13. My Buried Past
AURELIA
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*FIVE YEARS LATER*
"This is just the beginning, Lia. Get your ass up!"
Alpha Tristan's voice echoed through the sparing section of the field. My ringing head and sore muscles protested as I pushed myself off the floor.
"Clear your head and focus on your opponent. She won't go easy on you just because you have fallen a thousand times in the last fifteen minutes." His voice hit my eardrums again and again, I obeyed him, forcing my gaze to stay focused on the fierce brunette who had used my body as a mop to clean the field floor since we started sparring fifteen minutes ago.
The fierce brunette, Jessica, smirked at me, "Listen to the Alpha, Lia. Going easy on you isn't an option in my cookbook."
"I can only hope killing me during training isn't in that book of yours as well, Jesi." I retorted with a plea but amusement flashed through Jessica's eyes as she threw another punch my way.
I dodged.
Yet I found my body crashing to the floor again before I could protect my legs from Jessica. "Gosh, you're fast." I lamented, getting up before Alpha Tristan interfered.
"You can't keep giving me the chance and expect me not to take it, Lia." Jessica countered with a shrug and a smile that told me she was pleased with herself.
I braced myself for another hit and hoped that I would take her down this time but Alpha Tristan announced, "That's enough for the day, ladies." His gruff voice still carried the same amount of authority it did the day I stumbled into his pack.
Or should I have said the day he ordered his men to kill me even though I was in labor and this close to bleeding to death?
"Awn. I thought we were just getting started, Alpha." I pouted, smiling sheepishly at the same man who had ordered my death five years ago.
Alpha Tristan's brown curls bounced with every step he took closer to Jessica and me, his muscular body taking up the space but I wasn't surprised when he returned my smile with one of his mesmerizing ones. "Take it easy, Lia. Jessica is still the best female warrior in the pack for a reason."
Jessica bowed her head in respect to Alpha Tristan before she said to me, "To take my crown, you have to regain your strength." Jessica's eyes lingered on Alpha Tristan's frame but she soon excused herself to join the other warriors in the field. I knew she had a thing for Alpha Tristan who had never looked at any woman with affection since I opened my eyes in the hospital room and saw him for the first time five years ago.
Who was I kidding? He hardly looked at any woman even though he was a handsome, wealthy, and powerful Alpha of Black Fur Pack except one who had him wrapped around her fragile fingers.
I couldn't be more grateful to him, after all, I owed him my life.
While Alpha Tristan looked at me, probably thinking about how to grade my performance in the sparring field this morning, my mind floated through memories and back to that night... the night I dined and drank with death herself.
"P-please he-help. For goddess's sa-sake, s-save my ba-ba-" I had begged him before I lost consciousness on the rough floor of his pack border five years ago and even though I assumed that would be the end, I discovered it was just the beginning when I regained consciousness and opened my eyes to see Alpha Tristan watching me closely in a private room in the pack's hospital.
He could have killed me or locked me up or even left me to die in the forest but he took me to the hospital, cleaned me up, and let me live after I underwent surgery.
"My baby..." That was the first word I said to Alpha Tristan who was nothing but a terrifying stranger to me back then. I had jolted off the bed when I touched my flat but stitched belly. I didn't remember pushing out my baby and the thought of surviving while my baby died sent me into shock.
Alpha Tristan had moved closer to me, pinned me to the bed, and said to me, "The babies are fine. Relax."
Never had a man been that gentle with me. It was strange yet it was what I needed.
"Babies..." I had muttered to him with tears in my eyes and with a constant throb in my lower belly.
"You had two of them. You were passed out but the healers performed a cesarean surgery and saved your lives." Those were his exact words as he reassured me that my babies were fine.
But his words weren't enough to soothe my mind. Once bitten twice shy, right? I demanded to see my babies, completely oblivious to the fact that he could have snapped my neck and thrown my lifeless body to the rogues. "I want to see them now!" Even now, five years later, I still wonder why Alpha Tristan had been so careful with me as he led me to the strange room with tubs that had my babies' tiny bodies. Since they were born prematurely, they had to stay in the incubator for days while I recovered. "What's your name and where are you from?" Alpha Tristan had asked me.
With fear and hatred in my heart, I buried my past that second and answered, "Lia and the place I come from is dead."
Aurelia died five years ago and Lia was born. As the years went by and with the help of Alpha Tristan and the friends I had made here, I have been able to sculpt Lia into a woman I never knew Aurelia could become.
I was different now. I had become a mom and a warrior-
"Come with me. I have something to say-" Alpha Tristan's words pulled me out of my memories.
However, before he could finish his statement, a feminine voice that I knew so damn much exclaimed right in the middle of the large field, "Tristan...".
No one would dare to call him without his title except her and she didn't hesitate to run straight into his arms even though all eyes were on them. "I have missed you, Tristan." She muttered into Alpha Tristan's neck.
"I did too, Katie, even though I saw you last night before bed." Alpha Tristan chuckled, hugging the female who had him wrapped around her fragile fingers.
The duo shared their moment before Katie stormy blue eyes fell on me. She etched, "Oh, I didn't see you there, mom."
Yes, that was my five years old daughter. Her legs were dangling as she held onto Alpha Tristan and I could only roll my eyes. "Where is your brother?"
I usually leave them in our room every morning so I can train but Katie would make sure she drags her brother to the field the second she wakes up so I knew he would be around here somewhere.
"Kyle has his nose buried in one of his books over there." Katie responded, rolling her eyes as she returned her attention to Alpha Tristan. "Only my brother reads books in a sparring field, Tristan. I can never understand his mind."
Alpha Tristan laughed heartily and I joined him, wondering what my life would have become with my sassy little girl and of course, Kyle.
After a few more minutes with Katie, Alpha Tristan called everyone in the field to come together and he announced, "In a week time, we will be hosting the first round of Pack Games and I need-"
Other warriors cheered but my heart slammed into my stomach at the mention of the quinquennial packs competitions that would definitely bring me face to face with my buried past. Goddess no!