Twisting Her Fate
Chapter 71

Just before seven-thirty, Terrance finishes bottling up twenty vials of his new serum and giving it to one of his various delivery men. He only lets them know just before and chooses a random one each time. It is impossible to trace anything back to Terrance himself That is way too risky and while Terence does have the ability to be able to protect himself if the need does not arise, he does not help himself in harm's way unless necessary.

and he never goes to the drop offs himself except in special cases like to Gabriel.

Most of his customers are not exactly stand up people and he would not be surprised if any of them had the idea of taking him and locking him up to get a never-ending supply made.

Levi and Terrance walk out of the apartment and down the road hand in hand toward a cafe that does a good breakfast, planning on buying enough for the whole group as Leilani and Connor should be back by the time they arrive.

The two walk happily along the sidewalk, not noticing the middle-aged lady crossing the street toward them.

In the car driving toward the stormy pack, Leilani pulls on Connor's sleeve, waking him from his slumber. They did not use the bed at the hotel to sleep at all, but the bed was put to much better use.

Connor slept in the car while Leilani had a quick nap. Connor stirs from his sleep, Lani points out the window.

"It is Levi and Terrance. Let's go meet them"

Connor nods and directs the driver to pull over. Lani jumps out of the vehicle in bare feet, only a pair of tights and one of Connor's tees that is tied up so high at the side that half her midriff is showing. Connor shakes his head as he gets out of the car after the woman who somehow looks refreshed with a lot less sleep than him and the fact that she can make his shirt look so s*xy. He thought he was being clever by giving her a shirt to wear to cover up that smoking hot body. It well and truly backfired. Leilani grabs his arm as she nearly skips toward the scene. He wants to be annoyed at being woken, but the woman's zest for life is infectious.

Terrance stops walking as he sees the middle-aged lady standing on the sidewalk in front of them, the smile on his face slips right off. Levi instantly senses the heavy shift in his mate's mood. "What is wrong?"

He follows Terrance's eyes, seeing the lady. Levi breathes in.

"Witch"

The lady does not hide her disgust.

"Not only are you with a man, he is a werewolf?"

"Not that it is any of your business mother, but this is my mate"

In between his angry look at his mother, there is a tint of pride in his voice when he refers to Levi.

"All these years later you still disgrace our coven"

Terrance laughs and Levi snarls.

"I can't disgrace a coven that I have not belonged to in so many years, a coven that I was kicked out of for nothing and a coven that I was never accepted into at the start"

"You are a disgrace to the coven whether I disown you or not"

Levi growls.

"Don't you speak to him like that"

"Or what you dirty dog?"

Before Levi gets a chance to retort, a white blonde blur flies in front of him. Crack. Terrance's mother falls to the ground holding her cheek, a trickle of blood running down her chin from her split lip. She looks up at Leilani with a shocked expression, she has been the leader of the coven for so many years and everyone respects her.

"Listen here you decrepit harridan, if you don't know how to speak properly, keep that filthy mouth shut, you are speaking to my family and I will accept nothing less than complete civilty"

"He was butting in when I was trying to speak to my son"

"Your son? I don't think so, a mother like you does not deserve a son. He is also my family, so you had better shut your face before I shut it for you"

Levi is used to such protection but Terrance isn't. Connor has been his only defender for so many years. It is nice.

"They are just men"

"Maybe to you, but to me they are my everything"

Martha's tone has softened a lot more curious than anything else.

"You defend them so much?"

"Till my death, if family is not worth defending, what is?"

Martha stands to her feet and looks at the woman in front of her with an inquiring gaze. The unique white blonde hair and the fighting spirit.

"You remind me of someone I used to know"

Leilani scoffs.

"Do I look like I care?"

Leilani turns her back on the woman and walks to Terrance, linking arms with him and grabbing Connor as the four walk forward. Martha watches the group walk past her with a tilt of the head. When they walk past, Leilani turns back and makes a face at the lady. Martha can't help but chuckle, she should be mad but the girl reminds her of her best friend growing up, it was like a lifetime ago. Martha smiles fondly, remembering that she once actually used to be best friends with a werewolf, her very first best friend, and they were never allowed to tell a soul.

It was so long ago that she had actually forgotten the good times, it went sour just like everything else.

***

Simon pulls up his car and looks at Astrid.

"I'll just be a moment"

"What are you getting?"

"I'm just getting a potion that will help her heal. It will give the appearance that she is of alpha blood"

"I didn't know you knew a witch"

Simon instantly frowns as he looks upon his mate. He hates it when she asks too many questions and she knows that, yet she just can't help herself sometimes.

"You don't know everything, nor do you have the right to know everything"

Simon gets out of the car, slamming the door so hard that the whole car shakes Astrid's fingers tangle on her lap in nervousness as she watches him walk away.

She stares blankly out the window as Simon disappears into a building. A woman walking past looks vaguely familiar just as she is about to open her door and approach to remember that it has been so long since she talked to her that it would be inappropriate. What would she even say after being ghosted for so long?

Astrid's hand stays on the door handle until the woman is well out of sight. Sighing and leaning back in the seat. All of it was a lifetime ago, back when she was free, back when she was happy, back when she thought she had everything in life. Maybe she was a little too happy and when everything is a little too perfect it throws out the balance. Maybe that is why everything crumbled the way it had crumbled and turned to dust.

Simon walks back out with the little box of vials clutched tightly his hand with a smile on his face. This may have cost him a bit, but it is going to gain him so much more. What is a little bit of money invested for great returns?

Sitting back in the car. He looks at his beautiful mate. There is no denying that she is beautiful. She has always been the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. It was just that vivacious spirit, that free mouth and all those ideals that took a whole lot of time to crush. Every time he thinks that spirit is gone, sometimes it will just peek out.

Simon starts the car once again and starts driving toward the half moon pack, hoping that Maggie hasn't done anything stupid or revealed anything that she shouldn't have yet.

Astrid looks at the box full of potions that are sitting on her lap.

"Have you ever thought of just telling her?"

Simon looks at Astrid. His rage which had settled, instantly spiking.

"What is telling her going to accomplish? Will it make her life better? Will it make her relationship with Gabriel better?"

"I don't think we should be pushing the Gabriel thing so much"

Simon sneers.

"What? So she can go for her fated mate, didn't he make it clear?"

"He only made it clear because Maggie chose Gabriel to start with"

Simon also curses that point, if the pack standings had just been out that little bit earlier then. Maggie would have done the right thing and all of this would be done. She would already be the luna of the stormy pack, not in her current situation where she's barely hanging on by a thread at a pack that is less than.

"Astrid, the truth will help nothing at this stage. Do you not consider her your daughter?"

Astrid looks at her hands.

"Of course I do. Have I not raised her diligently for twenty-one years?"

Simon scoffs, playing on Astrid's insecurities.

"Only you can answer that question"

"I have"

"You have already lost one daughter. Do you really want to lose a second?"

Astrid's chin drops to her chest as the tears once again threaten to fall. Simon stops the car with a tender look as he embraces Astrid, stroking her hair gently.

"I am sorry to make you upset, but beautiful, telling Maggie will not help anything and just put I divide between us and you have to think about Maggie's feelings, you have known loss before"

Astrid has known so much loss that her heart is so wounded that it will never be the same. Simon hooks her chin and lifts her face, looking into Astrid's pale blue eyes that are glassy and full of tears. "Maggie doesn't need to know that her parents are dead..."

Simon's eyes flash slightly.

"...We are her parents, we have been there throughout and that is all that matters"

Astrid can only nod.

"Maybe you are right."