Tanya Denali ♡ Meeting your eyes (it was fate in disguise) ♡

chapter 4 ~ She's a strawberry-blonde

When they came back from the wedding, she'd packed a bag with clothes, her passport and some cash. The blonde held one of Laurent's jackets, he'd wore when he lived here, in her trembling hands. It faintly smelled of him still and Irina pressed it against her chest, burying her nose into it.

She wanted to cry yet again, like so many times before, after she'd learned of his death. There was a void inside her chest, like a black hole, draining her every day a little more. Living was a chore nowadays, the pain of losing him, deeply rooted inside every cell.

The blonde put the jacket on, as she shouldered her bag and exited her bedroom. When she took the stairs to the first floor, she spotted her family sitting on the couch. Eleazar had Carmen in his lap, secured with a strong and loving arm and her sisters sat opposite them.

"I'm leaving." She didn't even look at them, as she made her way to the door. The voice of her oldest sister stopped her, while her hand hovered over the doorknob.

"Irina, please stay." It was said softly, with too much care and Irina wanted to scream. Since Laurent died, all of them walked on eggshells around her. It made her even angrier to get treated like that. Like she would shatter and she might very well, but at least then she would feel something other than this numbness.

"I need to be alone!" Tears, that would never fall, already blurring her vision and she opened the door. It was early morning and the sun would come up in a few hours, announcing a fresh and new day.

"Irina don't leave..." Carmen's soft accented voice conveyed compassion, while Eleazar squeezed his mate in agreement.

"No! You shouldn't be alone, not in your state!" Kate rushed forward and seized Irina's biceps, stopping her from going out the open door. A breeze entered the lodge, neither of them feeling its cold.

"Kate let her go." Tanya breathed out defeated. She knew that nobody could stop her, not really. Maybe some time alone would help her heal somewhat. As far as losing a mate could be healed, that is. "Stay in contact, to let us know you're safe, please." Soft ember eyes locked onto pained ones.

"I will. Goodbye." Shaking Kate's grip off, she left and the door closed shut. The Denali Coven began to fissure that day and it was only the beginning.

---

"No, I'm telling you, Konner, she's extraordinary! I've never met someone like her before." Dani gushed with a faraway look in her eyes and a dreamy smile on her lips.

The brunette stood at the counter, cleaning one of the coffee machines with a rag, while filling her best friend in. He rolled his eyes in fake annoyance, having to listen to Dani talking about that woman for hours now.

A year after she'd moved to Alaska, Konner took her to a college party. They played seven minutes in heaven. Some silly decisions of the guy, who'd threw the party. Everyone was high out of their minds and gave this teenager game a shot for shits and giggles.

As fate would have it, Konner and Dani were paired together. Inside the closet it turned out, that both were very much gay - the irony of the century, really - and their friendship only grew from then on.

The redhead smirked and sing-songed "Someone has a cru-ush."

Dani stopped her cleaning and turned around with revelation. "I have a crush." Then she smiled like an idiot, who just found out, that the sun would come up again the next morning.

"So, she'll be coming here after your shift? I'm curious what she looks like." He paused with a raised eyebrow. "She's blonde, isn't she? Because that's totally your type, just like Kaitlyn-"