1. Not A Nightmare

Looking at the casket, tears like waterfalls down my cheeks, I held my breath. I wished this was but a bad dream, and I would wake up soon. I prayed this was nothing but a nightmare, but I knew – deep down, I knew – that there was no escaping this harsh reality. 

In that casket, laid the most important person in my life, the light to my darkness. My once sweet and bubbly Violet, who could light up a room with her smile, was no more. 

“Can you open the casket for me?” I asked in a voice I almost couldn’t recognize as my own. 

There was pity in the eyes of the man handling the casket with care. “We usually don’t…” 

“I didn’t get to say goodbye,” I held back a sob, and he heaved a sigh before silently opening the cold and bland casket. 

My eight-year old daughter looked pale, her eyes were closed, and no longer showed pain for the father’s love she never had the chance to bask in. I bit my bottom lip in bitter agony, wishing I could follow immediately, knowing there was no other alternative.

I placed two origami pieces beside her body, and caressed the face I so loved, before nodding at the man in silent thanks.   

I recalled all too well how, merely a couple of days ago, Leo showed up and told Violet they were going to go shopping for her birthday. I remembered her smile, blinding and full of joy, as she basically skipped, following her father out of our house. It was barely a house and could never be a home. After all, no matter how deep my affections ran for Leo, he didn’t love me back. His loyalty laid with Aurora. It had always been so, and I had known this for years. 

Heavens, he loved that wicked witch so much, he didn’t bat an eye as he made Violet, his own flesh and blood, donate her kidney to their son, Aaron. Aaron had been suffering from kidney failure, but was that any reason to make my daughter die? Violet had always had a weak contitution for a werewolf, and he knew that. 

How could he be so cold? 

I was told at the hospital that my sweet Violet had reached out to Leo via mind-link, but he merely brushed off her desire for a visit as her being spoiled and unreasonable, like her mother – like me. 

No wonder there, Leo, Aurora and Aaron had been celebrating, under the elders’ blessings, as a family of three… And whenever it boiled down to choosing, Leo barely even had to blink. 

And yet, how could he be so cruel as to leave her alone after everything? After he freaking made her give her kidney! 

I recalled the phone call I had received, and how I had rushed to the hospital, praying for a miracle, already expecting to demand answers… But reality turned me into a mumbling, trembling mess. 

How could they neglect my sweet little one so much she would pass away from infection?  But then again, Leo had made sure that the entire hospital staff would focus on Aaron’s recovery – or so I had been told… and I believed every damned word. 

I burned with the desire to make him pay. I burned with hatred for the man whom I had once loved with every fiber of my being… but I knew I was no match for him. He was a proud and powerful Alpha, and I was but a lowly omega. 

I was numb as the man handed me the urn, and said in a respectful tone of voice, “Sorry for your loss.” 

I merely hummed in response as I cradled the urn as one would a baby, refusing to cry anymore.

I returned to the place I once was eager to fill with sweet loving memories, but which was nothing short of a shell of a home. 

I placed the urn close to me, as if keeping it close would keep me sane, if only for a couple more hours. 

I tidied up Violet’s clothes, crying as I did so, and sniffing them every so often, wishing I would catch some of the warmth, or some of the light my little one once possessed. 

Soon, I was in the kitchen, making Violet’s favorite cupcakes, because if we were to go, we might as well do it in style – it was her birthday after all.

Before long, I was at the table, ready to set the world ablaze and follow my sweetheart, when the man I hated the most entered, as if he had no care in the world. 

I wasn’t sure what Leo was here for, but I didn’t bother greeting him at the door, or smiling at him. I had long since realized that nothing I could do could move him. 

After getting what he came for, he descended the stairs, and without so much as a look our way, he said, “Let’s get a divorce, Yuri.” 

“Sure,” I replied readily, my voice devoid of emotions. 

I couldn’t care less about him. Hell, I wanted to curse him if possible, but then again, he perhaps already was cursed – cursed to love a manipulative bitch like Aurora Bembry.

He left without ever wondering how I didn’t put up more of a fight. 

But then again, I had no more love for him. I couldn’t bring myself to care about him in the slightest, save maybe to hate him well into the afterlife, and curse him from above. 

I could no longer hear his car when I rose to my feet, my movements calculated and careless at the same time. I poured gasoline over the curtains, over every inch of the dining room where I had been seated with Violet’s ashes, and a couple of other places, before returning to my sweetheart’s side. I did so resolutely, without so much as a tremor in my hands. 

Before long, I lit up a lighter and threw it at the curtains, a small smile on my face. 

“Mom is coming, sweetheart,” I let out softly. 

** ** ** ** ** 

Leo’s pov: 

I was at a gala, mildly enjoying myself, Aurora on my arm, talking business with fellow important figures, when beta Rodney made an appearance. 

The man looked confused, and yet oh so sad at the same time too, and I couldn’t help but wonder what could be wrong. The man was rarely ever emotional.  

“Alpha Leo, a word please?” The urgency in his voice made me think of everything that could have possibly gone wrong.  

I didn’t hesitate to step aside to talk. 

“Violet is dead, and yet, you have the heart to talk business with these…” 

“Dead? Violet is dead?” I scoffed, unable to believe the older man. “Yuri must have paid handsomely for you to put on such a show here.”

Though he was Aurora’s father, the man was also Yuri’s stepfather, and he loved her dearly.  

“What? No! Please believe me, Alpha Leo,” the man shook his head vehemently. 

I rolled my eyes at the man, but then realized suddenly that the mind-link had been dead silent for a moment already. The girl was needy and would often reach out, even if it was only to ask to see me. 

A weight settled into the pit of my stomach, and I could only rush outside to my car, and make the quickest trip to the house I shared with Yuri. 

Recalling how she didn’t put up a fight when I brought up divorce earlier, I wondered if she knew… But if she did, why hadn’t she told me? Nothing made sense. 

Upon arriving, the villa was in flames, and I watched with utter and abject mortification as Yuri remained seated, holding an urn in her hands, smiling down at it before the flames consumed her whole.