Alpha Rivera.

5. Putting up a fight.

POV Ava.

It was 9 PM and Lotus already went to bed. I was pretty bored because I didn't have anything else to do when she is not with me. I was just laying on my bed, watching tv but also not really watching.

I groaned and pushed myself up, I can't sleep without Elijah anyway. I walked out of my room and went up the second flight of stairs, to the Alpha floor. I tiptoed to Lotus' room and made sure that she couldn't see my shadow. I know that she is well trained and I don't want her to catch me snooping around.

"Hey, mom." I heard her say. I focused my wolf hearing to listen to her mother's replies.

"Hi, sweetheart."

"Mommy, I want to go home." Lotus mumbled. "I miss you."

"What's going on?"

"I don't want to stay here." Lotus said. "My mate really does not want me. It's really eating me up and I don't like being like this." She paused for a few seconds. "I want to be happy again. Happy like when you taught me to play guitar. Happy like when dad taught me how to climb trees, Happy like when Bennie and I would dance in the rain. Or how we would laugh as you and Alpha Walcott would chase us around because we were making the house dirty after playing around in the rain."

"Hija, I know that things are you hard but you can't give up." Her mother answered.

"Mom, you lost your mate. You should understand." Lotus' voice cracked and a tear streamed down my face at the sound. "I just feel numb. All of this makes me feel like I should just quit and go to dad. I just want to go to dad!" She sobbed.

"You are not going back to your father! You're going to stay here on earth, with me. Heaven can wait." Her mother said determined and my palms got sweaty when I realized what she meant. "And if that Alpha makes you feel like this, you should march right up to him and say the words of rejection. You should let him feel the pain that you are feeling."

"But mom, I do want him. The feeling just isn't mutual." Lotus cried. "I want my mate. I want to experience what you and dad had. I want to have it too but not like this. I thought about running away but I couldn't do it. I spend a day with the Beta and it was great! I want a mate like that! One that will just game with me, read with me and talk to me. Ava is so lucky to have a mate like Elijah."

"You shouldn't have to run away. If you want to come back, you can. Benedict won't mind." Her mother assured. "He would love it if you came back, he misses you like crazy."

"I miss him too." Lotus chuckled. "Remember when Bennie had one of his sleeptalk moments. We were watching a movie in a fort with Bennie but he fell asleep. Then he mumbled 'Have fun at school, Lo.' before kissing my cheek and pushing me away, causing the fort to break down."

"Or that time where you were going to the kitchen but he was coming out of it. He slammed the door in your face and you were like 'why did you do that?' while clutching your bleeding nose. He just grinned and said 'Because I adore you.'" Her mother laughed loudly. "And to top it off, Charlie just shouted from the couch 'You just got hit on!' and then laughed so hard he fell off the couch."

"What about that time when we were baking cookies and I asked Charles to crack the eggs in the bowl." Lotus started laughing loudly. "He just held the egg above the bowl and crushed it completely, thinking that was the way you were supposed to crack an egg!"

"Or when I got my first period ever at school and little Bennie was kept questioning me if I was hurt because he could smell my blood. So I just bluntly said that I was on my period and I swear, I had never seen him that mortified." Lotus giggled. "He was just too adorable, he kept asking if I was okay and he constantly gave me food."