Chapter 37: Doubt

Althea is curling up in a ball on her and Allan's bed as Oliver attempts to counsel her on the matter. All she wants to do is break down and cry. "Crying never solves your problems, but it feels good," Oliver says as he pats her on the back. "I'm sorry you had to go through that Althea," he says compassionately. Althea can't believe it either, but it happened.

"I don't know what I'm going to do; it's not like I can just end up leaving him now; he's got me marked," she sobs. Honestly, she appears to be a complete mess right now, most likely because her makeup is all over the place, as is her life.

"Here I will tell you something that I hate telling other people," Oliver sighs, turning to face her. "I'm not sure if my brother told you what happened in his entire life, but it might not be true. Allan was always a bit disturbed, especially when it came to making friends, so when he was little, he would bully just to have some people around him. But one night he was walking home and he heard some screaming coming from an alleyway. At the time, he was only a little boy. He still walks over and sees an old woman being beaten, he attacks the guy killing him, but the old woman ran off and called the police on Allan anyways," he says.

"Our parents are already dead before my brother realizes we are his true family; our packs believe he killed them, but they were assassinated by someone we can't figure out, but others still thought it was Allan," he added.

"Wait, so Allan killed someone?" she asks, surprised. He gives her a weird look as if she should have known.

"I assume you didn't recall the part where he's a serial—" he was interrupted by Allan crashing through the window. His eyes widened in terror, and she backed Oliver up, not sure what to expect from her mate.

Allan remains on the other side of the room, never approaching them. "Of all the things in this moronic world, I had no idea you were one of them, Oliver," he snickers, daintily tapping his fingers against the wall.

This recalled her of the first time she met Allan when he sounded insane with the way he spoke. She is experiencing deja vu right now. Althea puts her hand to her heart, trying to soothe herself down because she is beginning to panic.

"She has a right to know!" Oliver growls lowly, stomping his foot forward as if defying his brother.

Althea wouldn't think that was a good idea, considering he'd murdered innocent people and forced the authorities back into their tiny hole while she was present.

"Of course she does, he has a right to know that you are part of the government. Of course, she has a right to know you came here to coax her away," Allan sings, waggling around once.

She looks at Oliver to see if it's the truth, but all he does is look back at her with a sad expression. She stepped back from him, not trusting anyone in this room right now.

One sibling works for the government and the other is a psychopath, two of the world's shittiest things. Most of the time.

Allan turns to face her, taunting, "Now what will my little mate do?" he taps his cheek. Althea slipped down the side behind her, her heart racing. She covers her face with her hands to conceal her emotions.

"Allan! What the heck is wrong with you?" Oliver exclaims as he approaches him. She peered through a small gap between her arms. "For God's sake, she's your beloved mate-"

"Oh yes, she's not my beloved, she's just my mate! She's just a replacement for my Athena! She's just my second chance at having a mate that I didn't even wish for! she doesn't care about me *F*cks about me! I'm tired of pretending!" he growls, pointing to her.

"So, my mate thinks I'm just a replacement for his previous mate. I never thought of that," Althea said to herself with her broken voice as her wolf shielded away from the corner of her mind. "I'm sorry, our mate has already caused us so much pain," her wolf said as Oliver slapped him hard.

"See, you finally said it. You don't love her. You can't move on. You became like that because of Athena! She's already gone, brother. Please give yourself a chance! Look, she is scared of you. You are only using her for the mate bond perks, that's pretty f*cking shallow. I want to help you, I want to fix you, but if you can't even start caring for your mate, then there's no chance for you." Oliver turns away from Allan, crossing his arms. His eyes long for the floor,

"He did want to help him, I'm just in the way," Althea said to herself, her eyes sad. Allan snarled next, or at least his wolf did.

"You know what, f*ck you! Take my mate if you want, but if I die, it's all on you two f*ckers!" he exclaims, pointing to both of them. Althea was taken aback because he had been pursuing her all along and then abruptly stated that she was just a replacement.

She was surprised and perplexed, but there was another lingering sensation. Oliver huffs and approaches her, holding out his hand. She slaps it away and stands up. She doesn't trust him, especially since he was attempting to return her to the location where the sheriff tortured her.

Althea then unlocked and opened the apartment door, not looking back as she left the siblings behind. As she left the building, her feet dragged themselves down the stairs, hoping it was the last time. She passed by the receptionist, who waved back, and she did not turn back.

She goes to the woods to escape her wolf once the cold air hits her skin. All they wanted at this point was peace. She was heartbroken; after all, Allan was still her mate, so she understood. But she was relieved; she felt liberated as if she could be herself again. Perhaps she could finish school or get a job. What she's capable of now.

She comes to a halt when she recalls something Allan said to her the night before, "But if you do remember, remember that I can be a mate," he said last night, but she now doesn't understand what he meant. She shakes her head, "No he can't, he's just using me, all the sweetness he showed to me are all fake," she mutters, hoping that this freedom will not be fleeting.