Stolen Past

Chapter 4

Cole's POV

I rush to Liam and hold him down before he lunges at Alpha Victor.

"Easy there!! Calm down!" I whisper as Liam tries his best wiggling out of my grip.

It is not really that hard for me to drag him out and then push him against the wall just outside the palace. My hand on his chest, pinning him to the wall. I need not have to use all my energy.

"My mate" he whispers.

"I know. I very well know the situation. But you need to calm down" I tell him.

He nods. But it takes him few moments to calm down. Once he does, the first thing he does is hit the wall till his knuckles starts to bleed.

I don't do anything. Evelyn walks out and she screams as soon as she notices Liam's bleeding knuckles.

"What are you doing?!! Stop!!!!" Evelyn hisses at Liam.

"I got this, Ev! Go check on Autumn. This is really not going end well" I shake my head just imagining how this is going to end.

Evelyn looks at me, then at Liam who is still staring into nothing. Reluctantly, she leaves and walks inside. I know she can simply use her Royal tone and make them talk to each other about it, but it can even come off as compulsion that she does not want or like.

I give Liam another minute till he calms down. And once he did, I playfully hit him making him groan.

"Now, what was that for?" He asks me.

"Put your wolf in bay!" I say and he rolls his eyes.

I punch him again, "Do not roll your eyes at me!"

He hugs me and I know he needs someone. So I let him take it all out for a while. He does not talk about anything. And yet, the silence is not comfortable at all.

"So, now would you like to talk?" I ask him as he pulls away.

"I did not see this coming. I was waiting for my mate. She is my only hope for happiness. But now I know I have lost that too" He says.

I feel bad for him. He got through his toxic parents. He doesn't know who his real biological parents are. His sister Celia is away since she is a Luna. He is all alone and he had high hopes on his mate.

"It's okay. Life is all about lemons and expecting us to make orange juice out of it" I smile.

He nods awkwardly and tilts his head. I throw my arm over his shoulder and we walk inside. I spot everyone in living room.

Autumn freaks out as soon as she notices Liam's arrival again. Liam's eyes soften as he looks at Autumn, and I cannot help but feel bad about this dude. He absolutely doesn't deserve this. After all he went through.. Moon Goddess needs to give him a break.

"I am not going to hurt you" Liam whispers.

"But you were ready to pounce earlier" Autumn whispers back.

Liam shakes his head and turns to Victor. And for the first time, I see victor wavering. He does not have his usual confidence. Alpha Victor Frank is someone who would take every step forward with such confidence and pride.. it is really difficult to see him at loss of words.

"I thought she did not find her mate because she did not have one.. but turns out she never really met him. I am sorry, Liam" Victor is quick to apologise.

Liam only shakes his head again but this time, with a sad smile.

"I should have listened to you, Evelyn" Liam says as he looks at my mate.

She narrows her eyes at him with her face filled with confusion. Not just her but we all are confused too.

"You always told me to explore. But I was so afraid of my father.. I did not place my foot outside the borders. I should have listened to you .. maybe I could have come across her earlier.. she would have been mine" Liam says as his words crack at the end.

"Victor and I have a kid together. Soon we might be expecting one again. The last full moon, we mated for second time" Autumn says.

As if Liam is not just having hard time!

"Let us just get done with the rejection process and move on. I see you have a family. If you like him, I cannot do anything. I don't want to be that sadistic kind of guy" Liam whispers.

"Can we both have a minute, in private?" Autumn asks out of blue.

We all look at each other's faces and we eventually nod. We all walk out giving them some space. When King Michael and Samantha walk out, I notice they must have witnessed whatever happened too. I was consumed by calming Liam down.

"Goddess is just playing with him!" King Michael grunts.

"True that" I tell him.

"Or maybe something better is coming his way. Someone better. Someone who cannot be imprinted. And someone patiently waiting for her prince charming to come love her" Evelyn says.

"So you say Liam is going to imprint on three more someones?" I ask her trying to lighten mood.

But she hits my shoulder making me groan. King Michael and Samantha are really enjoying the show right now.

"True. Liam deserves someone better. I feel like I snatched the one chance he had to happiness" Victor whispers.

We don't tell anything to that. Because anything we tell him right now, would only magnify the guilt he is already having.

"It's okay. You did not know. Moreover, Autumn is happy with you. You did not force her" Evelyn says.

But we all know she is trying to lighten up the atmosphere and yet, she failed. I am not going to blame her because no one of us have good words to say right now.

Minutes later the doors to the palace opens and Autumn walks out with tears in her eyes. We all look at her worried but then Liam stands behind her with tearful eyes as well.

"We rejected each other. Even though you marked me, it still hurts Vic" Autumn says.

Liam turns his head away trying to focus on something else. Until Evelyn hugs him. He shudders in his presence.

"I think it is a long day. We will take leave now" Victor says.

"I am so sorry, Liam! I would spend the rest of my life trying to make up for it" Victor apologises Liam again before leaving with her mate sobbing in his arms.

Evelyn and I follow Liam to his house. He lives alone now. His parents are locked up in silver cells for abusing him for eighteen years! His only sister is now mated to an Alpha so she is in that pack serving as their Luna. Indeed, his only chance to happiness is finding his mate. Or was.

"Liam.. you know you can talk to me if something is wrong" Evelyn tells him.

"Come on, Ev! It hurts me now.. but sooner I will get over it. Sharing doesn't really reduce the weight I have right now" he says as he pours himself a glass of water.

Evelyn and I look at each other.

"She looked at me with love in her eyes. I know it was the mate bond doing that way. But for a moment I wished it was me and not Alpha Victor" he whispers.

It is as if he is talking to himself and not to us. We give him another second to pull his grief together. He needs to let it out one way or the other.

"I.. I don't know. Maybe this is what my life is all about. Suffering" he says with a sigh.

"Anyways, I am going to.. to the training grounds. And, Evelyn.. the document I brought to you earlier. Sign it up and I will collect it later" Liam leaves without turning back.

I pull Evelyn closer and place a kiss on her cheek. She sighs but leans more into me.

"Everything happens for a reason. Before you stress yourself out.." I pause and place a hand on her belly, "remember there is a tiny bean inside you"

She smiles at me and nods.

"But he is like my own little brother! I can't see him this way" she whispers.

"I know. I know what he means to you. I know how Celia would react to this. But we have nothing in our hands. We can only hope for his second chance" I tell her.

Evelyn eventually nods and leaves for the castle. Today is also the day I visit my own pack. The Rogue Pack. Just because I am now mated to Queen of werewolves, it doesn't change who I am. I am the Rogue Alpha.

I give control to Odin and he is more than glad to run and sprint in the woods. It doesn't take me more than a couple hours to reach the borders of my pack.

"Welcome Back, Alpha!" Jack opens the gates.

Everyone makes way till I run to my house and to my bed room. I shift back and throw on few clothes before walking out. Usually, wolves doesn't run around under roofs but I don't have an option now.

"I see we have a visitor" Noah jokes making me shove him out of my way with a smile.

"How have you been, Beta?" I smirk at him.

"Very well. Sarah and Nikki missed you. Nikki wanted to visit you actually. Good thing you are here now" He smiles.

Sarah is my sister who is the beta female to the rogue pack. Not really my blood shared sister, but I found her abandoned in the woods when she was an year old and she is stuck with me since then. I treat her as my own sister. Nikitha is their daughter. My niece.

"Well, ask Sarah to cook more. I would be there for dinner too. For now, let me go to my office and see what I missed" I smile.

As I walk to my office, I see people happily greet me. They bow and tell me how much they missed me. I feel content. I am a happy man. I have my mate who is pregnant with my child. I am a Rogue but still have my pack to rule. My mate is a Queen and I have access to many packs across the world. Needless to say, many packs love me for my ideas on development too.

Life is all well, that it is suspicious! How can life be this perfect? Is the storm on its way or is it already at the shore of my life??

My thoughts are cut short when I see my office in sight. I walk in and I don't see much of pending works. Noah is doing a very good job, I see.

The little amount of documents that are on my table are the transfer applications and petitions for a clothing store, café and liquor mart.

Another reason I am proud of my pack is we all built it from scratch. And now I see we need additions. Clothing store and café sounds good but I need to hold a meeting for the idea of liquor mart. We have lot of pup population, so it would be a bad approach if adults just enjoy having alcohol at all times.

I see that more of the Rogues found their mates and want to transfer to those packs. I grant them permission to the transfer. I am not ready to bid my people farewell but that is what life is. We just need to keep moving on.

I hear a knock when I am just about to sign the petition of opening a new clothing store.

"Come in!" I shout.

"Good Evening, Alpha!" I hear the familiar voice and I smile wide.

"Hey Lauren! You still here? I thought you would have left by now. You found your mate!!" I smile as she walks towards me.

"Tomorrow morning, actually. Tristan promised me that he would come take me home" She smiles.

"Oh! That i***t?" I smile and she covers her face with her hands making me laugh out loud.

"Stop, Alpha, Please!! Now you would even embarass me when he is here too, won't you?!" She smiles at me.

"Depends. Or maybe I'll save that fun for later. How is Theresa by the way?" I ask her.

"She is so strong. She is not the little girl I know anymore. It is almost like she is possessed. Beta Female Sarah took Theresa's responsibility. But I still feel sad that I need to move away leaving her here" Lauren smiles sad.

But like I told myself for tenth time today, that is what life is!

"Okay then. I dropped by to tell you about it. That I am leaving tomorrow. I felt bad that I wouldn't have a chance to tell you in person" she smiles.

I nod. Lauren is a very good warrior and this pack will miss her. But at the same time, there is nothing I can do.

Moon Goddess has a different way with mates. Morning, I saw Liam heartbroken rejecting his mate. And now, I am seeing Lauren smiling so wide because she is moving to her mate's pack because they love each other.