Chapter 580-The Abusive Uncle
Haiden:
Last night at the academy was very special. For the first time, I was not alone, and I was not desperate for my mate’s attention.
My mate was with me, and she was giving me her full attention. I spent the entire night awake, telling Fauna every story, from the first day to the end.
But of course, I did not want to make her uncomfortable, so I mentioned Clementine only briefly. I also avoided telling her how obsessively I used to chase her. There was no need to repeat all that now. We had all moved on, and everyone had their own mates.
As morning came, we had breakfast. Then it was decided that we would go and deal with our own problems first.
A major change had taken place in our world. North had completely disappeared. The Leader’s Council was no longer there. Lady Sylvia was in prison, and her brother was dead.
People needed support. Many of them had come after leaving North, and it was painful for them to hear that the place they once thought they might return to someday was now permanently gone.
But first, we had to deal with my uncle. I knew that with Fauna and Mariana away, most of his anger would fall on his wife, who had always been a victim.
Some people believed she was part of those sins, but to me, she was only a victim. No one had ever supported her or encouraged her to move forward.
No one had ever told her that if she spoke against him, she would be protected. She was alone, and she was afraid that if she raised her voice, she would be killed.
And after that, her daughters would have no one left.
In truth, if her daughters were still alive, it was only because of their mother.
Whenever their father decided to punish them harshly, their mother would step forward and take the punishment upon herself.
"Why do you look anxious?" I asked Fauna as I gently held her hand and guided her toward one of the cars Ian had given us to drop us off at our pack.
"I don’t know. I am just scared of finding out what my father might have done to my mother all these days," she admitted.
Her concern made my spine stiffen. I did not want to imagine the worst, but that man was capable of anything.
I tightened my hold on Fauna’s hand and rubbed the back of it to comfort her.
"I am sure she will be fine. She is a survivor. She has endured his abuse for a very long time," I told her, though I was unsure myself if that would be the case.
"I hope so," she uttered.
"Mariana trusted me with this burden, and I am scared."
As she spoke, her body shook, showing that she would not be at ease until she saw her mother safe.
And I did not want to tell her that I knew for a fact her mother would be fine, because honestly, I did not know.
For all I knew, something worse could have happened.
I helped her sit down in the car, then got into the back seat with her.
As the car started, we both looked out the window, watching our friends stand among the lurkers. They were going to tell them the good news about their future.
What had happened to the lurkers was very wrong. It was as if losing their parents had taken away their right to live, as if orphans did not matter at all.
Looking at them made me feel uneasy. As I was leaving today, I knew one thing for sure. We would never gather like this in the academy again.
Maybe a day would never come when we would go on a mission together again.
As these thoughts crossed my mind, a small smile appeared on my face. I lowered my head and shook it slightly, hiding my tears.
"What is it?" Fauna asked once our friends disappeared from view.
"You know, when I first arrived at the academy, I never thought we would be the last batch," I began, remembering my first step onto the academy grounds.
"I remember I was so upset that I was sent here. There was too much injustice outside. My mother’s killer was roaming free. I did not know where my sister was. The man who killed my father had taken over my pack." I sighed.
"With all that, I felt like a loser when I entered the academy."
I sighed at the memory.
"You know, I used to wonder how I would fight monsters when I could not even fight the criminals who had ruined our family," I added, looking out the window and quietly wiping the tear from my cheek with the back of my hand.
But Fauna shifted in her seat and moved closer. She cupped my face in her soft hands and brushed her thumbs over my cheeks, wiping away the tears.
"Now you know you are far more than you ever thought," she whispered, leaning closer and kissing my forehead.
I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her onto my lap, holding her closer.
We talked about everything, all kinds of things, without stopping.
And just like that, the journey came to an end.
Our pack came into view, and we knew that a new mission, separate from the ones I used to carry out with my friends, was waiting for us.
I saw tears begin to form in Fauna’s eyes. It was a sign that she was scared.
She wanted to know if her mother was alright. She wanted to see her, but she was also afraid of what she might find once she went inside.
Because of this, adrenaline rushed through me. I knew that this time, I would not let that man live.
The Council had already fallen. And after the way we fought that monster, after the way Clementine and Ian risked their lives to save everyone, the respect for the Crusaders had only grown stronger in people’s hearts.
I knew that in a physical fight between my uncle and me, I would win. But even if others got involved, they would stand with me.
I mean, everyone knew about my uncle’s crimes. And I also knew that many people did not like him, and there was a strong reason behind that.
I held Fauna’s hand and helped her out of the car, and we stood at the gate.
No one had questioned me at the border. The moment they saw me, they let me in immediately, as if everyone here was miserable.
I looked ahead at the front lawn of our mansion. It had become overgrown.
Then a distant memory surfaced. My mother loved keeping the garden trimmed.
She had planted every flower in that garden with her own hands. My mother was very kind, and she was good.
My father, on the other hand, was not someone special. What happened to my mother, he could not play any heroic role in it.
My mother had done so much for him, and in the end, he called her a woman of bad character. He believed what others told him.
"Come on, let’s go," I said to Fauna as I walked toward the main gate, holding her hand tightly in mine.
"Do not ever leave me," Fauna whispered, her hand shaking in mine.
"I never will," I replied, my voice firm.
Then we began to walk forward together, hand in hand.
The warriors at the main door looked at me with wide eyes, then lowered their gazes, as if weighed down by guilt and shame for not being able to protect their alphas all these years.
When I got closer, I expected them to tell me they needed to ask my uncle before letting me in.
But instead, they stepped aside and opened the door for me.
As we walked inside, I noticed the warriors bow their heads, tears falling from their eyes.
"Why are you crying?" I asked one of them.
I had been waiting for this day, to ask if they felt any guilt for supporting a man like Patrick.
"Your Highness, it is not just what I did wrong. It is what my parents did," one of the young warriors spoke up, making me realize this had been generational.
"But we are just as guilty. We could have refused, but we were all afraid of your uncle."
As he said that, I sighed, realizing that getting rid of Patrick was more important than questioning others.
If he could send me to the academy, I could only imagine what he had done to these people when they did not obey him.
"Where is he?" I asked.
The warrior pointed inside the mansion.
"He is in there, wasting everything on drugs and alcohol."
As he said that, Fauna’s hand tightened around mine.
I think what this meant was that my uncle could only get that intoxicated when he had either stopped torturing everyone else or had no child left to torture.