My Running Nightmare

CARLA

"Mommy, will I have a mate when I grow up?"

My head snapped up to look at beautiful grey eyes which mirrored mine. Not only that. Almost all her features were similar to mine, just in a smaller version.

She was Cherry Houston, my beloved daughter. "Yes, honey. Goddess will send one to you." I answered, giving her the warmest smile. She was almost four and on the stage of having a lot of curiosity about everything. This made me prepare myself for her next question.

"I don't want one."

Her reply slightly took me aback. Girls were usually excited when talking about finding their future mates. At least, it was what I felt when the little me imagined my man in the white horse. "Why?"

"Because Daddy hurt and always makes you cry. I don't want to cry every day, Mommy."

I swallowed hard. Cherry's words were like a giant stone was thrown at me. It was like a realization that my misery had affected her deeply.

I stood up, making the screeching sound of the chair from an abrupt movement. But I didn't care, even if it fell on the ground. My daughter was more important as I rushed and sat beside her.

I extended my hand to stroke her cheek. "You won't, honey. You will get a very kind person who will treat you like a queen. He will love you and protect you with his life." I consoled her.

I always wished for her to get a different fate than mine. Having a happy life and family and no sorrow cry—something I didn't have or used to have.

Cherry stretched her little arm, mirroring what I was doing by touching my face. "Does it hurt?" She asked. Her cute finger landed on my bruise, carefully pointing it. Her eyes flitted with sadness as if she also felt the pain I got from her father.

Yes. It was my husband, my mate doing this to me.

"No, baby. It's healing now." I lied, or maybe not. All the pain was like disappearing in front of her.

"I hope Daddy won't come back so you won't get hurt anymore."

My husband, Ian Huston, an Alpha of the Lake Pack, was on a business trip to another pack. He said it was only for three days. But it was day four, and he was still nowhere in the pack house, though it relieved me because there was no beating, shouting, or crying during his absence.

My life actually didn't suck at first. Ian was kind and treated me well in the first stage of our relationship. We met at a mating party like other mates' stories. We fell in love and decided to get married there months later although, in fact, we had been living together since day one. It was just a ceremony because Ian was an Alpha, automatically making me a Luna.

Then I was pregnant, and it completed our happy life. I had all I wished for—a lovely mate and, soon, a pup.

However, everything turned upside down the moment I gave birth to Cherry—a daughter, not a son. Soon, I learned the dark side of the Hustons. They were rarely blessed with a son—Ian's mother had born to two daughters before Ian came to her, and after him, it was another daughter. So when I couldn't give the Hustons a son, an heir, my mate began to insult and humiliate me. Then one day, he started landing a punch on me, which worsened as the days passed.

His family pushed me to give him a son as soon as possible. But I couldn't do it because my body was weak due to constant abuse. I hurt physically and mentally.

Then why was I still staying after all the pain he caused me?

I wasn't. I once tried to free myself from this agony.

I offered a divorce or a rejection, but he refused right away. His ego wouldn't let him do that, as he didn't want to be the first Alpha to cut the mate bond. It would put him in nasty gossip.

I was angry, only to find myself being imprisoned in this house and becoming a punching bag whenever he vented out of his anger.

Those had been my life for the past three and a half years.

I wiped tears forming in the corner of my eyes. I couldn't let my daughter see me crying. "Mommy is fine, sweetheart," I reassured her one last time before suddenly the smell reached my nose.

Ian was back.

And I must move fast.

"You're done with your dinner, right?" I asked her while putting down the napkin tucked on her neck, though I knew her spaghetti was still half-eaten. But I couldn't wait any longer and forced her to stand up. I was in a hurry, or Ian would see us. "Let's go to your room. It's bedtime."

I carried her in my arms and ran up the stairs to reach her room faster.

"Now, close your eyes and-"

"Don't make a noise." Cherry finished my words while clutching the blanket. She blinked a few times, but her eyes still flashed with a nonstop worry. "Is Daddy home?"

I smiled despite my anxiety about my fate for the next few minutes. "Yes, and you know what to do."

"Always stay in my room and pretend to be asleep."

"Yes." I pinched her nose lightly. "You're such a clever girl."

But my compliment seemed couldn't wash her worry away. "Can you stay with me?" She was pleading with her eyes and voice.