Erika's POV
Derek's birthday is coming. Carl mind-linked me.
Really? That's a good thing. But I haven’t prepared anything for him. Why don’t you tell me earlier? I mind-linked Carl. It was weird that no one talked about Derek’s birthday.
What Carl told me next answered what I wanted to know.
Derek's mother, the former Luna, was attacked after giving birth to Alpha. She died. So Derek refused to celebrate his birthday. But Kent and I both thought that this year might be different. Now that we have a Luna...
Carl hadn't finished when Derek returned from the window and walked back to his chair. As Derek walked past Carl, Carl was startled.
"When did you become so easily startled?" Derek asked in an amused tone.
"I'm... thinking about Sylvia. She's under the weather today," Carl stammered. He must be stressed about lying to Derek.
"What’s the matter?" Derek asked.
"No, nothing. It's just a migraine. She's had migraines ever since she gave birth to our daughter," Carl shrugged.
"Steven is here. You can visit him with your wife after a while," Derek paused, "Giving birth to a child... it's too risky..." He said lightly, shaking his head as if talking to himself.
Carl's face changed a little when he heard Derek's words.
"Yes, it's risky, but it's worth it..." Carl tried to argue.
"No, it's not," Derek interrupted Carl sharply.
Silence fell.
It was getting a bit awkward.
Carl's face turned red and he looked very embarrassed. I reached out and held Derek's hands to comfort him. He also realized he was overreacting. He cleared his throat and announced that the meeting was over.
Derek went into his office while I walked out of the meeting room. He had something to discuss with Frank.
I wanted to go to the training ground first before I went back to the pack house, so I chose another way. I hadn't done any physical training for a long time. After the challenge with Emma, Derek agreed that I could go to the training ground and do training whenever I wanted. I also wanted to see how things were going with Angel.
On my way to the training ground, one thing weighed on me. I was worried that Derek might not want to have a pup, which would be really bad news.
I was not sure about the tradition in this pack. But in the Fly Rock Pack, the alphas must have an heir, regardless of sex. The heir could become the new Alpha after growing up. In this way, the Alpha was rarely challenged before stepping down. Charles, of course, was an exception. He was killed by his own heir, who couldn't wait to take power. Still, it was important for the pack leaders, especially the Alpha, to have an heir. Otherwise, as they grew older, they would often be challenged by younger males. In this pack, I guessed, only males could be the rightful heir.
I didn't know why Derek had overreacted to the mention of a baby, probably because his mother had died after giving birth to him. It was not his fault, but he blamed himself.
And his birthday was coming up. I should do something to cheer him up.
I arrived at the training ground and spotted Angel right away. She was fighting with a strong warrior with long hair and a beard. Kent wasn't in the training ground. The warriors would fight in pairs, change their enemies, and fight again. Spring was coming, but it was still freezing cold. The man Angel would be fighting with only wore thin clothes. He rolled up his sleeves and showed his muscular arms full of tattoos. He growled at Angel and then attacked her. I looked at Angel worriedly.
But Angel seemed quite calm. She stood still and didn't make the slightest move until the man threw his fist at her. Angel leaned back and dodged the attack. She began to move quickly. In fact, she was so fast that it was almost impossible to predict where she was going to be in the next second. Just as the man was on the verge of a frenzy, Angel appeared behind him and kicked him hard in the shoulder. The man covered his shoulder with another arm and let out a scream.
Angel stepped back and ran towards him. She strangled him from behind with her arms around his neck and knocked him to the ground.
Angel defeated the muscular warrior with ease.
She had become a real warrior, quite a strong one.
She walked to the other side of the arena, grabbed a bottle of water and took a gulp.
She was not the little girl who would be ecstatic about winning a single fight anymore. Winning had become a way of life for her.
After resting for a few minutes, she returned to the training ground. She spotted me and waved to me.
I waved back at her.
She trotted over to me with a faint smile on her face.
"Luna, I miss you so much! I'm too busy these days!" She pursed her lips and said excitedly. Suddenly she became that little girl again.
I see. You have made rapid progress. I'll also do some physical training. How about not having dinner together after you finish training tonight?
"Sure!" Angel nodded. Then she thought of something and asked, "What about ... Alpha? Don't you have to eat with him?"
No. He's busy. I mind-linked her.. It was not an excuse. Derek would be busy all day. He had a video meeting with Francis, talking about how to handle the relationship with the Lumiere Pack. He would not be back until late in the evening. These days I had been accompanied by Derek and other pack leaders. I hated to admit it, but I was not used to eating alone anymore.