Second Fate

23

Cara had raised her hands as if she wanted to demonstrate her innocence in the matter of violating Vine's privacy and hadn't taken up the topic of Meredith's letter while driving me home. When she'd left me at the door, I'd already made up my mind on what to do. The contents of the letter would've been no reason for concern if they came from anyone else, but I knew better than to shrug this off.

Now I stood in the large bedroom with the dark paneling which my foster sister shared with her husband and waited for Neal to say anything other than a terse greeting. My hands were wrestling with each other, while I remembered our last proper conversation. Don't call me an outsider.

"Sit", he finally said, his hand pointing towards a heavy leather chair. It stood in front of the large window overlooking the clearing behind the mansion and the sun had warmed its smooth surface.

As I followed his offer, he placed himself in my chair's twin, which was placed in such a way that the one sitting on it would be able to look at both the outside and the person sitting across.

"My wife told me that you have something important to discuss with me." Apart from when he spoke, his lips were a flat line without a hint of the friendly smile he usually wore.

My wife. I hadn't overheard him bringing Cara into the conversation, as if he wanted to highlight that this meeting was a courtesy to her.

Remembering the last time I'd spoken without thinking, I swallowed my sarcastic retort and opted for a nod instead. I didn't want to make him think that I disliked him. I at least could appreciate him for the stability which he'd introduced into Cara's life; no matter what issues I'd had and would have with Neal, he was what she'd been looking for and he proved to be no less every day. A blind man would be able to see the love and devotion between them.

"It's about Meredith Montgomery", I began to explain. The name garnered his attention at once. "You probably know that she was behind the attack in the city too."

He lifted a brown eyebrow as if to say Of course I know, who do you think I am?

I cleared my throat and continued: "When Vine visited me in the hospital he must've dropped a letter from her. And the contents have me worried."

"Did I understand you correctly: you read a letter from Meredith to Vine without his knowledge?"

I shrank a little under his cold gaze. The ice blue hue of his eyes didn't make them any warmer.

"I mean ... yeah. He dropped it in my room, and I was ... I was mad at him", I ended quietly as I got more and more aware of how stupid that reasoning sounded.

Neal sighed.

"Anyway, it's too late now. I've read the letter, so spare me the lecture. I know that you don't like me being around the pack, or Vine, or even Cara probably but –"

"I never –", he interrupted himself to take a deep breath before he continued with a patience he probably had to force, "Let me be clear, Nina. I've never had an issue with you being in Cara's life. You two are close and that means you are welcome in my house and, yes, even in my pack. It doesn't matter if you are human or wolf, it only matters what you say and how you treat our hospitality."

There was an artificial pause in which I started to think about his impression of me. How had I behaved in the past? I'd probably been out of it and unreliable for most of the first five years; and for the rest, I'd been a nosy little sister to Cara, who liked to try and catch the wolves changing even though she'd been told not to. And more recently I'd started to show Neal another side of me: one that liked to talk back to the alpha.

As if he'd noted that I had considered his words carefully, he continued: "As Vine's mate, you'll be a part of the pack, even if it's not through the usual blood bond we use. Our matters are officially yours as well, which also means that I'm not only Cara's husband to you any longer. I'm also your alpha in all that matters."

I started to understand where he was going with his little speech, but it came too late. My stomach cramped up as I realized that he hadn't been told about my break-up with Vine.

"You know, Vine and I, we –"

He wasn't waiting for me to finish my sentence, likely because he thought I'd try and justify our relationship to him.

"I know that Vine and you are bonded but that's exactly why I need you to respect my decisions, even if you don't agree with them sometimes", he made clear. "You need to believe that I hold the best intentions instead of testing me at a whim – especially in front of others."

"I didn't realize I was out of line", I argued. No one had explained the rules of the pack to me, so how should I have known that he'd consider my frustrated complaint as a sign of disrespect?

"Just come to me in private the next time you're unhappy with something and don't throw it into my face in front of the others. I'm looking for a majority in every decision I take for the pack, because I want to see us all happy. I try to keep an open mind and ear to everyone's doubts and troubles. But in the end, I need to trust that my orders will be heard and followed", he tied up his speech in a matter-of-fact tone. "Do you understand?"

I nodded with painful resignation. This would've been really enlightening – if I'd still considered a future within the pack. But now that Vine and I would return to our prior routine of ignoring each other as best as we could, there'd be little to see of me in the mansion.

A small part of me had listened intently despite Vine's rejection. That part of me still believed that we had a chance – and it always would.

That's what you get for rejecting me for seven years and then stepping into my life all of a sudden, I thought grimly. I'd never be able to accept that it was completely over. Was that fate's design or just some peculiarity of mine? Another thing I'd never entirely understand.

Out loud, I said: "I get it, Neal, I do."

I couldn't get the words But it's over between me and Vine to leave my mouth, so I watched as Neal nodded. He probably – and mistakenly – thought he'd cleared up the situation and could treat me like a pack member from now on.

"But back to the letter", I requested, to keep from sinking deeper into thoughts about Vine.

"Right." Neal adjusted himself on the armchair to find a more comfortable position. The tough part of the conversation seemed to be over. "What has Meredith written? She's in the habit of ..."

Because he seemed lost for polite words, I offered him some more fitting ones. "Of harassing Vine? Of blaming and gaslighting him into thinking that he's wrong about Kenna's death and that he hasn't done enough to prevent it?"

"That's it. She's in the habit of doing that since her daughter has disappeared."

"And she's getting worse, despite everyone telling me that the hunters would take care of her pack", I complained.

He gave me an understanding smile. "Her pack was quite famous some years back for taking care of rogue wolves wandering about the area. Seems like they haven't forgotten their training, but they can't run forever."

"You say that but yo–"

"I know that", he held against my doubts with stone-set certainty. "From experience."

"Oh", I made because I had no fitting reply ready. What was he talking about? I doubted that Neal had ever gotten in trouble with the hunters or the congregation. "Well, I just wanted to give you the letter. The rest is not for me to decide."

"And why didn't you go directly to Vine with this?"

I shot him an incredulous look. "You really think he would've been open to the idea of fighting back in case this is a trap?"

Instead of replying or reprimanding me for my sarcasm, Neal got up and pulled a crystal decanter out of a drawer next to us. Wordlessly, he poured two fingers of a golden-brown liquid into two glasses and handed me one.

*