Last time on Blind Hope

"Ah, yes. Well, we used to brag to each other about how great our mates were..." Emily laughed and shook her head. "This story certainly beat how Bruce and I met." She looked around the room before beginning her story. All of her kids, except Larry, sat around Hope as if they were preparing to have a portrait taken. Gramm stood closer to Dorian, though his attention from Emily never wavered. "Let's see..." She began.

~~~~~~~~~~

Victoria huffed in anger as she shifted, going just as fast as her wolf form would take her. It was always the same with her parents.

I told you that you shouldn't have kept that child.

She's blind. Now what?

She'll never amount to anything.

Is this really what you want for your pack?

What happens when your mate shows up?

Did you ever think to not spread your legs!? Is it that hard!?

Tears fell out her wolf eyes, and she skidded to a stop shaking her head. She lifted her head, howling in frustration. That child was her child. It was true, however, that she had never loved Bruce. She didn't even understand why so many women fawned over him. Sure he was handsome, but he wasn't desirable. She looked up at the sky.

Why had she done it? Why had she had a child with that man? That wasn't the goal, certainly, but she had slept with him... several times... The only female Alpha in the training camp, and she had slept with another Alpha. No one knew, though. They had kept it secret.

Victoria supposed it was the eyes. When she looked at him, she saw herself. The loneliness, the years of longsuffering, of dealing with demanding parents. She supposed Bruce saw himself in her, too. They weren't mates. They didn't feel the romantic pull. They felt the same desperation. After all, isn't misery best shared with others?

And, so, they had met up. They had snuck out of camp and did the deed in the great outdoors. Not once. Not twice. Thrice. They had met thrice. Victoria wondered when her little Hope first formed. Was it the first time? Had it taken all three times?

She had named the child Hope because she made Victoria happy. It was like a light shone from every being of the little girl's face. But then, she opened her eyes. They had been silver, no. They had been milky.

Victoria shifted back into her human form, and a sob escaped her. The child was only a few months old now, and she spent as much time as she could with her. Victoria looked back from the way she had ran. Was she running from the child? Or was she running from her parents. Her shoulders shook, and her long dark hair fell in ringlets around her.

"Oh, heavens." She whispered, she fell onto her knees and clutched the ground with her hands. "Give me something, anything to make this better. Or, or... Oh, Selene, just kill me here." She wanted to be a mother. She wanted to care and cherish a mate. She wanted to lead her pack. But she couldn't. She didn't have a mate. Her parents kept intervening in her motherhood and leadership. Nothing was going right, and the child was blind. It only fueled her parents sense of self-righteousness, made them worse than they had been. "Selene, please. Just kill me here."

There was a roar of pain from the distance, and Victoria's head snapped up. The cry called to her, and she pushed herself to her feet. Hastily wiping tears away and stumbling towards the sounds of a fight, Victoria felt elated. She didn't know why. She burst into a clearing, only now aware she had ran straight out of her territory.

There was a wolf. A beautiful grey wolf with spots of black like an adorable puppy. His wolf was thin and small. She knew instantly he was an omega, but that didn't bother Victoria. Because that omega was her omega. Her mate. Her love of life. She watched in awe as his muscles, probably formed from surviving as a rogue, rippled as he tackled and attacked three other rogues. He took them all on, on his own.

Her ears picked up a little cry, and she looked behind her amazing mate to see a little child. She was a human child. A crying, bleeding human child, barely a toddler, being protected by an omega werewolf. Victoria was enraged that those three rogues would attack such a beautiful man and child. She snarled, rushing the field, quickly ending the fight - and she was in human form.

The rogue took a few steps back from her, knowing and terrified. Alphas didn't tolerate omega mates. That was a fact. Victoria walked up to his wolf and slowly stretched her hand out. The wolf didn't dare move. She gently scratched behind ears, loving the way his eyes closed as he leaned into her touch and loving how the mate sparks jumped from his head to her hand. It tingled through her whole body. "Can you shift?" She whispered. "Please?"

The wolf nodded and bounded off. Without even asking, Victoria knew he was going to fetch clothes. An old werewolf trick was to leave clothes hidden at the base of trees in the territories you often roamed. Victoria knelt in front of the little girl, nearly sobbing her eyes out. "Hello, there. I'm sure you're scared." Victoria picked up the girl, ignoring her cries of protest and rocked her back and forth. She wondered if it was her mate's child, but she didn't care. Couldn't afford to care.

The wolf came back and watched with a gentle smile as his absolutely gorgeous mate rocked the little human to sleep. Victoria noticed him, and her breath hitched. If Bruce was handsome, this man must be a god. She flushed just looking at him. "H-hi." Her voice squeaked, and he swallowed hard, hoping she couldn't smell how aware he was of her.

"Hi."

"I'm Victoria."

"I'm Drake." They continued to stare at one another. A little snore interrupted their peaceful silence, and Victoria looked down at the child.

"Is she... yours?" Having a child born blind, Victoria didn't doubt that one could be born without a wolf. It would be more likely if he mated with a human. So perhaps he, too, had a fling.

"Yes." Victoria nodded and smiled easily at Drake, attempting to put him at ease. He was nervous. "She's..." he began to cry. "Charlotte doesn't have a wolf, and she's sick. She's dying." Victoria felt her heart pang, and she clutched the child closer to her.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered. Drake took the girl, but couldn't look Victoria in the eyes. "Let's go to my pack. The doctors can look at her, and... I have someone I want you to meet."

The two of them travelled in pained silence. Eventually, they arrived at the pack and Victoria's female Beta rushed from the house. "Vicky! Do you know how long you've been gone?" She was furious, on behalf of Hope, until her eyes landed on Drake and Charlotte. "Wha-?"

"Meet Lunar Drake and Charlotte." Drake flushed hearing his title. He had pegged her as an Alpha from the sheer power she emitted, but to hear that she was currently ruling as an Alpha was astonishing to him.

"YOU FOUND YOUR MATE!?" The Beta female squealed. The squeal was heard by those inside, and Victoria groaned inwardly as her parents came rushing out. If they didn't approve of a blind child, they certainly wouldn't approve of a dying one and an omega mate. Worst of all, she hadn't explained anything to Drake yet.

"We're going to the hospital. No one follow us." Victoria looked around, daring anyone to say something. No one did. And bring me Hope. She mind-linked her Betas. They nodded and dashed off in the opposite direction.

The evening passed slowly for both Drake and Victoria. The stress of the afternoon only hurt Charlotte more, and she passed away before the sun rose. It had been her heart. Victoria and Bruce spent the evening crying and mourning their daughter. The Beta's called for John and Tammy, sensing their Alpha couple would be unable to attend to Hope.

The next morning, Drake met Hope and fell in love once more. Victoria's parents were terribly furious about the whole ordeal, but Victoria, desperate to keep her mate safe, kicked her parents out of the packlands. A few days later, the two of them mated, and Drake became the official Lunar of the pack.