Unforgivable

It had been a few days since Mara and Orion had returned and with each passing day they could only see the extent of the damage. Luna Vanessa and Alpha Sloan were racked with guilt, the young Alpha Sage was unstable and the whole pack was afraid of him. The two Betas were doing the best they could, but they couldn’t cope with the scale of the task. Gamma Liam was a shadow of his former self. As for Violette, she no longer dared to leave her house and refused to face the world. As for Niels, Mara and Orion did not know what had become of him. It was a taboo subject and Sage had even forbidden anyone to pronounce his name. They didn’t really want to know either, it wasn’t important.

On the fourth day, there was an intrusion of rogues which fortunately did not cause any injury. Nevertheless Mara was shocked by the lack of reaction and the casualness of the high ranking wolves. It was obvious that they were used to it, which revealed how often these types of intrusions occurred.Mara could not hold her tongue, so she allowed herself to share her opinion quite frankly. This made Sage very irritated.

“Stay out of it, Mara you have no idea what you are talking about!” Sage warned her.

“It’s not about what to do. I’m just making an obvious point.” She retorted in her calm, cold voice. Her stoic response to his annoyance only made Sage even more angry.

“Who do you think you are to come in here and judge us like this? You have no idea what we’ve been through! We’re doing the best we can!” Sage snapped.

“Well that’s not good enough... Besides, you could do a lot more than just let things get out of hand.” She still answered in that calm voice, unfazed by Sage’s raising anger.

He growled at her and his eyes changed indicating the presence of his wolf on the surface. Everyone around them tensed and Orion took a defensive posture, ready to defend his Luna if needed. Yet Mara remained unperturbed and continued to voice her criticism of the handling of the intrusion. The more she continued, the more Sage grumbled. Mara’s stoicism only fed his rage. His parents and the Betas were afraid he would lose control and do something regrettable.

“Mara, that’s enough. He’s going to completely lose control of his wolf if you continue.” Orion warned her.

“So what? It’s obvious they both want a second chance with me, so whether it’s him or his wolf I’m not risking anything. Besides, apparently no one dares confront him about his mismanagement of the pack, it’s time someone does.” She answered in the same calm and cold voice, equal to herself.

“What, you think you’d just do better than me? Then be my guest and do it!” Sage replied.

“Why not?” She replied still nonchalant.

Sage was taken aback by her answer but he composed himself and dared her: “In that case, Challenge me for my position!”

“Perfect! Let’s do it now. I, Mara challenge you Sage for the position of Alpha.” She announced, catching everyone off guard.

“Perfect!” Sage replied unprepared for this.

“Does that mean you accept the challenge?” She asked.

"Sage, think about it. If you accept it, it will affect both of us." Her father warned him throught the mindlink.

"Noted!" He said, yet didn’t really listen to him.

“I accept your challange Mara.” Sage replied.

“So where do we do this?” She asked as if nothing had happened. As if she hadn’t just done something completely crazy or utterly stupid.

“I don’t think that’s an idea, Mara. You should give up.” Orion advised her.

“Why not? I’m pretty sure he’ll bow out before he even attacks me. He won’t dare touch me, he’s too consumed with remorse.” She commented.

“Don’t be so sure, Mara. You may be my mate but I don’t like disrespect even coming from you!” Sage stated.

“We will see.” She shrugged.

“Are you sure of what you are doing, Sage? I don’t think this is a good idea.” Aaron asked him through the mindlink.

“It’s about my honnor and as an Alpha I demand respect! She needs to understand, Aaron!” Sage replied.

Aaron agreed with Mara and didn’t see Sage being able to hurt her in any way... And once they arrived at the training camp Sage proved them right, unable to hurt Mara, he bowed to her. So she won the challenge.

“I told you so.” She said to Sage, her tone still detached. He didn’t answer for fear of saying something he would regret later.

“As for that second chance, I’d rather be honest and warn you it’s never going to happen. It’s not you, it’s me who-” Mara added but Sage cut her off.

“It’s pretty obvious! What happened to you made you unable to feel anything!” He remarked.

Mara sighed, “We were just kids, Sage. I’m sorry you suffered through all this, but you have to forgive yourself at some point. There was nothing you could have done. None of what happened was your fault. Your pack needs a reliable Alpha even more now. They need you to put your shit together and to move on. You’ve to become the Alpha you were supposed to. Get a hold of yourself, Sage and stop living in the past.”

“If-” Sage started.

Mara didn't let him speak: “With ifs we remake the world and live in the past. If I had trusted you and told you, I have no doubt that you would have believed me and done everything to protect me. I know that now but I didn’t know it then. You really fought for us, for 6 weeks you tried and every time I rejected you I broke your heart again, it was awful. I hurt you so much. You are a victim as well. You have done all you can with what you know or rather did not know in this case. ”

Sage disagreed. He could have do more, he should have! Orion did more and he was just a kid too.

Mara looked at Alpha Sloan and Luna Vanessa, “That goes for both of you too. You should take advantage of this time when you’re no longer in charge of the pack to pull yourself together. Doctor Adicost was a very smart evil man and there is nothing you couldn’t have done to expose him. Anyone who had the slightest doubt paid dearly, sometimes with their lives. He knew very well what he was doing. Staying in the past does not help. You have three beautiful children and a pack to take care of. It’s time to remember that and to move on.”

Very little to lay low...Orion thought to himself.

“You know I had to step in. It changes our plans a bit, but actually it’ll mske thingd a lot easier for us.” Mara mindlinked him as if she had ready his mind. They were this close that Orion was an open book to her.

She turned to Beta Steeve and said, “Beta, I would like to speak to Violet privately. Send her to Alpha Sloan’s office, please? Make sure she comes, it would be a shame to have to send guards to get her.”

“Okay Alpha or Luna Mara. How should we call you?” Beta Steeve inquired.

“Mara is enough.”

Then she added: “Can you also announce to the pack that I will be the interim Alpha for the next few weeks. I’m sure the pack has already sensed the transfer of power but I’d like to make it official. Thank you.”