Relief

16- Meet and Greet (Part 3)

Alice and Richard sat at a diner close to her house. She didn't want to admit this but her feelings for him were still there. She was dreading this day, praying for it not to come, but problems never go unresolved. And, now she had to solve this one, for Terra's sake.

They sat in silence, mostly. Richard took this as an opportunity to admire his beautiful mate. It's been eighteen long years since he last saw her. His wolf still called out to her. He was too busy appreciating her beauty, he hardly caught the sound of her small voice speaking.

"Why?"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"Why?" She said, a little bit louder.

He can have so many answers to her one question. He was confused. Did she want to know why he went looking after her or why did he commit the worst mistake ever?

"I was perfectly fine with her, on my own. Why did you have to come and ruin everything?" She continued.

"What did you expect Alice? I love you! Did you think I was going to sit around and let you go, fucking every female to forget about you?" He regretted that last part. Poor choice of words.

"You didn't have a problem with it while we were together," She mumbled.

He sighed. "I deserved that. But, it was one time, Alice. Just one. I know it shouldn't have even happened once but we all make mistakes."

"How can you say that? I'm human, Richard! I didn't know anything about the werewolf world or about mates back then. But I do now. I educated myself, to see what went wrong with us. There's not a damn book that can explain to me why you did what you did."

There was nothing he could say to that. She was right, she was always right.

"But I at least know that when two people love each other so much, they will conquer all. They won't hurt each other. I guess our love wasn't strong enough."

He slammed his fists on the table, making every eye turn their way. "Don't you ever doubt my love for you." 

She glared at him. "You better calm down. Or I'm leaving." She warned him. 

He grew worried and took a deep breath to calm his wolf, his anger slowly dissipating. "I'm sorry. You're right. I shouldn't have let my anger get the best of me. But I fucking love you, damn it. And I know I was an idiot for doing that to you. I know that no excuse will be able to justify what I did but I want to make it up to you Ali. Please, give me a second chance. I mean, don't you think it's the least you can do after hiding my daughter away from me?"

Now, she grew worried. But she hid it well. "How do you know she's your daughter? I could have-"

He growled. "Don't you even think about finishing that sentence! I know she's my child. She has Alpha blood in her and unless you, somehow, managed to shift into a very powerful Alpha, she's mine!"

"No! That's where you're wrong. She is mine! I raised her. I was there through her first baby steps, her first words, her first shift! So don't you dare stake some claim on her, like you did me because you'll end up hurting her!" She broke down, memories of a very familiar argument setting in the front of her mind. She wanted this feud to end. She just wanted to be happy.

Richard stood and went to her side, cradling her in his arms, praising the goddess up above that she didn't push him away. He basked in her scent of vanilla and just held her. 'It's been too damn long,' He thought.

It felt like an eternity passed when they decided to finally pull away from each other. Richard was the first one to break the silence. "I know you feel it, Ali. The connection is still there. Nothing. . . absolutely nothing can erase the pain I've caused you but I want to make up for it."

She didn't want to say anything about the matter just yet. There was something far more important she needed to address. "I guess you're right. I hid something very important from you and for that I am sorry. I was a young sixteen year old and I was naive about your world. I didn't want to be a part of it because I didn't want to disappoint you or lose you. I was constantly doubting myself. That's not something I was used to. That's not who I was or still am. But I didn't know what I was up against. I gave up, Richard.

"And when you cheated on me with another she-wolf, I knew I couldn't have you because I would always be that human girl who got lucky to have an Alpha mate. On top of that, I found out I was pregnant. . . I just panicked. I didn't mean to keep her from you. It wasn't fair to you." Her eyes began to water again, releasing all the pain she's been holding onto for years. . . or at least trying to.

He had to make her feel better again. He hugged her and vowed to never let her go. Not again. "Shhh, it's okay, it's okay. We both made mistakes. Mine was much greater. But I never stopped looking for you, Ali. Never! I don't ever want you to think anything less of yourself. I'm sorry it took this long to set this straight. You're all that I need, Alice, and I think it's time to start over. . . what about you?"

She contemplated it. She wanted a happy ending. She wanted a family. It's time to be mature and civil about this and just move on. Set their caged souls free, relieve them both from pain.

She sighed. "I think it's only fair," She pulled away from him just a little so she can stare at his hazel depths. "But I'm going to make you work so hard for this relationship."

"I'm willing to get my hands dirty. For you, and our daughter, I'll run a million times around the sun, if it means getting back to you both." Richard responded, confidently, happily, hopefully. . . you get the gist.

"And, I'm warning you, if you even think about hurting me or Terra, I won't hesitate to rip your balls off." Alice retorted.

He chuckled at her audacious comment. "That's the Alice I know and love."

She laughed and pulled fully away from him. "I'm sorry but how do you know me?" He was confused at her question until he saw the malicious glint in her eyes and her angelic voice invading his mind. 'I thought we were starting over.'

The bond is growing. . . on it's way to be restored. For that he was elated. And if she wanted to start from the beginning he will do it. He would do anything for her.

"Right, sorry. My name is Richard, Richard Donoghue. And yours?" He extended his hand to the raven-haired beauty next to him.

"Nice to meet you Richard. My name is Alice Fern," She accepted his hand eliciting a smile on his face and relief to swell in his heart.