Forbidden Mate

Chapter 12

If you want to know about your mother, meet me near the pack border tomorrow at 9.

The content on the slip caught my attention in an instant. Never has Draven, even once, mentioned who my mother was and what happened to her. It was forbidden for me to ask any questions about him. The few times I brought up the topic in the past, Draven stiffened with an indescribable look crossing his face.

The last time I asked him was a couple of years back when I was cleaning our house and realized there was not even a single trace of my mother in my life. When I asked him, he shut me down quickly saying she was someone that should never be brought up in the future.

Even though I was eager to probe deeper, I let it go when I calmly thought about the possibility he was reacting in such a way. Maybe she was a bad person who betrayed Draven and left a big scar on his life. Thinking of her as a bad person, I never wondered about it again. For me, she was as good as dead but that changed when I met the pack.

Speaking of the pack, in the past few weeks, I learned that no one in the pack knows I’m Draven’s daughter. No one knew of my existence before this. For the pack, I'm a rouge who met Draven and we recognized each other as mates and I was his only mate. I used to think Mom was his mate and that I was his second mate but that isn't the case. No one knew of Draven's relationship before me or that he got someone pregnant, which puzzled me.

How did he hide our existence so well? Pack members should have felt my connection when I was born so why is it that they don't? There was something weird about our situation.

Even if I wasn't born in the pack and Draven got someone pregnant outside of the pack, the pack would still have recognized me as his heir the moment I was born.

How come? I asked myself wondering if I was his daughter. Right at that moment, the door opened and Draven walked in. I quickly crumpled the paper in my hand discreetly and looked at him with a smile.

“You’re back! Quickly get changed so we can have dinner,” I said as usual, not giving away anything. Thankfully, over the past few weeks, I have mastered the art of hiding my thoughts from our mate bond. This was what I needed at the moment. The thing with my mother and the thing I have discovered is not connecting and I want to delve deeper into it. If Draven is not willing to tell me about her, I will find out myself. I don't want Draven to force him to spit out the truth. I don't know if my mother was a painful topic for him and I can't bear him to remember something painful because of my curiosity.

Determined to find the truth, I buried my feelings and set up our dinner. When Draven joined me, I silently watched him, only to end up getting baffled by how much alike we looked. He was basically the older version of me. We had the same hair, same eyes, and same skin tone. Hell, we even had identical moles under our eyes.

How the hell did pack members not catch on to it when we both look so alike?

“Is there something on my face?” Draven asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No, I'm just admiring how handsome you are and how much we look alike,” I smiled but Draven stiffened for a second before he relaxed and smiled back at me, though his smile was forced and there was a hint of sadness behind his eyes.

I desperately cling to his change of expression, trying to catch anything from it.

I need to meet that person, I decided then and there that I need to probe deeper into it. I can't hide it forever and if an opportunity has been presented to me, I should take it.

“Well, how can I not be handsome when I look like you?” He smiled wryly.

“It's the other way around,” I chuckled. “I should be grateful to you for my look.” Draven didn't comment on it and I didn't probe further to not alert him.

Rest of the dinner, it was us making small conversations and nothing else. As we went to bed, Draven slept soundly while I planned my whole day.

~•~

The next morning, I didn't stick to my usual schedule of hanging out with Anita. Instead, I mingled with people to probe deeper and there was no one more fit for the job than the group of teenage girls who claimed to be Draven’s fans.

I casually walked into the usual place they hang out in, surprising them.

“Oh, my God! Luna,” They all squealed and greeted me, urging me to sit with them.

“God, there is no one more fit to be his mate than you. Only a Goddess like you can walk beside him,” they swooned. I chuckled as they rambled on and on about Draven and me. I watched, amused, as they didn't fear to get engaged with me like friends, unlike the older generation who adore me but are too hesitant to treat me as a friend because they respect me too much.

“So, Luna, what brought you here today?” They stopped their rambling and asked me curiously.

“Oh, I need some friends in the pack and I thought maybe I would click more with you guys than the older generation,” I smiled at them.

“Oh, my God, Luna. We would love to be your friends!” one of the girls commented, covering her mouth with her hands in shock. I thanked them and asked for their name.

Ellie, the one who was covering her mouth in shock, introduced me to the other six girls named Indigo, Elowyn, Georgia, Juniper, Celine, and Eloise.

They were really sweet towards me and didn't make me feel like an outsider. I approached them intending to prob but quickly bonded with them.

“Luna, how old are you?” Georgia asked me. “How did you and Alpha meet? What was your life like before you came to this pack?”

“I met Draven near the mountain territory of the pack. As for my life, before I came to this pack, I used to be all the time,” I vaguely told them. “And I'm 18 years old.”

“You have quite the age difference between you and the Alpha,” Celine giggled.

“Oh, yeah. That's true,” I chuckled.

“How is Alpha treating you?” Eloise asked.

“No man can surpass him. He is the best mate out there,” the girls swooned at my comment.

“Our Alpha is surprisingly soft under his broody presence,” Eloise commented.

“That’s true,” I chipped in, and just like that, I spent my whole day until it was time for me to reveal the truth behind my mother.

I was sure after today that Draven had erased all traces of my mother. Little did I know that the truth was far beyond my imagination and that it would flip my relationship with Draven.

After informing Draven and Delaney that I would like to run alone today, I made my way to the meeting point where I waited for the sender of the note to appear.

There was no one around so I decided to wait a little but suddenly I felt a presence behind me. I frowned as whoever was behind me had no scent and it triggered my wolf to come out. Unfortunately for me, whoever was behind me came prepared and injected something in my veins to knock me out.

Before I lost consciousness, I heard a familiar voice whisper, “You shouldn't have come here.”

~•~