The Outcast

Miranda's Wrath

"Mona!  Hello!" William greets Mona as he came across the girl in the garden.  He is smoking his pipe and is enjoying a day off under the sun and the blooms around him.  Mona is sitting in one of the decorative tables in the garden,  tending a pot of rose in front of her.  The girl beamed radiantly at him and lowered her head as respect. In a few days,  she will become her daughter. He smiled contentedly.

"I never knew you are gifted with a green thumb." William praised her.
The girl lowered her head shyly.

"Granny taught me most about gardening,  and I happen to enjoy it.  My Gran's a super green thumb,  that's for sure." Mona replied, continuing her work with the roses.

William laughed.  Mona could have been his daughter if only fate wasn't that cruel.  Or if only he wasn't a coward before. Twenty two years and still,  William has too many what ifs.

"Bruce!" Miranda called Bruce, her personal assistant.  The latter immediately turned to her.

"Yes,  Luna?" Bruce answered.  Bruce has been Miranda's assistant even when she was still a maiden at her own pack.  She took Bruce with her when William removed her from her family as she became his mate.  Away from the comforts of her home and with the presence of strangers,  Miranda never felt at home. Bruce made her feel somehow,  secure.

As the first child of Alpha Luke Redwood of the Scarlet Moon Pack,  Miranda was supposed to be the heiress of their pack, but because she was a girl,  her role was not to lead but to serve her mate. Then her brother, Mikhael was born and all her claims run down the drain. The moment he came,  she was disregarded by both of her parents.  Mikhael became the center of their world.  Growing up,  Mikhael always get her parents favor and affection, whereas  she was given a nanny to attend to all her needs.  Disregarded and unloved,  that's how Miranda felt living under the roof of her parents.  She's more than just a girl who would be taken by her mate one day, and will be his mate's possession.  She longs for her parents' attention and love, which was selfishly refused to her.  So,  all her life she waited for her mate.  She believed that only him can give her all the love she needed and she will gladly serve and love him with all of her heart in return.

And then William Jones came along. It was her father's funeral and pack leaders all over the land came to pay their last respects. William was with his father,  and the moment she saw him,  he immediately had taken Miranda's heart away.  She was happy that her mate wasn't  just a common man but a distinguished bachelor from another pack, a future Alpha at that.  William was the answer to all of her prayers and she would not trade it for anything.  But Miranda can't  deny too,  that William was indifferent to her. If it wasn't  for the mate bond,  she knew he won't even spare her his attention. He was even hesitant to accept her as his mate and she had no idea why. Her self-doubt,  self-pity and insecurities was getting the best of her.

Somehow, she was taken to the Black Moon Pack just after her father was buried. Her Mother was still grieving for her father,  did not even gave her a damn. Her brother was too pleased and eager to send her out of the way.  She was apprehensive but Miranda knew better than that. She will be a Luna of a great pack,  and she will have responsibilities to her mate and her new pack.  She promised herself to love her mate with all her heart and that their children will be loved even more and will never suffer the same way as she did.

William was gentle and kind yet different. He might not say it but she can feel that she was not the one he wanted. Not long, she learned that William was in love with another girl. No.  Was still in love with the girl he was supposed to marry before her.  And it broke her heart and from then on, was drowned with bitterness and jealousy.

"I saw him in the garden a while ago.  Smoking his pipe." Bruce aptly reported. She walked towards the garden and there she saw him laughing with Mona.  She gritted her teeth,  her inner self screaming with rage.