Twisting Her Fate
Chapter 77

Lance's embarrassment is soon forgotten as he looks at his son, who is actually glaring at him. Shock turns to anger. Lance is still in his prime. He had Gabriel when he was young, nearly the first time he claimed his mate at eighteen. She had got pregnant and Gabriel was born. She died four years later. No one knows exactly what happened. They just found her at the bottom of a cliff. She was hardly recognizable, Lance had been off the pack at that time. One of her last acts as luna was to accept the little baby that she found abandoned on the edge of the pack lands. She named Leilani after her own mother and then swore that she would raise the little white blonde girl as her own.

Barely a month later, she was gone and Lani was abandoned once more. Gabriel was motherless and Lance lost his mate.

Lance is still young enough, he is strong, he only handed over power to Gabriel because Gabriel was of age, not because he couldn't handle the job anymore. So, as the two worthy alphas eye each other in the confined space, it is static, electricity buzzing through the air. The two men who look so very similar to each other are glaring. Gabriel's shirtless chest is flexing and his fists are clenched tightly. Lance is the one to loosen his tongue first, his words are so loud, so furious like he is spitting venom. "Look at what you have f*cking done, I f*cking warned you to be on your best behaviour at the ball, I warned you to keep that dumb f*cking b*tch in line. What did you do? What did you f*cking do? The half moon pack is a f*cking laughing stock. You and her disgraced us. Now you have that dumb b*tch tied to the punishment pole, you f*cking idi*t. Gabriel, you are the one that chose her, out of everyone else, I have never cared on that front, but she is a goddess damn disgrace. The whole pack is in a f*cking shambles and your f*cking bright idea is to sit in here pulling your f*cking d*ck?"

Spittle flies out his mouth, Lance rarely swears, he usually keeps a composed gentlemanly facade over all the sick fetishes and wild desires that course through him at all times.

"Shut the f*ck up old man. you haven't got the slightest idea of what is happening here"

"Don't I? Well why the hell am I getting phone calls in the early morning to congratulate me on how much of a f*ck up my son is? Why is there a chosen luna on the punishment pole?"

"I can explain about that"

Gabriel had thought that he could push all blame onto Maggie, but he made such a fool of himself last night, it is not so easily swept under the rug. The leadership of packs aren't wolves they are damn vultures ready to feast on the flesh of those who have fallen and maybe in all their eyes, Gabriel has fallen and he is not so sure that they are wrong.

"What is there to explain? An explanation to me means nothing. All the years of prestige, all the connections, all the power and influence we have gathered over the years have turned to dust, we are a laughing stock, you are a laughing stock"

Gabriel, the one that always talks down to others, suddenly has not a single word of rebuttal.

"Dad you have to understand...."

"Understand what? Why am I just learning from my half brother, whom I despise, about a fated mate that you sent to die but didn't do a goddess damn clean job of it? When were you planning on telling me that? Why didn't I know about until today? Why didn't I know before the knowledge became so common that it has probably run its course through all the packs by now?"

"Did you want me just to kill her the moment I smelled that tropical scent?"

"I would have preferred that scenario to what we are facing right now. Why wasn't your conversation back then about replaceing your mate and wanting to get rid of her? Why skirt around the issue? I just thought she was annoying you. I didn't realize that it was because you couldn't control yourself around her"

Gabriel snorts in disdain, his hand rising to his chest once more, the serum from last night wearing off already, his already tense body is set to explode, he has no outlet, just bottling it all up.

"Control myself? You think that is why I got rid of her? No, it was the glaring reminder that something must be seriously wrong with me to be mated to such a nothing"

"Well, that nothing has somehow become something and now the girl that you deemed so worthy is showing each and every inch of her worthlessness, so Gabriel, tell me, what does that say about you?"

Gabriel shakes his head, his anger dulling to only a simmer, because as much as he tries to deny it, the answers are all laid out.

"I made a bad choice"

"A bad choice? That is one way to put it. I would say that you f*cked up so badly that it is not possible to whitewash even the first layer. I would say that you are not fit to lead, not fit to be alpha, you are not good for this pack. This is way beyond a bad choice" Outside the door, Jameson takes his ear off the door and hurries away as he hears Lance's footsteps come toward the door, reeling by what he has heard. He wasn't expecting Lance to put his foot down at all, but maybe he will. Jameson escapes out the front of the pack house and hides around the corner until the coast is clear and he can get back to what he was originally doing.

Gabriel yells at Lance's back.

"Well, guess what? That is too f*cking bad dad, because I am the only choice you have. Whatever you say, I am worthy. It is my birth-right"

Lance turns back to his son and sneers. He thought Gabriel was like him, but he has only picked up all the bad things, he has no focus or work ethic. The life of an alpha is not all play and no work.

"We will see Gabriel"

Gabriel laughs as the door slams shut, the laughter is far from light-hearted, resembling a cackle of a super villain more than anything else. Gabriel's hateful gaze turns from the empty doorway to his soiled shirt. He screams as he upends the desk, pieces of timber splintering as the solid timber desk fractures.

Gabriel storms out to the bar grabbing the first bottle he can lay his hands on and chugging it back, the vile liquid making him want to throw it straight back up, but he pushes down the urge, taking the bottle from his lips before reading the label through hazy eyes. Absinthe.

Gabriel chokes slightly as he lifts the bottle back up to his lips, grabbing an armful of bottles as he walks back to the study guzzling the foul liquid as he grabs vial after vial of the serum, throwing it back, hoping that if he overdoses on the stuff the bond will be gone forever. Like waking up from a bad dream, hoping he can wake up and the last few weeks were a nightmare.

Gabriel laughs into the greenish liquid pouring into his mouth as the last drops of the bottle are emptied into his mouth, having a strange bubbling, gurgling effect, the liquid dribbling out the corner of his lips, all a pain-filled nightmare. Gabriel grimaces as he throws the empty bottle against the wall and picks up the next one, his internals groaning from the harsh punishment, bile rises up his throat but he swallows it down with a side helping of gin. Laughing coldly as he wipes his chin with the back of his hand, staring at the wall blankly hugging a spare bottle of spirits to his body as he drinks from the other. His eyes drift down to his mess of a shirt, he wants to set fire to it, he wants to burn the whole packhouse to the ground.

***

Just as the elite squad are making plans to go off pack, a text comes through from X. Leilani stops everything and her brothers gather around her.

X: 'I thought there might be a good morning message from you this morning :('

L: 'It hasn't been a good morning for me'

Lani and her brothers are busy pretending to vomit as they laugh. Even though this is serious, they have to make a joke out of it or risk just texting 'Where is Rosalie you deviant f*cker'

X: 'Ohh no baby what happened?'

L: 'My mothers new mate doesn't seem to like me much, he is talking about sending me to another pack where I wouldn't get as much preferential treatment, so I can train like the others, but I do train like the others. I am not expecting any favors'

X: 'You deserve all the favors in the world beautiful, but it is good that you train like the others. I am sorry that he is being rough on you and can't see that'

L: 'Thank you that is exactly what I needed to hear to make my morning better'

L: 'Enough about me. How was your morning?'

X: 'It would be a lot better if I received a few more photos of your beautiful self'

Lani nods at Madden who has already prepared a lot. While they don't have any pictures available online, what they have in their private collection is expansive, so a few modifications and no obvious landmarks available and it is fine. The six look ridiculous as they gather around the phone waiting with bated breath.

X: 'Baby you are so gorgeous, you are pure perfection. You made my entire day better'

L: 'I am glad'

X: 'What would you think about meeting up for coffee sometime?'

Lani looks up at the boys with her eyebrows raised. She was expecting this exchange to take longer.

L: 'That would be nice, it would be good to put a face to the name'

X: 'It would be good to have that alluring face right in front of me'

L: 'Such a sweet talker Just let me know when you are free' X: 'I will baby'

Lani drops her phone on the soft grass and backs away from it.

"I feel dirty and I think I need to remove my thumbs. They are so tainted"

Arlo grabs a knife from the kitchen.

"It's okay I got you, I am at your service. I will save you"

Lani laughs as she runs away from the knife-wielding maniac. The disturbing exchange all but forgotten.