"What have you done to Geraldine? Where is she?" Geraldine's husband, who happened to be my current Bata screamed at Me.

"Calm yourself. I didn't do anything to your wife." I replied barely looking up from his paper work.

"Except force her to become pregnant and bare your heir." My bata replies bitterly.

"I did no such thing. I'll admit, Geraldine is carrying my child however, I never forced her or ordered her to do anything. She drugged me and tricked me into sleeping with her not the other way around."

"So you didn't make her rouge to cover up the fact that she's pregnant with your child?"

"No. What would make you think that?" I replied with a sigh.

"It's just that, I can't sense her anywhere on our territory. She's been missing for over 24hrs. What if something happens to her? What if something happens to the babies? What if..."

"Relax. I will send out a search and rescue team and inform the nearby pack's to keep a look out for her alright? I'm sure she's fine. Geraldine's a big girl she can take care of herself."

Bata of the Nightshade Shadow moon pack. POV

The Alpha has been furious lately and nothing can calm him. He's been on edge ever since the day that he smelled his mate. He can no longer sense her presence and his wolf is furious. Suddenly, I smelled an unfamiliar sent near the edge of our territory. "Who are you? Show yourself!"

"My name is Geraldine. I'm from a nearby pack and I was hoping that I'd be able to speak with your Alpah."

At this I chuckle "my Alpha doesn't take kindly to trespassing. He won't hesitate to kill you even if you are pregnant. Knowing that, do you still want to meet him?"

"Yes." The young woman replied boldly. I sigh in frustration.

"Alright, but it's your funeral. Alpha we have a visitor who requests a meeting with you."

Alpha POV

I had just sat down to try and relax when I was mind linked by my Bata. "What is it?" I groan in frustration.

"There is a visitor here from a neighboring pack. She's requesting a meeting with you. She claims that it's important." My bata replied and I growled in frustration. "Oh and before you go all angel of death on her like you usually do, be warned she's pregnant."

"Alpha it is a pleasure to meet you."

"You can dispense with the pleasantries,  tell me why your on my land."

"I know that you have been seeking your mate."

At this the Alpha flashes Geraldine an evil smile. "You should have never come here girl. I have no mate. Just because your pregnant doesn't mean that I won't kill you. So what's the real reason you came here? Are you a spy for another pack? Did your Alpha think that by sending a pregnant woman that I would have mercy on you should you be discovered in my lands?"

"I am not a spy and My Alpha doesn't even know that I left our territory."

"Is that so?" I replied cocking my eyebrow at her.

"Look. The Alpha of my pack was supposed to be my mate. However, because the moon goddess felt that you were undeserving of your mate..." Upon hearing those words my wolf growled in irritation and he fights to take control. I could tell she sensed my irritation and immediately tried to soothe my wolf. "I meant no disrespect Alpha. As I said I'm here to benefit you. I know that my pack's Luna belongs to you. She visited your pack a few years ago searching for her mate. One minute she was here on your land, the next both her and the Alpha appeared on our land with no memory of what had happened or how they had gotten back. The only explanation was that the Moon Goddess obviously didn't want them to remember their visit. I'm begging you, come claim what is yours."

"And what do you gain from all of this?"

"I gain my true mate."

"You do know what my pack is known for don't you?"

"Yes. You have attacked numerous other pack's without cause murdering entire packs and taking their land as your own."

"Knowing this, you still want me to come to your pack land?"

"But... You wouldn't be coming to wage war on my pack. You'd come take what belongs to you and then leave right?"

At this I chuckled and looked over at Bata who nodded in understanding. "I will make no promises."

"What should be done with our guest until her story is checked out?"

"Bring her to the brig and have the pack doctor check on the health of her baby. Once the exams is over inform me of when the child is to be born."

"Yes Alpha."

I sighed as I glanced up at the rising moon. How much longer must I be forced to
suffer? Suddenly I was surrounded by a bright light and I sighed. "Hello Moon Goddess. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit? Are you here to curse me again?" I asked bitterly.

Though your behavior these past few years has caused me great sorrow I am not here to punish you my son.. Why must you continue to attack innocent packs?"

"I will answer your question if you will answer mine. Tell Me, Moon Goddess, what crime could I have possibly committed as a child to be forced to live without my mate?"

"I knew how evil a man your father was. So when you were born I gave you a special gift."

"What gift?"

"The ability to refuse a direct order from an Alpha regardless of wether he used his Alpha command or not. I was angry that day when I saw you punish your mother when you had the ability to refuse. You seemed to have the same view concerning woman and myself as your father did."

"Then you judged me unfairly. I have never had the same beliefs as that man. As as child, I didn't understand why someone who is supposed to be as powerful as you would allow a woman as wonderful as my mother to suffer . I was angry that you would pair her with a cruel heartless man like that man. I never understood why you didn't use your powers to stop the abuse."

I swore to you that I would one day seek revenge against that man for all the years of abuse he put my mother through but you never gave me the opportunity to fulfill that vow. Then, when we discovered that you chose to curse me, I was both hurt and angry. I felt as if what that man had taught me about you was true. That you are petty-minded. That you care too much about small unimportant things and are unnecessarily unkind."

"I swore that I'd do whatever it took to find my mate even if meant breaking your heart in the process. Then that day when she stepped into my territory and I smelled her, and you took her away from me something inside my wolf snapped. He swore that the longer you kept her from us, the more blood He would shed."

"I hardened my heart so that the sounds of screams no longer effected me like they did when I was a child. My wolf thrived on them. Then one day, we were attacking another pack. They were so weak it was easy to pick them off one by one. I came across a woman and her child."

"I saw the fear in the child's eyes and I cursed myself. It was then, that I realized that I had become the very monster I had once set out to destroy. I was worse then the man who had raised me. It was at that moment that I realize that you were right. I didn't deserve my mate. I didn't deserve to be loved. I deserved to die."

"Everyone deserves to be loved and everyone deserves a second chance."

"I don't. Tell me, is what the woman said true? Is my mate a member of her pack?"

"Yes."

"I hear that my mate is happily married."

"While it is true, that She did marry the man that I chose in substitution for you, I can assure you, that it wasn't by choice.  She married him begrudgingly at the order of her Alpha." At this, I let out a growl and my wolf fought to come to the surface but I was able to hold him back.

"Because of this situation, I made a promise to her wolf. Unless she willingly submitted to Gustavo his mark would not remain permanent. Because of this, She is in constant conflict with her human half whose only desire is to be loved and live happily ever after. Tell me child, what exactly do you plan on doing with this newfound knowledge?"

"Nothing. She is not mine to claim. As I said, after everything that I have done I don't deserve a mate. Besides, if she is truly happy who am I to take that away from her?"

At this the moon goddess smiled at me. "In choosing this path you have proven yourself worthy. Go with Geraldine to her pack. Go to your mate."

"Not to be disrespectful, but I can't. I won't rip her away from the husband that you have given her. It wouldn't be right." I reply.

"He doesn't deserve her. Nor does he deserve the title I gave him. I'm trying to rectify a mistake I made years ago." The moon goddess replied.

"By punishing her for her husband's stupidity? That's not fair."

"Since when do you care about what's fair?" The Moon Goddess asked me cocking an eyebrow at me in surprise.

"This isn't about me or about what I want. It is about what's best for my mate. I can't be selfish. I won't be."

"You truly are a confusing child. First your angry that I won't give you your mate and you do everything in your power to break my heart. Now, when I give you the opportunity to be given what truly belongs to you, you refused to take it. Make up your mind child."

"I won't take her from a man that she loves."

At this the moon goddess chuckled in amusement. "When did I ever say that she loves the man that she's with? Go to her. Let her decided what she wants to do. Let her choose who she wants to be with."

"I can't. I know my wolf. He won't let her choose he will take her by force just as her current husband did. He has no room for love in his heart. He is cruel and selfish. Please don't make me do this."

"You fool! The moon Goddess is finally giving us a chance to be with our mate and you refuse to go to her? What is wrong with you?" My wolf hissed at me.

"Our mate is happily married to another. I won't let you hurt her by killing the man that she loves."

"She belongs to me and mark my word one way or another she will be mine!" My wolf snarled at me. "Besides did you not listen to what the moon goddess just finished telling you? She never said that our mate is happily married."

"Nor did she say that our mate loves the man she calls her husband. She said that she married him for the sake of her pack not out of love. That his mark on her is only permanent if her wolf chooses to submit to him. Which evidently she refuses to do."