Stolen Fate

Chapter Eleven - Samantha

Chapter Eleven

Samantha

“Does this mean you have made a decision?” Samantha asked as she closed the door behind her. She didn’t have to be in the same room to know her brother was tossing clothing onto his bed from inside his small closet. She may not have been a fulltime member of the pack, but she was a member just the same – her senses worked just fine.

Lucas ignored her; as well she imagined he would. He hadn’t spoken so much as a word to anyone, save her children, in three days. Not since his chat, turned argument, with the boys.

She hated when he was like that. Isolate; angry. Silent. She knew his inner wheels were churning, and there was nothing she, or anyone else, could say or do to pull him from his funk. It was something he just needed to work through on his own. He was the same way when father died.

Lucas had just celebrated his twentieth birthday when word came down the line that their father, Jeremy, had died. The humans thought it was a work related incident, which was what they had first told Lucas. He was in the woods that afternoon surveying the land for a possible purchase. Jeremy was an architect who made it big in the city, just to return to his home town while still young to pursue the family life. Samantha has just been born, so the timing was right.

Truth was, Jeremy’s own father had passed, forcing him into the role of leader, and back home. Unlike the unsuspecting Lucas, Jeremy hated his wolf and had moved to get away from all reminders. He had gone years without turning when his father died. Several pack elders thought that the reason he kept the wolf from both Lucas and Samantha, his own kin.

Jeremy had kept up the ruse of architect long after he had given up that title, and no one was the wiser. Until he died.

Samantha might have been the older of the two, but it was Lucas who would get the alpha role; Lucas who would undergo the changes and not understand them; Lucas who would grow to despise his father for lying to him. And it was Lucas who spent the next five years growing in strength, both physical and emotional. Until Krishna came back into his life; she was the sole being capable of breaking him down and making him analyze his life and everything he had worked so hard to achieve.

In most ways, Samantha despised Krishna. She and Lucas were inseparable for nearly three years; head over heels in high school romanced love. Back then, no one gave the couple much thought when it came to their future. It wasn’t secret Krishna came from the system, and was bounced from home to home all her life. So it didn’t surprise anyone, Samantha especially, when she moved away as soon as she aged out. What did surprise her, though, was how much Lucas proved to be in love with Krishna. Maybe she was blind to it then, but as soon as Krishna was gone, Lucas nearly died himself. For months he moped; was broken and lost. And it was during that time that Samantha vowed to never let any girl harm him like that again.

That was around the same time she opted to open up fully to him about their family history; something she had uncovered on her own the year before. But before she had the chance, he left.

Of course, he wasn’t gone long. Just enough to realize there was no following someone who didn’t want to be found. And by then, Samantha had been forced to remain silent. The knowledge and silence ate at her, until the day their father died. Then she felt relieved.

In the passing six years, she hadn’t thought much about Krishna or the scars she left behind. Lucas assumed alpha position and put the past behind him. Or, at least, she thought he did. Krishna returning did something to her brother. To the pack. And for that, Samantha hated her. She may have been the one to offer Lucas hope, once upon a time, but she ripped it away from him once already; she had no rights to do it again. Especially now that he had it in his head she was his mate.

Samantha pushed fully open the already open door, and leaned against its frame. “So you are leaving then.” It wasn’t a question, the answer being already so obvious, but she was seeking the words.

He ignored her. She sighed, crossing the room to sit on the beds edge beside the duffle bag.

“You’re not going to stop me, Sam,” he said matter of factly while continuing to toss clothing on the bed.

“I wasn’t going to try. You’re a big boy.”

“You can’t change my mind about her.” From the corner of his eye, Lucas saw her shrug. Pausing with a pair of jeans in his hand, he looked at her. “Then why you here?”

“Just wondering how you’re gonna run with a duffle,” she said sarcastically. He looked from her to the bag and the clothes surrounding it. Mumbling something that sounded a lot like ‘shit’, he grabbed a backpack from the closet and started stuffing the clothes in it. She suppressed a smile as she leaned back more comfortably. “Morgan in charge?” she asked nonchalantly.

“He has orders, yes.”

“And Vincent and Anthony?”

“Have their own. Look, Sam,” he nearly snapped as he stopped moving, holding the pack at his side while looking at her. “I have to find her. Whether you like it or not, Krishna is my mate. I can’t just pretend that life can go on without her here, because it can’t. Not for me.”

Samantha sat upright. “And you are certain she will stay if you explain it to her.”

“She is my mate!” He nearly boomed. She could see how hard he was focusing to keep his cool, and she appreciated that. She didn’t want to push buttons, but some questions needed to be asked.

“I just don’t want to see you burned again, Luke. We all need you; I need you. And you are not you when that girl is around,” she paused when his face lit red; rising to stand. “I’m sure she is not a bad person, Luke, but to me, she will always be. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. I saw what she did to you, what her leaving did to you. And after six years, your reaction to her hasn’t changed much. She is your poison, and you are addicted.”

Samantha had moved closer to the door by the time he opened his mouth to speak. His back was to her, so she wasn’t sure his expression, but the rage emerging from him was a hint to his silent stillness. At that moment, she was happy she wasn’t human.

Lucas didn’t know what to say, how to react. He always knew how his sister felt about Krishna, but knowing and hearing the words were completely different. Samantha didn’t have to like Krishna, but he honestly had no clue how deep her hatred ran. Hearing her speak, both aloud and through thought; feeling her emotional change as it radiated from her ... it stabbed like a knife and he was dumbfounded.

How did one choose between blood and life?

The sound of glass shattering echoed through the silence, and Samantha struggled not to show how much the simple act of throwing a backpack through a window pained her. With gaze focused on nothing in particular, she just barely moved aside as Lucas ripped past her, through the apartment and out the door just as his wolf took over.  

She just hoped, as she too exited into the heat of the day, that this time, Krishna Mitchel was prepared for a life with Lucas. Because this time, her brother wasn’t backing down.