THE LUNA'S CAMP: CROWN OF THE FORGOTTEN MATE

Raphael's POV 

"He won't stop crying, Raphael! I'm so tired!"

My grandmother told me ever since I was a pup that motherhood was one of the biggest transitions for any she-wolf.

With all that in mind, I'd hired three experienced nannies, each of them had at least eight years under their belt, Medea made regular guilt-free outings with her sister Eclipse and I paid for a tummy tuck when going to the gym was too much work.

I don't want to sound inconsiderate.

But I think I've done enough to make this motherhood journey easy on her.

However, she was always quick with Jaxon.

A little whimper and she was quick to snap at him.

Since Jaxon's cries were a regular rhythm throughout the night and most of the night his crib and other pup essentials were moved to our bedroom.

Medea wasn't happy about this but clipped away any complaint.

At least at first.

Then Jax broke into his third cry of the night and she got up before me. She sprinted off the bed and rushed to his bed. She swooped up the three-month-old and shook him with a strength I didn't know she was capable of.

In haste, I caught up to her and snatched the baby from her.

"Medea, what's gotten into you?!"

That's when she said it.

"He won't stop crying, Raphael! I'm so tired!"

His soft tender face ruffled and he cried with his whole being.

"I understand you're tired, Medea, but you know he's only this cranky because he doesn't eat often,"

Medea scoffed.

"Well maybe wouldn't be all skin and bones if he ate,"

Her words hit me with the weight of a physical blow.

"Medea, you're tired you don't know what you're saying...go to bed,"

I tried to lead her back to the bed with one hand and she tugged her hand away and I released it to balance Jax.

"Sleep isn't going to fix this, how much longer will I have to put up with this in my own home? My own child constantly rejects me. When he was a newborn he refused to suckle...we tried everything... don't you remember?"

I did remember.

For five days nothing passed through my son's mouth.

If he were not of Alpha blood he would have never made it far.

He also wouldn't stop crying.

That was until he smelt her.

Or rather her clothes.

I had been instructing the servants how they would dispose of Celestia's things, his tiny fingers pulled towards the wardrobe, to the clothes she had worn.

Medea had been standing by my side when she noticed it too.

We dismissed the servants and stuffed his crib with her clothes.

He calmed, his temperature finally relaxing to a subtle warmth and I got courageous and fished out a bottle of baby formula I had secretly bought.

Medea was flabbergasted.

And betrayed.

A silent apology rang in my eyes as I pressed cold formula into my son's mouth.

Slowly but steadily he began to suckle, I felt like I had aged downwards by about five years and my entire face brightened.

But Medea, now my Luna and mate, was not pleased.

She threw herself on the bed and cried until her eyes were red at the rims.

"I'm no mother, this is what I get for being a scam!"

She said over and over again.

I consoled her 

Kissed her 

Told her that she was just a mother rather than a certain someone.

To date, Jax still slept in her clothes, but I guess it wasn't the same as the real thing.

That's why he'd still break into tears in the middle of the night, loud enough to shake the entire packhouse.

When he finally settled down I held him in my arms for a bit longer and carefully placed him down in his crib like I was dropping a bomb.

Then I spun my head around.

No sight of Medea.

I sighed, leaving the bedroom and heading straight to where I knew she'd be.

The attic.

Medea's family had once been high-ranked and respected by the pack, but her father and mother chose the side of our enemies during a crisis, they were deemed as traitors and executed for their crimes.

Leaving Medea alone to tend to her little sister.

I had always liked her before, but seeing how resilient she was in the face of bullying and mockery for the offense of her parents.

I stood like a wall protecting her from those who tried to harm her.

When her family home was burnt down by self-righteous pack members I begged my parents to let her stay.

I was begging them in the living room when Celestia walked in.

She was 17, with almond eyes that carried carved out innocence.

She listened and followed me afterward as I was marching into my room.

"I need a maid," she said awkwardly, "if Eclipse promises to work hard, I can convince my father and mother to let her work under me,"

Back then I thought she was kind and sincere.

Eclipse became her personal maid, and I later made Medea my maid.

She was often bullied by the other maids in their quarters so she found the abandoned attic and would go there at night and sit on the worn-out mattress and look out the circular window.

She did that now.

Even after so many years.

And I could still see it 

That poor girl, broken by the world, abandoned by everyone, friends and family alike.

My Alpha instincts told me to protect.

I came forward, sitting next to her on the dusty ground.

Without warning she said; "Jaxon needs his mother,"

I reached forward and squeezed her hand.

"You are his mother,"

"His real mother, Raphael...his real mother," 

I swallowed.

"It will be hard to find her," I admitted, "if there is even a person to be found,"

"She's alive," She said rigidly, "...people like her never die off easily,"

I stared out the window imagining her broken face.

Was Celestia still out there?