Their Mate And Luna

CHAPTER 17

CONFESSIONS 1

Vince and Vance's POV.

"Why was your girlfriend asking about Nicole?" Vince charged into his brother's room, his brow furrowed with concern.

Vance, who was already pacing, replied, "Something about not seeing her around." Vance replied. "If she noticed, others might have too."

Unconsciously, they both exited the room and made their way downstairs to the living room, their conversation still ongoing.

Vince's mind churned with the implications of their actions. "And Dad can find out if anyone brings it up with him. Dad can't find out."

When they arrived at the living room, Vance sank into one of the chairs and buried his head in his palms, pondering over what they had done and asked, "Do you think we did the right thing?"

"About?" Vince asked, but knew what his brother was asking about. He stood by the window looking out into the pack.

"Her," Vance picked up the TV remote and turned it on. "Did we do the right thing by rejecting her?"

"What else could we have done then? She's weak." Vince spat out as he wrestled with his own inner turmoil. He just couldn't suppress the urge to label her as "weak."

"Stop calling my mate weak! She's perfect the way she is." Ares growled at Vince.

"Ares disagrees?" Vance chuckled as he settled into a seat. "Axel too."

With a clenched jaw, Vance stood his ground. "They can disagree all they want. There's no way I am taking her to be my mate. I can't keep looking after her. We have a pack to run. We need a strong she-wolf." Despite his words, a gnawing sensation inside him told him a different story.,.a story of a bond that refused to be silenced. Ares scoffed at him.

Vance’s eyes narrowed at his brother, “Then why are we so concerned? Why are we searching for her?”

“It must be the bond. It’s clouding our judgement.” Vince shook his head, struggling to accept the truth he knew. “It has to be the bond.”

“If that’s the case, why are we fighting it?” Vance was frustrated with his brother’s denial.

“Look at the facts, Vance…she…we can’t keep her?” Vince charged on, even as his entire being reeked of his lies.

“Why? She was given to us. She’s ours," Vance insisted.

“You’re not thinking straight right now. And I believe you’re feeling guilty.” Vince replied, trying to reason with his brother.

“Vince, wake up! Why did we get angry when Tim said she was looking for her mate elsewhere?” Vance wanted nothing more than to punch Vince in the face and break down the wall of lies his brother had built.

“You’re the one who needs to wake up! She’s going to be a liability! Do you know how much protection she will need?” Vince countered.

“Vince!” Vance groaned in frustration.

“Just listen to me…”

“No. Tell me how you’ve felt for the past three years knowing she’s here with us and how you feel right now that you don’t know where she is?” Vance pressed on.

Vince sighed and reclined back in his seat. “It’s different. I feel scared and restless”

“Exactly!”

“It could be our wolves acting up because of the bond.”

“Fool.” Axel snarled at Vince.

“And he calls me a beast,” Ares quipped.

Vance gave a throaty laugh. “Vinnie, we can’t keep lying that it’s the bond when we both know the truth.” He could feel a heavy weight gradually starting to lift off him. “It’s more than the bond.”

Vince asked, squeezing his face in shock. “What about Billie? Weren’t you planning on taking her as your luna?”

“I thought I could take Billie as my Chosen. We looked perfect together, or so I thought. But now I see that we don’t. She can’t be my luna.”

“It’s because of Nicole?” Vince asked as he began to sift through his own feelings for the various women he had been with. Gauging if what he felt for any of them equaled what his brother was saying.

“I don’t know, but I think it is.” Vance said quietly. “Since we discovered she was our fated, I haven’t stopped thinking about her.” He took out his phone, opened it and tapped on the photo icon to reveal a whole folder titled ‘Brown eyes.’ He tossed the phone to Vince.

“You too?” Vince asked, his eyes widening.

“You have her pictures too?” Vance's eyes widened in surprise also.

Vince reached into his pockets and also took out his phone which had Nicole’s picture as a screen saver.

“Not fair. You used her as a screen saver while I was hiding,” Vance said.

Silence reigned between the two as they looked at the pictures on each of their phones. Both felt a spasm of pain roll around their hearts as they shared pictures of their mate. Though brief, their hearts registered it louder.

“We really messed up,” Vance finally said as they dropped their phones on the table.

“You think?” Vince said in sarcasm, pulling an arm over his face. “Now I know why these past weeks have been terrible. I have been feeling empty.” He sighed.

“Me too,” Vance added.

“But, you’ve been getting it on wildly with Billie?”

“Getting it on but not getting it done. My mind always roamed, seeking for something I just realized I was missing,” Vance said regretfully. “You?”

“You know I don’t stay long with the ladies. No strings attached. Even then, nothing felt good. They weren’t her,” Vince replied. “Shit.”

Another wave of silence erupts between them to be broken by Vince.

“What do we do now?”

“Find her first and undo our rejection,” Vance replied with determination.

“Not if she accepts our rejection the moment she sees us,” Vince said, feeling a sliver of fear pass through him. “Scary.”

“If she finds a second chance mate,” Vance stated, the scariest part of their situation.

Both clenched their teeth in frustration as the high possibility of that happening filled their minds.

“We can’t let that happen.”

“Pray it doesn’t happen because I won’t allow you to have a pup ever with another female,” Axel growled at them.

"All the way, bro," Aries bumped his head with that of his twin wolf. "Whatever your decision is, I'll stand by it."

After another bout of silence.

"What were your plans... about getting a mate, I mean?" Vance broke the silence.

"Choose someone. I think," Vince replied, ignoring Ares who was throwing a storm again in his head.

Noticing his brother wince, Vance asked, "Ares is throwing a storm."

"Yeah. And you were planning on taking that dumb girl as your luna?”

"I don't know. She's a gamma and we've been together for a long time. Saves me time and energy. I don't have to start looking for someone else."

"What about what dad said about their parents?" Vince frowned. Why didn't their father want to tell them about Dean Ashton?

"That too."

"Do you love her? Billie?" Vince asked.

"No." Frowning and blinking profusely, the thought had just occurred to him. He never loved her.

"Then why were you considering taking her as your Luna? Why are you still with her?"

"I guess being close to them all these years made it seem okay to be with her. Or it could be an infatuation," Vance was still asking himself the truth.

"You were infatuated with her?" Vince rolled his lips in disgust. "With her?" Repeating for emphasis.

Vance glared at him. "Not all of us can be an unfeeling monster like you. I have feelings in case you didn't notice."

"At least being an unfeeling monster helped me not to be attached to her equally gold-digger sister. And I do have feelings. I just decide who I have them for," Priding himself for how he treated Millie right from the start, Vince replied.

"Only you can say that."

"Yeah. Back to the topic. You need to break up with Billie, immediately."

"Any ideas?"

"Pick up your phone, dial her number and tell her it's over between you two." Vince deadpanned.

"Exactly the way an unfeeling monster would do."

"It saves you time and having to explain. The earlier the better," Vince deadpans again.

"I will see what I can do."

Vince throws his twin a ‘are you for real’, look, shaking his head.

"Why do you think her family didn't tell our parents what happened?" Vance asked, picking up his phone again to look at Nicole’s pictures.

"I don't know, bro. And it scares me"