***TWO DAYS LATER***
Maggie and her daughter had moved back into the packhouse today. This was after Walden had spent the last two days with them, as they’d made so many memories similar to the way a normal family would. Maggie would forever keep those moments in her heart, as she prayed that they would last forever.
Things were just beginning to take a new turn for Walden, and there was still so much that would go on with his new lover, he intended to take things to a new level with her, but before he did anything, he’d decided in his heart to settle the past first, even though he now had his life back, there was still something he needed to do.
He didn’t tell anyone what he was doing prior to coming here, maybe it’s because he needed to do this freely, or for whatever reason, but before he starts his new future, he wants to make things right.
He’d reached his destination after taking a stroll through the woods, he’d gathered different flowers, as he’d had a hard time deciding which would be the best. The flowers weren’t the most important thing for him, but what he thought his visit would accomplish.
He dropped the flowers on Conor’s gravestone before kneeling in front of it. This would be his first visit to this place, he’d dreaded coming here ever since his nightmares, but now he knew his heart wouldn’t rest if he didn’t at least try to make peace at the very end.
He’s here now, and he doesn’t know what to say, but he’ll try to speak from his heart.
“Hello. Omega Conor,” sighs, “I… I want to start by saying this… I’m sorry, for what I did. I know that sorry doesn’t go a long way in changing any of my actions, it can’t give you the life I took from you, but if there is anything that’s possible that I wish for right now, it’s that your spirit finds eternal peace in the afterlife.
“I wish for nothing but comfort for all your loved ones, and the people I hurt by taking you away from, and I also hope that you will find it in your heart to grant me the forgiveness I know I do not deserve. You were a good wolf, Conor, and you died to protect the ones you cared about. There’s still a lot for me to learn in my journey as alpha, but I learned a lot from the exemplary life you lived. You showed courage and strength, even in death, and I am proud of you for that.”
It wasn’t a long speech, but he did the best he could. He knew that what mattered most wasn’t in the perfection of his words, but with how much sincerity they came from his heart, and they did.
As he got up leaving the flowers behind, he bumped into an older woman who seemed to be visiting the same grave as he was. He didn’t need to tell him who this woman was.
“Hello,” she greeted him first as her face held wonder. Hilda had never seen this person around her son’s grave before.
“Hello, ma’am,” he answered.
“I’m sorry, you look familiar. I’m trying to recall where I’ve seen you from.”
Of course, everyone knows his face, it was the ordinary clothing he wore today that gave Conor’s mom a hard time in figuring out who he was.
“I am alpha Walden.”
Realizing her mistake, Hilda fearfully dropped the flowers in her hand and trembled to her knees, “I didn’t realize who you were at first, sire. Please, don’t kill me,” she begged.
Those words of hers brought so much pain to his heart. Is that what everyone around here now thought of him as? A tyrant? A monster?
He got to his knees to help her pick of the flowers and then helped her get up, actions of his that surprised her greatly.
“I would never kill an innocent person,” he said to her, referring to Conor’s grave. “I made a mistake of doing it once to someone I shouldn’t have, and now I wish I could undo what I did. I swore on my life that I would never do it again.”
“Your majesty, I…”
“I am sorry for what I did to your son. I am sorry that such a sweet innocent life is all gone because of me.”
Hilda was shocked by the actions of this alpha. He must have thought that she should hate him, she had every right to after all, but Hilda was never one to nurse hate. It was from her seemingly good nature that she’d managed to raise such a brave son, a brave son who had won the heart of the sister of this man, a brave son who is now no more.
His actions surprised her even more as Walden got down to his knees again and placed his head down in front of her.
“I have been troubled many nights after your son left, but in the past few days, something magical happened that helped me overcome my fears. I might be free from them now but my heart still didn’t want to rest until I came here to pay my respects. I promise to make more regular visits to this place until I am certain that he has forgiven me.”
Hilda was far from used to such reverences. She hated to draw so much attention to herself by letting the alpha kneel in front of her.
“Please, sire. You don’t have to do this. Please, get up.”
“I will only get up when I am certain that you have forgiven me. I do not mind remaining here the whole day if I have to win your forgiveness.”
Hilda sighed, taking a deep breath. “I have forgiven you long since, sire. I hold no such grudges against you, not especially when I knew that you weren’t the enemy. You were not the one who used my life to threaten my Conor, neither did you kidnap me. You were only a man who wanted to protect his people. You might have gotten some facts wrong but that doesn’t make you any less of a good alpha.
“Get up now, please, and forgive yourself as well for all you’ve done in the past. My Conor is in a better place now, and even though like you, I still wish that things could have happened differently, we have no choice but to move on from the past and accept the future that awaits us.”