it last’s longer.” He teases, making me blush and flip him off.

“I am not used to you being dressed properly.” I defend myself while rolling my eyes. He laughs at this, making is way close to me and wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

“Well today is a special day. We get a new Alpha, Luan and a Beta.” He retorts with.

“And I finally get to sleep in my own home.” I add as we walk out of the room I have slept in for the last seven days.

“Yes. We no longer need you in the pack house now that schedules have been created and the pack is finally starting to show signs of improvement.” He states with a smile while we walk down the stairs. I ask if he wants to go to the sitting room since the initiation ceremony will take another thirty-minutes, but he instead steers me down the second floor hallway.

“I have a surprise for you. Odette and Savanah helped me plan it.” He whispers sheepishly. Curious, I ask him what it is, but he instead has me cover my eyes. A few moments later, I am helped through a door, Quincy bumping into it himself behind me making me chuckle. I can send Odette and Savanah, the two she-wolves most likely in the room.

“Open your eyes Beta Brynlee.” Odette calls out. Without hesitation, I drop my hands form my face and find myself in the office I had liked the first day here in Golden Fang. The room had been cleaned to perfection, all the old furniture and curtains replaced with a new desk in the corner. The balcony door was open, and I can here the distant chatter of pack mates coming through, everyone excitedly talking about the ceremony.

“You…you did this for me?” I ask in shock, making my way towards the black mahogany desk that houses a new computer system and a new laptop.

“You have done a lot for us the last few days, so we all thought that we would fix up this office for you since you’ve been using it this week.” Quincy answers, Odette and Savanah nodding in response. Without thinking, I walk towards the girls and pull them in for a hug, calling Quincy over to join us as I thank them profusely for this gift. Everything is perfect from the sofa set and coffee table that matches my desk, to the shelves that are waiting to be filled with books. The paint if a warm cream colour, making the room brighter and appear bigger. I am just happy that the room I wanted to be my office is mine officially.

“Since you are not officially out Beta, you can only look. Come tomorrow though, you can move what ever you need to boss us around inside.” Savanah adds, giving me a playful smirk as she lightly pushes me towards the door. I laugh at this, telling her that she is lucky I am not her Beta or she would be running laps around the pack house for being bossy to which she responds by rolling her eyes at me.

We all make out way down the steps where Quincy leads me to the sitting room. Savannah and Odette have some tasks to finish before the ceremony but we promise to see each other at the party and celebrate the new beginning of the pack together. Quincy and I find ourselves sitting side by side on our usual sofa, the two of us just talking about how everyone has taken the change happily and that our pack mates have grown in confidence.

“Even though the attack took so much from us, it kicked Golden Fang into gear and forced everyone to open their eyes.” I say nothing after Quincy lets out his thoughts. He’s been doing this a lot since I agreed to be Beta, him telling me about how the change is needed and how the attack was what this pack needed to no longer be known as the weakest in the country. He never speaks ill of the dead which I am glad for. They are gone and their souls are at peace and we should leave it that way.

“It will be a long journey, but I think Golden Fang will rivel the top three packs in the country.” I admit, a smirk on my lips.

“I agree. With you and Asteria leading us, Golden Fang will be stronger than Pine Moon, maybe even stronger than Blood Claws in the future.” Quincy states with a grin, the room settling into silence as I think about what it will take to become stronger than those two packs.

“I have to ask you something.” Quincy’s words cut through the silence and I watch as he fidgets with his fingers, most likely embarrassed by the question he plans to ask me.

“What is it?” Curious to see what is eating at him, I lean back into the soft cushions and watch Quincy try to form the question.

“Why did you ask us not to spread word that you and Asteria will be leading the pack?” Taken aback from this question, I look outside the window beside me and sigh. I am shocked it took him three days to ask this question.

“My Mate, the one who rejected me, is Miss Asteria’s nephew.” I begin explaining, feeling the dam in my mind crack. I pray for it to hold for one more night. I can’t crack while at the ceremony.

“She was the eldest child of the previous Alpha at Pine Moon but due to pack law, only a male could take the Alpha position. That would be Miss Asteria’s younger brother. It turns out my mate had an engagement agreement with Tanya Cross of blood moon since they were pups and because of this, he rejected me.” The dam cracks some more and I shudder, the pain I kept in for so long starting to seep through.

“I feel like there is more to the story and I would have accepted it had my Ex-Mate told me, but he didn’t. Instead, he called me a liar when I stated we were Mates at what I believe to be a trial set up by the Alpha and Tanya.”

“Why do you say that?” Quincy asks as I take a moment to take a deep breath and push the pain back.

“I spent the night with him, thinking he would mark me and make me his. When I woke up, Rune was gone and without warning, Tanya and her friends attacked me in his bedroom. Their nails were covered in wolfsbane and I was injured during the fight. When Valor came to see the commotion, they pinned the blame on me and I was set to trial.” Quincy stiffens beside me before pulling me into his arms. I take in his scent and try my best to calm down as I can feel myself shaking having to relive one of the worst days of my life.

“Rune, he slapped me trying to keep me from stating we were Mates and that caused him to gain the mark of a Mate Beater.” Quincy’s hand rubs my back, comforting me. The dam continues to bend and buckle, threatening to break. I do my best to calm the pain down and take deep breaths after deep breaths.

“After the rejection I was so angry I attacked him, my Ex. I think I scared him but the mark of a Mate Beater never formed on me.”

“That’s because the bond was broken. You weren’t Mates then and so you were never deemed a Mate beater.” Quincy cuts in, shocking me. Pulling away from the hug, I search his eyes and see that he is telling me the truth.

“So that’s why.” I muse with a smile. Good. Rune deserved that mark for deceiving me and lying to me. Now I don’t feel so bad scaring him.

“Anyways, after I attacked him, Valor banished me and Gale stepped in. It was clear my banishment was planned to keep me and my Ex apart and it was the Valor’s idea. Miss Asteria stated that her and her family would leave with me, stating Rune and Valor would destroy Pine Moon.” I finish. Silence settles between us as I focus on pushing back the pain. It has become harder to hold it all in but after tonight I can let it out.

“That still doesn’t explain why you don’t want other Alphas to know about you two leading Golden Fang.” Quincy pulls away and flicks my forehead, making me laugh for a moment. He’s right, I didn’t really answer his questions.

“It’s because the pack is weak. If other’s learn two she-wolves are the leaders, they will try to attack us. Especially Pine Moon.” I growl at the thought of Valor and Rune coming to attack my new pack. Two days ago we informed the council about our decision to become the Alpha family and Beta of Golden Fang. We also informed them that there might be a name change as well as we believe the wolves here needed something new to start fresh. They were accepting of it but hesitated when we told them not to disclose our names until the pack has recovered and grown stronger but ultimately agreed on the condition that when we were ready to face other Alphas, we would inform the council first.

“I see. I’m glad you are worried for the pack. It means we made the right decision in making you our Beta.” I smile at Quincy’s words. I know from our first real chat we had that his Mate also rejected him. Maybe, just maybe, he could be the man I spend the rest of my days with after I have healed.

“Have you dealt with the pain of rejection yet?” This question catches me off guard and I shake my head.

“I haven’t had time to. Between packing and leaving Pine Moon, traveling on the road from motel to motel, then helping to rebuild Golden Fang, there has been any time to let the pain run it’s course.” I admit, getting a sigh from Quincy.

“Well, after tonight, you are locking yourself in your cottage and letting the pain out.” He grumbles and I chuckle.

“That’s the plan. Miss Asteria knows I will be away for three days after tonight to deal with the rejection and banishment properly.”

“Good. As your friend, I will be with you while you deal with it.” Quincy adamantly states, his tone suggesting that there is no room for arguing.

“You’ll need someone to coach you through the pain. Had you dealt with it within the first seventy-two hours, you would be fine, but after seventeen days, the pain could kill you without help.” He continues, his tone softening.

“Okay. You can help me but only you.” I finally agree, getting a bright smile and a wink.

“Don’t worry Bryn, you’ll only need just me for this.” He chuckles out flirtatiously, making me roll my eyes and lightly swat his shoulder.

“Come on, Beta Brynlee. The ceremony is about to start and I am escorting you.” The clock in the sitting room chimes the time, and Quincy jumps up, excitement in his eyes as he holds his hand out to me. Without hesitation I take it.