Twisting Her Fate
Chapter 112

The first car screeches to a stop at the old abandoned mine site. A middle-aged man and middle-aged woman tumble out of the car in their rush, showing none of the usual prestige of a beta couple, but the unimaginable has happened; their daughter is alive. One of the girls gets out of the car, running toward the two, wailing and crying proceeds the dramatic entrance. One by one, cars arrive and it is much the same effect. Alpha Baxter throws a thankful look toward the group, but for now all he wants to do is hold his precious daughter.

"I am sorry dad, I am so sorry"

"What are you sorry for baby girl? I should have protected you. I failed my job as a father"

Rosalie throws herself into her father's arms. The Luna just collapses beside the two as they fall to their knees sobbing. The strand that was holding it all back has broken, no one even looks sideways because anyone that is here is the same.

Daughters that they assumed they would never see again, parents that had tried to come to terms with the fact that their daughters were gone forever, tried to come to terms with the fact that they failed in their duties to protect their own flesh and blood. It is not something a parent can ever come to terms with. It is only putting a band-aid over an open wound and ignoring the weeping mess that is building up behind the plaster.

Lani and Evie have moved toward Terrance. Lani pulls him up off the ground.

"Even if he donated s***m to make you, it doesn't make you defective in anyway, you haven't changed, you are still the same person, you are still Levi's mate, you are still our family. Never let the words of a psychopath affect you"

Terrance's purple eyes move up to meet Leilani's stormy blue there is a deep desperation held within the beautiful purple depths. He admires Leilani so much and he knows that she is the most important person to Connor. Terrance just wants to be told that everything is going to be alright because right now self-blame is holding his heart in a vice-like grip.

"How am I meant to face Connor?"

Leilani steps forward, closing the distance between the two and cupping Terrance's cheeks, keeping her sight locked with his. The cool breeze of the evening is starting to shift the leaves in the trees, but all Terrance feels is the soft comfort of Leilani's soft, warm hands.

"That is not on you at all. You didn't do that, you are not to blame for another persons actions"

"But if he had just said my name, the Storm family would still be here. My identity cost four people their lives"

"But that was never going to happen, they were who they were and if Connor was in the same position he would have done the exact same thing his father did. If someone wanted something badly enough, they would try and take it no matter how big the death toll. Didn't you hear him? The others were all dead when he still refused to say your name"

"If..."

"Terrance, this is not your fault, none of any of this...."

Leilani gestures around at the grieving families, the girls that have lost a portion of their lives and who knows how long it will take for them to ever move into normality again, if it is even possible.

"...Is anyones fault except for this man"

Leilani points at Simon who is still sprawled on the ground in a strange position, being ignored while all his hard work is falling to pieces around him.

"What do I tell Connor?"

"You tell him the truth, he is going to see it exactly how we all see it. It is not your fault"

Terrance closes his eyes and tries to push back the blame. Connor has been his family for so long, the last thing that he ever wanted to do was hurt Connor. Terrance was there. He saw how much losing his family robbed Connor of his childhood. He never wanted to be the reason for that.

The serum has caused way too much damage. From the very start, it was cursed.

"Thank you Leilani" Leilani smiles softly.

"Anything for you"

Evie watches all the interaction that Leilani has, she is soft and gentle when required or she is brutal and powerful when it is needed. Growing up, Evie always believed that the woman is the Luna and below the man, but standing in front of her is the perfect female alpha. Lani is her inspiration.

Levi kisses his mate on the forehead before darting to Leilani's side and holding her hand. They have a conversation through link as it is not for outside ears to hear.

'Lani, we have a bit of a problem'

Leilani looks at Levi, her stormy blue eyes searching him. She assumed that the problems were behind them.

'What is it?'

'No one is coming for Evie'

Leilani inadvertently squeezes Evie's hand in a comforting gesture even though she doesn't even know what is happening.

'What do you mean? After that big search, now they aren't interested when she is actually found?'

'I don't know, I need to do some research to replace out what is going on, but for now all I know is that no one is coming for her'

'Okay, that is fine, we can deal with this. I am sure Connor won't mind taking in another until we can work out the solution'

Lani nods at Levi, who joins his mate once more. Lani turns to Evie, looking at her with even more pity than before. It doesn't make sense, but the only thing she can do now is to just work with what she has and try and cushion the blow for the girl who has already been through too much.

***

Gabriel walks into the meeting room, which is full of the noises of happy chattering and the sounds of cutlery against ceramic. He looks around to see that everyone is already enjoying their meals. The pack is never meant to start eating before the alpha, the fact that he will be the last one to eat is a bit of a shock. He wasn't expecting it.

His powerplay with Lance did not work out the way he was expecting.

Maggie arrives a few steps behind and is shocked by the scene in front of her. She can't believe that they would start the meal before the guest of honor has arrived. She reaches out and squeezes Gabriel's strong forearm and this time Gabriel allows the movement as he is shocked in place.

Gabriel is shocked that the whole pack would start eating without him, even when he was only a future alpha, the pack would wait on him. But now the are all eating like he doesn't even matter, like they haven't even noticed his lack of presence. Has his prestige really dipped to this point?

Lance looks up from his meal and frowns heavily at the man who is dressed in half of his suit. He is so late that they have already finished their entree and are on to their main course. Lance's eyes shift from Gabriel to Maggie, who is so done up anyone would think that she is queen of the werewolves. He would hate to know how much that dress was. Maggie isn't even meant to be here at all.

Lance motions at the waiter who comes straight over. Lance asks him to get another chair.

A spare chair is just stuck on the corner of the table, it doesn't match the rest of the chairs, there are no decorations on it and it has only received a quick wipe, so it still has a layer of dust. In front of that chair there is no space for utensils nor a plate, but Lance doesn't ask for them either. He believes that providing Maggie with a chair is a big enough courtesy.

Gabriel walks forward with large strides toward his father. He wanted to make a big deal in front of the whole pack, show them that he is the dominant one, but he doesn't know how to do that without coming off as a tantruming toddler instead of the strong alpha. All he knows is that something needs to be done about Lance. No one will ever respect him as an alpha if he always has his father over his shoulder, undermining his authority in such a way.

Gabriel's eyes move from Lance to the young man seated beside him. Gabriel frowns as he has never seen the man before. Why would he be at this meal and why would he be sitting at the head of the table?

Ryan looks up from his meal when he feels Gabriel's eyes on him. He looks Gabriel straight in the eyes, their eyes are both eerily similar, both are ice blue and both equally as cold as they lock eyes.

Gabriel glares at the man and Ryan is not about to back down from his sight. While the two sets of eyes are so similar to each other, they are also very different. Gabriel's are still slightly bloodshot from the lack of sleep and heavy drinking. The black bags under his eyes also reflect his bad lifestyle.

Two cold eyes produce intense heat and fiery hatred when they meet for the first time.

Maggie struggles to keep up with Gabriel. Her imagined entry with all eyes on her as she walks gracefully down the corridor is no more. The imagined whispers of awe and reverence end up being turned backs and downcast eyes. It seems like everyone is not looking at them on purpose, like they are invisible. She has been feeling that too many times now, the repetitiveness of it is not making it easier.

She used to be the focus of attention everywhere she went, but the situation now seems more and more like she is an insignificant person and that is not something she can come to terms with.

Gabriel and Maggie walk largely unnoticed past the vast table. Either no one noticing or no one daring to look at the two.

Lance motions for Gabriel to sit at his side. Gabriel takes a seat with a huff, trying his hardest to be on his best behaviour. Trying his hardest not to make a big scene.

Maggie stares at the random seat that has been slotted in haphazardly, it's far from the Luna throne she had imagined, none of this is going to her plans. This is not how a luna should be treated at all. She is going to have a big shake up of the half moon pack. When she gets that title they need to know how important she is. A luna is equal with the Alpha and she should be treated as such. She should be worshiped.