Pride, Mates, and Past Mistakes

Newsflash, Alphas

Cody*

"What?" Alpha Brimingwall stared at his wife, obviously trying to comprehend what she had just said.

Luna Brimingwall didn't say anything. She just shook her head and gestured to the letter, still choking out silent sobs.

Nolan and I remained frozen (along with the rest of the pack in the kitchen, for moons sake) and watched with wide eyes as Alpha Brimingwall's eyes skimmed the paper at lightning speed, his his hand forming a more threatening looking fist with every line.

His wise eyes snapped up. He seemed unable to believe what just happened. 

"She...Sierra. Sierra says she'd left because she had to...to move on." He breathed, his voice sounding almost awestruck. His eyes went back to the paper. "'If you love me, don't look for me'... she - she said school was miserable. She said she was miserable."

"I don't care what she said," Luna Brimingwall spat, her voice suddenly deadly. "Grant, she's not even sixteen! She's just a girl, how is she supposed to survive on her own out there? She's not even a sophomore yet, how is she supposed to...?" she trailed off, shaking her head. "No. No. No, we've got to find her. She can't have gone far, what's it been, a few hours?"

Her hands began to shake and she ripped the letter from the Alpha's hands. Her eyes darted around wildly. "I want everyone interrogated," she spat. Her voice began to climb octaves, higher and higher. "I want to find out who made her run away and I swear, I swear-" 

"Sweetheart." Alpha Brimingwall's arm was around his mate in a flash, and he leaned in and spoke quietly in her ear for a moment. And like a switch had been pulled, her trembling immediately decreased.

I stood transfixed, paralyzed by the Alpha and Luna's closeness and connection, paralyzed by fact that I had had someone like that, too. 

And she had just fled the pack.

After Alpha Brimingwall had finished talking to his mate, Luna Brimingwall simply nodded, and walked back into the kitchen. The crowd in the kitchen immediately parted for her, and then she was gone. The Alpha stared after her, his pained gaze distracted.

Nolan spoke up, his voice soft. "Dad, she's young, but she's smart. I know she's okay. Wherever she is."

And with that, he stood up from the rocking chair, sending it toppling backwards. Nolan sent me a loathing glare that would've sent me to the deepest, darkest, pits of hell if they could, and stormed off the porch, leaving his parents looking very confused.

Then Alpha Brimingwall's eyes fell on me, who was still crumpled on the floor, bruised and slightly bloody.

"Cody," Alpha Brimingwall asked me, as if my physical condition was invisible to him, his voice low but clear. He walked forward to me and squatted in front of me. "I've been meaning to ask this question for a while. But I could never come to ask it, because I always had belief in my pack. I knew they'd never betray me. But I've no choice. Can you answer this question I'm about to ask you truthfully, please?"

I wanted to groan. First Nolan, now him.

"Was Sierra bullied?"

I could feel that space between my chest and abdomen clench. Sure, we all teased her once in a while, but to generalize it like that...to mark it as 'bullying'...that made it sound much worse. Besides, it'd never gone that far. I'd never classify it as bullying. Just a little fun.

I glanced behind him, at the part of the pack that was crowded by the kitchen door. They were all high school kids, as the middle school kids weren't awake yet—their school started later.