"Nothing's gonna be the same again"
Certain times come in our lives when we get exactly what we want. It is very rare, but it happens.
When Ryan had told Selena to lead the pack, she was shocked; she hadn't expected it at all. Then the feeling of horror took over. Her first thought was, 'Is he crazy?'
These were the people that witnessed her being abused for weeks and would have done so for longer if she hadn't reacted the way she did.
And then, it felt like it was the time for redemption. Xavier had stripped her off of her alpha title, he made her a demoted omega. Now, she was finally getting a chance to prove herself.
She was walking down the corridor and down the stairs in no time.
Since Damien had told them about his training in India, a question has been eating her head up. If Damien trained in India, under the watch of the best of the best there, why was his pack's fighting skills not as developed as that of The Lunar Eclipse's?
Before she could leave to go to the training field, she found him outside the packhouse, leaning on the wall and looking towards the forest.
Selena went ahead and stood beside him, her arms crossed in front of her chest and looking into the forest, thinking how to bring it up.
"You got to throw us out of the pack," he said.
"You still stuck on that idea," she commented.
"I am."
"But why?"
"I told you, Selena, Stacy needs to stay here for you to keep an eye on her. Adriana is the best tracker."
Selena still looked at him with worry and confusion and didn't utter a word.
Damien smiled sadly, "I know you're not dumb. The sirens should have ringed earlier than they did during the attack and I have no doubt that Stacy had something to do with it."
"Adriana is the tracker, why you?"
"I am not letting her go alone when it concerns the hunters. Moreover, the pack needs to think that we have been thrown out. They can't know that we are out for a different reason."
She sighed, "Your son will kill me."
"He'll understand. Change the patrolling times and increase security. We will be back as soon as we have the answers we are looking for. Stacy cannot know the real reason behind us leaving or the hunters will know too. We cannot afford that," he said placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I hate this."
"Not more than me, trust me on that," he smirked.
"I'm not even sure if this is the right way to go about it." Selena chuckled humorlessly.
"That's your best shot at safety right now."
Damien had become more like a father to her in these few months' time. He and Adriana had treated her like their own daughter.
"Talk to him. Make him understand," he whispered. When he saw her brows furrowing he continued, "Stacy is standing at the door spying on us."
Adriana came and stood beside Damien but he had a hard expression on his face, "I'm not staying in a pack which has lost its morals. Raping she-wolves, so many traitors, I am disgusted with it, and all of it began with your arrival."
"That's what you believe?" she asked dumbfounded. Selena knew he had to say something harsh but she didn't expect it to hurt this much.
"That's what we both believe. I am not staying in this pack. Adriana and I are leaving. We want nothing to do with this pack anymore."
Ileana walked in at that moment and heard the last line, "What is happening?"
"Your parents are abandoning their pack," Selena answered in a harsh voice.
'We knew it right be hard for you to make a move. Plus, you just got the leadership, you don't need a rebellion right now.' Damien whispered.
'If you think your wolves wouldn't care if you left by yourself, I'd say you didn't know them enough.'
Her outer expression didn't change though.
"What?" Ileana asked confused, unaware of their telepathic conversation.
"Enough!" Damien exclaimed, as he held Adriana's hand and walked upstairs. Many pack members had accumulated in the area to see what was happening. Nobody moved until Damien and Adriana made an appearance again, this time with bags.
"Dad, what the hell? Mom?" they just looked at her sadly but didn't answer.
They looked straight ahead as they walked out of the packhouse. Nobody moved until we felt their connection cut off as they stepped off the pack lands. And exactly as they felt it, all the eyes turned towards Selena with looks of accusation, even Ileana.
'I promise you I'm gonna bring you both back with all the respect you guys deserve,' Selena mind linked him.
'I know you, will. I'm proud of you, Selena. I'm glad my son has you. Talk to Ileana.'
Selena turned away from the crowd. She took a few seconds to even her breathing after which she turned to look at the pack members present there.
"Like it or not, people, I am your alpha now and there are a few rules you got to follow for being in my pack. Whoever wants to walk out, do so now. If you have to stay here, you have to treat each other with respect. It is your actions that led to your previous leaders abandon you. I hope that is enough to teach you a lesson."
She looked at all those who had beaten her and they knew instantly it was a warning to them.
Selena returned to her room and had just sat on the bed when someone slammed the door to her room open. Ileana entered along with Connor, the former furious and the latter confused.
"Why did you let them do that?" Ileana shouted, tears running down her face.
Selena looked at her for a second. She didn't know if anyone else from the pack was helping Stacy and with their heightened hearing, they couldn't take the risk of someone knowing of the sacrifice Damien made for his pack.
"I did what I had to do," she said calmly and walked up to the study table. Ileana and Connor were too shocked by her calm demeanour to say anything. Selena took the time to write down whatever Damien had said on a piece of paper before handing it to Connor. Ileana peeped in and her eyes widened a little when she read it.
'Well, that's unexpected.'
Selena rolled her eyes at Ileana but still smiled.
Connor spoke then, 'Let's meet in the office. We can discuss things there. I'll make sure nobody eavesdrops.'
Selena shook her head, trying to discard the thought that she could have just mind linked too instead of writing on a paper, and smirked, "Leave my room right now, you two."
Connor scoffed before rolling his eyes. Ileana smiled and rolled her eyes too before they both left the room, only after putting back their stoic faces.
____|~.~|____
"He's gonna have fun teasing you about this." Ileana lied on the bed beside Ryan as she finished her sentence.
"He might just cut me into pieces and roast me before he eats up my pieces with my extracted blood as a sauce," Ryan said.
"Way to over-exaggerate," Connor rolled his eyes, but Ryan just gave him a blank look.
Selena struggled to not laugh on seeing their expressions but it was proving to be really hard.
"Where do you get these bizarre ideas from?" she asked the beta.
"Ileana's your mate, and werewolves are extremely fertile species. I am sure he won't..." Connor said but was interrupted by Ryan.
"It took me a second to remember why you look so concerned and then I remembered that Evelyn is your mate." Ryan smirked and shook his head, "Good luck."
Connor scoffed, "You're forgetting, he is also mated to my sister."
"Can you guys stop?" Selena asked, "This is so stupid."
"Hey!" Both Connor and Ryan protested and Ileana chuckled.
"This is what happens when you keep all the testosterone-filled high ranked wolves in the same room," she rolled her eyes.
Ryan scoffed louder this time, "Xavier is extremely protective of his sisters. I had left the pack once after we had first discovered that we were mates. One of the pack members was having a problem in the town with her business, and I had gone there to deal with their problem, mind you, under Xavier's orders."
"That was..." Ileana whined but Ryan continued.
"This one here," he pointed at Ileana, "Got worried as she didn't know where I was, and Xavier, the one who had actually ordered me to do the job, didn't remember it either. He threatened me for making his sister cry, even though he apologized to me later for forgetting."
"Wow..." Selena commented but there was this amused look on her face.
"His threats were actually funny, he called me weird names," Ryan said making Ileana laugh.
Connor chuckled too and shook his head, "Let's see how well he fares when he is on the other side of the rope."
Knowing Selena, Connor knew these were bound to bother her one way or the other.
And it did too.
Selena's eyes had turned slightly watery as she thought of all the things that could have happened to them had the hunters hadn't intervened in their life. She might have met Xavier due to some pack business.
Her family, her beta would have been alive, they would have combined the packs and led both of those together. They would have had an amazing life.
She stood up as Ryan continued to talk and walked to the window. They were all in her room, the aim was to discuss how to let Xavier know about the departure of his parents. Ileana had mentioned that an attack, sometime during the youth of their parents had made Adriana weak, so she isn't as great a fighter as she once was, so Xavier's worries are justified.
Selena took a deep breath, and exhaled, as she thought of letting go of all these imaginations she had deep inside her head. The myth of werewolves' mates completing themselves seems just that, a myth.
She jumped startled when Connor held her in a bear hug from behind.
'Do I need to give him a dose of his own medicine?' Connor linked her and Selena could feel the amusement in his voice, however, there was an underlying sense of concern too.
Selena shook her head and gave Connor a smile before walking back to the bed, all the emotions now gone from her face, as she prepared herself to focus on the problems at hand.
She was so engrossed in trying to compose herself, she didn't notice the eyes of the beta couple on her.
"I'm gonna be with Connor on this one. He deserves it for what he did to you," Ileana said. She then looked at Connor with a smile, "Might wanna close the other connections next time."
Connor groaned and rubbed his face, "I need to get used to the mind links again."
"Let's not dwell on the past now. We need to plan something about the rising hunter problem," she said. Connor had a determined look on his face as well and nodded with the others.
"I'll talk to Xavier about it when he comes back," Ryan said.
"No." Selena looked at him, "If you gave me the responsibility of the pack, then that is my responsibility too. You don't need to take the fall."
"Selena we have no idea when they are gonna attack," Ryan said, "In a time like this, we cannot have the two leaders of the pack fight among themselves."
"I know. We have to be prepared for it whenever it happens."
"What else can we do?" Ileana asked.
"Patrolling schedule will be changed," Selena said.
"I told Xavier about the attack and me handing over the responsibilities to you. He's happy you took it," Ryan smiled at her and she nodded in reply.
"Did you tell him about your condition?"
He grimaced and shook his head, "I did, but he doesn't know the full extent. He will see for himself when he is back."
"How bad is it right now?" Connor asked.
"I can walk but not for long, fighting and fast movements still hurt."
Selena sighed, "You gotta get back to the exercise and workouts." Ryan nodded but he didn't look convinced.
"Ryan," she spoke again, this time softly, "We need our beta, we need you."
"I'll start tomorrow, Luna," Ryan said.
'He's scared that it won't be the same for him,' Ileana linked her and Selena nodded understandably.
"I guess it's settled for now then. Take rest, Ryan, I'm gonna need my beta back for the fight." Ryan chuckled and nodded as she winked at him.
Ileana left along with Ryan and only Connor and Selena remained in the room.
"It's late, I think I will go to bed."
"You know, I might behave like I am okay, but there is still so much I wanna say to him," he said casually, leaning against the wall with his legs crossed.
"What are you talking about?"
"I don't think he knows how protective this brother can get." He smirked.
"Connor this will lead to nothing. It's all over now," Selena said slowly, the dejection in her voice very clear.
Connor paused with his eyes on her face. He studied her very carefully until he finally spoke, "What do you mean it's all over?"
"Nothing's gonna be the same again, Connor. I'll leave once Xavier comes back. This pack deserves a peaceful life. It doesn't need to fight wars for me," she whispered.
Selena was walking past him but Connor held her hand to stop her.
"Don't even think about it. You're not leaving," he said seriously.
Selena shook her head, "I have to. I can't stay. Max and Leon are almost insane. We know already he has a witch, along with the gun power. There's only so much we can do. He wiped our pack, Connor, completely wiped it out. I can't let him do the same to this one."
"We don't give up before fighting, Sel. We try our best and then whatever happens, we go ahead with that. That's what we do."
She sighed. It won't be possible to win an argument against him, ever. Selena smiled slightly and nodded.
"This doesn't mean that I won't beat up that brute for treating you like this. He will pay."
"Let that go, will you?" Selena rolled her eyes, knowing he was joking.
"Did you?" he asked. Selena knew he would ask this, she stepped right into this question. She tightened her hold on him and he held her tightly to his chest as well, his rhythmic heartbeat soothing her own.
"You may have forgiven him or you may choose not to. I understand that he had to do it, but his choices are making you considering leaving him. Let's see how he takes it."
Connorleft with the last word and Selena stood still, she didn't know what to say ordo to stop him.