Her Second Chance✔ (To be published)

5 (Edited)

There's no need for that.

There is every need if it sets your heart at ease.

She bit her lip again. It was the kind of thing she wanted to hear, the kind of concern she needed from a potential mate. If this Andre was really Claire's true mate then he'd be even more compatible for her than a second chance mate. Was she ready for the pain that might be if this turned out to be a lie? Then again, did she want to live constrained by fear?

I'm sure the king has better things to do.

He has a duty to us as much as the rest of the kingdom.

In an ideal world, it made sense but Cari had long known the world was far from ideal. She looked back at his photo, at the impossibly good-looking face. She couldn't really say if he was better-looking than Xander or not. They looked too alike for that.  He did have a brooding quality to him that her true mate didn't. Like a bad-boy heartthrob from a teen movie.

His wavy windswept hair was a bit longer than fashionable but suited him. His amber eyes were direct and framed by ridiculously long lashes. His brow ridge was prominent and defined like it was sculpted to show decisiveness. His jaw looked just as decisive, its square aspect sharp enough to cut glass.

Then there were his lips. They seemed to be the only soft part of his face. Sculptured as well, they were neither too thick nor thin looking just right. She lingered on them for a moment until she had to pull herself back together. Cari couldn't afford to hope again, to trust. Claire had crushed the remaining part of her that had held on to trust. If her twin and mate could betray her like this how much more someone else?

I know I have to earn your trust. I am just asking that you allow me the chance to do so.

He wrote again when she didn't reply. Couldn't find anything to say in reply. Her body shuddered and she closed her eyes to stop the flow of tears. It was too much! Of its own will, her hand crushed that of her grandmother but she hardly noticed. Could she bare her soul to him?

And if you're for real shouldn't I also earn your trust too?

She didn't want one more burden, couldn't carry anything more. A mate would want time for himself, to be nurtured. Cari was too empty to fulfil that role. Maybe she'd always been empty and the Alpha and Xander had realized it.

I have carried the hope of meeting you for so long Cari, I already trust that you are mine.

You are mine.

Those words brought tears to her eyes and a lump to her throat. How she'd longed to hear such words. To be claimed by a mate who wanted her, longed for her. And how she hated that it was the nature of her kind to desire a mate so strongly that not having one was near incapacitating.

Please, Andre, I can't. Not right now. Can you give me time to process?

Cari didn't want to risk hurting him if he really was her second chance. Still, it was too much to take in. She felt overwhelmed like she was now trapped under the sea with the weight of all that water on her. She felt close to hyperventilating and had to constantly swallow to distract from it.

What if he abandoned her for even asking for some time? What if he decided she wasn't worth it after all? Oh, goddess what had she done? Would it be better if she took it back even if she did need the time?

As you wish my Cari. I shall say goodbye then.

My Cari. He'd called her his. Again. Did that mean he wasn't angry with her? Wasn't hurt? Looking at her grandmother from the corner of her eye, she wanted to throw herself into the Beta's comforting arms. With the four enforcers with them though, Cari wouldn't let herself break down. She and her grandmother had the middle seats of the SUV with a couple of them each taking the front and back ones.

Goodbye.

She put her phone away, not even wanting to go back to the meaningless videos. "You knew I'd be coming back with you." She reasoned to her grandmother.

"Yes." She replied gathering Cari to her side.

Cari closed her eyes to stop the tears that wanted to flow. The men with them knew she'd been rejected so why pretend to be strong? She wouldn't let herself cry though. Her grandmother's comfort was all she'd allow.

There was no one waiting for them when they arrived at the Beta's mansion. Cari knew it was her grandmother's doing. Her family had always been underfoot the moment she stepped onto the property, even her Beta of a grandfather. Now, no one was in the house, not even the pack members who took care of the beta family.

It was one too many considerations, the last straw and Cari broke down. All the pain, all the rage she should've felt all these years. The betrayal she shouldn't have had to endure. It all came forward to assault her.

Was it the fact that someone was maybe pretending that she deserved better? Or the fact that her apparent sacrifice had been for nothing, a lie. She'd comforted herself with the knowledge she was doing it for her sister's happiness, for the good of the pack. All that had been a lie manipulated by the two people who should've cherished her but had given in to their selfishness.

"Why Nana?" She cried out her anguish. "Why would they do this to me?" She demanded. "Am I such a terrible person?"

"No, my beautiful girl. No." Her grandmother soothed.

"Then why?"

"It's easy for some people to be selfish."

Cari couldn't believe that. There had to be more, something wrong with her. People in the alpha and beta bloodlines were taught the value of sacrifice. Taught from an early age that their position called for it and when to sacrifice and when not to. No matter their feelings Xander and Claire should've sacrificed them.

Even the fact that she had no wolf wasn't a good reason. She was a beta blood and had the strength of that bloodline. Everyone knew it even if they hated that she had no wolf. For the first time, she acknowledged that she wouldn't have been a liability of a luna. Why else would Claire have lied to her about her own mate's death?

Once she'd cried herself to exhaustion, she felt herself being lifted with care by a set of loving arms. She knew those arms and didn't need to look up to know her uncle carried her. He was another giant of a man like her father and was even more gentle.

She lay on the bed once he'd put her there and kissed her forehead like she was still a child. "Rest easy Care bear." He whispered and Cari opened her eyes to meet his familiar brown ones.

"I love you, Uncle Dan." She whispered back, wanting to let him know how much she appreciated him.

"Love you too sweetheart."

With that, Cari allowed herself to sleep.

Copyright© Tafadzwa Josephine Kashiri.