Samantha led me back into my room afterwards.
Both Sylvester and Christopher had volunteered but I didn't want them starting a war over me. Not this night anyway. So I told them I'd rather Samantha led me back since I had a lot to discuss with her.
I had wanted to talk to Samantha about her husband but immediately I got in and she helped me take off my dress, giving me my pills and a glass of water with which I swallowed them, I fell flat on my bed and slept.
I woke in the early hours of the morning, and found that Samantha was lying on the couch. I sprang to my feet but had to lye back again, holding my head. I had a headache and the sudden movement had made me feel it keenly for a moment.
'What is it?' Samantha asked, coming to the bed to hold me and feel my temperature. I did not know she had woken. My sudden movement must have alerted her to my wakefulness. She had always been a light sleeper.
'Nothing. Just a slight pain in the head brought on by my sudden movement!' I explained.
'You should take it easy. You were not supposed to have stayed at the party that late but I saw that you were enjoying yourself very much and did not want to interrupt you, especially when you had the attention of the two most powerful men in the whole of MoonVille and its environs of course', she smiled.
I sighed and lay back down. 'I must have been very exhausted', I stated. 'I was surprised just now when I woke and saw that it's already morning. I should not disturb you. You should go back to sleep'.
'I am used to keeping awake, you go ahead back to sleep, you need your rest', she advised.
I do not know if it was the tone of her voice or my intuition but I read something in her words that made me ask. 'Samantha, is everything okay?'
'Why wouldn't it be?' she asked smiling but there a slight tremor in her voice.
'Come lie with me on the bed', I said.
'No, Millicent. I couldn't. It would be disrespectful of me. You are the future Luna afterall', she said.
'I am your friend first of all and you mean alot to me', I said feelingly. 'How could you even have waited for me to offer before you slept in the bed with me?'
'I have my own room which Alpha Sylvester asked the maid to make up for me but I wanted to stay with you tonight to ensure you are okay', she said. 'Now that I am sure that you are, I shall go ahead and go back to my room. It is already morning, anyway. Call if you need anything', she concluded, rising from her sitting position at the edge of my bed.
I drew her back. 'Samantha, my position does not change the fact that we are friends. Are you angry with me because of it?' I asked, not comprehending her behaviour.
'No. I am not. I could never be. You deserve it, after all you've been through', she said, nipping my cheek fondly.
'Then stay with me because I need to speak to you', I said gravely.
'About what? Are you okay?' she was all concern.
I raised myself to a sitting position.
'Oh, no, you should lie down', she said, trying to push me back into the bed but I refused, pushing her hand away gently. 'I'm okay, Samantha, really '.
'Alright then, what do you want to talk about?' she asked.
'Since you came here, I have been so absorbed in myself that I have not asked about you!' I started.'I want to know about your life, your husband'.
A sudden clouding of her features, caused me alarm. 'What is it, Samantha?'
'My mate and husband is no more!' she said simply, looking down on her hands, but I could hear the pain and grief in her voice.
'Oh, I'm sorry. What happened?' I asked, shifting close to her and holding her hands.. Then, I modified the question. 'Was he ill or was it during an attack on your pack?'
'He suddenly fell ill', Samantha said with a far away look in her eyes. 'The medical practitioners said it was a genetic disease but if well managed, he was going to live as long as anyone else. That gave us hope and I was determined to do my best to ensure that he lived long and enjoyed his days as well', she said and sniffed.
I squeezed her hands. I knew how hard this was for her but she needed to let it out so that her heart could feel lighter. No one knew better than I the burden and heartache of keeping it all bottled up inside.
'But Fredrick felt he was no longer useful', her voice broke and she started sobbing quietly.
'No longer useful?' I prompted .
'I'm not sure but he felt that he was not as strong as other males and started drinking heavily to drown his pain and the complex he had adopted. I told him he was all the male I needed and that I was lucky to have him. He would smile and we would mate. During which I made sure, each experience was an unforgettable one but he still would not stop drinking and continued deteriorating till one day, he didn't wake from his sleep'.
'Oh, my God', I said, tears stinging my eyes. 'I know how devastating that can be'.
'You know, he probably knew he was going to die because he made sure he mated with me in a way he had never done before. He kept looking at me affectionately and touching my cheek, telling me he was the lucky one between us. We mated thrice and they were all fierce and I thought afterwards that it was as though he was trying to leave his imprint in me and at the same time wish me farewell!' she sobbed harder.
'I never knew you were passing through such trying times and I wondered why you didn't wish to come see me. So inconsiderate of me!'
'You could not have known but I just didn't want to leave him for any long period of time, though he insisted that I lived my life as normal. I knew if I visited, I might need t want to stay for a short period and I couldn't ask you to come visit me. He didn't want people seeing him in that state'.
'That's the reason then, because of you had asked me, I would definitely have come running to you. You did the same for me', I said, smiling at her and squeezing her hands comfortingly.
'He never liked to see me crying and I tried not to when his death was confirmed but couldn't. I felt heartbroken and so alone. I felt that there must be something I hadn't done right because if I had been the perfect wife to him, he probably would have lived'.
Since he hated to see me cry, I asked his corpse why he had ended up making me cry when he didn't like me doing it'.
'He didn't want to be a burden to you. You said it yourself that he wanted you to live your life!' I consoled her.
'He could never be a burden. I loved him for goodness sake', she exclaimed in pain. 'I consoled myself that I might be pregnant with his pup, hoping our last night together had at least produced that, a male or female to remind me of the wonderful mate and husband that he was, a symbol of our mate bond, a pup or pups that would compensate me for my loss but even that was denied me because when I checked, that tiny hope was dashed!'
'Have you thought of the fact that it might be a good thing that you are not pregnant with his pup?'
'How could it possibly be a good thing?' she asked hurt that I could even think that. 'How could having something that he and I produced, something from him, a souvenir from him, be bad?'
'You said yourself that the disease that killed him was genetic. What if it got passed on to his pup?', I asked reasonably. 'Would you be prepared to feel the same pain again, bear to experience that type of loss again?'
She kept quiet staring at me and I knew she had not thought about that. 'So maybe the goddess spared you that pain and will give you another chance at happiness, that I believe'.
