10. Do what you want

CHAPTER TEN
Nadia paced around in the temporarily set tent, trying to keep her calm but she couldn’t. If people got hurt, it would certainly be her fault. How would she even live with the blood of innocent people haunting her every single day she breathed? She glanced at the manned entrance, the two buffy sentinels instantly meeting her gaze. There would be no chance in hell she would be able to escape this place. Unlike the ones back at the pack territory, these ones belonged to Creek Moon pack and hence were very much alert.

“Can I speak to Collins?” She stopped pacing, making the same request for perhaps the millionth time now.

Once again they just looked at her and ignored her, instead going back to talk about football; something about a game between Manchester United and Arsenal. She sighed in frustration as she sat down on the only chair in the tent. She could not keep it together no matter how hard she tried. The worst part was that Collins wouldn’t even give her a time of the day. Her phone rung and much to her surprise it was Trina.

“Thank God! W-what is going on over there?” She could feel her heart skipping in fear.

“You mean beside me completely agreeing that we need to stop this war before it happens, pretty much everything else worse you can think of,” she could tell Trina was whispering, probably trying not to get caught,” Drake only wants this war because he is falling for you and this will be his chance to get rid of Collins. Caleb and Darius only want this because the wolves chased them out of the town years ago and they believe this is the winning team. Adrian, he may hot and all, but he is the most relentless. I doubt anyone can get to him. More than anyone he wants the wolves gone for good. There is no chance of forgiveness when it comes to him. He even has Caleb quivering in his boots,”

“You met my brother? What is he like? You know besides the revenge thirst,” her voice croaked. Since the moment she learnt her brother was alive, she’d wanted nothing more than to see him. She’d wondered what he was like, how he’d grown up and if his life had been any easier than her. Had he been haunted by the memories of what happened? Had he even kept all his memories in the first place? Had he missed her perhaps?

“He is just like you. Brilliant, determined, wants to find peace inside himself,” she paused, chuckling a bit as she added” He is a mess just like you. A hot mess perhaps. He is hurting, Nadia and that makes it even harder to convince him to step down. Fifteen years of pain and all he has is this moment when he gets to face his family’s killer and get done with him for good,”

“C-Can I speak to him?” He questioned, her voice breaking even more. She could understand his pain more than anyone. They had been her family too and unlike Adrian, she had actually been there to witness it all. She had seen her own family in their pool of blood and heard their last screams. She had looked her family’s killer right in the eyes.

“He doesn’t even know I’m speaking to you right now,” she answered.

“Please Trina. I need this,” she wiped away the tears she had no idea were rolling down her cheeks,” I need to hear my brother’s voice just this once,”

There was silence on the other side of the call before she sighed, “If I get murdered for this, my blood is on your hands, Nadia,”

“Thank you so much Trina,”

Trian cut off the call, leaving Nadia anxious and worried as she resumed her pacing. What was her brother like? Was he really what Trian claimed he was?

“Seriously? So this was what it was all about? It wasn’t about saving the werewolves. It was about your brother,” She turned around at the sound of Collins, standing with his palms pushed into his slacks’ pockets.

“Collins,” she began.

“I wanted to believe that you at least had a conscious. Adrian is already dangerous on his own and you get swayed easily by emotion. A combination of you two would be the end of my kind. You knew that, Nadia,” he lilted, sounding a big enraged.

“Well, I’m sorry that I want to see the only remaining family I have Collins!” she snapped,” My brother is barely an hour away from where I’m right now. The same brother who was torn away from me. I haven’t seen him for sixteen years now and you know why? Because of your father. So you want to crucify me for wanting to see my brother, go ahead,”

“Excuse me if the timing is a little off, Nadia. I’m fighting a war led by your brother who has killed countless of wolves around town,” he paused, his voice lower now, “Innocent wolves. If I can sacrifice my own father for you, then why can’t you do this for me?”

“Because my brother is not your father! Carson killed people; innocent people who did not deserve it. I had to grow up in an orphanage and all I had was Trina and Sasha. My brother was torn away from me and I don’t even know the kind of life he had to deal with,”

“And those wolves your brother killed were innocent too Nadia! Open your eyes. Your brother is as much of a killer as my father is. That’s the truth,” Nadia lost it, slapping Collins twice hard on the cheek.

“One more word about my brother and you’ll be forgetting I’m on your side!” she seethed through her teeth.

“The truth hurts, doesn’t it? That the person you call family could actually not be who you want to believe them to be,” Collins pointed, completely unfazed by the stinging pain shooting through his right cheeks as an impact from Nadia’s slap.

“Even if my brother were to be who you want him to be so desperately, who is to blame for it?” she shook her head, angry tears rolling down her cheeks, “I’ll tell you who. Carson White, the man you call your father,”

“Yes you’ve made it very clear how much of a terrible person my father really is, Nadia! But your brother isn’t any nicer. He killed countless innocent people too. At the end of the day, despite the hurt, we choose who we want to be. You actually saw your parents getting killed and yet here you are, joining hands with me and hoping we can put an end to this war so innocent people don’t die,”

“Pretty pathetic of me, isn’t it? That I can even stand in the same breathing space as the son of the man who robbed me my life, my best friend and my family. You went to an expensive boarding school while I lived my life in an understaffed, poorly managed Orphanage and had one meal a day if I was even lucky. College was a full-on breeze for you. Sasha, Trina and I survived on college loans and extreme part-time jobs. All this time, I told myself that once I become successful, I would come back to this god-forsaken town, find out what really happened and eventually move on with my life. But guess what? The perpetrator still lives and breaths like he didn’t do that to me,” She let out a shaky breath,” Excuse me for picking my brother’s side. He has every right to be angry with the wolves,”

“Fine. Do what you want Nadia. I won’t stop you,” he barged out of the tent just as Trina called back.