Page 104 of A Chance at Redemption for the Alpha

“Yeah, I do. I know he feels really sorry, but I also know a simple sorry isn’t enough,” he pauses. “I love him, so it took me a while to understand how differently he treated you.” He pauses. “What are we going to do from here on?”

“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “I honestly don’t. I just know it can’t be the same as before.”

“Whatever you decide, please keep in contact with Mom,” he begs. “She was devastated. I am still surprised that she didn’t hate me for what happened.”

“That’s because, unlike Dad, she truly loved us both the same, and she probably saw her own faults in what happened,” I say. “I promise not to leave her hanging. She was always a black spot on my consciousness.”

“I know it will never be the same again,” Eugene says quietly. “But I am so glad to see you again. A huge part of me felt like it was missing.”

I gaze at my twin brother while trying to listen deep inside my own mind. I missed Eugene; he is my brother and my twin, and for many years we were inseparable, but I also put aside a lot of my own feelings and wishes to make life for him better. That’s not necessarily his fault. I was too much of a people pleaser back then without noticing.

I have missed Eugene, but I feel like he might have missed me more. That realization hits me like a brick. He missed me more than I missed him! Weird, how our roles were reversed, while I needed the time away from the pack to become my own person. I can’t tell him that, though. This realization is just for me.

It’s quiet between us. “I fucked up,” Eugene says into the silence. “First, when you were mated to Olive, I blamed everything on you-“

“I would have let her go,” I tell him. “I would have let her go for your sake. Why the fuck didn’t you even talk to me?! By the goddess, Eugene, all you had to do was talk to me.” I feel the old exasperation coming up in me again. I thought I had successfully gotten rid of my anger, but part of it is still there. “Forget it, it’s not important.”

“No, you are right. I was a terrible brother. I only realized how majorly I fucked up after our fight.”

“Yes. I am sorry to say it so bluntly, but you were a shit brother to me and an equally shitty friend.”

Eugene folds his fingers, looking down on them. “Before our battle, Olive actually told me that she wouldn’t choose eitherof us,” he says. “That’s what I meant when I said things were complicated.”

My eyes snap up. “What?! You are making this up!”

“No, I’m not. It also wasn’t Olive who wanted to meet secretly; it was me who sought her out. I knew she was torn, and I just felt so… Goddess…”

“You didn’t want me to have her,” I say. “You are an idiot, Eugene. She isn’t an object, she isn’t somethingyou fight over, especially when she doesn’t want it, she is a person.”

“I know that now,” he says. “I wish I could travel back and smack my eighteen-year-old selfish self.”

I stare at him while I let his words sink in. “Are you really telling me that Olive actually wanted to break up with you?”

“Yes, she wanted to reject you, but also break up with me,” he admits.

“She didn’t tell me!” I exclaim. “She came to me to talk and to reject me, but she didn’t tell me anything.”

“She didn’t want to,” he explains. “She said, it doesn’t matter, because she still led you on, intentionally or not. She didn’t want to make any excuses.” He pauses. “Obviously, I didn’t listen to what she wanted. I didn’t listen to anyone.”

“And then you turned out to be her second chance mate,” I utter. I don’t know what comes over me, but I just have to laugh. “That’s actually hilarious! I am sorry to laugh at your misery, but…” My voice trails off. I don’t want to rub salt into his wound, but it’s obvious the goddess wanted to fuck him over a little. She gave me a wonderful second chance mate, someone who was ready to come with me and open up to me, someone who became a real partner to me.

While she made him Olive’s second chance after he dismissed her wishes and refused to acknowledge her opinion.

After she wanted to actually leave his sorry ass.

“It obviously wasn’t a rosy time,” he says. “The worst part was that we had to stick together after everything that happened.”

“Sure, we had our falling out because of her. You both needed to play your part.”

“Yes. At the same time, she battled her resentment, and I, my anger.”

“And then?”

“After a year or so, we finally acknowledged our guilt. Then we started to work on our relationship. We were mates after all…” He pauses. “I am sorry, you don’t want to hear any of that.”

“I do,” I say. “Because apparently you haven’t gotten the memo yet, but I am very happy with where I am now. With my mate and my pack. It’s like a dream come true, and to be honest, I wouldn’t have achieved it here.”

“You did it all, you built it all up without me,” Eugene mutters. “In the end, you didn’t need me.”