Chapter 16 - A hard truth.

ALARIC’S HEART BROKE yet again for his little sister. He decided to give her the opportunity to speak to Lena before he made his final decision. Rebecca deserved the truth from the witch and, somehow, he knew that she would get it.

He knew that, for some reason, Rebecca would be the only person in the entire world who would get the truth from Lena. He didn’t know why he wanted to hear it for himself, but he listened as they spoke and he couldn’t believe how much it stung to hear the hatred in Lena’s voice when she accused him of killing her parents. What infuriated him even more was that she still didn’t seem to want to accept that her people had started this damn war!

He walked Rebecca back to her room and then decided that he needed a little bit of his little sister’s perspective. He wasn’t entirely sure how to put it and he was still trying to figure it out when she stopped walking and looked at him.

“I’m not a baby anymore, brother. You can ask whatever it is you want to ask.” Rebecca sighed, looking at her hands and he noticed for the first time that she had been biting her nails! She had never done that before! Placing his hands over hers as if to try and heal them, he hunched down and looked into her sad eyes.

“What would you have done if you were in my position?” It was an incredibly loaded question to ask such a very small child, but he knew that his sister would give him what he probably needed to hear. She shrugged and started walking again and Alaric felt confused, but he didn’t ask again and when they reached her room, she turned to look at him.

“I would have forgiven her and her people. In fact, I have.” She looked away for a moment before looking at him again. “We don’t know why they did what they did, Alaric.” Her eyes were filled with such incredible wisdom that it scared him. “Did you or anybody ever ask why? Before you all declared war?” She tilted her head to one side for a moment and then told him she wanted to take a nap. Closing the door, it was the first time ever she didn’t ask for a story before naptime. Alaric placed his hand over her closed door as tears started to form in his eyes. How could she ask him to forgive the people he killed? How could she expect him to forgive the people that killed their parents?

He shook his head as he walked away and wiped the tears from his eyes. He should never have asked her! She was still so young that she couldn’t possibly understand. She didn’t know what she missed because she never fucking had it! Lena’s father took that away from her! No! He could never just forgive! He was on his way back to his office when a group of wolves came charging down the passage and no amount of explaining from a bewildered looking Max was going to stop them. Alaric sighed and came to a halt in front of his people.

“I will not kill the witch!” He announced and some of them were making their anger at this known! “There is something I haven’t told you.” Alaric looked at Max for a moment before giving his full attention to his people. Maybe telling them the truth would force them to understand why this had been so difficult for him. “She is my mate.” Silence fell as some of the people looked as though they couldn’t believe what he had just said. To make sure they all believed him, he said it again. “The blood witch is my destined mate.” A roar went up and Alaric just couldn’t deal with his pack at that moment.

He was feeling incredible relief that he had finally admitted it, but for the first time since his parents were killed, he was scared. He was scared of what they might say and do, but more importantly, he was scared of what he felt for Lena! Admitting that she was his mate like that made it real for the first time since he found out! He heard the ruckus die down outside of his office as he poured two glasses of brandy.

“Let me guess?” He turned around and faced a pale Max as he walked into the office shaking his head. “Now the natives are even more rallied up than they were before.” Alaric sighed and they sat down on the couch side by side.

“I wasn’t expecting you to just blurt it out like that.” Max laughed and suddenly Alaric started laughing.

“Neither was I!” He wasn’t planning on telling his pack. Or was he? He shook his head. He had no freaking idea what the hell he was planning because he hadn’t officially in his mind come to a decision. He was hoping that this damn thing would just sort itself out in time, but now the cat was out of the bag and he knew that very soon, his phone would start ringing.

The pack would not keep this to themselves and the council would be on the phone the second they found out. Alaric sighed and stood up, grabbing his phone as he looked at Max.

“I could just ignore all the phone calls.” He grinned, making Max laugh.

“You could, or you could face it and get it all over with.” Max shrugged.

“I could tell them I was incredibly drunk and didn’t know what I was saying?” Alaric tilted his head to one side, but this time Max looked more serious as he patted his friend's shoulder.

“Or you could just tell them all the truth.” Max put the glass down on the desk and was on his way out.

“What truth is that?” Alaric asked. He really wanted to know what truth Max was talking about since he had no freaking clue anymore.

“That you love her.” Max shrugged before leaving and Alaric rolled his eyes. Max was right! He did love the damn blood witch! But wasn’t it just because of the mate bond? If he rejected her, he wouldn’t love her anymore, would he? Why the hell didn’t he just do that in the first place?! He sighed as the phone in his hand started to vibrate. The news had travelled so far so fast that the head of the supernatural council was the first to call.

“Alaric!” He answered the phone, still not sure what to say.

LENA COULD FEEL that something was going on outside her door. More and more footsteps were coming and going but nobody entered except for the man who brought her a piece of dry bread and water each night. She scoffed, thinking to herself that they were all probably just curious to see her one last time before they killed her.

She fought to keep her resentment towards Alaric and his people close to her heart, since she could feel something changing in the air and it was also affecting what she felt. She didn’t want to love him! She didn’t want him to love her! She just wanted all of this to be over so she could become a spirit like her parents. It turned dark outside and the wolf that usually brought her dinner walked in. He hesitated for a moment before walking around the cage.

Lena could smell the food as soon as he walked in and she couldn’t stop her damn stomach from growling as soon as the smell hit her nose! She didn’t look up when he stood in front of her and he sighed.

“I’ve brought you something.” He unlocked the gate and put the plate and goblet in front of her.

“Wow. My last meal!” Lena replied sarcastically, unable to stop herself as she glared at the food. “Why bother feeding me?” She looked straight in the eye and for a second, she saw something different, but it disappeared so fast that she couldn’t really figure out what it was.

“I don’t know if it is, but I thought I would bring it to you anyway.” He locked the gate, looking as though he was carrying the weight of the world, and Lena glared at the food thinking that it might be poisoned. What the hell did it matter if it was? At least then she would get her wish! She sat forward and winched slightly as the cuffs cut deeper. Leaning forward a little, she ate slowly. She didn’t know why she cared about getting sick. If the food was poisoned she would die and they would have to clean up the mess, so what did it matter?

What did any of it really matter anymore?