Chapter 4

Nicklaus

Nick went back to the pack house after speaking with Emily. He needed to check on his mother, Sophia, who had been very frail for a long time, but had gotten worse since the death of her daughter. Once he and Emily had married, he had set her up in a beautiful cabin just a mile away from his home. But when she became increasingly sick, he moved her back into the pack house with him and his family so he would be close in case she needed him.

His mother had once been a powerful Luna, standing side by side with his father for years as they headed up the pack. And when his father had died from an ongoing illness.. she still continued to take care of the Luna duties. Nick had been very young when his father passed and he became the official Alpha. He was merely 14 years old… and barely had become a full wolf just a year prior. So Sophia had mostly ran things until he was older.

Years later he met Emily.. they married and mated and she became official Luna. Nicklaus knew his mother didn’t like being denounced and her title taken away. She had never cared for Emily, and hated her for taking her place in the pack. Sophia had always told Nick that Emily was too young for such a high ranking job. But wolves married young and these things happened all the time.

Emily was the daughter of an extremely powerful Alpha…. she came from the family of the oldest known werewolves to date. So he knew she could handle the pressures of being Luna easily. Still, his mother always complained. But she was growing very very old and he had grown tired of her vindictive ways. If they weren’t careful, all their past transgressions would get out into the world, and he didn’t need that kind of attention on the pack. People would think he was weak, and his position as Alpha would be questioned.

His mother and father had done some really questionable things while in their leadership roles. Nick believed Sophia was probably still doing things he didn’t even know about when she had carried on as Luna. Still, she was his mother and he loved her and wanted to care for her, even if he didn’t agree with her ways of doing things.

Unfortunately his sister had grown up to be a carbon copy of his mother. They had the same outlook and ideas, neither of which were good. Sophia had been sick for a while, growing significantly slower with her old age. When Susan died, she had gone straight downhill. Now the doctor was coming weekly to give her medicine and the nurse came daily to help care for her. If anything else happened…. he didn’t know if she would survive it.

Reaching her door, he knocked and went inside.

Sofia sat in the armchair by the fire. When Nick was a child, she would sit as close to the fire as possible and knit. He thought it must be a calming tactic for her, because of the many hours she sat doing it. She used to knit them scarves and mittens and socks, and hats. He and Susan both had drawers full of these by the time they were teens.

There was no knitting today however, only a sickly version of a wolf that once was, staring into the fire. She looked up when he came in.

“Well?” She said.

“Hello to you too mother.” Nick said in way of greeting.

“Is she still alive or not?” She asked him.

“Of course she is alive, I’m not going to execute my own wife and Luna. She will go to trial.” Nicklaus explained.

“She killed your sister! She doesn’t deserve a trial! If I was able I’d go down to the dungeon and kill her myself…. “ she was yelling, but started coughing and couldn’t finish.

“Caron will be at the trial.” Nick said.

Sophia stopped and looked up at him incredulously.

“Why would you allow that??” She exclaimed.

“It’s wolf law! Susan was his wife they never officially divorced. What do you want me to do?? This is already causing so unwanted attention to the pack!”

Sophia just shook her head and grunted, clearly not agreeing.

“You know who her father is.” Nick said, referring to Emily. “I would be a fool to take him on. And we don’t know what information Caron has about what Susan did. She could never keep her big mouth shut.”

Sophia popped her head up. “Do not speak of your sister that way!”

“This is the problem mother. You coddled her too much! You let her get away with too many things and look what’s happened!” Nick turned to leave the room. But not before Sophia spoke once more.

“You better hope all our family secrets don’t get spilled Nicklaus. You’re going to wish you would’ve just killed that bitch and been done with it, mark my words.”

Nicklaus paused with his door on the handle.

“That bitch, is still my mate.”