"What do you mean? Do you want to say that I had another fate? Something else could have happened to me instead of being humiliated and discarded like I was in the hands of my ex-mate?" Inez asked, ignoring the burning anger in her chest. She had lost her wolf, and now someone came waltzing into her life, telling her that the fate she had chosen was not quite right. Well, sorry for that; she should have known how to pick one, but unfortunately, there were no terms and conditions applied. "It was fate who took everything away from me."
She spoke in a harsh voice. "Dominic rejected me, and I lost my wolf; if there was any other fate, then my wolf would be by my side. All my life, I have never known happiness; Nia was the only one who brought me happiness, and she too was taken away from me—no, she was ripped apart from me." Inez never knew that she was capable of speaking in such a bitter tone, and yet somehow she managed it.
With a sigh, Inez ran her fingers through her red hair, which seemed to have turned even redder due to her anger. Weird. She could do that? Shaking the momentary curiosity away, she continued, "Fate has made me helpless. Like, no matter what I do, I will always be abandoned. No one cared for me since the day I was born." She clenched her teeth and stated in a harsh, cold voice, "It’s better to accept that I can never get what I want without fighting for it rather than wait and hope that fate or fates would give it to me."
Tracy smiled at her in a light-hearted, sympathetic manner. The expression on her face softened quite a lot of degrees. "Believe it or not, there was another option, another fate waiting for you. If only Dominic had made another decision, or you had chosen to stay back in the Venus pack. Ultimately, the fate that you get stuck with is all because of the decisions that you have made. But I assure you that fates always try to bring happiness to everyone. In the end, it’s all due to the choices that you humans or shifters make."
A bitter laugh escaped her, surprising Inez because of its harshness. What kind of fate would have been waiting for her if Dominic had not rejected her? Or if she had stayed behind? Nothing good for sure.
"I don’t think there was anything good waiting for me," said Inez.
"I know that it does feel like it," Tracy said simply, before walking past her. "But don’t worry; what is going to come is going to be better than what you have imagined."
Inez studied Tracy; the woman looked so calm despite all the bombs she kept throwing at her. Ever since she barged into her life, she had been speaking so profoundly as if she knew everything.
Inez wanted to ask the woman who she was and what kind of powers she held. Even though she kept saying that she was a witch, Inez had a feeling that the woman was not simple. However, Inez didn’t pry into the secrets of the woman; after all, the two of them were not even friends. At most, they were just mere acquaintances.
Her fingers dug into the palms of her hands. Questions were still swimming within her head; however, she had no means to quench the thirst of her curiosity. She walked after Tracy, who was heading to her lodge as if she had walked down this path many times already. "You still haven’t told me anything about the powers and those who are hunting me down."
The thought alone that someone was chasing after her left a prickling sensation on her back, which didn’t feel good.
Tracy stopped right in front of the stairs of the lodge and stared at Inez as if she was waiting for something. Her gaze was calm but hurried. Inez frowned. She looked at Tracy and then turned to look at the door of the lodge, and suddenly, understanding dawned on her. She walked past Tracy and opened the door of the lodge with the key that she was carrying.
Though she had a sick suspicion that if Tracy wanted, she could have easily opened the door with a snap of her fingers.
She didn’t speak until the two of them entered the lodge.
Inez watched as Tracy snuggled deeper into the couch; she stretched her legs out in a languid movement and placed them on the tea table. "I know that you are scared, but there is no point in running." She yawned with a hint of tiredness. "Then you might as well leave the matter alone."
"Am I in danger?" This was the one question that kept burning in her mind.
And it was the most important one.
Tracy sighed. "No, you are not in danger."
"What about the pack?"
This time around, the witch didn’t say anything and that made Inez’s heart turn heavy.
"Are they going to hurt the pack members because of me?" She questioned.
Tracy turned her head and opened her eyes, which she had closed earlier. She stared at her, and instead of answering the question that Inez had asked, she pointedly said, "You can think of running away, but there is no point. You can pack up now and leave this pack for your so-called self-sacrifice. Run all night, and find some place to stay when you cannot run anymore. But are you sure that you will be able to live a life of complete solitude? Because that is the only thing that can keep the people around you safe."
"Because these people—the one after you—they are not sane. They don’t kill because they absolutely have to; they kill because they enjoy it. As long as there is a human even at a hundred miles’ radius from where you are hiding, they will kill them. It’s what they are."