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Snow was falling hard and it looked like it wasn't going to stop. Rooftops of houses and buildings were coated in thick layers of it and the tall evergreen trees were swaying gently in the frigid wind. As Alex drove through the quiet streets back to the packhouse quietly humming to himself, I sighed. This afternoon reminded me of that night Alex and I had first kissed, that night when everything felt right, when I felt as if nothing could go wrong.
Boy, was I wrong.
But just being enveloped in that feeling made me speak up out of the blue.
"Alex, can we uh-- Not go home yet?" I asked, my voice rasping.
He shifted lanes and then flitted his green eyes toward me.
"Sure. But what's bothering you, Dest?" He replied softly. I could tell he was genuinely concerned and that was the moment I knew that I had to tell him everything before I lost him too. This whole phone call wasn't only filling me with anxiety, but it was affecting him too, and that was one thing that I didn't want. This was my fight and I didn't want to drag him into it.
"I want to just talk about something," I said. I reached over and squeezed his right hand to assure him that it wasn't about our relationship. To my surprise he laced his lean fingers through mine and held onto them tight.
He continued to drive and we sat there hand in hand, in a comfortable silence. These were the small moments I didn't want to let go of-- Just us in this truck with snow drifting all around us.
As I stared out the window, I realized that we were driving through a forest; It wasn't the one that led to our packhouse though. The trees were much older and the ground felt more inclined. We eventually stopped at a clearing with the trees behind us, and as I looked beyond the window, I realized we were on a cliff overlooking the town beneath us. The truck was a safe distance from the edge, but we were close enough to see the lights in houses beginning to flicker on and streetlights glimmering through the snow.
"Alex, woah, this. . This is beautiful," I marveled, holding his hand tighter.
"I think we both needed to just get away," he responded. He let go of my hand and undid his seat belt to turn away and grab something from the back seats. He revealed a lovely dark teal quilt and urged me to come closer to him. I shifted over next to him and he wrapped the warm quilt around our shoulders and then slipped an arm around my waist. I rested my head against the crook of his neck and closed my eyes for a few seconds before opening them again.
"I kinda want to stay here forever, but there are also some things I need to get off my chest," I said.
"Go ahead, no one's stopping you," Alex remarked.
"It's been four days since he called, and honestly I'm as confused as you are as to why. I haven't said a lot about him ever since you brought me to this pack two years ago. I don't think I ever told you that I. . I got rejected by my best friend."
I let out a breath and shivered. It felt weird to finally tell someone just straight out like that.
"Dest, I don't know what he was thinking and even though I want to rip his insides out for putting you through so much pain, just know that I will never abandon you," Alex murmured. I leaned into him and then stopped.
"Wait-- How do you know that I went through 'so much pain'? Am I that easy to read?" I inquired, meeting his eyes in confusion. I had wanted to become a stronger person, not someone filled with pain.
"Actually, you're surprisingly really good at hiding it. You're always helping others and damn it, you have this brilliant smile on your face and it gets me every time. But you know, no one else probably notices this that sometimes you stare off into space and your eyes cloud over and you're just so lost in thought. And even though it's only momentarily, those few seconds of you just getting lost in your mind is so full of emotion and I can tell something scarring had happened to you. Those days when you had to stay in my room before you had your own, during early morning shifts when I would come to pick up the lists, sometimes you'd murmur this one name or some sad strange things in your sleep. It's amazing though how you've kept it inside of you this whole time," Alex explained. I just sat there in complete surprise though. I couldn't believe he actually cared that much to even remember those things. What had I done to deserve someone like him?
"Dest before you start protesting your sadness, just hear me out. We're both full of these scars and we need to let it all out sometimes. Just say his name and stop holding all of this inside of you. I'm here to listen to you, okay? I've seen you from your absolute worst to best-- Go on, I won't judge you," Alex added.
So without any hesitation, I let his name roll off of my tongue as light as a feather,
"His name is Dominic Falbrook and there was a point where I loved him," I said. After that, it all just came rushing out of me.
"I met him when my mom left me at the Dawnlight Breakers pack. You see, my mom had been a wolf but my dad, he'd been a human. Hence why I have such a human last name and small wolf size. The thing is, I always thought that I'd been a normal girl up until I turned eight, and I had transformed painfully on the living room floor. My dad was downright terrified and had an abrupt heart attack from the shock, so when he was in the hospital, my mom packed up all of my things and told me she was going to 'take me to a place where I'd better fit in'. I was bewildered and upset and definitely confused, everything was happening too fast. On the long drive to the pack, my mom told me not to ask questions and said that 'this was the best thing for my dad's health'. When we made it there, she didn't even bother to lead me inside, but left me outside the door and promised me she'd come back for me. Of course, that was just an empty promise to a scared eight year old," I muttered.
A lump in my throat formed and I clenched my fists tight, telling myself I wouldn't waste any more tears on her.
"Dominic was one of the first people to show me around the packhouse and teach me everything about being a wolf since he was the Beta's son and all. At the time, we were one of the few kids there and he was only a year older than me, so naturally we became good friends over time. I was still a kid though, and I waited at the window sometimes looking for my mom's car. On many nights, I'd have this recurring nightmare where I would transform and my dad would shriek and then just die. Dominic was the one who would come in the night to wake me up and distract me by telling me stories until dawn," I recalled, my voice becoming quieter. "Over time, I forgot how my mom's car looked like and those nightmares rarely came. As I grew up in that packhouse, I made more friends and two of my closest girl friends-- Amber and Arizona. That place became my home to me, and I was thankful for having Dominic as my best friend. . ."
I trailed off, taking a deep breath, preparing myself for bringing back the memories of when I was sixteen.
"Dest," Alex suddenly cut in. I realized his arm around me was tight and that the sky outside was dark, the snowflakes still drifting. "You can skip the whole rejection--"
"No. I want to tell you everything, I just want everything to be clear between us," I told him, caressing his cheek. He held onto that hand. "Anyways, on my birthday was when I discovered we were mates. That night I had filled myself with these hopeful possibilities of us only to get him to reject me the next day. . . Because he couldn't see himself with s-someone like me." A few tears helplessly rolled down my cheek and I wiped them away with the edge of my sleeve. It hurt to not be good enough for someone you cared about so much.
"And that year, that year was hell. All but two of my friends abandoned me. Not only was there so much physical pain but I had become this loser because I got rejected by this popular Beta. It's scary to think about how I'd lost nearly everyone overnight, and that one year of feeling so alone can really change a person. No one stopped by to ask me how I might be feeling because it would, I don't know, damage their reputations. And that hurt. So a year of putting up with all of that bullshit, I got sick of seeing Dominic out there living his life while I was trapped. After the Alpha died, he became stronger as a Beta and became a whole other person while I was still that one loser, damaged by what he'd done to me. I mean, the one person who promised he would never leave me like my mom just became a jerk. I spoke up to him and slapped him across the face, and the one time I finally let it all go, I got kicked out of my fucking pack by the Luna. And then I met you and you turned my life around," I sighed.
Aside from the previous tears, I felt uplifted. Like a weight had been removed from my shoulders.
"Thanks for telling me all of that, Dest. I know that was really hard for you," Alex whispered. He turned to face me and pulled his head toward mine, so that our foreheads were touching. "Just remember that that isn't ever going to happen again, alright? I'll always be here."
I nodded.
"Now that we're being open to each other, it's about time you learn about my shitty childhood too," Alex began, resting his head back on the seat. He stared ahead at the falling snow and quiet town before speaking. "My parents were the Alpha and Luna of a pack, making me and my older brother, Hunter, the next Alpha and Beta. Later, when I was around 11, they died in a war with some of the other wolves in that pack. That left Hunter, who was only 16 at the time, an Alpha with barely a pack. He became strong and expanded it though. He constantly fought with me and became obsessive about the pack. When he was 18, he legally kicked me out of the pack leaving me stranded."
Alex's voice became breathy and he chuckled cynically.
"At the time we were somewhere up North, looking for more members. And that was where he'd left me. Luckily I found the Arctic Lights pack and Alpha Jace hesitantly let me stay, only because I was so young. I became the Omega of course, because I was the first ever rogue to join the pack. That's why I have a room on the most inconvenient floor and it's also why Alpha Jace can be such a dick sometimes. So later on, I think I was around 14 or 15, Hunter somehow found out I'd joined the Arctic Lights and made a deal with me; He'd let me come back as a Beta to his pack if I smuggled in this large quantity of the Arctic Lights' fresh water supply to make his wolves stronger. I declined the offer because I would never go back to a brother who'd forgotten about me. So Hunter became angry and threatened this pack, and when Alpha Jace found out, he wasn't mad at me since I'd kept our trust. But ever since then our packs have been enemies," Alex finished.
"I'm sorry to hear that," I said, shaking my head, wondering how the world could be so cruel. "I don't mean to pry. . But why were you at my old Alpha's funeral?"
"How the hell could I forget?" Alex muttered. "Dest, my brother was the Alpha of your old pack, the Dawnlight Breakers."
My head whipped up.
"W-Wait does that mean. . . Hunter is dead, and hypothetically if you were to go back. . You'd be the Alpha of my old pack?" I sputtered in surprise. I couldn't fathom the fact that Alex and I were so connected yet so far away this whole time.
"Yeah. ." Alex answered, his eyes widening slightly, as if he'd just realized it.
"Well, now what?" I said.
"We call Dominic back later and see what the hell he wants. Actually no, I'm going to call him," Alex declared. "Then we'll see what unfolds after that and I guess see what we'll do about this whole situation."
"Hey, Alex?" I whispered.
"Yeah?"
"I don't want to sound cheesy, but no matter what happens, I just want to remind you that I love you. And I still don't know what I've done to deserve you, but it amazes me that you've been correlated with my old pack this whole time and meeting you has been the best thing that's ever happened to me," I exclaimed.
"Me too Dest," he smiled back and took my chin in his hand and brought my lips to his. And while the snow continued to fall all around us and the quilt slid off my shoulders, I was filled with warmth and endless love. No words were needed as Alex and I kissed, we were full of lighthearted sadness and desolate happiness.
A chill ran through my spine when he ran one of his hands through my hair and I pulled him closer to me. Whatever was going to happen next would happen and I knew that Alex wouldn't leave my side.
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Helloooo fellow readers! <3 Yeah, it's been a while. But IT'S FINALLY FUCKING WINTER BREAK!
And that means. . . Faster updates! WOOO!
Anyways, at last y'all got to read about Alex and Destiny's childhoods. Next chapter just a sneak peek, they'll be back visiting Destiny's old pack :O GET READY!
What were your thoughts on this chapter tho? It took me forever to write it, I don't know why.
AND ALSO WHAT THE FLYING WHOLESOME FUCK-- 2O THOUSAND READS?!?!! Nope. This isn't real. Who knew that my writing would ever get that many reads? I'm shook and beyond happy. It's like an early birthday gift (2 more weeks!). You guys make my life way less shittier so thank you for that :))
*Also Merry Christmas to those who are celebrating! :D
Once again, tysm for reading and commenting, I'll catcha' later ✌️
-Popclouds