Chapter 59: Chapter 59

~Aurelia Storm~

"Happy Birthday," I said to Steven, giving him a big hug. "How does it feel to be 18?"

"Find out for yourself," Steven replied with a laugh when I let go of him. I knew what he was getting at. From tomorrow I'll finally be part of the adult club. But I already felt grown up.

I never would have thought that at the age of 18 I would already have a child under my heart. But that's what I do and I don't want to change it now.

A hand gripped my lower back. Arsenic appeared next to me and held out his other hand to Steven.

"All the best," he wished. Steven took his hand and shook it.

"Thanks Arsenic"

It was nice to see them both, without any tension. They've been like this since the last packless attack. That was probably the only good thing about getting hurt.

Suddenly the music playing in the background turned up and people started dancing.

Steven held out his hand to ask me to dance. Unsure, I turned to Arsen again, but he just nodded at me. So I took Steven's hand and we walked onto an open lawn that doubled as a dance floor.

Together we danced to the fast beat. Then Steven took my hand and turned me, which made me feel a little nauseous. It's been happening far too often lately.

"Everything okay?" Steven asked, who must have noticed my queasy feeling.

"Yeah," I dismissed it and continued dancing, ignoring the uneasy feeling.

"You really don't look well, Aurelia." Steven stopped dancing and grabbed my arms for me to do the same.

"It's really all in-..." I stopped myself as my stomach shot up. Actually, I thought that I was already over with the nausea. But apparently I thought wrong. "Excuse me briefly."

I quickly made my way through the dancing crowd towards the forest. Just out of sight, I leaned behind one of the trees and began to empty my stomach.

"Aurelia?" I suddenly heard Arsen's worried voice. Great, I can't use him now. Not that he's suspicious.

He appeared behind me and gently rubbed my back. With his other hand he grabbed my hair to hold it out of my face.

"What's up? Are you not feeling well? Are you sick?" he asked worried.

"Everything's ok. I probably just couldn't stand lunch."

"I'll take you back to our room. You should rest."

"It's really all right Arsenic. I'm feeling a lot better already." There was no way I wanted to go back to our room and miss Steven's party. Arsen will understand if I tell him exactly what my problem is at midnight.

I rose to an upright position and then walked past Arsen, heading back toward the packhouse. I would still have to go to a bathroom, at least to wash my mouth and brush my teeth.

"I'll be right back," I said to Arsen before disappearing.

I went to our room and from there to our bathroom. I splashed cold water on my face and cleaned my mouth. Then I took my toothbrush to brush my teeth.

Before I left the bathroom again, I stroked my stomach again.

"He'll be so happy to hear about it from you," I said to my baby. I smiled and couldn't wait to tell him now. How did I keep it from him for so long?

I quickly walked back out to Steven's party. Hope I didn't miss too much. As soon as I got outside, Inala gave me a champagne glass.

"Come on, let's toast. We were just waiting for you," she said. Then everyone around us raised their glasses.

"To Steven," Arsen began to talk. "To a good warrior and my wife's lifesaver. That he, too, will soon find his mate."

Then I started talking. Finally, as a best friend, I wanted to add my two cents: "To a wonderful friend. I thank your parents for bringing you into the world. You're an adult now, so start living your dreams."

Everyone around us raised their glasses. There was a loud, "To Steven." Then everyone put their glasses to their lips and drank the champagne. Everyone except me.

Inala had orange juice in her glass and gave me a friendly smile before moving towards me.

"Don't worry Aurelia. One glass doesn't get you drunk straight away," she said as her eyes fell on my full champagne glass.

"I think it's still better not to drink," I tried. And indeed Inala didn't ask any more questions. Instead, she left me again and went to her companion, who never took his eyes off her for a single second. His wolfish Protective instinct is particularly strong at the moment.

"Let me drink that." Lucas appeared next to me and took my glass from me. He pushed his empty glass into my hand, making it look like it was mine.

"Thank you," I said, giving him a grateful smile. Luckily, he knew about my condition and helped me hide it for as long as needed.

"Is my wife alright?" Arsen walked toward me through the crowd. "She just threw up. Maybe she's sick."

Lucas started smiling.

"It's alright Alpha. The Luna is fine," he said. Then he walked away with my champagne glass.

Arsen's eyes fell on the empty glass that Lucas held in my hand and he gave me a merry smile.

"Someone must have been thirsty."

Irritated, I looked at the glass now, only to smile knowingly.

“There are no more glasses for you. Next only when we toast to you. I don't want you to drink alcohol."

"Oh, but you may?" I tried to provoke him a little and it worked. Arsenic growled a little.

"We wolves can't get drunk as easily as humans. It takes a large amount of alcohol in a short amount of time. Our bodies break down alcohol much faster. So it's next to impossible that you'll ever see a drunk wolf."

"It's better, too," I said. I didn't want to imagine one of those death machines, which already have a hard time controlling themselves, also being drunk. It made me think of the young wolf that attacked me in the first few weeks here . Cody was his name. Later he apologized to me again. I felt kinda sorry for him because Arsen still growled at him when he got too close to me.

„Aurelia?"

"Yes?" I smiled at my mate as I met his green eyes.

"Listen. I didn't tell you the whole truth about your father back then... I just want to wrap this up. Probably now is a silly time, but I just have to get it out there." Arsen suddenly looked quite nervous and his voice was lower than normal. But what interested me more was what he didn't tell me.

"What?" I asked, my smile fading.

"After I found you in the woods back then, I sent Dave and Steven to look for the culprit. They had a guess and then they brought me your father. I tortured him as punishment for hurting you-..."

"YOU HAVE WHAT???", I immediately interrupted him. Of course my father was a lousy asshole, but that didn't give Arsen the right to torture him or... "Don't tell me you killed him?"

"I-I'm sorry." My eyes widened in disbelief as I realized that the love of my life had killed my own father. I took a few steps away from him in shock. He had no right to do so.

"B-but listen! He..."

"YOU KILLED HIM!" I yelled and immediately the conversations around us stopped and all eyes were on us.

"Yeah, but only because I found out he killed your mother."

he has what But that was her affair... After all, he had to go to prison for it... My father would never...

"YOU LIE!" I tried. I couldn't believe what he was telling me.

"I'm sorry, Aurelia, but it's true."

And suddenly everything that happened over 5 years ago made sense. My father was already aggressive back then. Mom's colleague probably just wanted to help her and he killed her because he assumed she was having an affair. And then he told me and the police his lie...

The worst part was that I confirmed his statement. I couldn't assume he killed my mom, so I said that this guy shot her, even though I didn't even see it.

The whole world just collapsed inside me. It was almost like reliving Mom's death, but suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by something much worse.

"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" yelled a naked muscular man who emerged from the forest covered in blood.