Millicent's POV

After Christopher's demise, I went into shock, I'll stare off into space, for hours and this went on for days.

Samantha tried to reach me, speaking and telling me lots of things but I was not interested. I was like a zombie, not really aware of my surroundings.

'Millicent', she would say, trying to penetrate my consciousness. 'Eat something, please, for your health. I prepared this myself, specially for you. It's your favourite'. She held my hand, squeezing, 'The medicine the doctor has been giving you requires that you eat!' she added. 'You still have those who need and love you around. You are the only family I have left. Did you ask me back here so I can grieve once more if I lose you?'

Suddenly, she let go off my hands. And I heard a deeper voice. 'You should know Samantha, that Millicent thinks that if she punished herself long enough, Christopher will be brought back to life', it was Sylvester. 'She knows she is to blame for all this. And no starving nor pretending to escape from reality will change that!' he screamed. 'Christopher asked me to take care of you but he must have been mistaken. He told me you are a very strong female but you are not, are you? You are as fickle as a human, like I have always thought. It is better that he died than make a weakling like you his Luna!' he pause, then continued, 'And now, preparations are being made for his burial and the one he loves most in the world will not be there to pay him her last respects and bid him farewell. Such love! And you claimed you had an incredible bond with him? Rubbish! Coward! That's what you are! Escape all you want, who cares anyway!'

They were planning on burying Christopher? I have to see him one last time! But Sylvester's careless words about my mate bond with Christopher got me so pained that I recovered from my shock and I stood.

'Slap!'

It was a resounding one on Sylvester's cheek, by me. 'How dare you speak of my mate bond with Christopher with such disdain and disrespect?' I asked, eyes flashing. 'There has never been any such bond recorded or experienced in history before ours, I must tell you!'

'Oh,thank goodness, you decided to wake!' Alpha Sylvester said, rubbing his cheek.

'Oh, Christopher, how could you leave me? Is this your punishment to me for being such an asshole?' I asked. 'I ran away from something so great - the bond we shared - because I feared for your life, only to bring that same fate to you!' and it felt like the word was wringed from me, my heart was bleeding.

Then straightening, I asked, 'Did you say, you were preparing for his burial?' I asked, my eyes not focused on either Sylvester nor Samantha. I was looking wildly about, disoriented.

Samantha must have felt terrified that I was looking for something to harm myself with because she rushed to my side and held me in her arms.

'You should be strong for Christopher. He would want that', she said. 'Do you think he would want you to harm yourself or come to pieces at his death?' she asked, her arms falling away from my shoulders and down to hold my hands, looking into my eyes. Then shaking her head, said, 'I believe he'd want you to be strong. Your strength was one of the qualities he admired most about you!' she concluded, looking at me imploringly while rubbing my hands consolingly with her thumbs.

'Oh, Samantha!' I wailed. 'What have I done? I will never get over him!'

The tears started pouring. 'How could I kill my own love? Christopher meant the whole world to me. How could I destroy what we both hold dear, how could I destroy our bond?'

'It is going to be okay!' Samantha consoled.

'But it is not!' I said emphatically, sniffing in the phlegm from my nostrils. 'How can it be okay when Christopher is not here to make it okay? Things cannot be the same, anymore!' I wailed in anguish looking at one and then the other. Samantha looked very sad and Sylvester averted his face.

'I know you blame me for your brother's death, Sylvester', I said, making an effort to get a hold on myself. 'And you are right but never belittle the bond I shared with him. Having said that, I have a feeling that his burial should be delayed. I might be able to bring him back to life. He is my fated mate afterall' I said, looking challengingly at each of them, daring them to oppose.

'If it were possible for you to heal him, you could have', Sylvester said, in a matter - of - fact manner. 'But now that he is dead, he has to be given the burial worthy of his status and not left perpetually in the Royal morgue!'

'All I am asking is a few days!' I insisted.

'How many days exactly?' Sylvester asked and I was surprised he was even considering it. I had expected him to insist on the burial right away. Was he also habouring the hope that Christopher would return back to us?

'Just a couple of days', I said.

'This is crazy!' he said, scratching his head, and grimacing as though he was not sure why he was doing this.' I do not believe you can raise him back to life and the only reason I am consenting to your request is because I promised Christopher to take care of you and if you need a couple of days to stay with him before he is properly buried, you have it but after that, he is going to be buried. The chief and elders are wondering why the burial is being delayed as it is'.

I nodded.

'Take me to where he is kept. I have a strong feeling about this!' I said ready to go to my love.

'Are you sure about this, Alpha Sylvester?' Samantha asked, anxiously and I could smell her fear.

'If you are worried that I might do myself in, rest assured I'll not. I shall be here to welcome my love back to life!' I said confidently.

Sylvester shook his head, and looked at me like he thought I had gone insane and maybe I have but I had to give this feeling, this intuition a chance. Because, there could never be another man for me!

'Before I take you to where my brother's corpse is', Sylvester said, 'you should come first to the throne room, the Chief and elders have summoned us for a brief meeting'.

'Could I not be excused?' I asked. 'I have to get started with bringing my love back to life!'

Samantha stared at me as though I have really lost it. 'Millicent, are you sure you are okay?' she asked and without waiting for an answer, she looked at Sylvester, 'Do you think we should send for the doctor?'

'I am okay, damn it!' I snapped. 'I have my head well screwed on. Christopher's supposed death has not caused me to come unhinged because I know I cannot lose him. He has to come back to me, else what is the purpose of my existence and all I have been through?' I asked, eyes blazing!

'Okay, okay', Sylvester said, raising both palms up to placate me. 'I believe you but you'll have to come see the elders with me first. They have been waiting since forever to see the both of. I have been putting them off but I can't any longer and they will not accept anymore excuses!'

'If the condition for me to accomplish my goal of bringing Christopher out of his coma is meeting with some elders', I said, looking at Sylvester, 'then so be it! Lead the way...'

Sylvester's POV

I was getting really worried, Millicent seemed to have gone off into space. Don't misunderstand me, she was physically present, but everyone could see she was not really there. I'd had a series of meetings with the chief and elders who had insisted on seeing Millicent and I had kept putting them off, telling them, she was not up to it yet.

'When will she be up to it then?', the chief asked. 'We are all pained by the loss of Christopher. She is acting as though she is the most affected!'

'But she is!' I snapped, 'He was her fated mate and the one she seemed determined to chose over me', I paused, 'Christopher had even claimed her before his demise!'

'Oh, is that so?' one of the elders intoned, pulling on his beared, his face creased in thought.

'If that's the case, then she needs a little more time but this cannot linger forever. We have to speak to both of you!' the chief emphasized, 'The fate of the pack depends on it'.

'What you want to say cannot be said to just me? I'll relay the message to her later!'

'No! She must be present!' the chief insisted.

'Why not bring her here already', another elder said. 'If she cared that much for Christopher, she would not have brought such a terrible fate on him!'

'We shall be here tomorrow', Chief said. 'And we shall expect to see her in this meeting with you!'

They stood and left.

I felt that I knew the reason they wanted to meet with Millicent and me and wondered how I was going to get Millicent back from the world her mind had escaped to in a bid to escape the pain of losing Christopher and I reached a decision. I decided it was going to be best done the next day, at about the time the meeting would take place.

When I got to her room, she was still in the same state and her friend Samantha was there trying to make her eat and speak but was not making any headway.

'You should know Samantha, that Millicent thinks that if she punished herself long enough, Christopher will be brought back to life', I began, addressing Samantha but staring at Millicent's unmoving form. She was sitting and staring off into space. 'She knows she is to blame for all this. And no starving nor pretended escape into the unknown will change that!' I screamed, hoping to get through to her. When she still did not respond, I decided to become meaner and take my verbal thrashing a bit further. 'Christopher asked me to take care of you but he must have been mistaken. He told me you are a very strong female but you are not, are you? You are as fickle as a human, like I have always thought. It is better that he died than make a weakling like you his Luna!' I paused. I saw Samantha staring at me with her mouth hanging open. I placed my fore finger to my lips and with the other hand, I made her the calm down sign. 'And now, preparations are being made for his burial and the one he loves most in the world will not be there to pay him her last respects and bid him farewell. Such love! And you claimed you had an incredible bond with him? Rubbish!' I spat. 'Coward! That's what you are! Escape all you want, who cares anyway!'

'Slap!'

I hadn't seen that coming. I had hoped to wake her from her shock induced stupor but had not expected that reaction from her. I must have gone too far. Thank goodness I did. at least she was back to earth.

'How dare you speak of my mate bond with Christopher with such disdain and disrespect?' she asked, eyes flashing. 'There has never been any such bond recorded or experienced in history before ours, I must tell you!'

'Oh,thank goodness, you decided to wake!' I said, rubbing my cheek.

'Oh, Christopher, how could you leave me? Is this your punishment to me for being such an asshole?' she lamented. 'I ran away from something so great - the bond we shared - because I feared for your life, only to bring that same fate to you!'

When I heard that, I felt pain and regret. Probably, if I had not threatened to kill my dear brother, he would still have been alive, mating with his beloved mate! I had always known that Millicent had run off because of that threat I had carelessly made.

'Did you say, you were preparing for his burial?' Millicent asked, looking wildly about, like she was disoriented.

My thoughts must have transmitted themselves to Samantha because she quickly hugged Millicent

'You should be strong for Christopher. He would want that', she said. 'Do you think he would want you to harm yourself or come to pieces at his death?' she asked, Then holding Millicent's hand, she said, 'I believe he'd want you to be strong. Your strength was one of the qualities he admired most about you!'.

'Oh, Samantha!' she wailed and it tore at my heart. I knew she pain she was feeling. I was feeling the same pain as well.. 'What have I done? I will never get over him!' She started crying profusely as though her heart was breaking and maybe it was. 'How could I kill my own love? Christopher meant the whole world to me. How could I destroy what we both hold dear, how could I destroy our bond?'

'It is going to be okay!' Samantha consoled.

'But it is not!' she said emphatically, sniffing. 'How can it be okay when Christopher is not here to make it okay? Things cannot be the same, anymore!' She stared at each of us and I averted my head filled with guilt be ause I caused all this pain and I was the one who was supposed to die but Christopher had to die in my stead.

'I know you blame me for your brother's death, Sylvester', she continued, 'And you are right but never belittle the bond I shared with him. Having said that, I have a feeling that his burial should be delayed. I might be able to bring him back to life. He is my fated mate afterall' she said, looking challengingly at Samantha and me.

'If it were possible for you to heal him, you could have', I said, trying to let her see reason. 'But now that he is dead, he has to be given the burial worthy of his status and not left perpetually in the Royal morgue!'

'All I am asking is a few days!' she insisted.

'How many days exactly?' I asked, wanting to give her anything that would help bring a closure to all this.

'Just a couple of days', she said.

'This is crazy!' I said, scratching my head, and grimacing in thought, asking myself if I had lost it like she obviously seem to have done. ' I do not believe you can raise him back to life and the only reason I am consenting to your request is because I promised Christopher to take care of you and if you need a couple of days to stay with him before he is properly buried, you have it but after that, he is going to be buried. The chief and elders are wondering why the burial is being delayed as it is'.

She nodded her agreement.

'Take me to where he is kept. I have a strong feeling about this!' she said.

'Are you sure about this, Alpha Sylvester?' Samantha asked, anxiously and I could sense her fear.

'If you are worried that I might do myself in, rest assured I'll not. I shall be here to welcome my love back to life!' she claimed confidently.

I shook my head, wondering if I had made the right decision to allow her to see Christopher. It was possible that the loss of Christopher had made her come unhinged.

'Before I take you to where my brother's corpse is', I said, 'you should come first to the throne room, the Chief and elders have summoned us for a brief meeting'.

'Could I not be excused?' she asked. 'I have to get started with bringing my love back to life'.

'Millicent, are you sure you are okay?' Samantha asked, echoing my thoughts. and without waiting for an answer, she looked at me, 'Do you think we should send for the doctor?'

'I am okay, damn it!' she snapped. 'I have my head well screwed on. Christopher's supposed death has not caused me to come unhinged because I know I cannot lose him. He has to come back to me, else what is the purpose of my existence and all I have been through?' she asked, eyes blazing!

'Okay, okay', I said, raising both palms up to placate her. 'I believe you, but you'll have to come see the elders with me first. They have been waiting since forever to see the both of us. I have been putting them off but I can't any longer and they will not accept anymore excuses!'

'If the condition for me to accomplish my goal of bringing Christopher out of his coma is meeting with some elders', she said, looking at me, 'then so be it! Lead the way...'

I did as I was told, leading her into the throne room, wondering at the outcome of the meeting because I was sure Millicent was not going to like what she was going to hear.

When we got to the throne room, the elders were already seated and deliberating but our entrance caused silence to descend on the group and I could see some nod in approval.

'A good day to you, Chief, Elders of council', Millicent greeted curtsying.

They nodded in acknowledgment.

'Please, be seated the both of you. The matter we are here to deliberate on has lingered', the Chief began. 'We cannot afford to waste anymore time on it'.

Millicent sat on the chair closest to her and I sat on my armchair.

'Alright, Chief and Elders, we are here now, you can go ahead and tell us what you deemed it necessary to bring to our awareness!' I said without preambles.

'Thank you, Alpha Sylvester', he said. 'Millcent, Alpha Sylvester introduced you to us as his mate and his soon to be Luna', he paused to take in air. 'It's been awhile now and we want to know if both of you have decided to make it official!'

'I do not think that will be possible!' Millicent said.

'I hope you do not mean that,' an elder said. 'because you see, we are sure Alpha Sylvester is ready to make you his Luna anytime you are ready. Is that not so, Alpha?'

I nodded in agreement, my eyes never leaving Millicent's face.

'You collaborated with the late Alpha of the Moonlight pack to bring war to our pack! You were the reason our guards let them in, in the first place', the Chief started. 'What do you have to say about this?'

'Guilty as charged' Millicent said, simply, showing no emotion.

'You are responsible for the attack that claimed the life of our dear Alpha Christopher', he added.

'Guilty as charged', Millicent replied in the same monotone.

'These offenses are punishable by death!' he said, and all the elders murmured in agreement. 'So what do you think your punishment should be?'

'Whatever you decide!' she said like a robot and I became alarmed that she might go into shock again. She was acting so lifeless.

It was standard procedure to question as my traitor this way but I had explained the reason for this to them and hence was not expecting them to bring it up but then again, protocol must be followed no matter who is involved.

'We are also aware that you killed the idiot, Blake who killed the late Alpha Christopher', he said, awaiting a response from her which was not forthcoming. So he continued. 'We are willing to forget all that if you become Alpha Sylvester's Luna with immediate effect!'

I had expected this but hadn't expected them to present it as an ultimatum. 'You want me to marry Sylvester when Christopher is not even buried yet?' Millicent asked, her tone incredulous.

'We are aware that you were claimed by the late Alpha Christopher, so we understand your hesitation and misgivings', he started.

I was watching Millicent and saw her show her first real emotion since coming into the throne room for this meeting. Shock, then grief and deep regret chased each other in her eye.

'But I assure you, that you'll be doing no wrong, you were mated to the both of them afterall', Chief said. 'And from the information reaching me, Christopher himself asked Sylvester to take care of you. It will therefore be an honour to show him that his last wishes were swiftly carried out. And he will rest in peace!'

Said that way, even I had no objection. Anything that would make Christopher happy in the afterlife where he is watching. But I also did not want to have Millicent against her will.

'I am still in mourning', she said, emotionlessly. 'I have heard what you said and I'll think about it and give you an answer in a couple of days'.

I recalled the two days she had asked from me to raise her love from the dead. What was she up to? Now I appreciated Samantha's anxiety. We hat if she wanted to commit suicide so that she could be buried with Christopher with the thought of continuing their love in the afterlife?

'We do not have two days to give you. You have until tomorrow because we cannot keep postponing Christopher's burial!' he said.

'Alpha Sylvester has already consented to giving me two days to mourn and say farewell to my mate', she said in annoyance, looking at me as though challenging me to deny it.

The elders were all also looking at me to refute or confirm her claims.

'She is right', I said sighing. 'I told her to get ready for Christopher's burial but she pleaded for a couple of days to be with him and wish him a proper farewell!'

'In that case, there's nothing to be said against that because the word of the Alpha is law and honourable. He cannot be made to go back on his word!' Chief said.

'Thank you for understanding ', I said in appreciation.

'But', he continued, 'at the end of the second day, we shall expect you both to be properly wedded before the us all with the pack priest presiding. After which we shall proceed to the royal graveyard to lay the remains of the late Alpha Christopher to rest!'

I nodded and the meeting came to an end.

They filed out and as Millicent was about to leave, but I called her back. I did not know if I'd have another chance to speak to her or not but since the event, she had been off and I haven't been able to speak to her.

'Millicent', I began. 'I want you to know that I understand why you did it'.

She said nothing. So, I continued., 'I am sorry for what I did. I have no excuse for my unforgivable actions against you and no explanation will ease your pain but I want you to know that I am very sorry'. I wanted to say more but what could I really say? 'Suffice it to say that I regret my actions and have regretted it even before my brother sacrificed himself for it!'

She whimpered when I said that. That had not been my intention.

'If you cannot bear to be my Luna, then I shall not force you. Not even to please the Chief and elders. I regret threatening to take Christopher's life if I saw you with him. It was just an empty threat. I could not have murdered my own brother. We would have fought and continued fighting but what is new? That's what brothers do. They fight and reconcile. We've been disagreeing for as long as I can remember. I wish he were still alive and I'd have gladly allowed you to be his Luna but it is too late now!' Then pausing and choosing my words carefully, 'But if you decide to honour Christopher's last wishes, then I promise you that I shall treat you better than even you could ever have envisaged. I know I do not deserve your trust, I have not given you any reason to trust me but not only will I ensure that my brother is happy wherever he is by treating you better than I have in the past, but I'll love you till my last breath!'

She still said nothing.

'I love you Millicent !' I added, hoping that she could feel the sincerity in my words.'I have loved you for a long time now but I wouldn't admit it even to myself and that was why I had been so jealous of Christopher. Accept to be my Luna and I'll move the earth for you...'