Chapter 10

Another week passed before Maya could leave the hospital. All the time she was in hospital she waited for her family to come to visit her. But surprisingly no one showed up. She questioned Dylan again and again only to have evasive one word answers.

Finally on the last day, Maya stood outside the hospital with Dylan on her side. A car arrived for them and Dylan carefully helped her to climb in.

After a few hours of driving, they were at the border of the Forrester pack. Maya didn't knew why she was this nervous. She felt that she should have been happy, she was going home. However, Dylan's attitude and her family's absence was putting her on the edge.

Their car entered the pack boundary and immediately high level, combat warriors surrounded the car. They didn't try to stop the car but kept it surrounded as it reached the Alpha's home. Dylan's lips were pressed into a thin line and his expression was very grim.

Maya couldn't understand the warrior's behaviour. They stepped down from the car and the Beta of the pack, Mark, came to Dylan's side, "Please follow me Team Leader Dylan. The Alpha and Luna are waiting for your arrival." He flicked a glance to Maya and his lip curled in distaste. Maya's wolf bristled at the behaviour of Beta Mark, but she chose to stay silent and observe for the time being.

Mark led them to the conference room. In the conference room, her parents, brother and Elder Mark and Mary were sitting alongwith Claire and Xander with her brother Ken and Claire sitting in Alpha and Luna position.

Maya couldn't control herself when she saw her parents and cried out, "Mom... Dad" and tried to make her way towards them to seek solace in their embrace. However Beta Mark caught her arm and pulled her back, "Please maintain a little dignity Rogue."

"Rogue?" Maya questioned stunned.

"Dad what's happening? Why is he here?" Maya asked Justin pointing at Xander, "Do you know what he did to me?"

"Maya..." drawled Justin, "Please don't make it difficult than it already is."

"Difficult..." Maya echoed and stepped back, almost stumbling back into Dylan. He supported her and placed his hand on her shoulder, guiding her down to sit in a chair.

"Maya Forrester, we know that our Luna and our Pack Trainer Xander hurt you. However we cannot accept your responsibility. We hereby have voted to remove you from the pack in order to maintain the stability of our pack. These are the papers stating you are no longer a member of this pack.", Ken said.

"Ken, what are you saying? How can you do that?" Maya cried.

"How?" Ken replied calmly, "The needs of the pack before the needs of an individual. Don't you remember your pseudo Luna training?"

"The pack before the Alpha. Don't you remember your Alpha training?" Maya bit back. "Mom, Dad are you okay with this?"

"You are not pack anymore Maya. And we have to ensure pack's stability." Justin replied.

"Are you sure about your decision Alpha Forrester?" Dylan asked.

"Yes." Ken replied.

"Does the pack know? How was this decision made?" Dylan asked.

"Everyone knows. All the Elders voted in favour of Claire as Luna." Justin said.

Maya looked around at the table everyone's eyes held hostility for her. Xander didn't even bother to look at her, opting instead to look at his sister. She was holding his hand in both of hers.

Maya lost her hold on her sanity and stood up pushing the chair back so hard that it hit the wall and broke. Immediately Beta Mark called the warriors inside and surrounded Dylan and her. Mark then pushed her so that she fell backwards but Dylan rushed and caught her. Nevertheless the stitches on the back opened and started bleeding tainting the room with smell of her blood.

A low growl sounded, but Mark didn't pay any attention and pulled both Dylan and Maya out of the room. The warriors escorted them out of the house to their car and made sure that the paperwork was handed to Dylan before they left.

"What are you going to do now?" Dylan asked Maya.

"I don't know. I don't understand anything. What happened to my loving family? Where is my twin brother when I needed him? Isn't family supposed to protect, love and care for you? This is not how I had left my family. They would never have hurt me like this before." Maya replied brokenhearted.

"Sometimes power trumps family." Dylan replied softly. His eyes held a look that spoke of many layers of pain hidden in his soul. "Would you like to help people such as yourself?" Dylan asked suddenly.

"Do you think I will be able to make a difference?" Maya asked.

"Yes. You are an Alpha blood, right? How good are your combat skills?"

"Officially or unofficially?"

Dylan glanced at her and asked, "What do you mean?"

"In a battle, I can take on four wolves at a time. I have even defeated Alpha blood Ken Forrester. But none of this is mentioned in the official records." Maya replied with a bit of venom in her voice.

"When I was being held in prison, I successfully detached from my wolf and was able to bring her back after I was rescued.", she continued.

"How is that even possible? Don't you guys lose your wolf if you detach yourself from them?" Dylan asked surprised.

"We do. But I have been training at a higher level since my childhood. My grandfather was always pushing me to be the best. When I lost him, I was devastated. After he was no more, people started pushing Ken into the control for Alpha title. They believed he as a male child was more suited to it." Maya said wiping away a tear that had escaped from her eyes, "I guess, power is everything? Ken even forgot that I am his twin sister in the face of power." More and more tears started escaping and she gave up trying to wipe them away.

"I have a proposition for you Maya, join the council's warrior team, get trained and then impart your training to others. Samuel Forrester was a man of excellent judgement. I believe in him." Dylan said.

"You have met him?", Maya asked in surprise.

"How old do you think I am?" Dylan asked frowning at her.

"I thought you might be near my age?" Maya replied softly.

"I am more than a 100 years old. Did you forget that I am a vampire?" Dylan asked.

"Yeah, I guess I did." Maya replied. Her thoughts were on how her family had treated her. The tears were slowly drying on her cheeks.

Dylan sighed softly and said, "Things will get better Maya. Trust yourself. Trust in your Moon Goddess."

The car made its way to the Council headquarters.

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Meanwhile in the Forrester pack:

"I hope you understand what we have given up Claire." Judy said bitterly, "At least try to be a decent Luna from now."

"Mom." Ken interrupted, "Please don't hurt her. Claire is just as upset as you. But she is pregnant and is going to give birth to an Alpha child. We couldn't have put Maya near her. Maya could have hurt the baby."

"We have hurt our child to protect yours. I hope you remember this favour Alpha." Justin bit out.

Both the Elder Forrester left the room with Claire's parents. Ken sighed and helped Claire stand up. As they were leaving the room, Claire turned back to see Xander sitting motionless in his place. She went out to call him, but Ken motioned her to remain silent and slowly walked her out of the room.

After everyone had left, Xander remained in his place for a long time. Then he slowly walked to the spot where blood from Maya's body had dripped to the floor. He fell to his knees and let out a mournful cry.

He collected the pieces of the chair that was broken by Maya and held them to his chest weeping his heart out.

"Maya...." he whispered softly. "I am sorry my love. Please forgive me."