Finding the Wolf Within

Chapter 21

Recap

We walked out to the exit when Eddie stopped and tensed beside me. I looked up at him and saw that his eyes were hard, his jaw clenched. I turned towards where he was glaring and saw two people I definitely hadn’t expected to see.

Lana and Jamie.

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Chapter 21

Eddie stood completely still for a few seconds, as if trying to determine what he should do. However, once I reacted to seeing them, he moved so that he was slightly in front of me. He looked at me with concern.

“Just stay behind me, okay? Let’s get out of here.”

We continued walking towards the exit and had almost passed them, when Lana turned and spotted us. She immediately went pale and my eyes locked with hers. She was scared. I had never seen her look so frightened, even when we were fighting. She slowly broke her gaze and nudged Jamie, who gave a sharp gasp when she saw Eddie and me.

Eddie grasped my hand tighter in his and began to pull me away when Lana stepped forward. Eddie instantly stepped in front of me and shot the two girls a withering glare. They both shrank back a bit. Lana chewed her lip and I could tell that she was trying to summon up the courage to speak to us. She must have found some because she came towards us again. Eddie hesitated but probably decided that a confrontation was inevitable because he turned towards them fully, making sure I was still behind him.

“Ceci?,” Lana said quietly. “I just wanted to say that I’m really sorry about what happened. Jamie and I both feel really bad about it.”

“You feel bad about it?!,” Eddie yelled. I tugged at his hand since we were starting to draw a crowd.

“Uhh…I mean, we feel awful. We really do. It was just that Amber told us we had to fight you and she was acting so weird that day and we were both scared of what she would do if we didn’t listen to her.,” Lana continued in a rush. “We didn’t want to hurt you. I think we just got caught up in the moment or something. And Amber was so angry that we were too scared to try and stop her. We’re really, really sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”

Lana and Jamie both had their heads bent down and I could see tears falling from Jamie’s face. She sniffled and wiped her eyes before looking up at me.

“I’m really sorry.,” she whispered.

Eddie was still radiating anger but I wasn’t angry with them. I could even understand where they were coming from. They were both weak, and had always looked up to Amber to lead them. When she told them to do something, they did it without really questioning it. And now they were sorry for what had happened. I knew that they were being honest, that Jamie’s tears were real. She hadn’t wanted to fight anyway and had stopped before she could hurt me.

I slowly nodded at them. “It’s okay. I forgive you.”

“What?!,” Eddie said, turning to look at me. “How can you forgive them so easily for what they did to you? They don’t deserve forgiveness. They should be punished for hurting you, especially since they knew you were my mate and therefore the future Alpha female.”

“Eddie, that’s exactly why we should forgive them. Because I am the future Alpha female and you’re the future Alpha. We need to forgive pack members when they make mistakes, especially when they’re as truly apologetic as Lana and Jamie are. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be good leaders. We should be sympathetic and compassionate, not vengeful.”

I turned back to the two girls. “I do forgive you, but I can’t forget what you did to me. If you ever cross me again, I will make you pay.”

They both nodded in response, their expressions grateful.