Second Chance

Chapter 4

Skye

"There has to be some mistake" she said. I watched as Drew read and re-read the small sections of each volume. I couldn't stand how badly in denial she was. I had considered that I may be confused due to my biased position but Will had realised immediately and that was all the confirmation I needed. We hadn't spoken yet but I could see it in his eyes, he had seen first-hand and had adjusted his behaviour accordingly.

"No love, I'm sorry. Despite my feelings for you, I wish I was wrong. I know this is difficult for you" I knew that right now I needed to be patient, kind and understanding. I had thought when we first met that Drew was just overwhelmed at finding her mate and then confused because she already had a mate. But somewhere deep down, I knew what I was witnessing was fear. She's always had to be careful and stay quiet around that piece of s**t so the fear I saw makes sense. I saw tears forming in her eyes and knew the realisation was finally hitting her.

Drew

It's really true I thought to myself. Seeing the research made it impossible to deny. I could see it in black and white right in front of me. I thought of how Skye had been really kind and calm with me, how she made me laugh and smile and in contrast I thought of how Alastair had started that way but there were red flags too. I thought of how he'd snap at me over small things, how he'd been sleeping around with omega girls in the very same packhouse we live in. I thought of how he'd hurt me in places on my body no-one would see. I thought of how much nicer he was to me if there were others around and most of all, I thought of his venomous words that filled my heart with poison and destroyed my self-esteem.

Tears formed in my eyes and I started to cry silently. Skye quickly helped me up and put the books away before leading me back to her room at the guest house. She pulled me onto the bed and held me whilst I sobbed. She handed me a pillow to scream into and when I'd calmed down she made me some hot chocolate at the little kitchenette in the room. She ran a hot bubble bath. Whilst in the bath I let myself relax. Crying long and hard and being soothed all the while by Skye had really helped and then I was hit by another realisation. Skye. Beautiful, kind, wonderful Skye was sat in her own room letting me air my pain, all the while she's probably been nursing her own pain. She's just met her mate and that mate is too busy crying over a man to pay her any attention or give her any love.

I looked over at the PJs and soft robe that Skye had left hung up on the bathroom door and realised that not only are they brand new, they're my size. This amazing woman bought a gift for me when I've done nothing but focus on a useless man. I started to cry again but this time for another reason. I was full of regret and sadness at how much effort and focus I had put on a man that does nothing but hurt me when this woman was already taking care of me and I hadn't accepted her as my mate yet.

I dried myself off and looked in the mirror to do my skincare routine with the various creams and serums from the bathroom counter (I had made sure all rooms in the guest house had complimentary skincare products in the bathrooms.) I suddenly noticed that my marking spot was almost clear of any mark. I gasped running my fingers over my mark from Alastair. It was still there but it was very very faint. I thought this kind of thing would normally have deeply upset me but the only thing I feel was relief.

Now fully dressed, I was ready to tell Skye about the decision I had made. "Skye?" She looked over at me and smiled, "Yes love?" With my heart beating out of my chest, I said the words I needed to "I, Drew Sutherland accept you Skye MacRobert as my mate and Luna" Skye gasped and her eyes twinkled. "I... Can't accept yet" I almost burst into tears right there and then. "But... Why? I don't understand. Am I not good enough? Am I too damaged-" Skye closed the gap between us and put her finger over my lips

"Shhh, love. The fact is, what you just said tells me that this pack should have been yours to begin with but that rotten loon has done something. No other way you'd call me your Luna. I want you, I really do but we have to do this right or you may end up being exiled. As much as I'd love to take you home, I think you very much deserve your alpha title. Especially since that t**t seems to do very little of the hard work that doesn't revolve around fighting."

"I really underestimated you. I didn't realise how smart you are to deduce something like that from three words" I sighed "Yes, he had me sectioned when we were 17. At first, when he treated me a certain way, I had tried to tell my parents about it and to begin with, they took my side but somehow he managed to charm them and convince them I'm having clinical delusions. He dressed it as being because of the stress of becoming Clan Chief. That really opened the door for him to talk my parents into giving the Chief role to him instead."

"That rotten bastard. I'll kill him, I'll f*****g kill him. He really is a right c-" She saw me tensed up and took a deep calming breath. "Hey, listen. If I get angry about him, just know that I'm upset by how he's treated you. I would never take it out on you or blame you" I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in and Skye slowly wrapped her arms around me for a hug. I nestled my face into the crook of her neck and breathed in her scent. I thought to myself, I'll never get used to how good that lavender and peppermint scent smells.

"I know. I just get really tense when people are angry. It's hard not to worry" I said "I know love, it's okay. I just wanted to reassure you"

"So how do we do this?" I asked. "Well first of all, we need to research some marriage laws and find out how to get some evidence of his cheating and mistreatment of you." I sighed "well that'll be easy. Look", I pulled up my shirt and for the first time I saw Skye very tense. I dropped my shirt quickly and fidgeted with my nails, Skye gently placed her hand over mine and looked at me with pain in her eyes. "I really wish I had protected you from him" she whispered, "Skye, you couldn't have known. Hell I didn't know until you opened my eyes." She looked down. "I know I know, I just wish I'd been able to."

I realised that despite Skye's calm and collected -almost clinical- demeanor, she really did have a lot of strong emotions; She just didn't really express those emotions.

Will

Finally being able to go back to my room was such a relief but I remembered as I was about to pass Skye's room that I'd told her I'd speak to her later. With a sigh, I knocked on her door. She opened the door and invited me in; I looked around as I walked in expecting to see Drew and looked at Skye questioningly. She shrugged, "She had to go back to her room at the packhouse, we don't want to raise any suspicions."

"Well, good, that gives us a chance to talk. Skye, I understand she's your mate, but are you sure you know what you're doing? You know the penalty if you get caught and I won't be able to help you."

"That's exactly why I've been careful; We haven't done anything untoward and not once has she cheated. We are going to bide our time and figure out how to get her pack title restored to her, the rightful Clan Chief of Clan Sutherland."

"Clan Sutherland? That's right, this clan used to be called Clan Sutherland before Chief Lachlan came in. I hadn't looked into the reason."

"That prick is the reason. He's not just short-tempered and possessive, he's abusive in other ways. I've seen the bruises on her and no-one believes her because he convinced everyone she's having literal delusions. I need to see the pack doctors here because I'm not convinced they've looked at this properly. I'm so ang-"

We were interrupted when we heard footsteps in the hall outside of the room, a quiet knock sounded on Skye's door.

When Skye answered, Drew stood there in the doorway shaking and frail. Her face was puffy as though she'd been crying and Skye immediately pulled her into an embrace, stroking her hair and whispering soothing words.

I cleared my throat "What happened, Drew? Are you okay?" Her eyes went wide as she registered me for a second and she went very quiet. Skye lifted Drew's chin with her hand, "It's okay, Love. He knows and he would never get you into trouble. He's my big brother, he's there to help."

Drew nodded and whispered "Alastair"

"What did he do?" I asked. She shook her head a little, sighed and sat down on the bed. "He picked a fight with me because I didn't want to sleep with him tonight. He tried to force me but an omega girl knocked on the door just in time. He was angry about being interrupted to begin with, but when he saw who it was, he pulled her in close and kissed her in front of me. He barked at me to 'get out of his sight' and threw her on the bed. I can already feel the pain from him cheating, but it's not as bad as before. Mainly I'm shaken up that he almost forced me to... to..." She faltered and started to quietly sob again.

I was ready to start a fight but once again, Skye very gently shook her head. She mind linked me 'The last thing she needs is an angry man kicking off' I sighed and looked over at Drew. 'Skye, what did she mean by again?'

'He cheats on her a lot. Mainly with omegas in the same packhouse. When she was here last night, it was because of him. I brought her back here when I overheard him mistreating her and she told me she could feel it happening then.'



"Well Drew, you came at a good time. We were just discussing what we need to do about your situation." She gave me a small smile. "So what did you guys discuss so far?" I sighed "admittedly, not a lot yet. But I believe Skye has an idea"

"You know me too well, Brother." I chuckled "And you, I. Go on, dazzle us."

"Well, the plan is to get evidence of his cheating, his abuse and most importantly, proof that Drew here is mentally competent and hasn't had any clinical delusions. I'm going to need to visit the hospital here and find Drew's medical notes so I can look at any discrepancies. Drew, I'll need you to get your file from the hospital." Drew looked as Skye confused "I can do that?"

"Yes, why wouldn't you be able to?" Drew fidgeted nervously "I don't know, I just never thought of doing that."

"Well, if I'm right and I'm sure I am, we'll need to visit your parents."

"But why?" Drew asked. "Because there's a really good chance there won't be any mention of any psychiatric disorder that causes delusions nor will there be any mention of any delusional episodes. If your parents can be trusted with the truth, we need only show them your file."

"Please, not yet." We looked at Drew quizzically. She sighed "They weren't just persuaded by Alastair, they wanted to believe him. They were ready to doubt me because they loved him. It's too soon and we should just treat them the same as everyone else."

"Okay, Love. Don't worry, that can wait. For now, we can continue with everything else. Getting your file is an important first step. Next, we need to get proof of him cheating. We don't have to do so tonight, but it would be a good idea to do it soon. We need proof of his abuse but I need to be very clear on this. The only way we're going to be able to denounce him and have the clan on our side when it comes to it is to show them all what he's done. Drew, are you okay with the clan seeing the scars and bruises on you?" Drew looked down and started to fidget with her hair, Skye let her think about it for a while and eventually Drew took a deep breath and looked at her. "Yes, I'm okay with that."

"Okay, in a week we'll come up with some excuse to get the whole pack together and from there we'll have them see a slideshow with all of the evidence of what he's been doing. After that, we'll see if the clan members will support him being deposed and, more than likely, they will."

I finally spoke up, "Drew, something's been bugging me. Why is it that I haven't seen any of Alastair's friends?"

"He used to have a few friends, they knew each other since they were little kids but he saw them less and less. One day he came and shouted at me and hurt me, shouting that I'd turned them against him. I had no idea why he thought that because I only spoke to them when Alastair was around."

Skye and I shared a look "What?" Drew asked looking at us

"We're gonna need their names, I need to have a little chat with them"

We spent a good while discussing everything well into the evening. Eventually Drew got tired, couldn't blame her really. I left her and Skye to sleep whilst I went to find the men at the pub Drew had told me about.