Fated: The Alpha's Unwanted Luna

(Music Recommendation: On the Lake by Aaron Zigman.)

"Hello...Mom and Dad," she said, clearing her throat. "It’s nice to finally meet you." She realized how awkward it was to talk to a tombstone that held their names, and wondered if they could see and hear them like people believe.

Viola turned to Sebastian, who was staring at them as though he also had no idea what to say to them after not seeing them for so long.

"It was easier to talk to Zoe than it is to talk to you two," Sebastian said with a bittersweet smile. "I don’t know where to begin or how to tell you what went wrong."

Kneeling on the mat before his parents’ graves, he carefully laid the flowers he had brought beside their tombstones. They had bought the sunflower for his mother from a greenhouse on their way here, remembering how much she had loved them. As he gently adjusted its stem, the ache in his chest returned.

"But your daughter died... I’m sorry, Mom." His voice faltered as he stared at her name engraved on the stone.

He lowered his gaze, struggling to find the words to express the grief he had carried for so long.

"I never thought I’d say this someday, but I’m glad you two aren’t here to witness how she died. Because I know, Mom, you would never recover from it either," he said quietly.

Beside him, Viola felt her own heart grow heavy. She could hear the pain in his voice and see how difficult it was for him to speak about Zoe in front of the parents who had never gotten the chance to know what happened to their daughter. Unable to remain silent any longer, she leaned forward slightly, her gaze resting on the tombstones.

"It wasn’t his fault, Mom. Sebastian tried his best. We all did, but we couldn’t save her."

Sebastian turned to look at his wife, a small, grateful smile touching his lips. Hearing her defend him to his parents moved him more than he could express. He reached for her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before turning back to the graves.

"Ma, I found my soulmate, and she makes me feel so complete. I used to scoff at the notion of love, but now I understand what you felt for Dad." A faint chuckle escaped him, though it did little to hide the emotion thickening his voice. He dusted off snow flakes from his nose. "Thank you for being such a wonderful parents to me, even when I was difficult to raise."

His smile slowly faded, and he lowered his eyes to the sunflower resting beside his mother’s tombstone.

"And I hope you can forgive me."

He reached out and gently traced his mother’s name with his fingertips before moving his hand to his father’s. For a long moment, he remained kneeling beside Viola, unable to say anything more. His throat worked as he swallowed back his emotions, but the grief he’d kept buried for twenty years was finally catching up with him.

Viola held his hand and stayed beside him, giving him the space to mourn without interrupting his silence. She knew he had come here carrying more than flowers and words he had rehearsed in his mind. He had come to face the loss he had never truly been allowed to grieve.

As Viola watched him kneel before his parents’ graves, she understood that, in some ways, he was only beginning to mourn them now, twenty years too late. But better late than never.

Snow fell softly around them, dusting the tombstones and blanketing the ground in white. Somewhere in the pine trees, a bird called into the stillness, its faint cry blending with the cold, gloomy atmosphere of the cemetery.

Viola wanted to place her hand on his shoulder, but her hand flew back to her stomach as she felt the tightening pain from that morning return, and she bit her inner cheek to hold it in so as not to ruin the moment for her husband with his parents.

"I will try to bring you two more flowers from now on," Sebastian promised, feeling the coldness on their name rather than warmth. How unfair life was, he thought, as he turned to his wife and saw her smiling at him.

"Maybe the next time we come here, we won’t be coming alone," Sebastian said with a smile.

They remained kneeling before his parents’ graves for a while longer as he told them about the parts of his life they had missed, sharing stories and little details he wished he could have told them in person. Throughout it all, Viola stayed by his side, quietly holding back her discomfort so she wouldn’t interrupt a moment that meant so much to him.

It wasn’t until their visit was over and Sebastian was helping her to her feet that Viola suddenly moaned in pain. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pressed her forehead against his hard chest.

"Ahh...!"

Sebastian stiffened immediately, his arms tightening around her as alarm flashed across his face.

"What’s wrong?!" he asked, dropping the blanket he had been carrying for her.

"I don’t know..." Viola gasped, clutching his shirt as another wave of pain seized her. Tears sprang to her eyes as she struggled to make sense of what was happening. "Something’s happening inside me. I think... I think I’m in labor!"

Sebastian went as pale as the snow surrounding them.

"B-but that shouldn’t happen for another two months!" he stammered.

He didn’t waste another second. Gathering her into his arms, he hurried toward the car as though she weighed nothing, his heart pounding with fear. Their babies weren’t supposed to arrive yet, and he hadn’t prepared himself for this, not when they still had two months before the due date.

But whatever the reason for her pain, he couldn’t afford to ignore it.

As the car sped out of the cemetery, the flowers they had left on his parents’ graves were slowly covered by falling snow.