Silvershore

Chapter Five

Those who abuse love may appear to occupy the same emotional space as the one they pretend to love, yet they are in truth sitting in a viewing room with a one way mirror, watching with emotional distance, always able to leave, always able to manipulate.

It had been months and months since Loki decided to keep seeing Aries, despite everything. No matter how badly she wanted to live a normal life with her family and friends, he kept pulling her back in with his charms.

Loki knew how manipulative Aries was deep down. She knew that he was cruel to his pack, and somehow brainwashing everyone in it to view him as some sort of god. Yet, she loved him. She was weak, and she knew it.

She met with him every other night at this point. She had no idea how nobody had ever caught her sneaking out at night. Or, at least called her out for it.

She knew what she was doing was wrong, and every time she met up with him, she hated herself more and more the next day. Yet, seeing him brought all the pain away for a bit. She was addicted to him, like he was some sort of painkiller.

She had known him since they were pups. He pulled her in at such a young age, and it was too late to ever have any hope of breaking out of his clutches at this point.

The worst part of all this was that Aries's was the father of Stormjay and Sky. The rumors circling around her had died down now, but that doesn't mean they weren't true.

She loved her children with all her heart, and she knew she had raised them well. Everything they did or said made her so much more proud of them, and they would be trainees in just a week or two, which made her heart soar. She so badly wanted them to have a normal life. If anyone ever found out that Aries was their father, the two of them would be disgraced. She knew how this worked - everyone tends to think if one's relatives are horrible, the one in question must be just as awful.

But Stormjay and Sky weren't like him in even the slightest bit. They were both so loving, generous, caring... they were as pure and kind-hearted as they come. Even if that's how Aries seemed at first, she knew her pups were nothing like him. Loki knew her children would do wonderful things, and go down in history within The Pack of the Earth. They were already so well-liked by everyone... how could they not go down in history?

But if Aries happened to be their father, everything would be so much harder for them both.

Sure, they seem lovely, but do you know who their father is?

Don't trust those two. They'll end up exactly like Aries.

All the good they would do would never be recognized. All they would be known for is 'The children of that cruel leader'.

So, Loki could never tell a soul about who her pup's father really is. As far as anyone could ever know, Wood is their father.

Loki knew she had to put a stop to all this. She should not be seeing Aries, even if it hurts.

But, again, she was so weak...

A thought crossed her mind. What if she had another litter? Unless on the lucky occasion that Wood happened to be the true father, they would just be more pups in this world that would suffer the same fate as Stormjay and Sky.

Even if they were Wood's pups, she would be shamed for being with Aries if the pack found out. Then, those pups would be disgraced for having Loki be their mother.

Maybe she was overthinking it. How could anyone judge Stormjay and Sky for who their father is when the two of them are already so well-liked among The Pack of the Earth?

But she knew how things were. She'd seen it happen before.

Evelyn was disliked among the pack for quite a bit. She and her late brother were the pups of a former loner, who turned out to only have joined The Pack of the Earth to help with her plot to work her way up to becoming the chieftain of The Pack of the Earth, and do something similar to what Aries did to The Pack of the Fire.

When The Pack of the Earth found out about this, they were all obviously outraged. Evelyn's mother was exiled, and her brother was eventually murdered. The killer of Evelyn's brother had never been confirmed, as the suspect had hidden their scent on the corpse of him somehow.

In conclusion, Loki knew that she was fully in the wrong. It was her fault that her pups would most likely be disgraced one day. It was her own fault that she was still in love with Aries. Everything was entirely her fault, and she accepted it.

The best thing to do in this situation would be to cut ties with Aries completely, and never speak to him again.

But she was weak.