Chapter 150: Vale’s story...
Vale
I knelt quietly in front of Isolde, trying not to grit my teeth.
I was angry, furious, but what has my anger ever done for me? No matter how much I think I’ve got things all figured out, Isolde would show me she was already ten steps ahead.
Isolde was my silver lining when I was going through life’s worst despair. I was the bastard daughter of an Alpha who raped my disabled Delta mother during a drunken fit. My father and his Luna had tried everything to get rid of me in my mother’s womb, but she’d carried me until term and deposited me in front of my father’s pack house.
That was the last time anyone saw or heard from her.
Unable to send me away, I became part of the domestic staff in the pack house. My father’s Luna made sure I learnt my place every single second I breathe. Never a day went by without being punished for existing.
By the time I was 16, I was sure I wanted to run away, and I did.
During the annual harvest moon festival, when everyone was high on drinks and carried away by the joys of the festival, I slipped away quietly, carrying with me a satchel that contained only two items of clothing and my mother’s locket, the only thing I’ve ever owned.
I’d run to the human world, not because my father would send search parties after me and I would be found if I remained in our world, but because I wanted to start life afresh—stories about how humans have laws that protect even flowers stuck with me.
It was with that hope that I arrived at the first human village that bordered our pack. Instead of being swarmed by the government, flowers and a bed to sleep, I was raped by four human men.
All the tall dreams I’d built for a year about how much my life would change were shattered at that moment. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months of wandering. Stealing, trying to survive through each night until by the sixth month after arriving at the human world, I’d discovered I was pregnant.
The realisation had left me numb, and after the initial shock, I tried to end my life. I was barely getting by on my own, and bringing a child into this world of suffering seemed unfair to me. The only thing I wanted to do was to end it all.
That fateful evening, I’d positioned myself in front of a restaurant, my favourite begging spot. I wanted to make enough money, eat a large box of pizza and chew on the wolfsbane flower I’d harvested from a nearby forest yesterday.
Though that was my last day on earth, I planned to splurge and eat what I’d always craved for. No sooner had I sat down than a girl who was my age or even younger walked up to me. She dropped a big wad of money into my begging plate.
At first, I thought it was a mistake and had looked up and up into the eyes of a strangely beautiful but ugly girl. She had a wide-brimmed hat that covered one part of her scarred face and was dressed so beautifully and smelled like spring.
She lowered herself to my eye level and said with a smile. "Do you know what you’re having?" she asked, glancing at my bulging stomach.
I shook my head, giving her a shy smile and suddenly feeling at ease. No one in this world has ever stopped long enough to talk to me, and I didn’t know how to feel.
"There’s this really cheap hotel around the corner, I can take you there and book a room for you and your baby for the entire year. Do you know how far gone you are?"
I rubbed at my bulging stomach and shook my head.
"I don’t know, either," she smiled encouragingly at me. "But then we can go for a scan tomorrow and know how far along you are. No mother deserves to be out in the cold, begging for scraps. Do you want to come with me?" she asked, stretching her hand toward me.
That was my first mistake.
For the life of me, I’d never thought of taking revenge on anyone. All I ever wanted was food to eat and security from evil men. I’d forgotten about my father and his Luna. I’d forgotten about all the maltreatment and about how I was repeatedly mocked behind my back.
For me, the most important thing was surviving long enough to see the light of another day.
Isolde had taken me to that hotel, given me clean clothes, and for the first time in six months, I slept on a soft bed. By the end of the week, I’d forgotten about killing myself. I loved this new life.
The night Isolde had told me her story and made me realise she was a werewolf too, I’d felt this kinship, or should I call it attraction, grow for her. It was almost as if I’d fallen in love with Isolde.
She showered me with love and gifts, transforming me into the girl I was and into something else. I’d moved into her house. Her parents hadn’t objected, and soon I became part of the family.
I was 17 years old when I felt the first pang of labour and was rushed to the hospital. The last thing I remembered was the doctor and the nurses debating amongst themselves about whether I was having two children or not.
When I woke up, my babies were gone, and Isolde was sitting next to me. She told me that giving the children away for adoption was the best thing for me. That I couldn’t spend the rest of my life tied to taking care of my children.
She’d promised me that now, I could leave my dreams, go to school and become anything I want to. She showed me the pictures of the baby and even gave me the phone, promising that as a gift for when I get my first job after school, she would give me the details of everything.
That she would help me get my babies back, and then I would be able to take care of them. Although I was two years older than Isolde, I had this overwhelming respect for her and was constantly worried about offending her.
On my 25th birthday, drunk, I had shamelessly confessed my feelings to Isolde, and she’d asked me to prove it. She told me how much she felt ugly and how she could never dare look in the mirror.
She’d spoken with so much pain that all I wanted was to do anything that would make her be in less pain. She’d told me her plans the next day and how she would get closure from taking revenge on the people who’d hurt her.
She reminded me that if my father hadn’t forced himself on my mom, I would never have been born. I’d never experience half the things that happened to me. To pledge my loyalty to her, I took on a name, ’Vale’.
No other name is attached to it. No trace of who I was or of my past. I’d come to Ravenshore as a teacher, but over the course of twelve years, I helped Isolde achieve her dream. I carried out all of her requests without batting an eyelid.
Never questioning the cruelty that came with it. She refused to tell me the end goal of all the countless experiments and said to me that if I stick around long enough, I would know. She never told me about my children.
I’d reminded her countless times until I decided not to talk about it again.
The thing is, now I’m tired. I’m tired of pretending that I liked hurting these people. I’m tired of taking orders from Isolde, and I was hoping she would stop this mindless revenge. Only for her to arrive at my office unannounced to break this news to me.
"W-what did you say?" I stuttered.
"I said, I’m shutting down the lab. All the experiments would have to disappear for now. The whole operation would need to shut down because the compromise is too much."
"Really?" My chest thudded with fear. "You can’t change your mind tomorrow."
She laughed. "When have I ever changed my mind, Raina?"
"Countless times," I sighed. "This is a relief, Isolde. Honestly, I’m getting grey because it’s always from one lawsuit to another. This means I’d be able to rest for a while."
She laughed. "Well, taking care of Charis Greye has cured me in so many ways, and now all I want to be is a mother with a teenage daughter."
My expression changed at the mention of Charis. I’d been meaning to ask, but I hadn’t worked up the balls yet. Isolde’s eyes regarded me with amusement before she motioned for me to come to her.
I stood slowly from my chair and walked up to her, kneeling in front of her to show my reverence.
"Are you angry that I saved, Charis?" She asked with a sly smile.
"You would have said something. Honestly, I wasn’t myself for days when I heard of the accident, and then her body turned up a month later. Are you really taking her in as your ward?"
"Of course!" she nodded. "What else would I want to do with her?"
"I don’t know, Isolde," I sighed. "What plans do you have now? That girl has suffered a lot and ..."
"Here we go again!" she rolled her good eye and leaned forward, tilting my chin. "You know, this bond you developed with Charis was questionable to me at first, given how ruthless you are with everyone else, and it just made me realise that one of your children goes to Ravenshore?"