Fate Stained - Part Two
Chapter 8 - The Runaway

Fern was a tiny little thing, I’d met her once or twice before I traveled to Hell. She turned up at our gates in the early hours one morning with nothing more than a gold chain around her neck and a torn nightdress. We took her in, obviously, even though she barely spoke a word and refused to tell us what pack she’d come from. Her arms and legs, what was visible under her dress, were marred with bruises and scratches. He scent was strong and due to her not yet being twenty, could only mean she came from a powerful bloodline.

She sat in front of me now, hands folded in her lap and eyes firmly focused on the ground at her feet. How did someone so pretty lack so much confidence? I wondered if any pack members had managed to get anything out of her since I was gone, but considering I’d only been gone a day, I doubted that very much.

“Fern” I spoke gently, bringing her cup of tea to the table and placing it in front of her, “are you ok?”

Fern clasped the cup in her hands and ran the tip of one of her fingers along the outline of a bluebird painted on the side.

“These are very pretty” she said quietly, after staring at the cup in silence for a few moments.

“They were my mother’s”

I turned at the sound of Jayce’s deep voice and watched as he walked into the room, pulling out a chair next to me at the pack house table. As he sat down opposite Fern, I noticed her hands begin to tremble and she released her drink, returning them to the safety of her lap. Stealing a glance at Jayce, he shrugged his shoulders and leant forward on the table.

“Fern, I hear you found your fated mate today, that’s exciting”

Really Jayce? Does she look fucking excited to you?

Jayce flinched at my mind link and narrowed his eyes, giving me a ‘well you do fucking better’ look before leaning back in his chair. I countered his glare with a sweet smile and turned my teacup around, eyeing off the dove painted on the side.

“They are pretty aren’t they? Hand painted I believe, by the previous Luna’s grandmother. But you should try the tea, it really is amazing”

Fern’s eyes raised slightly, and although not yet looking at either Jayce or myself, she gazed back to the cup on the table, which was a start. Raising her hands, she gripped the drink gently and lifted the cup to her mouth, taking a small sip before placing it back down. Fern’s eyes closed for a moment and she gave a small sigh as the warmth of the tea worked its magic on easing her nerves.

“That’s very tasty. Thank you Luna— Queen, umm—”

“Luna is fine” I corrected gently.

Fern’s eyes finally flickered up to meet mine and she smiled in thanks before looking back down at the hand painted bluebird.

That’s how you do it, I linked Jayce smugly, soft and gentle wins every time.

Ill remember that next time you beg me to fuck you harder.

Of course I had to have a mouth full of hot tea as Jayce responded to my mind link, causing me to choke and dribble the liquid down my chin like some kind of idiot.

“Are you ok Luna?” Fern asked, concerned as a grabbed a napkin and cleaned up my mess.

I shot Jayce a fleeting death glare before plastering a sweet smile back on my face and turning to the girl. She looked to me then I noticed her eyes darting quickly over to Jayce. Her body tensed slightly and the tremble in her hands returned.

Interesting.

“I’m fine Fern. Actually, I was thinking you and I could go for a little walk, just the two of us?”

Fine. Hint taken.

I squeezed Jayce’s knee under the table.

Sorry. Trust me. I’ll explain when I get back.

“Oh— ok” Fern muttered.

She took another sip of her tea and stood quickly from table as if she was desperate to get out of the pack house.

“I’ll be home for dinner, just give me half an hour”

I leant down and gave Jayce a kiss on the cheek, I could tell the gesture caught him off guard as he opened his mouth to answer but closed it again, nodding instead.

Fern and I walked for a little bit in silence at first. I wanted her to relax as much as she could in my presence. The sun had well and truly set and the soothing glow of the moon lit the compound, shadows creating haunting patterns on the ground and the sides of buildings. I had a theory about Fern, and to be honest I hoped it was a theory that she would prove to be wrong.

“How are you replaceing it here at Fern Creek?” I asked casually, “you’ve been here for what, five days now?”

“Six”

I nodded, silence falling between us once again. After a few minutes, as if realising it was still her turn to speak, Fern cleared her throat.

“I like it here. It’s pretty and the people have been nice. Thank you for letting me stay, Luna”

“You’re welcome. I bet you’re missing your family though, must be hard to be away from them for so long; especially when you’re only a month off turning twenty”

Fern’s body language quickly returned to being tense and I knew at the mention of family that I’d struck a nerve. Pretending her reaction had been unnoticed, I continued speaking.

“I remember when I came to Fern Creek, I’d only been two weeks off my birthday. My moods and hormones were all over the place and then Jayce and our bond hit me like a truck. Goddess” I chuckled at the memory, “I was a hot mess”

“You left your family too?” Fern asked quietly.

“Well, they kind of left me. It’s a long story but when I came to Fern Creek I no longer had a family and it wasn’t long before everyone here became my family. Down the track I met my father and now, obviously, my brother, but before that…these people were all I had”

“I have no family either. Not anymore”

“Did they die?”

Fern laughed, but there was no humour behind it.

“No. No, they didn’t die”

“Do you wish they were dead?”

Fern stopped walking and looked up at me. I took a chance and reached forward, gently taking her quivering hands in mine.

“Fern. I am your family now, you are safe here. Jayce is a good man and an amazing Alpha, he is nothing like the Alpha or the men from your last pack. Trust me”

My heart ached as Fern’s bottom lip began to quiver, quickly followed by a pained sob and the dam breaking that had been holding back those tears for goddess knows how long. I pulled her into my arms and held her body against mine as more sobs violently racked her tiny frame. She welcomed the embrace and wrapped her arms around my back. How could someone hurt such a gentle and fragile soul? Her body just yearned to be held and protected and I automatically wanted to kill whoever had damaged her in the past.

Several minutes past and Fern’s tears stopped, her body ceased trembling and she loosened her arms on me, letting me know she was ready to be released. Stepping back gently I encouraged her to look up at me and offered her a reassuring smile.

“Does that feel a little better?”

Fern nodded, wiping a combination of tears and snot from her face with the back of her hand.

“Do you promise me Jayce is good…and- and Flynn?”

“Oh! Yes, most definitely. Jayce is a blessing to this pack and to me. He has a heart size to match his shoulders” I giggled, “it’s bloody huge! And Flynn, well— Flynn is complicated. The guy has just spent the last seventeen years in Hell and only just found out he is a shifter. But yes, he is good; he just needs time and patience…and maybe a haircut”

Fern nodded, smiling slightly, taking it all in. I chewed on my bottom lip. I had a question on the tip of my tongue but I didn’t want to scare the poor girl by asking too many questions right off the bat. Taking a risk, I grabbed her hand gently again and opened my mouth.

“Fern. Your previous Alpha…did he hurt you?”

The petite redhead tensed but I held her hands firmly in my own. I wanted her to know that I was right here, supporting her through this. I wanted her to feel my strength, to feel my love. I was her Luna now, no one could hurt her here.

“Yes”, was her only answer.

“And did your family not protect you? Is that why you left?”

Fern swallowed, licking her lips nervously.

“The Alpha— he is my family. He’s my father”

Oh shit.

This changed everything and I could tell by the look in Fern’s eyes, that she knew it. Taking in some battered wolf from an abusive pack was one thing, but an Alpha’s daughter? There was no way that half the pack wasn’t already out looking for her. I wouldn’t doubt word would already be out that she was here, in Fern Creek.

But did it change things? Really?

If what Fern was saying was true and her father, the Alpha, was abusive towards her - we wouldn’t be handing her back. There was no way after Jayce found out about this information that he would allow her to go back to her pack. Alpha or not, the behaviour was unacceptable and Jayce knew that better than anyone.

“Please don’t send me back”

Fern’s voice caught in her throat and she tightened her grip on my hands.

Oh baby girl, that won’t be happening.

“Like I said before, I am your Luna now and Jayce is your Alpha - you’re safe here. It would help though if you told me a little bit about what happened to you…if that’s ok…”

Fern exhaled slowly and let go of my hands. We began walking again, the distraction helping to ease her obvious discomfort with the subject.

“My parents are very proud people and image is so important to them. I have two older brothers and a younger brother, I’m the only girl. Being the daughter of the Alpha I had a role and that role was to marry the heir to our sister pack, unless he found his fated mate before his twenty fifth birthday. I was never allowed to have a boyfriend and was told that even if I found my fated mate, I would be required to reject the bond”

I flinched at Fern’s revelation. I could feel Rogue growling inside me. How could parents ask that of their child? To reject her fated mate so she could be a trophy to some future Alpha? Disgusting.

“Anyway, I met a boy…well, I’d known him my whole life, but as we grew older we developed feelings for one another. My mother, the Luna, found out that I liked him and she sent him away, at the age of sixteen, to join our warrior training program. No one had ever been that young when they joined the program. It’s a dangerous and intense course, I never expected him to survive and it was obvious to me that had been my mother’s intention all along. But after four years, he returned”

A loving smile passed across Fern’s face but I knew by her being here that this story wouldn’t have an ‘and they lived happily ever after’ ending.

As quickly as the smile came, it was gone again and Fern’s fists clenched at her side.

“He wasn’t a sixteen year old boy anymore, but a twenty year old man. He’d completed his first wolf shift, his wolf was powerful…beautiful…and he ended up being once of the best warriors in the program”

“What happened after he returned?”

“We were still madly in love. We’d sneak off, regularly, he was a gentlemen though and never made me feel like I had to do anything I didn’t want to. But, goddess how I wanted to. Eventually we had sex but didn’t complete the mating process, we wanted to speak to my parents first and let them know we were in love and were chosen mates. I thought that maybe when they saw how much we loved each other that they would forgive us and allow us to be together…but I was wrong”

Fern wiped a stray tear away that ran silently down her cheek.

“My father lost it, like really lost it. I went to them on my own and my mother screamed at our Beta to go retrieve my chosen mate from the warrior grounds. My father and my brothers called me every name under the sun. They said I was a slut and had brought shame to our pack and that no heir to a wolf pack would ever want me now that I was tainted…stained. My mate was dragged into the pack hall and made to watch whilst my father and brothers punched and kicked me. I— I could hear him yelling, screaming at them to stop! Then after a while I couldn’t see anymore and everything went dark”

Fern’s whole body was trembling now and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. I was furious, sickened to my stomach. Her family did that to her, to her mate! They’d better pray to the goddess that I never came across them in the forest.

“When I awoke I was locked away somewhere in our compound. One of the omegas had taken pity on me and helped clean my wounds, she’d given me one of her nightdresses to replace my blood stained clothes. She told me that the Alpha had—” Fern’s hand covered her mouth as the next words caused her to choke.

“It’s ok Fern, you don’t have to—”

“That the Alpha had killed my mate, st—strung him up in the middle of the pack hall for all to see. I cried for a whole day and night, no one came to check on me after the omega left. No one brought me food or water. When I got the courage to go to the door I saw that the omega had left it unlocked, so I waited until nightfall and I ran here”

Motherfuckers!

“Oh Fern” I cried, pulling her into my arms again, “I promise you that your poor excuse for a family will never hurt you again. What pack are you from? This behaviour is disgusting, if other packs knew—”

“No! You can’t tell anyone, please. Their warriors are elite, if anyone challenged them…I’d never forgive myself. Please, if I’m safe here then can we just let it be?”

I chewed my bottom lip, every part of me wanting to disagree and take all of our fighters to challenge her disgusting father, but one look in those large hazel eyes and I sighed, my shoulders dropping. This was not a time to start an argument or a war, I’d speak to Jayce and we’d go from there. If she didn’t want to tell me what pack she hailed from then I would drop the subject for now.

For now.

“Ok” I answered finally, “it stays within the pack for now, but if your father so much as sends a scout or spy to see if you are here—”

Fern nodded, she knew exactly what that would mean.

I’d fucking kill them.