Burned By Fate

CHAPTER 008

| ETHAN |

I approach the address that Lucy sent through mind link earlier. I didn't bother to contact her again to say that I was on my way, I didn't want to hear her voice again because it makes me feel things that I can't control.

Their pack house is beautiful-beyond beautiful. I've never seen anything so grand and posh. The outside of the house is painted to the most perfect shade of white, along with hedges and a front garden that looks like it's attended to daily.

I can't see much past the gated community, guards standing tall at the entrance.

"Are you here to see the Alpha?" One of them bellows as I approach.

"No, I'm-" I take a second and the guard glares at me. "I'm here to see someone else." The guard waits for a few moments before he nods. "The Alpha will be down any minute."

I suck in a breath and take a step away, pushing my hands into my pockets as I wait. I don't know who the Alpha is, I don't even know if they know who I am in relation to Lucy.

The gate swings open and I watch a very tall man approach from the white painted steps, strolling through the meadow of flowers and trees that cascade over their house. He has blonde hair swept back and he walks like a man who knows everything. Wise beyond his time.

But when he moves even closer, I stare back into those ocean blue eyes and I recognise them instantly.

"Hello," he says warmly but he takes a quick look at me with suspicious eyes. I drop my hands from my pockets and keep them at my sides. "Is there something you need?"

"I'm Ethan," I blurt. "I'm here to see Lucy."

The man nods and takes a step back.

"Yes. Of course. Come in."

My eyebrows crinkle a little but he doesn't see. Lucy must have explained the situation. He gives the guards a nod who let me through the gates, which are then firmly shut behind us as we walk towards the house.

"I trust you found the pack house easily enough."

I flick my eyes to the Alpha. I don't know why but I just study him. He looks exactly like Lucy but with different coloured hair and different body shapes, but everything else seems almost identical.

"Yeah, I did." I say after a few moments.

"I'm Jacob by the way," the Alpha says loudly. "Lucy’s brother."

I curly nod once. "I see."

Makes sense why those eyes have given me a slight flashback and now I realise that I actually have to face Lucy, again.

For the first time since the party. Oh God, my stomach flips inside me multiple times. Why did I agree to this?

"Lucy has been expecting you today. I think she was concerned you weren't going to show." Jacob says boldly but his tone isn't harsh or rude, just genuine.

My hand flies through my shaggy black hair. "Yeah... well she said to give her a chance to hear her out and I-I," my mouth becomes increasingly dry as I think about the fact we're going to have a conversation and I don't know if I can do it. "I want to hear what she has to say."

That's not a lie. She said that if she gives me a chance to hear her out and I decide that this isn't good enough, then we can call it a day. She'll stop contacting me and we can carry on with our lives as if nothing has ever happened.

It'll be hard but it might be the right choice. And my insecurities will not stop for anyone.

I look down to the gravelly ground and I feel Jacob’s eyes on the side of my face.

"Lucy is a good person. I'm not saying she's perfect but who is? She never wants to hurt anyone. She's devastated, you know?"

His words almost make me flinch because if she's devastated then what am I?

I turn towards Jacob and stare him directly in the eye, the pressure behind them building and I tell myself not to get upset. Not here. Not in front of them. "So am I."

"I get that," Jacob nods as we walk up the steps. He welcomes me into their home which is delicately decorated and beautifully elegant.

We walk through the house and Jacob points towards a door at the end. "I'm sure she's in here."

Jacob opens the door and I step behind him, my nerves spiking suddenly because it's happening now and I can't run. Technically I can but I have to see this through. I have to.

Loud pop music floats into the hallway as the door swings wide, my head ducking inside to find Lucy dancing with a blonde haired girl. They're holding hands and grinning at each other wildly.

I've never seen anything so unhinged.

But then my eyes gravitate back to Lucy and she almost looks like a different person than what I saw at the party. Not that her appearance has changed but something about her aura is different.

Her scent hits me like a truck as I stare back at her.

She smells like white roses and fresh rain that has just fallen across the forest floor.

Jacob clears his throat from beside me and Lucy jumps apart from the unidentified female. Lucy takes a glance at her brother and then catches eyes with me.

The glance is so intense that I almost fall backwards. Those goddamn eyes.

"Ethan," her mouth falls open.

It's obvious that she's in shock that I'm here. She truly didn't expect me to come.

Jacob and the female don't move, the room turning agonisingly silent. But that's because we can't stop staring at each other and also because I have no idea what to do now.

My knees twitch at the sight of her. She’s almost too painful to look at, I want to close my eyes but I can't. I'm stuck in a trance of her.

"Hi," Lucy mumbles, blinking over and over. "I-I didn't think you were going to come."

The other female takes a step away from the living room and walks towards Jacob, the pair of them leaving us by ourselves.

Lucy walks towards me but I hold up a hand to stop her. Goosebumps are already vibrating against my skin.

"Sorry," she whispers and stops dead in her tracks.

I study her again, inhaling a little too deeply for my liking because her scent crashes over me like a wave and my wolf is crying inside me to do something.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" She suggests. "A short one."

Lucy’s throat clenches as I speak. "Of course. Let's head out the back."

We walk through the house in silence, she opens the back door for me and we head down the steps and into the forest.