The Alpha’s Mute Mate
Episode 20

BROOKE

As we made our way to the clearing, a log was flat on its side.

I sit on it with Alanna beside me while my father leans against the nearby tree.

I looked at my father, and he seemed nervous.

“You look like your mother,” blurts Alanna.

I turned to her, confused.

She shakes her head. “We have a photo of her in our house,” she says. “When I met your father, he was a mess. He was unhappy being with that awful woman. She was a piece of work. She always brought up your mother and made his life hell. But when we got together, we moved into our little house. Before he left and moved in with HER, he left all of his stuff from his previous mate behind in an old storage locker, like old furniture and photos. Some pack members helped us move in; we sorted the boxes until we came to the box with all the photos. He told me all about her and you.”

“Alanna told me to put them up around the house, so when you came back home, you had photos of her,” my father says, cutting her off.

I looked at him.

“Brooke, I never meant to leave you with Aubrey. She was awful and even played a good game when I was heartbroken. She was caring and supportive at the beginning. I thought I was doing right by you at the time. I thought you needed someone. You loved Austin as your brother. But as soon as we moved away from the pack, she became crueler with snide remarks about your mother here, arguing with me if I had to leave to do any pack business. I thought she was human and never knew about our kind. She was sweet, but of course, we recently learned that she’s mated to the rogue,” he says, but the last word slips into a growl.

I put my hand to my neck, running along my scar. Alanna looks at me with sadness in her eyes but gives me a small smile.

“The day I met Alanna, I went out to the market, and there she was. I never thought I would get a second chance mate in a million years, but I did. I fell head over heels in love again, but I had to keep her a secret. I told Alanna everything. She agreed to keep our secret. I needed to get you out of the house. We made a plan, but Aubrey somehow figured out what was happening. She followed me one night and saw us together. She was hell-bent on making my life hell. She left Alanna and me on a date. She went home, packed, and took all of you with her. I only found out that you left by the sick twisted letter she left me,” he said.

“He’s telling the truth,” says Alanna. “He phoned me saying they had gone. I didn’t know what he was on about, so I went to the house, only to find your father on his knees crying. I made him come to the pack house with me, but he was in no shape when he returned. We had to explain everything to Alpha Marcus and Luna Sophia. We searched for you. The only things they left behind were your things, they took everything else, but your father lost the most precious thing he had, you Brooke,” Alanna says, a tear sliding down her cheek.

They both looked sad.

“They are telling the truth, Brooke,” says Willow, watching on in the distance of my mind.

“Can you talk for me, Willow?” I asked her. “I need to tell them what happened to me that day, and they might not understand if I mouthed or even wrote it down.”

Willow nods.

I closed my eyes, moved my head to the side, and opened them.

Willow is forward; my father looks at me with wide eyes. “Why are you…..” but Willow cuts him off by putting her hand up. “Brooke wants me to talk for her as she doesn’t want to mouth this or write it down.”

He shuts his mouth and nods while Alanna looks on.

I relayed everything to Willow. “That night she followed you. Madison had come home from her dad’s. She was only in the house for a few seconds till she received a text from Aubrey,” she says. “Madison was pissed; she came to my room, grabbed me, and pushed me down the stairs, blaming me for everything, but I couldn’t make out what she was on about. Aubrey came back a few moments later. I was on the ground, shaking. While Austin was trying to get Madison off me, Aubrey did. She stared at me for a while but told her kids to pack what they needed as they left. She even made Madison pack her bag too. While they were doing that, she kneeled in front of me and said that she would take me away as I was the only thing my father loved, even more than her. She said nothing about what you did or what happened, only that I was going with them. It only took them a few minutes, and they packed the car up. She grabbed some rope and bounded my arms together. She made me travel in the boot.”

I stared at my father and Alanna, they were both angry at what they were hearing, but I needed to tell them more.

“I had nothing, only the clothes on my back. When we got to the first house, there were five men there. They were family, they said. They threw me in the basement and left me for days. Austin and Madison were put in another part of the house. No one came for me or even visited me until……”

I had to stop talking. I knew what they did, but I never had to explain it to anyone before.

Willow looks at my father. “Can you bear with me one sec? Brooke has gone quiet.”

“Brooke, you ok,” she says, her black orbs staring back at me.

I stopped talking as the next part was hard for me to talk about. No one knows, not even Willow, but she can sense there is something. “Tell me, and I will relay it back to them the best I can,” she says.

“I will tell you, but can you tell them once I have told you,” I asked her. “Please, this is going to be hard.”

Willow’s eyes looked at me. “What are you hiding? Tell me.”

I looked back at her and closed my eyes as I recalled everything.

“When someone finally came to see me, Aubrey came down the basement one night while everyone was out. She had this machine that was brought down by one of the men. She started to ask me questions about the pack. I didn’t know anything, but I think I worked out why I lost most of my memories about the pack and other things; she used to stick some things to my head that were attached to the machine. If I told her I didn’t know, she would use them. It would send some electric current through,” I said.

Willow gasped. “That is called electroconvulsive therapy,” she says, angry. “Why would she use that?” she snapped.

I opened my eyes, but a tear slipped down my cheek. “I never told them anything as I never knew anything. She only did that one night, but ever since then, I haven’t been able to remember anything about pack life or even werewolves.”

Willow looked at me, but she turned and went back to my father, who was now staring at her with anxiety running through him. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong with Brooke?” he begged.

“That piece of filth used electroconvulsive therapy on Brooke. She wanted to know pack secrets,” she says in a hiss.

“SHE f*****g DID WHAT?” He roars.

“That explains why she can’t remember the pack of werewolves,” she says.

Alanna stands up, anger rippling through her, but she walks to my father to calm him down.

“Willow, I need to get back,” I said. She doesn’t waste her time, and I move forward. She closes my eyes as I come forward. I opened my eyes and looked at my father; he struggled to keep his wolf at bay.

Suddenly, I hear cracking, and my eyes widen as my father shifts into a grey wolf. He howls and growls.

Alanna looks at him. “Hunny, you need to calm down,” she says, but it doesn’t work.

“You need to go to him,” says Willow. “His wolf is pissed because someone hurt his pup. He won’t hurt you.”

I could hear people running towards where my father was roaring and growling loudly. I stood up and ran straight towards the grey wolf, flinging my arms around its big neck. I squeeze him; I want him to know I’m here.

I closed my eyes and couldn’t help but cry. The tears flow down my cheeks onto the wolf’s fur.

Suddenly, the wolf stops, and sensing my tears, starts to calm down. I know a crowd of people around us, but I need my father. I need him to calm down. The wolf stops growling and sits back on its hind legs, resting his chin on my head. He purrs into me. After a few seconds, big arms wrap around me. I looked up to see my father’s face staring back at me and tears in his eyes. Alanna hands him something, but I look at him. “Brooke, my princess,” he says quietly.

He lifts his finger to wipe away my tears. “SHHH, it’s ok, princess,” he says. I hugged him once again.

I can feel his wolf near, but he stays back.

“His wolf is happy; he says you are pup. He will protect you,” says Willow quietly.

After a few more seconds, I moved away from my father. My father looked up to see all the familiar faces; they all had smiles. He smiles. “You won’t believe how long I have been waiting for that,” he says with a tear sliding down his cheek.

One catches my eye, Hudson. He’s grinning.

I think he was mind linking with someone because he had a blank expression on his face until we heard, “SHE DID WHAT,” shouted Alpha Marcus, which startled me.

He looks angry but soon realizes that I’m shaking a little. His face softens. “I’m sorry, Brooke, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he says. I gave him a small smile.

“I think we should give you three some more time,” he says. “It is so nice to see my friend with his daughter once more.”

I looked at my father, who had the brightest smile.

“Do you still want to spend time with your dad?” he asks, looking at me. I nodded. “Yes, please,” I mouthed, earning a chuckle from him.

“I will help Luna Sophia with the food,” says Alanna, smiling back at us.

They all turn around and leave. Hudson hoovers but smiles. My father smiles at him. “I think Hudson would like to join us, princess,” my father says.

I looked back at Hudson; I blushed and nodded at him.

He smiled brightly.