3 Days Earlier
The island was in the middle of Lake Huron, between Michigan and Canada. It was owned by one of Damian's ancestors, but had long since been forgotten, until now.
At the center was a large estate, it would be able to fit all of his pack with their own rooms until they could start producing more houses. There was a dock with a ferry on each end of the island, one that would allow them into Canada and another into Michigan. The house, though dusty, had been well preserved and much of the furniture was still intact. They settled in nicely. Damian allowed them to choose their own rooms, but no one touched the master bedroom, it was understood that it belonged to him.
While his small, broken pack explored the grounds, he stood in the old Victorian style room, trying, unsuccessfully, to make it be home. There was something foreboding about the room. He wondered about the ancestor of his that had once slept on the large bed.
"It needs a woman's touch." Regina commented. She was draped on the door frame, her arms crossed over her breasts, making them bulge just slightly.
He took in the intricate patterns stitched onto the rug and the thick tapestries by the window. "You're probably right." He agreed casually.
"I'm always right."
He was very aware of her presence, it filled the room like the discharge of a smoker's cigar. Oddly enough, it didn't annoy him, but rather, comforted him. The strength of her presence made the room less foreboding, but not any more inviting. He found that he'd rather share a room of loneliness than room alone.
"Do you know where you'll be staying?" He asked.
She shook her head, "I haven't picked anything yet."
He glanced at her, and to the rest of his room. "Would this be to your liking?"
She opened her mouth, but was slightly stunned. It took a moment for her voice to catch up. "I guess, but where would you go?"
He flashed her a particular smirk, one that he'd saved specifically for her before things got complicated.
She hadn't seen it on him since the engagement had first been announced. From her gaping expression, he knew he didn't need to say anything, he simply walked the perimeter of the room. Casually.
"You want me to stay in here... with you?" She asked cautiosly.
"Why not?" He stated blankly, trapping her with his green eyes.
An excited small grin crept onto Regina's face. She wanted to approach him and lean her body against his like she used to, with his hands on her lower back accompanied by kisses, like before. His gaze still sent shivers through her, but it was cold and uninviting. Though Damian had only been an alpha for a day and a half, he settled into the role so naturally it was as if he'd always been in charge. So, she kept her distance.
Only the mate, and occasionally the upper ranks, can approach the alpha without permission. Anyone else would be subject to swift punishment for disrespect.
Regina wasn't his mate.
Yet.
Now that Kayla was out of the picture, she had her chance again. This time, nothing was going to get in her way. There was still heartbreak fresh in his eyes, as it was with the whole pack, everyone lost someone, but soon it'd be okay. They could ease each others pain, and in the process he'll forget about that Pelisian princess. Better yet, she'll be a bad memory. She'll be the source of all this heartache and pain, and Regina will be his salvation.
"I'll help you forget your troubles, Damian." She purred.
His jaw popped, and for a second his eyes flitted to a bookshelf with dusty pages. One in particular seemed to jump out, the gray dust clinging to its purple velvet spine, and yet the golden letters still gleamed.
Romeo and Juliet.
He locked his gaze with hers again, the light in his eyes hardened.
"There's a lot to be forgotten, some help would be... appreciated." He moved toward her, pushing a strand of her auburn hair aside. "Make yourself at home."
He left her in the bedroom to gather herself. He wanted to forget everything, he wanted to forget that his dad was gone, that Kevin ruined them, and that his pack was reduced to crumbs.
21 out of 105 left alive.
21.
84 of his pack dead. Murdered.
By her pack.
He shook his head as the house opened itself up to reveal a great room. Burgundy sofas lined with dust bunnies, thick shag carpets, and weird nature paintings littered this room. He would change it. He was going to change everything.
He wanted to hate Kayla so desperately. It wasn't fair. She has everything, and he had nothing now. No home, no pack, no family.
Not even her anymore.
He wanted make her whole family suffer the way he was suffering. He wanted their pack to bleed as dry as his had.
But he couldn't hurt her.
That killed him.
As arrogant, and ungrateful as she was, he could not find it within himself to truly hate her the way he wanted to. Everywhere he looked brought pain. The new island, the lack of his family, the diminished pack, it weighed on him so heavily he couldn't fathom how he was still able to walk. The thought of Kayla's pack slaughtering his people while he was away, angered him to a critical point. The thought of the Pelisians always lead him to Kayla's amber eyes, and his heart broke more than he knew was possible.
She surely did kill him.
She didn't mean to, she didn't want to, but she did. She broke him with that trusting gaze, those gentle hands and her unfairly good fortune.
It hurt him so much to think of her. Too much. He did everything he could to keep her safe, so his pack would not war against hers. He did everything he could to prevent loss of life, and along the way he made the mistake of letting her into his heart.
It was all for nothing.
He still lost his pack, and he lost her too.
He needed to forget. He was determined to do exactly that.
"You know, Trent, I hope Kevin makes them pay. If Damian won't do it, I know he will."
"I don't want to talk about him." Trent muttered bitterly.
"Why the hell not? He's still our cousin."
No response. Travis scowled at his brother. "You're a fucking pussy, Trent, you know that."
Damian entered the kitchen, Travis immediately lowered his gaze and tapped his fingers on the counter nervously. His neck was slightly swollen, and bruised purple with tiny puncture marks from Damian's clawed hand.
"What are you two talking about?" He asked.
"Nothing." Travis said too quickly.
Trent held his breath.
"Anyway," Travis rambled, hobbling to the exit, "We were just about to go kill a squirrel or something."
"No, you're not. Sit down."
Travis reluctantly took a seat at the bar next to his brother. Damian calmly asked someone in the dining room to go fetch Regina. A minute later, she entered cautiously, he invited her in and she carefully sat next to the boys. Damian walked around to face them, he regarded them coldly.
"What happened the night of prom?"
The air stilled in the kitchen, none of them looked at him.
"Well?" He pressed with a growl rumbling deep in his chest.
Regina looked up pleadingly. "He came to us the day before." She confessed. "He told us he had heard about you having to go to the dance with Kayla and he had a plan that would light up your night and ruin it for her and the rest of her pack. We thought it was just some stupid prank, and we did everything he told us to. We didn't know, Damian."
He studied them carefully, they wouldn't meet his gaze, and with good reason. He was so imbalanced that one "wrong" look might send him into a roaring frenzy. Prom was the night that started all of it for him. The night he promised a loyal, dying Pelisian that he'd save Kayla. The night his brother betrayed him. The night that should have never happened.
He glared at Travis. "Where is Kevin?"
His cousin's swollen neck pulsed when he swallowed nervously. "I... I don't know."
"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Damian roared and slammed his fist into the granite counter. It cracked under the force.
Travis trembled and shrunk even further. "I'm not lying!" He shouted back defeated. "But... I think I know where he will be..."
"Tell me."
There was a pause, Damian's claws involuntarily portruded and he tapped them against the counter. They sounded like dripping water, counting the quarter seconds with vicious patience.
"He's on his way to the old territory. To kill Kayla and the rest of her pack."
Damian's hands clamped shut so tight that his skin reddened and his veins popped.
"When will he be there?"
"Soon."
"Travis, if you're lying..."
"He's not lying!" Trent defended. "You know how Kevin is, he's not going to try to find us, he doesn't care about us."
Of course Kevin wouldn't.
"All he cares about is trouble. That's what it's always been about." Finished Trent with a trembling lip. He had never had the courage to speak against Kevin, never had the backbone to say that he didn't want to cause trouble, never the will to say he'd rather read under a tree at the park, or study drama. He couldn't stand up to him, or Travis. But now, with the death of his sister and parents fresh in his mind, swirling guilt and bitterness for never raising his voice bled from him.
Damian pushed himself off the counter and turned away from them. He needed to intercept Kevin, he'd known it since the crime was first committed, but he had no idea how to go about it. He couldn't drag his pack, though small, back to such a painful place, and he had no mate or beta to take care of them while gone. If he left the pack alone, if for even a few days, they would surely rally behind a loudmouth like Travis due to their hurt hearts, and Travis would lead them to their deaths. But, if he waited for Kevin to come to him, how many more would die?
And if he did go after Kevin, would he be too late? What if Kevin is attacking now? What if he gets there to find Kayla decimated by his brother...?
And would her destruction even be enough to make him kill the last member of his family? He'd already had both parents taken away from him unjustly, and now he had to eliminate the last survivor of his family himself. It was all too cruel. He didn't even know if seeing Kayla dead would anger him enough to go through with it. After all, the horrible things Kevin had already done, Damian still felt sick to think of taking Kevin's life, he still clawed for a crack of redemption.
"Damian," Regina whimpered. She approached with utmost caution, feeling bolder now that they were to share a room.
He did not accept her.
"Leave me!" He snarled swiping a hand out to create a barrier around him.
She gasped, and quickly stepped back. He hadn't hit her, he wouldn't, he'd known perfectly well she was just out of his reach, but the message was clear that he wanted her gone. She refused to leave, she sucked in a shaky breath and dropped to the floor, bowing in humiliation.
"Forgive me." She whispered, her entire being shaking. "But please, Damian, please, don't go after him."
He whipped his head to her incredulously. She carefully peered back up at him, her eyes were bloodshot and brimmed with tears.
"I'm not just saying that because I love you and because I know you'll want to find... her." Her voice had taken an unnatural pitch with the sobs hanging over her, making it near impossible to speak. "I'm saying it because we need you here. Please, I'm begging you, don't leave us again. Last time you left... the fires..." She broke completely. Her body slumped to the dusty wooden floor, and she choked on her tears, unable to breathe between them and the heaviness in her chest.
The triplets, now missing their third part, bowed against the bar just as humbled, and just as pleading.
Damian looked between them, and the weight brought him down. He fell to his knees in front of Regina, and without hesitation he brought her into his arms. She clawed at him and his shirt was soaked within moments, but he didn't mind it, because his own tears were spilling onto her as well.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He repeated over and over between gasps. Travis and Trent crawled onto the floor and joined the huddle, and the four of them wept together. They wept for their former alpha, for Trixie, for Regina's baby brother, for Kevin's betrayal, for the horrors of the fires and savage attacks. They wept for and with the whole pack.
Damian kept apologizing for not being there, for not standing with his pack, for failing to save them like he had tried so hard to do, and because no matter how much they pleaded for him to stay, he would have to leave them again.
When their eyes were too dry to produce tears, Travis went outside to hunt for a big meal, and Regina excused herself to bed. Trent stayed sitting on the floor with Damian, they sat in silence for a long while, mulling over the day's tragedies.
"When are you going to go?" Trent asked quietly.
Damian looked at him. His cousin was smart, he knew no amount of begging would keep the alpha from doing what needed to be done.
"Just before sunrise tomorrow morning. I want the pack to sleep tonight knowing that I'm here." He sighed. "I'm taking Travis with me. I need you to keep everyone calm." That would leave only 18 people behind, he had confidence and trust that Trent could handle it as long as Travis wasn't around to cause trouble.
"You do know that Regina is going to take it the hardest." Trent warned, "and she's foolish enough to chase after you. I won't be able to stop her."
Damian rubbed his face. "I know, and I won't hold it over you if she comes after me, but I expect you to at least try to reason with her, impossible as that may be. It's too dangerous and I don't want anyone else getting hurt."
"I'll do everything I can."
Travis came back, wiping bits of flesh off his face with his shirt, and holding his jeans up with a free hand. He hadn't bothered to button them up, he only slipped into them when he found them on the field after shifting, and planned to discard them as soon as he got into his room to sleep.
"There's some left over wild pig or something toward the west end of the island. You can help yourselves." He muttered before disappearing down the hall.
Damian stood up. He grabbed Trent's wrist and helped pull him onto his feet, then gazed into his face.
"I promise I'm going to come back."
Trent nodded and patted his shoulder. "I believe you."