Chapter 45:

Camila scrutinised herself in the mirror for the seventeenth time in the last hour. She was nervous. So nervous that she has to clasp her palms tightly together to stop them from shaking.

When they were not laced together her fingers were pulling at the hem of her dress or centring the pendant on her necklace. She had re-adjusted and run her fingers through her hair so many times that the spirals of her curls had grown flat and now looked like tendrils of frizz. She stepped away from the mirror and spied Taine staring at her from the couch. He set his eyes back on the Tv pretending that he hadn't been looking.

She rolled her eyes and laughed internally. She was the frantic one. The one often filled to the brim with emotions. Emotions which didn't know how to escape from her body so they manifested themselves in her racing heart and desire to perfect her appearance. Taine was supposed to be the calm one, or at least the one who could pretend he was calm and then focus his attention into calming her.

Instead, uncharacteristically, his usual stoicness was poorly concealed by the way he kept changing the channels and shaking his leg.

Camila needed to plant herself somewhere so that she could stop pacing back and forth between the mirror, the stove and the bathroom. She walked over to the couch, stepped over Taine's leg and placed herself next to him. Immediately, like a reflex, he relaxed into her touch, pulled her closer and rested his head over hers.

"Are you sure we shouldn't have picked her up?"

"Yes Mila, it's fine. Alfredo said they've already left anyway."

Camila nodded in response.

"Don't be nervous." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

She snorted. "Easy for you to say. You are nervous too."

The screen flicked in front of them but neither were really watching. They sat like that for a few moments. Lost inside their own minds.

Camila gently broke the silence. "Are you sure she is ready?" Camila asked the question about Melissa but as soon as she said the words she realised she was actually asking herself.

"She's very...delicate. She doesn't really like being touched, doesn't like loud noises. Doesn't leave the house much. But she really does want to meet you. Just be patient with her and don't expect too much."

"Also, two other things. Don't tell her it was you that put me in the hospital..." She hit his shoulder playfully.

"And don't call me Taine in front of her, she gets a little funny about it."

Camila thought for a moment. They weren't the type of couple that had nicknames for each other. She wouldn't mind much but Taine would hate it. "So what can I call you then? Babe?"

He detested, 'babe.'

She felt him sigh, "If you must."

A few moments later the doorbell rang. The sound sent a jolt of anxiety through her body. She had placed so much expectation and pressure on herself to make a good impression, that she almost felt crippled by the weight of it all.

Taine stood up and pulled her hand up with him. She trailed behind him to the doorway, not wanting to bombard Melissa and not knowing how to appropriately greet her.

Suddenly Taine stopped. She walked into his back and continued to glare at him as he pushed her in front of him saying, "You answer it, you got this."

She took a deep breath, pasted a smile on her face and twisted the door handle.

She didn't know what to expect when she thought about Melissa. She imagined her like a delicate flower of a person that had been starved of sunshine and oxygen, trapped inside a glass case.

Camila greeted her with what she hoped was a warm inviting smile. It was received with a very soft-spoken hello and nervous smile. Camila immediately felt guilty. Guilty for thinking only of her emotions and her role in the situation. She could see that Melissa was far more nervous than was and was much further out of her comfort zone. Melissa looked uncomfortable the entryway of the house but Camila knew it had little to do with the home (where she knew Melissa had been to at least a handful of times) and more to do with the fact that she had to meet a new person, even if this new person was her son's mate.

"Hi, Mom." Camila stepped aside to allow Taine to place a gentle kiss on his mothers check.

Her skin, paper-thin, was painted by blue veins and a light smattering of freckles. The only and most prominent trace of colour on her face was her blue eyes. They sat wide yet empty in large hollows framed by dark thick eyebrows.

While Melissa looked more phantom than human, Camila would easily tell that she once had been incredibly beautiful.

Even though Taine and Camila had insisted, Alfredo refused to stay for dinner. It was only after Melissa and Taine had begun making their way to the couch and Camila had shot him the most pleading and desperate look she could muster, did he accept the invitation.

"Nathan dear, why don't you get your mother a drink." Melissa twisted the bracelet around her wrist nervously.

Taine hesitated a moment but still moved to the kitchen. Camila was left alone with her and began to make small talk to pass the time. "How long was the drive?"

"Not long. Around thirty minutes."

"Hopefully traffic wasn't too bad."

"It wasn't fortunately."

Melissa just curtly responded, doing nothing to further the conversation. She was soft-spoken and timid, which made Camila question herself. Was she asking the right questions? Was she being too forceful? Loud?

Camila smiled and searched her brain for what to say next. Thankfully Taine entered the room with a drink in each hand. Camila eyed him as he took a seat and gulped the golden liquid. Taine's dependence (or love as he put it) on whisky was something she disapproved of, yet now she itched for some liquid courage herself.

"How have you been, mom?"

Camila thought she would open up more now that her son was here. And while she seemed visibly more relaxed, she still responded with a singular, "fine."

"I'm so glad you could make it tonight." Camila directed the question both Alfredo and Melissa, with a smile.

Melissa quickly smiled and took another sip of her drink. Silence settled over the room. Silence which Camila was stifled by.

"I like what you've done with the décor in the room." Melissa glanced around. It was the first time she had spoken without having a question directed at her.

She was thankful for the reprieve. "Thank you! The place looked like such a bachelor pad, I wanted to add a few more colours and a bit more joy into the house."

Melissa nodded "I have been telling Nathan for years that he needed to rid himself of the blacks and greys."

She saw a twinkle in Melissa's eyes and knew that they were reflected in her own. She felt the first sense of warmth and connection since she had opened the front door.

Hearing the oven timer go off, Camila jumped up. "Dinner is ready." She ushered everyone to the dining room table.

Even though she had prepared herself for it, dinner felt like a sombre affair. Even though she didn't know what Melissa was usually like, she could now attribute Taine being a man of few words to his mother.

She looked too slim for her tall frame and Camila could see why. Her plate was filled with only a handful of food and she consumed more alcohol than anything else. And while she hoped it was doing something, she could not see the effects of the whiskey on her nerves, her mood or her conversations. She still responded timidly, politely and only spoke when spoken to.

Even though Taine could also be quiet in front of company, Camila knew in her heart that this was less of a personality trait and more a symptom, a consequence of her abuse. Of feeling and being told that her words and voice didn't matter. A consequence of losing her son.

"Mila tell mom a bit more about yourself." Taine prompted.

"Sure babe." She said, with as straight a face as she could manage. She saw the underlying annoyance on Taine's face. She would never get tired of annoying him.

He stretched his arm over the back of her chair. The way Melissa flinched when she saw Taine's arm near her didn't escape Camila.

She finished her bite before launching into her story. "Well, I'm from Luna and Alpha Harts pack, like I mentioned before. I've studied business and pack management and I worked a lot with the schools in my old pack..." She thought of what else to say. "...and my guilty pleasure is watching human tv shows."

Taine laughed and added, "Camila can binge watch like nobody I've ever seen."

"And your parents Camila?"

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room.

Taine put down his fork and knife and placed his hand gently on his mothers. "Mom I've told you. Don't you remember? Camila's parents have passed."

They were killed. An entirely different thing, her mind echoed. Taine glanced at her as if to apologize and she knew his careful choice of words was for his mother's benefit.

A confused then pained expression passed across her face. "Did you? My memory is not what it used to be I'm afraid..."

"H-How did they pass?" She winced as she asked the question as if the ghosts of her memory, of the past, knew the answer to the question but hoped for a different outcome.

Camila did not lift her eyes from her plate as she whispered. "Pack 18 in the North. They were the Alpha and Luna."

That was all needed to say for the fog to lift itself and reveal the clear and haunting truth.

"Oh," Melissa said, before crumbling into herself.

The tears fell down her face silently and her body began to shake. As she began to slide down her chair, Taine and Alfredo were at her side trying to hold her up. She mumbled the words, "I'm sorry." And shook her head repeatedly back and forth. She has worked herself into a state and just managed to pry herself and stumble to up the stairs to the bathroom.

Camila's mouth went dry as she stared at the deep nail marks Melissa had embedded into the wooden table.

-

Camila inhaled deeply. The smell of Taine's cologne was familiar and safe. She savoured the feeling of his warm hands close around her back. She felt him press a kiss to the top of her head. They were standing in the hallway, a few feet away from the bathroom door where she suddenly heard a bang.

She craned her neck to look over but Taine angled her so that all she could see and feel was him. "She's fine."

Taine was repeating Melissa's own words when he had knocked on the door himself a few minutes before. Despite Camila's protests, he insisted that while his mother couldn't control her nervous breakdowns knew how to calm herself down.

"She gets like this a lot. She sometimes feels responsible for everything he did and no matter how much anyone has tried to convince her otherwise...She carries a lot of guilt."

"I shouldn't have said anything. I should have lied but I didn't and now..."

He cradled her head in his hands, "Hey, hey, hey, you didn't do anything. It's not your fault. I think she asked because she wanted to know."

"Yes your're right...Babe."

He playfully nibbled at her ear in response. Camila giggled as Taine peppered kisses all over her face and whispered honeyed words in her ear. Somehow even though there was a mental breakdown happening a few doors down he managed to make her laugh and feel that even though in that moment things were far from okay, they would be.

The sound of shuffling feet caused her and Taine to turn. They hadn't noticed but Melissa had emerged from the guest bathroom and was staring at the pair with an odd expression on her face.

"Hi mom," Taine said to her gently. It was the voice he used when he told Camila he loved her and the look in his eyes when he meant it with his whole heart. Something in her melted.

"Are you feeling okay?"

Although she looked put together, the waver in her smile and the weakness in her voice betrayed her. "Yes, I am dear..."

Taine gently began to usher her back into the living room when she surprised them both. "Camila, I'd just like to talk to you for a moment please."

She seemed to have gotten some of her strength back because while her words were still slow her voice and stance seemed stronger, less shaky.

Before she met Melissa she imagined her as a wilting wildflower, but after meeting her, she realised that Melissa most reminded her of a bird. Of a small bluebird afraid of being watched, easily startled and constantly flitting around afraid of who could be lurking in the bushes.

Like a bird whose broken wings had never healed and could no longer fly.

"Of course" she heard herself say as she watched Taine leave the room. He gave her a reassuring smile before she heard his feet descend the stairs.

"I'd just like to apologize."

"No, there's no need!" Mila waved her hand in dismissal.

"Not about dinner, dear." Her voice was quiet and sorrowful and it pulled the smile off Camila's face.

"Even though it doesn't change anything and might not mean anything, I'd like to apologize for what happened to your family. I am so deeply sorry for your loss."

Camila didn't know what to say in response. Melissa simply continued.

"I feel guilty over the way I've treated Nathan over the last few years." A pained expression crossed her face. "You know I designed this house for Taine, I'm sure you know this was going to be his pack....I made it so he could have his own family, a fresh start. But he never got to even set foot inside it."

Unshed tears glistened in her eyes. "His whole life I was afraid of Nathan turning into his father. So scared in those first few years when he became Alpha, that history was going to repeat itself. And most of all, I was scared for you, his mate...It hurts me to admit but when he told me he had met you, the first thing I felt was not joy but fear. I didn't even want to meet you because I didn't want you to see what I had become, what your future might look like."

She took a deep breath. "But tonight I realise that I was wrong. You are nothing like me, Camila. You are strong and you are a Luna. To me, all that ever was, was a title that was given to me... but it meant nothing because I couldn't live up to it. I'm sure you've been told this, but I know your parents would be so proud of the woman you have become."

Now Camila was the one with tears in her eyes. "And I know I was wrong because I see how Nathan is with you...I see that he treats you with love and gentleness. And even if it isn't obvious to everyone around you, and even you at times, I'm his mother and I know. He will never be like his father because you've shown him what love is. So I started off apologizing but I realise I should be saying thank you.

Camila wanted to reach out and engulf her in a hug but refrained. When they made their way back to the dinner table and she met Taine's eyes, grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight, she knew that the love she had fought for and created for herself would prove to be worth it time and time and time again.

THE END