Second Fate

25

Nina's POV

"You're doing great, Nina. You learn fast."

I smiled at the muscular woman who had given me encouragement in passing by. She was tough-looking with broad shoulders and rough-skinned knuckles, but her words were always kind. When she smiled, you could see a chipped tooth.

There were a handful of women and men in all types of sportswear sweating and punching around me. We were all beginners, throwing awkward punches and collapsing in pain after the first set of sit-ups, but the atmosphere was brimming with motivation. The first time I'd entered this room, I'd known that this was the right place for me to outgrow myself.

And I'd had to find something to keep busy with, because I was going crazy stuck in my small apartment all alone.

Every time the doorbell rung, my heart skipped a beat, thinking it might be Vine who was coming to apologize. The same spiel had happened with my phone, until I'd finally switched it to silent mode.

After a couple of days spent between work, smokey bars and my dark bedroom, I had grown tired of my own self-pity, and gone on the desperate hunt to find something for distraction. In the end, I'd found a place where I could both work through my anger and frustration and get my body tired enough to collapse into a dreamless sleep. Not that it helped much during the time when I was home alone and not asleep.

"Thanks for your hard work", shouted the teacher from one end of the room, as people started to collect their bags and leave. "I'll see you all next week!"

After throwing a thank you into the room, I grabbed my bomber jacket and headed out into the cold night. As people were walking past me, saying their goodbyes to the ones they knew, I looked down on the car keys in my hand.

I considered my next action with the uncomfortable foreboding that I wouldn't be able to fall asleep if I went home now. In theory, I could quickly shower at home and put on some make-up to go out instead of torturing myself by confining my mind and body to the bedroom for a night of insomnia.

A drink before bed sounded like a quick fix, but one drink would turn to two and then three and perhaps even more. I was slowly falling back into old habits which I didn't like, so I couldn't allow it. Instead, I would have to go home and paralyze myself with some reality trash tv and carbs until I passed out.

There was still one other thing, I could do. I had procrastinated, contemplating to ask Cara for help, but I felt pathetic enough as it was. So, I'd decided to go and retrieve my favorite hoodie from the mansion as soon as I'd managed one night without dreaming of Vine – not that it had happened so far.

"Fuck that", I muttered, as I climbed into my car and started the engine. Who knew when I'd feel normal again, and I really missed that hoodie. I'd just stop by for a brief second: run in and out, and that was it. No biggie. I'd done it to meet with Neal and I could do it again.

I probably wouldn't even meet Vine since he'd be able to pick up my scent and avoid me. That had worked great for him in the past seven years.

As I pulled into the street leading out of the city and to the pack's mansion, I turned up the music to drown out my thoughts.

*

Vine's POV

They'd constructed a makeshift meeting room under the tarpaulin, where Meredith and one of her people had gathered to wait for our arrival. Gideon took a seat beside them.

"Thank you for coming", she said in a quiet voice as we came closer. Her eyes wandered warily over the three of us as if she was estimating the threat we posed to her and the pack.