---- Memory: Something remembered from the past; a recollection. ----

They were my own parents.

Father had his hand on my mother's shoulder, but the one she was staring at with longing eyes was no other than Gamma Josh. Not father.

I was so concentrated on the picture I didn't hear Max entering the room until he nearly tripped on me and cursed loudly.

"Rie, what are you doing?" His voice sounded angry, dodging me and the scattered contents of the box. He finally found an empty spot nearby and placed the ones he was carrying on the floor. "This is all."

He rubbed his hands and turned to me, who hadn't moved and inch from my position. I faced his quizzical look and handed him the picture I had found. He took it and I could see exactly the moment he realized what I was looking at. His eyes grew big and darted them to me, asking me a silent question.

"We better ask Josh directly." I said, shrugging and letting my gaze travel through all of the items that were in that same box. Now I could recognize her face in a couple more of pictures. "I dropped this box and looks like it's filled with mom's things."

He squatted down next to me and scanned the items.

"Let's start with this picture." He announced, giving it back to me and gathering the rest of the items and placing them back in the box. He closed it and stood up with the box in one hand and offering me the other one. "We need to have a talk with him."

I nodded and took his hand, standing up and following him down to the kitchen. On the way there, I assumed Max had mind-linked the gamma, because it didn't take much longer for him to join us.

"Hey kids, what is so important to interrupt the preparations for the festival happening in two days?" He made special emphasis on the number of days. It was obvious he was stressed.

The festival was never exactly a happy time for the head of security but, this year, with the murder of the former alpha and some of the members, aka me, under threat, it was especially burdening. Still, for the general public, Alpha Donovan had died in an accident and no one knew about my situation, so we had to continue as if everything was alright.

"Can you join us for a bit?" Max's words might have been a request, but his commanding voice left not space to refusal.

Gamma Josh's eyebrows furrowed and he nodded, taking a seat in front of us and waiting for any of us to continue. I took a deep breath and placed the picture in front of him, observing his every reaction.

For a split second, his lips tugged upwards, but they soon returned to a neutral position. However, his eyes stayed softened while they admired the image on top of the table. He hesitantly reached for it, stopping his hand a few inches away from it and looking back at us with a deep sigh.

"Where did you find this?"

"In the attic." Max tilted his head to the box he had left on top of the counter behind us. Josh placed his eyes on it and swallowed, nodding his head in slow motion, as if he was trying to put his thoughts in order. "Care to enlighten us?"

"Well, this will be as good of a moment as it will ever get..." He mumbled, more to himself than to us. He focused back and I could see the hurt surfacing in his always warm and approachable eyes. "I never thought I would be telling you both this, but now that we have come to it, there is no difference between keeping you in the dark and telling you part of my past. Of your parents past."

Max and me held hands under the table and nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"As you already know, me and my family joined this pack as warriors when I was fifteen. Alpha Donovan was seventeen and Rhea, you mother, was fifteen like me." I could feel his face brighten when the name of our mother left his lips. It was obvious he still had feelings for her. "Both your parents had been childhood friends since they were pups, but for some reason, I clicked instantly with them. Let's rather say, with Rhea. It didn't take me long to realize I was completely in love with her and little by little, we grew very close."

He took a deep breath, deciding his next words, and then continued.

"I was so convinced of our feelings, of our bond, that I didn't notice the intentions Alpha Donovan had towards her all along. I was sure everything was going to roll the way I wanted so, when Alpha Donovan offered me to go and train with the Silver Crest pack and prepare for the trials for the gamma position when he took over the title, I followed the plan without a doubt."

I closed my eyes and shook my head, knowing I wasn't going to like whatever he said from then on.

"I trained like my life depended on it for a whole year before I came back for the Halloween Ball. I needed to meet Rhea and claim her officially but, when I arrived, things had turned out differently." His voice trembled ever so slightly and he averted his eyes from us for the first time, fixing them on the picture in front of him and caressing softly our mother's face. "I knew instantly she was mine. She was my mate. We were made to be together. But she was marked. Alpha Donovan had taken her from me. She was already the official future Luna and I could do nothing to change it. It's not so rare to take someone that is not your mate as partner and no one would have joined me against the future alpha."

I felt a tear roll down my cheek. I already knew father was a cruel person, but I had never expected for him to trample on other people's destiny like that. I couldn't bear to think the amount of pain and desperation Gamma Josh must have felt when he realized the love of his life was ripped out of his reach.

Gamma Josh, the only person who had cared for us. The person I always knew I could trust my life with. Betrayed like that by a person he thought was his friend.

"It took me all I had not to let my wolf lose and attack everyone on my way, so I left the ball and the pack again, returning to the Silver Crest pack and to my training. My life became a routine of training, eating and nightmares until, three years later, I received a letter from Rhea. She explained how Alpha Donovan had told her my intentions of never coming back. The way he phrased it made her misunderstand I had found a mate, shattering her heart into pieces. She also apologized for doubting me and for letting herself be marked without confirming the news." Max opened his mouth to say something, but Gamma Josh lifted his hand, stopping him and traveling his gaze between both of us. "She also told me she was pregnant with a baby." He pulled his lips into a sad smile and his irises trembled with contained emotion. "She had now someone to life for, so she wished me the best and hoped I could get a second chance."

I wanted to scream, to cry, to blame everyone for the injustice he had lived. How was he still here, with us, serving under the egoistical, manipulative and unfeeling alpha that had stolen his soulmate from him?

I guess my thoughts were reflecting in my face, because Gamma Josh gave me a compassionate smile and continued his story.

"As she wished for, I continued my life. The same routine as before, but this time with less nightmares and a more resigned attitude. If she had found her happiness, I could live without regrets. Two years after that, I got another letter. This time from Alpha Donovan. He was summoning me for the Gamma trials. He had become the Alpha and requested my participation, as we had agreed on years before." I could feel my jaw drop, my eyes bulging out of my face at the audacity of father. "I was about to ignore his request when I read the last lines of his letter. Rhea had died during childbirth and, as he expressed it himself, I had thus no reason for not complying to his orders."

I rolled my eyes to the very back of my head. I had forgotten that too: egoistical, manipulative, unfeeling and heartless. That pretty much summoned up what kind of person was my father. He hadn't even told him about the death when it happened.

"I doubted for a while, but I could not resist the idea of meeting the only thing in the world that was left of Rhea." A warm smile spread on his handsome face and looked at us with loving eyes. "Once I saw there was not only one, but two tiny little pieces of her asking for someone to pay attention to them, I couldn't leave anymore."

"Josh..." My voice cracked and made me realize I had been bawling for a while. I let Max's hand go and jumped on my feet, going to our Gamma and wrapping him in a hug. Seconds later, I felt Max hugging us too from his other side.

"Thank you." My brother's voice was a mere whisper, but I felt Josh's throat quiver with a suffocated sob.

His body relaxed and placed his arms around us. We hugged for a while more before he cleared his throat and we got off of him. I brushed the tears of my cheeks, a little calmer after the shared moment of intimacy. Josh smiled at both of us before landing his eyes on the picture and standing up.

"I guess it is time to go and finish my job." He was back to his work mode, giving Max a small bow before heading to the door.

"Wait!" I grabbed the picture and run the couple of steps until reaching his frozen figure. I handed it to him. "You can keep it. If it was in that box it means she cherished it till the very end. It is just fair for you to have it now. If you want it, of course."

He turned to look at Max, who nodded affirmatively and then back to me. He lifted one of the corner of his lips and took the picture from my hands.

"Thank you."

After the talk with Josh, Max and me decided to leave the rest of the box's secrets sit down for a bit. At least until after the Moon Goddess festival was over. Too many emotions for a whole weekend already.

I took the box with me to my room and crashed into the bed like a dead weight. I was exhausted and the next few days were going to be pretty chaotic. I needed a good rest. I took a warm shower, dried my hair quickly and put a fluffy pajama on. On my way to the bed, I eyed the box, that was staring back at me.

I gave in to curiosity and opened it again, taking another picture out. I went to bed and lay down, lifting the piece of paper up to my eye level and studying it. This time, I could see my mother alone, smiling innocently to the camera.

Max and me looked very similar to her if not for the eyes. Hers were a vibrant blue, while we had the Turner family's green eyes. A signature that had persisted for generations.

She looked so happy in that instant. Who would have guessed the last years of her life were going to be so messed up?

A/N

There we throw some light into past events that might (or not xD) explain better the circumstances in which they have grown up with.

Anyone willing to adopt Josh? I think he deserves many many warm hugs... (ToT)

This chapter was a little shorter but I filled it with information, so I leave it here before we plunge into their first Moon Goddess festival! I'm so excited about it!! （๑✧∀✧๑）

Do not forget to comment and vote!
Peace! Koe