The Fall

Chapter 14

Zoe- Present Day

The run through the woods was everything I had wanted and more. While I didn't particularly notice the other wolves individually, I felt a deep connection to the land beneath my paws. Every step was charged with energy, and the earth's vibrations resonated through me with each stride. Kamden, however, was a constant presence by my side, and I was acutely aware of his presence. A few other alphas joined us, playfully pouncing, shouldering each other, and running alongside me. I think what I enjoyed most was the ability to showcase my speed, to outperform the other wolves present, Kamden struggled to keep up and I often found myself circling back to join the group.

I couldn't help but think that nothing could compare to the feeling of stripping down after a long day or night and being alone in the wilderness. It was in those moments of solitude that I truly felt free, free to chase and hunt, free to connect with the primal instincts that ran deep within me. I had always carried a sense of guilt, believing that my wolf was missing out on something by not participating in the pack runs. Yet, as I stood there, my wolf seemed dismissive about the entire experience, reinforcing my belief that our true connection lay in those solitary moments under the moonlight.

Hours later, when we returned to the clearing, I shifted and changed back into my clothes, although most everyone lingered partially nude. I notice the amount of wolves staring at me and I shrug it off. Sigma’s kind of a big deal? I ask my wolf. Her response is a snort. Apparently to these hillbillies.

Kamden joins my side and his presence acts as a buffer. He has a bag, it's a birthday gift. As we stood there in the midst of conversation, he broached the subject, giving me the choice to either open the gift now or take it with me for later. He also expressed a desire to offer his apology.

"You know how I feel about emotions," I replied, a hint of reluctance in my voice.

"I do," Kamden acknowledged, "which is why it comes with some options. I can give it to you tonight, tomorrow, Sunday even. But I'd like to get it out of the way."

Suddenly, another striking figure appeared behind Kamden, holding two drinks in hand and exuding a mischievous charm. He introduced himself as Alpha Grant, and his eyes lingered on me as he purred a greeting.

"Zoe," I responded with a warm smile as he offered me a drink

"Pleasure," Alpha Grant responded, but I couldn't help but notice a subtle gathering of onlookers, their eyes trained on us, discreetly observing our interaction. It wasn't overt, yet it was enough to pique my curiosity. I hadn't been in the company of so many wolves to witness this display of dominance and alpha posturing. However, it was clear to me that Grant's interruption and his physical positioning were signs of disrespect and a subtle challenge. I was a far cry from the girl in high school who was oblivious to male attention. Unfortunately, for Grant, his scent, reminiscent of overly sweet apples, left my wolf entirely unimpressed.

"Grant, honey, you kind of just interrupted a conversation," I quipped, playfully gesturing between Kamden and myself. With a dismissive hair flip, I continued, "I need to make a phone call and open a present. See you around."

Without further ado, I grabbed Kamden's arm and turned away from Alpha Grant, heading towards the house. I was aware of how my dismissive mood would reflect on him and I smiled knowing I shut him down.

Kamden escorts me to the basement, where I inform him of my intention to make a quick phone call. I requested that he allow me ten minutes of privacy before returning.

Inside the bathroom, I secure the door, switching on the exhaust fan for privacy. Dialing Jenna's number, I find them just about ready for bed. I begin reciting "Wherever You Are, My Love Will Find You," a cherished book I've committed to memory, a nightly ritual since Easton was a few months old.

With the call concluded, I settled onto the couch and began exploring the contents of the bag Kamden had given me. A book with elegantly sprayed edges immediately catches my attention. I recall the day I mentioned to Kamden how I'd been diligently searching for it, stalking my local Barnes and Noble, only to find it perpetually sold out everywhere. He'd tracked it down for me, a truly considerate gesture. You should f**k him.

As I continue inspecting the bag's contents, I uncover a shirt that leaves me momentarily stunned. It's not just any shirt; it's my father's shirt, a piece of clothing I had assumed was lost to me forever. Tears well up in my eyes, overcome with emotion at this unexpected reunion with a cherished memento.

“I figured you’d be happy to see that,” Kamden remarks, offering a small smile as he descends the stairs, holding two beers.

With a heartfelt smile, I reply, "I am, thank you," tears still glistening in my eyes. I clutch the book and my father's shirt to my chest, cherishing these precious gifts.

Since my emotions are already stirred, Kamden asks, "Are you ready for my confessions and apology?"

I raise my hands in a gesture of acceptance and nod, conceding, "Might as well."

Kamden moves closer, taking a seat beside me on the couch. He positions himself intimately, facing me, ready to share his revelations.

He begins, "I don’t know if you remember your first day of school at Aurora High. I remember everything. You had red Converse with a hole in the canvas of the right shoe, your fingernails were painted black, and you wore a scowl. But you laughed at my jokes. I followed you around all day, instantly drawn to you without understanding why. I loved watching you chew on your pen cap and how you habitually brushed the hair behind your ear. When we had lunch together, I knew, seeing how much joy you got from strawberry milk and a cheeseburger, that you were made for me. You were also the first she-wolf whose scent was so captivating and beautiful to me."

Stunned into silence by this flood of emotions and memories, I stare at him, my thoughts jumbled. Thankfully, he continues, filling the silence.

“Your sister approached me later that day and said that you guys were identical twins, she asked if I knew what that meant. That you guys shared everything, that you would have twin wolves and share a single fated mate.”

I shake my head no. And he takes a deep breath and sort of shrugs.

“I was so drawn to you but you were standoffish, your sister wasn’t, I tried to get your attention the first few weeks of school but she said you were waiting till you were 18, til you met your fated mate and wouldn’t date before that. My 16-year-old brain soaked up Ava’s attention, I thought, well she convinced me that when we were 18 we would all be together. For a long time, I believed her. Can you imagine how big my ego was, two mates? Two beautiful twin mates.”

He smiles at the memory and then shifts in his seat to look away from me.

“I thought your scent was proof that we were fated to be together. I was young and stupid and enamored with you. Ava exploited that. I was always staring at you, looking out for you. It pissed Ava off. I didn’t realize this till after you both left but she used to ruin relationships that other people had with you, to keep up the pretense of the lie she told me. I let Ava do some pretty despicable things, she used to claim she wanted to get it out of her system since she would have to share a mate for the rest of her life. She liked to make me feel guilty that she would have to share me with you.”

I give him a disgusted look, he knows it's a lie now. I can tell by the way his shoulders sag.

“She did some f****d up stuff early in our relationship, like dressing like you and having me f**k her and call her by your name. I should have known. But I was a f*****g kid getting p***y for the first time.”

He shakes his head at himself and then gives me an apologetic look. I am grimacing at him. He could have left those details out.

“Senior year was weird, I started Alpha training, had varsity football and I got my wolf in November. You started dating Nick, I don’t know if you remember me approaching you in the gym and asking why you were dating him.”

“I do,” he got super territorial and weird. I even reminded him that I was me, I remember telling him. ‘I’m Zoe. What does it matter?’ And he was like, ‘Of course, it matters.’

“I was so mad, I saw you f*****g him in the boy's locker room and I nearly destroyed the whole place. Afterward, Ava apologized on your behalf, she said you wanted to learn how to please me, and she said you were nervous because you thought I was super experienced. That's the kind of dumb s**t she fed me and I believed all of it.”

“I never f****d Nick in the bathroom.” I should have thought more about that before I said it because we both realized at the same time what that meant. That he had seen my sister with Nick in the locker room. Her violating both of us, in one go.

“I should have known as much. But at the time I didn’t. She was always scheming, always pretending to be you. It was f****d up. But after my wolf came in, I could smell you both distinctly. By Christmas, you were dating Johnnie and I started to realize so much of our relationship was pretend. Every conversation with her was full of lies. We started arguing and she doubled down on the fact that we were mates. But you both smelled so different to me. I even did research on identical twins and what she said was true. When I confronted her with information about twins having the same scent signature, she told me it was because of your diet. I naively held out hope for you guys to turn 18.”

“You know we aren’t identical twins, right?” I say apologetically.

“I do but I didn’t find out till after you left.”

“I’m sorry Kam. That is pretty awful. She was a s**t girlfriend.” Kamden chuckles at my remark but continues, his fingers fidgeting with the beer tab. "You still got a high school crush?" I inquire, hoping to ease the tension in the room.

When he turns to look at me, his gaze feels intense, and I can sense the answer in his eyes – yes, he does. But I quickly add, "Don’t answer that. Let’s move on to the apology part of this."

"I didn’t even realize how much Ava was playing with my head, I didn’t know she was involved in so much other s**t," he admits. "The day you left the Falls, that argument with her. She said some nasty stuff, and I always wanted to tell you the truth."

I pause, letting his words sink in, my apprehension growing as I ponder what truth he's referring to. "Oh," I finally say, drawing out the word cautiously. "Okay," I continue, my voice reflecting my curiosity. The truth about what?

Kamden hesitates, his expression pained as if reliving a difficult memory. "It is a really f*****g messy story, and I always felt like you deserved to know. But we don’t have to talk about it."

I can't help but feel compelled to dig deeper. "Well now, I have to know," I reply with a smile, but underneath the smile, there's a sense of determination. Damn right we do.

Kamden takes a deep breath before continuing. "I think you knew your father used to fight up at the Square, right?"

I nod, recalling my father's occasional fights for extra cash.

"Yeah, your mother would get in trouble there with betting and drugs. Eventually, they stopped letting her in," he says, and I nod in acknowledgment, aware of my mother's troubled history. "This town looks out for its wolves, even if she wasn’t one of us, no one would willingly let your mom destroy herself like she was. My dad tried to intercede a couple of times. I wish we would have done more."

I sigh, the weight of the past and my family's struggles heavy on my shoulders. "It is what it is, addiction is a bitch."

Kamden's tone grows even graver as he delves deeper into the story. "I don’t know when it started, but your sister started going up to Squares on the weekends. It was when we were still together because she was bringing home a ton of cash. I asked her about it, and she claimed "lucky” fights, that your mom sent her up there to bet on your dad."

My eyes widen at this revelation. "I later found out, one of Eero’s guys, Cesar, he used to manage Squares. He was supplying Ava with 10k product a month, she was selling it."

The shock deepens. "Oh, my sister was selling drugs?"

Kamden confirms my suspicion with a heavy nod. "Yeah. She used to sell to your mom. I didn’t know she was doing it. She was gambling too, and placed a bet she couldn’t pay, and they banned her from Squares. Then they cut your dad from the ring too, didn’t want any drama from your family. Cesar got a lot of pressure to stop supplying her. I guess Eero wasn’t comfortable having all that drama around his establishments."

As I absorb this information, a sense of anger and betrayal surges within me. My sister's hidden life and the impact it had on my family, especially my parents, are coming into focus. “How’d my dad get all beat up then?”

“Ava owed Cesar 20k and she claimed your mom stole all the drugs and didn’t have the cash to pay up. Things got really ugly. She told me they were gonna take the money from her one way or another. She said they were gonna trick her out. That Cesar was going to sell off your virginity and whatever was left of the debt she could earn it on her back or knees. I emptied my account for her and gave her 16k. Your parents decided to run I guess. But word got out. They beat the s**t out of your dad, told them they had a month to pay it or they’d take it from you.”

What the f**k? Sell off my virginity. I had no idea this s**t was going on back then. What kind of people do that? Then I connect the dots. Eero knew. He acted like he was surprised. Oh my f*****g god he knew I was a virgin and probably was someone who would benefit from selling it off.

The pieces of the puzzle start to fit together, and the gravity of the situation becomes even clearer. "That's why my mom was trying to make a run for it," I say, my voice heavy with realization. We both sit there, nodding in mutual understanding. I had no idea about the extent of my sister's involvement, the debt she owed, or the fact that she was selling drugs, and supplying them to my mom.

"After your parents died, Eero reached out to my dad," Kamden continues. "He said Cesar was not backing down. He was coming for Ava for the 20k plus interest. Eero wanted to keep the peace, so he mediated the deal, and kept Cesar out of Aurora Falls, away from the two of you. But he made Ava pay back what she owed."

"My dad talked with Ava, and she broke down and told my dad everything," he reveals. "She said she had 4k and asked my father to pay the rest. He gave her another 16k."

"Hadn't you already given her 16k?" I ask, bewildered by the complexity of the situation.

"I had," he admits, taking a deep breath. "I didn't know my dad had promised to help her with the money. I thought he just stepped in as an Alpha to put a stop to the threats. You guys had lost everything, someone needed to advocate for you." He continues, "They invited Eero here for Solstice to establish some new ground rules about distribution around the Falls and just try to smooth things over. Eero claimed he had no idea about any threats made against you or your sister, just that your family owed money to Cesar and had tried to skip town."

Kamden's revelation about my sister's manipulation cuts deep. "Your sister claimed you didn't know anything about it, that you were innocent of the s**t she was involved with. When she showed up on Solstice with a new car, she said it was a gift from you. She said that you wanted her to have something nice since you guys had lost everything. She used that jeep to prove to me that she was the most important person to you, that you loved her and would do anything to make her happy. She played up this deep relationship between the two of you. She was trying to get us back together, reminding me that the two of you would share a fated mate."

As Kamden shares more about the events following my departure from Aurora Falls, I can't help but shake my head in disbelief. "She put a bow on it," I say, a hint of incredulity in my voice. We both share a chuckle at the sheer absurdity of my sister's actions. The weight of her lies and deceit continues to settle in, leaving me with a tumultuous mix of emotions – anger, sadness, and a profound sense of betrayal. Ava's actions had far-reaching consequences, and I had been kept in the dark for far too long.

“Monday morning when my dad handed Eero a check, I was so confused. We hadn’t even had a chance to talk when you came running down the stairs to yell at her. That is when I realized the cash she provided, the 4k was yours, not hers.”

I listen intently as he recounts the events that unfolded after I left, the arguments between him and my sister, he kicked her out then went searching for me. “I followed you to the river but you were gone. I stumbled upon Eero and we had words. I thought he took advantage of you but he said he would have never let anything happen to you, that the whole reason he got involved was because he heard the threat against a 17-year-old girl. When I got back to the packhouse, you had just taken off with Alpha West. I literally ran after you for thirty miles.”

Kamden's dedication to finding me tugs at my heartstrings, and I can't help but feel a mixture of emotions.

"My dad pulled some strings and got your high school history erased, sealed the records," he reveals. "He said you deserved a fresh start away from this place. I think he also did it because of your sister too. She spent the summer pretending to be you, trying to get jobs with your name. She moved in with Johnnie after I kicked her out for a few months before she left for Nashville." I scoff when hearing she took advantage of Johnnie.

"I didn't know you had been planning to go to school," he says, and I can hear the regret in his voice. "I started searching for you that summer, I went to Boston three times, and when I couldn't smell you anymore... It was the worst pain I've ever felt. I'd lost you, without really ever having you. It f*****g sucked, and I never stopped hoping I'd find you."

I can sense the sincerity in his feelings. His words hang in the air, heavy with the weight of the past, and I can't help but feel a mixture of emotions. The wounds of the past had already healed, and knowing this new information about my sister's deceit changed nothing for me. It wouldn't bring my parents back, and it certainly didn't alter my estranged relationship with Ava.

"That's a lot to take in," I finally say, attempting to make light of the heavy conversation. “I think I need another beer.” Offering him a small smile and he chuckles nervously in response. Goddess that's heavy, that is a lot to dump on someone. Right?

I lean back, still processing everything. "I honestly don't know what to say, Kamden."

He meets my gaze with sincerity. "You don't need to say anything. I just wanted to tell you the truth from back then. I also want the chance to be in your life, at whatever capacity you are comfortable with. I don't want to know life without you in it; I don't want to lose you again. But I knew I couldn't be in your life with a bunch of secrets between us."

As Kamden and I sit in silence, the weight of our shared history hangs in the air. His words have touched my heart, and I realize that despite the tumultuous past we share, his presence is something I can't easily dismiss. The past is immutable, but the possibility of a future, founded on honesty and understanding, beckons in the distance. However, questions about Eero's involvement and the mysterious figure Cesar nag at the corners of my mind, raising concerns about my parent's deaths.

But at this moment, confusion and fatigue take over. I sigh and admit, "Do you think you could drive me back to my hotel? I'm really tired."

Kamden nods in understanding. "Yeah, of course, sure."

We both stand, the heaviness of our conversation still lingering between us. As we head up the stairs, I can't help but wonder how the threads of our past might weave into the fabric of our future.