Second Chances

Chapter Five

Chapter Five: Digging

April 2, 2011

Cryptic. That was the first word that came to mind when I thought of Leigh Lancaster. When I thought of the damn blonde bitch. The one who knew exactly what to say, how to drive me crazy.

I hated her. Hated her with a burning passion. Despised her with all I was. I swear to God. And I'm a sort-of atheist, with a belief that whoever the hell is up there hates me like I hate Leigh.

And I wanted, hell I needed, to know why she was here. How she knew just the mention of Ivan would send me into despair. She treated my pack as if she knew them. As if she could worm her way in, to make friends with them. To be what Brittanie had tried so hard to be. A part of the crowd.

"You're going to hemorrhage, I swear, if you keep thinking this hard, Lucas," stated Vera, entering my office.

"Did I give you permission to enter?" I snapped, sitting up on the couch. You think for the price they sold the things at, they'd be a lot more comfortable.

Vera smiled softly at me, raising her arms. In one hand she held a steaming mug of coffee and a nice cranberry-orange scone in the other. "Breakfast. Werewolves must eat, and I will mother you if I must."

Seeing as my mother was never much of one.

"Place it on the desk, Vera," I ordered.

"I'm not your slave," she whispered, her head down as she followed my commands. "And I do this because I was best friends with Todd, and you're my little brother's best friend. Practically a little brother to me. I don't do this - bring you breakfast with the possibility of you ripping my head off - for you because you're my Alpha."

I groaned, a low growl hanging slightly on it. "I've had enough of these damn heart-to-hearts in the past few days. So please, leave."

"Oh, the first time I've heard you utter the magic word in years," she commented, sarcasm lightly coloring her words. She gave me a light pat on the head, blinking innocently.

"That Leigh is stirring everything up for me," I told her. "And aren't you supposed to be gone now?"

She shrugged, cocking her little blonde head to the side. "You know, there's something weird about her. I could dig a little, maybe get Becky to dish up. I could probably get her to talk with a tad bit of bribery - and promises of my chunky chocolate brownies. She wouldn't tell you shit, though." Again, she shrugged her shoulders.

Starting to the door, she added, "You get a little something from Tallulah - and tell her Vera Barclay says 'hello'. 'Hello', not 'hi'." She flashed me a quick smile, before bowing out of the room with all the grace she could muster (let me tell you, despite being a werewolf and everything, she had a tendency to trip over her own feet on occasion).

I always knew I liked her better than any of Todd's other imbecile friends.

In my sleep-deprived state (it was 7:00 in the morning, and I had fallen asleep on my couch sometime around 3), I managed to stumble to my nice and actually heavenly soft leather chair. I inhaled Vera's lovely scone, and poured the coffee down my throat.

By 7:05, I was already dialing Tallulah's number.

"Tallulah of the Northern Kansas, what can I do for you at this inhumane hour of the day?" came her weary reply.

I smirked, only realizing shortly after she couldn't see that. So I actually had to formulate words, and hope it didn't sound like I was calling her while I was higher than a kite. "Hello, Northie. It's Lucas."

"The hell, Montgomery?" she snapped.

She was about to slam the phone down when I said, "Why is Leigh Lancaster here?"

She put the phone back to her ear. Then she sighed, sounding every bit the role of a stressed Alpha with far too much on their plate. "You'll find out before long."

More cryptic answers. I was starting to believe that was just a female thing, before thinking back to how open and bubbly Brittanie had been.

"I want to know now, Tallulah!" I hissed, raking my fingers through my hair. I needed a shower; my hair was greasy and I smelled of wet dog.

"Montgomery," she said calmly, as if speaking to a child. Or a puppy. "It's a long story, and frankly I can't tell you it. I wish I could. I wish I could tell someone other than Leigh. Let's just say I empathized with the girl, and had no choice but to send her."

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" I spun my chair around to face the bookshelf. My mind flew back to last night, where Leigh told me I knew nothing about the werewolf life. I ran my fingers over the spines, reveling in the history behind them, the history they contained.

"Like I said, you'll find out." Her voice pulled me out of my daze.

"So helpful." That one she most likely didn't hear, for it was a sarcastic grumble.

"Lucas, I can only give you a little piece of advice. Don't give into her. I'm begging you, Lucas. Do not succumb to her charms. Stay strong, and be the annoyingly arrogant, heartless Lucas I've had to put up with at the national pack meetings for the past two and a half years."

"Why?"

"Don't be selfish. Just think of Brittanie, and how much you loved her. How much you love her memory, at this point." A watery chuckle escaped her. It was then that I realized she and I had more in common than anyone else I knew. She had lost her mate as well.

Only, he had willingly gone.

"Tallulah-" I tried again to retrieve more than just a cryptic response.

"Just know that more than one life depends on your actions."

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A/N: I've been doing rather well on here, compared to ficpress. So I really wanna hear some feedback! Vote/Comment (Vomment?)