Twisting Her Fate
Chapter 84

take a different kind of strength to be able to survive through what she had?

Of course, Gabriel will never admit he was wrong and he will never admit to trying to kill Leilani. He just glares back at Connor, wanting to rip his hand off, wanting to refute him in some way, but he can't say anything because the words are ringing true. Doesn't it Gabriel's mind flashes back to the punishment pole once again, the difference between how Leilani faced it and how Maggie faced it. Isn't that strength? It isn't as obvious. It isn't an outward strength, it is an internal strength. "You can't prove that. I just sent her there to be better, and it worked, didn't it?"

"She heard you, she was outside the door when you asked your father to send her away, she heard that you wanted her to die"

"She told you that?"

"She also told me the words you said to her before you left. You can lie to everyone else, but don't bother to lie to me"

Gabriel snarls.

"You act like you are better than me, but what have you done to Maggie?"

"What have I done? I met her, she kissed you, I didn't fight you because all that flashed through my mind was this amazing girl I had already met"

"You knew Leilani before that?"

"Yes, she gave me the most amazing night of my life and then when she walked back into my life with the elite squad, of course I would hold onto her with everything I have"

"But Maggie"

"Lani told me what Maggie did to her. I have seen first hand what Maggie can do. I have no interest in putting my pack through such things"

"If you don't have to choose your fated, don't judge me for not choosing mine"

"Not choosing yours? There is a vast difference between not choosing her and sending a fourteen-year-old clueless and innocent girl out of the pack to die"

"She is better now because of me"

"No Gabriel, that is where you are wrong, she is better despite what you did"

Astrid finally helps Maggie out of the car. All the strain and pain of recent events has left Maggie weak. Oscar is not sure whether to approach or not since the only objective for him being here is not present, all he can do is follow as Astrid walks Maggie over. Maggie throws her mother's arm off and straightens her back. She wanted that potion to do more and blames her mother for how she is feeling.

"I have it from here"

Maggie walks over to the boys, who step away from each other and stop their argument. As Maggie approaches, the men on both sides roll their eyes. Connor is actually slightly surprised at how well Maggie is dressed today. If he didn't know her and this hadn't all gone down the way it had, if this moment was his first impression of her, he would actually think that she was a worthy Luna.

Even though Gabriel rolled his eyes he is actually glad for the interruption because of the niggling feeling in his brain that just won't go away. Is Connor right?

Leilani didn't really change so drastically, she just had the opportunity to showcase what was already there?

If that is true, doesn't that make him blind? He picked Maggie, who has nothing except for some blood that she does not live up to and a worn out p*ssy.

Astrid stands next to Oscar, off to the side, staring out at the trees. After taking a look at Connor, it brings back all the memories of Harris, the strong, steady type, effortlessly handsome in a masculine way. The epitome of tall, dark and handsome. "Are you okay mum?"

Astrid turns to Oscar, who is nearly the exact replica of Harris. With tears in her eyes, she caresses his cheek with a sad smile.

"I am glad to have you home baby boy"

"I am glad to be home mum"

Oscar kisses the top of his mother's head.

"You didn't tell me why you were standing outside the half moon pack border"

Oscar sighs as he looks at the ground, scuffing his barefoot against the lush grass.

"I don't know mum, I think I am going crazy"

"I think we all are"

"What is going on here?"

"I am not sure, Maggie was just mumbling something then about Gabriel's fated mate being with her fated mate and she said that the b*tch should have died when she was fourteen instead of being an eyesore once again"

Oscar looks from Gabriel to Connor, who looks highly aggressive, and Maggie, who is standing off to the side in her own little world. Connor is certainly not fighting Gabriel over Maggie. If that is true, then what Connor said made a lot more sense. Maggie had known Leilani when she was fourteen? If that is true, then he can just imagine what happened. He knows his sister well enough to know that nothing good would have come from it. That is why the instant animosity towards him at the ball and that is why Connor wouldn't allow him in the pack. It was nothing to do with Connor at all. It was what happened to Leilani.

Oscar frowns tightly, he needs to replace out what happened, but the fact is that he needs to work out why he cares and why he wants to mend that bridge so much.

"Mum, do you ever feel like Maggie is just so different from us? Not just her appearance, but her personality as well?"

Astrid doesn't answer right away, just once again staring out at the trees, squeezing Oscar's hand tightly. If she can't tell Maggie, she would love to tell Oscar. Every time she hears Oscar call Simon father or dad, it breaks her heart a little. How she would love to tell him who his father is, to tell Oscar that he reminds her of Harris so much, tell him how he looks identical to Harris.

Every time Simon is harsh to Oscar or sends him away. She just wants to tell Oscar how much Harris loved him. But it was decided long ago that Simon was going to be his father. She can't go against Simon's wishes like that, even if it hurts every single time, even if it does feel like she just replaced her original mate so easily and made it so that even his son doesn't know of Harris's existence, that she never gets to tell Oscar stories about his father and Oscar never gets a chance to know how great of a man he was how great of an alpha he was and most importantly how great father and mate that he was.

Astrid tries to explain how important the fated mate bond is to Oscar and Maggie, but they truly don't see the importance when they can only see the relationship between Simon and Astrid. But every time she talks about how important and how precious that bond is, she is not referring to what Simon and she share, it is all based on the relationship between her and Harris.

But the guilt she feels towards Simon makes her unable to say the word she desperately wants to say. She can never talk about that bond. She can never talk about Oscar's real father, he is just stuck believing his father hates him and can't stand him being around. Oscar is stuck watching the two children get treated so differently.

But the reality of the situation is that it is not her fault that she found her fated mate and she fell desperately in love. It is not her fault that he loved her back just as much. It is not her fault that Harris gave her two beautiful children and it is certainly not her fault that he died and left such a gaping hole in her heart that tries she might to fill it with Simon.

Astrid has never truly been out to get over her first love, her first mate. They say it's a second chance, but to her it feels like a replacement that she should have never made.

Astrid is left with a love so precious that she can never talk about, a second-chance mate that despises the fact that she had one before, a son that she barely gets to see who doesn't even know how great is biological father was, a dead daughter and an adopted daughter that doesn't appreciate how hard she tries.

Astrid has been wrung out for so long, teetering on the edge of destruction for so long, she doesn't know who she is, she has made these choices and a pile of regrets so deep that she is drowning in them, sometimes she replaces it so hard to breathe, being on the edge of asphyxiation for so long that she doesn't even know how to take an unimpeded breath.

She wants to tell him so badly, all the words just sitting on the tip of her tongue. She wants to tell Maggie because she feels like it is unfair to Maggie's dead mother. That fact is close to her heart because it is exactly how she feels about not telling Oscar about Harris. It is unfair to both.

When Simon made her promise she never thought it would hurt so badly, the lies compiling, all the words unsaid, that truth always looming.

Astrid looks in Oscar's stormy blue eyes. They are exactly the same as Harris'

"You can see it?"

Oscar looks at his mother, sometimes he feels like there is a chasm of separation between the two, but unlike his father, he can tell that his mother loves him.

"Is there something there? Is there something you are not telling me?"