The White Luna

Eighteen

Cassandra's POV

I looked up and narrowed my eyes at the roof before I accidentally bumped into someone. Unfortunately, that someone turned out to be the King, Jared.

"Cassandra." He acknowledged. I just stared at him blankly before trying to walk past him. "I heard what happened yesterday." He said. "And I'll be glad if we could talk about it?"

"Well, guess what, Jared? There's nothing to talk about." He winced at my tone. "Once again, there was a shitty situation where a few werewolves needed your help and what did you do? You disappeared like every fucking time!"

"Cassandra, I didn't know something was going on. I wasn't in the castle. I just came this morning." His eyes softened with a little guilt. I glared at him.

"You wanna talk, Jared? Let's fucking talk." I spat. "Tell me, how every fucking time some shit happens and you happen to be away from the place, totally? How is it that every time, you get saved but others don't. Tell me-"

"Are you implying that I made those attacks?!" He growled, his wolf edging.

"I don't know, Jared. You tell me." I asked, faking my innocence. He growled again before sighing and stepping back.

"You know what, Cassandra? This is useless. All I wanted to do was thank you for what you did yesterday and make sure you're okay after that." He said. "And this is stupid. It is stupid of me to think that even if I had destroyed one relationship in past, I could at least make up with my daughter! It's stupid of me to be the only one who wants this to work!"

"You're right." I nodded, agreeing. "It's stupid of you to use my mom and then throw her aside like trash and then expect me to appreciate you trying to make our relationship work."

"I didn't use your mom. I never threw her away!"

"Well, for me, impregnating a woman and then disappearing and never contacting her is exactly that." I glared at him. "My mom never deserved that. My mom didn't deserve to be forced out of the town just because she was pregnant without a man by her side. My mom didn't deserve to be treated like an outsider just because of some stupid fuck-" I had tears up. I couldn't hold them anymore.

"I LOVED JOSEPHINE!" He suddenly screamed. "I loved her." He repeated, this time with tears in his eyes. "I loved her so much. She was my mate. She was my everything. She was never just a stupid fuck. She was so much more than that."

I sniffled. "Funny. So, one night changed your mind about love and mate thing, huh?" I chuckled, bitterly.

"I never knew she was pregnant with you, Cassandra. If I did, I would never abandon you two like that." He sobbed. "It was until I came across a small town and spotted a two year old black haired girl playing with the most beautiful person on Earth."

I took a breathe in.

"What exactly happened?"

In those days, we used to do a mating ceremony." Jared said. "A few people do those nowadays but back then, it was wild. That's how I met Josephine." He sighed, closing his eyes.

"She was in her heat and I helped her with that." I narrowed my eyes on him. "Oh no, we didn't sleep at that time. I just ensured she was okay. We were each other's mates and we fell in love at first sight.

"We began to meet often and we would talk about stuff. She was the beta of your pack, I'm sure you know that. She was really strong, brave and courageous. Even though she had millions of reasons to lash out, she would always stay calm and composed. And I, was the total opposite of that. I had a very short temper but just seeing her smile would calm me down and make my day." A smile formed on his face.

I cleared my throat with a blank look even though I was enjoying what he was telling me.

"Oh sorry. We are going off topic." He cleared his throat. "So, from two months, I was living with her in her pack-house. Her Alpha didn't seem to have any problem since I was the Prince, you know.

"One day, I got a message from my father, the previous King. It said that he isn't well and is on his deathbed. Basically, he wanted me to come back and take the King's place. I talked to Josephine about it and she said it was fine. She said we can meet each other occasionally and we can make it work.

"So, I came back to the castle and was made the King. My father died a day or two later. While running the packs and giving orders, I would still manage to write a letter or two and tell her I miss and her love her.

"A month later, I came across a small town where people were starving to death. Their Alpha had died and had no heir. Turns out, my father wasn't really a great King. There were several such town and I had to take care of them before they decide to go rogue and run a revolution against me.

"My work increased and I didn't have time for her. Two years later, we met again at a Alphas meeting. Every Alpha comes with their beta and she was there. After meeting, I held her back and we talked. I apologized for the past two years and she forgave me.

"But...she said she can't do this anymore. I gave her so many options. I even told her we could get married and she could be the Queen beside me. But she didn't agree. Back then, people thought very low of women and being a King's wife is basically a woman warming King's bed.

"She didn't want that. She said if I could give her a normal life without any titles, she would be with me forever. I couldn't do that. I asked her for her rest of the day to be spent with me and she agreed.

"We went on a date, lived like a normal couple. Had dinner in a small restaurant where people didn't know us. It rained that night so we took shelter in a small cottage. We then made love to each other.

"Next day, I kissed her the last time before stepping out of the door, fulfilling her wish." He finished and sniffled, wiping his tears with his thumb. "That was the first time I saw tears in her eyes."

"Three years later, I came to this really small town with very low number of wolves and I saw a woman playing with a toddler. It was her, Josephine. When she looked up, we were just staring at each other, caught up in trance. And I remember you saying ‘Mommy, I don't like this man.’ and broke our eye contact.

"I thought she had married some wolf from her pack and is living happily. But then Josephine said to you something like "say hi to Daddy, baby." And all you did was frown and run into the house.

"She and I then talked and she told me that you were my child. Our baby. She told me that I can come and visit you every now and then, she wouldn't mind that. She invited me in and left us to talk. But guess what, you didn't wanna talk. You even hit me with your toy dagger." He chuckled and I couldn't help but laugh too. He smiled while looking at me. "If there's one thing you have of me in you, it's the anger." He chuckled again.

"While returning home, I got attacked by a pack of rogue and was on bedrest for the next six months. When I came back to the town, you guys weren't there. If there was anything in that house now was a letter she had for me. I tried to find you but no luck." He sighed.

"What was in that letter?" I asked. He chuckled and shook his head.

"That's for me to know and you to never find out." He smiled. "After about sixteen years, I heard of the fire incident." He sighed again.

He took my hands in his and squeezed them, staring at me with softened eyes. "I'm sorry you felt like I have abandoned you. I'm sorry you had to go through all that without anyone by your side. And I'm sorry, I wasn't there when you needed me the most. But, I love you, my child." He whispered. "I love you even though you strongly dislike me. I'll be here whenever you need me to be. I promise you that. And I hope that one day, you'll forgive me."

I got up from the couch and so did he. With a deep breathe, I slid my hands around his waist, sniffling slightly. He too wrapped his arms around my shoulders with a chuckle as he kissed my forehead.

"It's okay, Dad."