Chapter 25 - His Name?

Chapter 25 - His Name?
Fidelia

“Start from the beginning.” Fidelia instructed.

“Ok.” Jade laughed.

But she didn’t start right away; she fiddled with her fingers in her lap for a long time. Opened and closed her mouth a few times without actually saying anything. Eventually she took in a deep breath and then let loose a long exhale.

“I guess I should start with my pack…the one I was born in…” She hesitated for a moment. “I don’t wanna say the name, for personal reason.” She frowned.

“That’s okay.” Fidelia reassured her. “Just call them something like, Star or Sky or something.” She smiled encouragingly.

“Okay! So my pack, Sun, wasn’t the only pack in the immediate area where it was situated.”

Fidelia gave her a confused look. Normally packs were quite far from each other, at least Orion’s Valley was super far from other packs and it would literally take you days to reach the nearest one.

“The best way I could explain it is…um, there was a city nearby and there were five packs that ruled the lands outside and nearby this city.” Fidelia nodded along to show she was starting to understand, a little. “The city was like, pre-agreed neutral territory but pack land rules still applied outside of it.”

“Okay, so yours was one of the packs that surrounded this city?” Fidelia asked.

“Yeah, so my pack Sun was quite a wealthy pack and despite being so close to a city there was loads of woodland and grasslands surrounding us. Oh Fidelia, there’s this meadow that when you go at night in the summer there are hundreds of fireflies and it’s so magical! Oh, and there’s a river where…” She paused, noticing the pointed look Fidelia was giving her to show she was straying off topic.

“Sorry.” Jade apologised. “It’s been a while since I got to talk about home.” She sighed sadly.

Fidelia suddenly felt bad about giving her that pointed look. She should have just let her stray off topic; it seemed to have made her so happy. Jade’s face had actually been glowing as she recalled these places.

“Keep going. It sounds magical!” Fidelia smiled at her, making Jade look up at her bewildered at first but then she mirrored Fidelia’s smile.

“It was.” She said wistfully. “I miss it so much, every day.”

'So much for making her feel better,' Fidelia thought.

“Believe it or not Fi, I’m not some ordinary no rank wolf.” She grinned and even laughed at the confused expression that crossed Fidelia’s face. “I was a Beta’s daughter.”

Fidelia nearly crashed the Jeep at this new information, she managed to keep them on the road but there was a very noticeable swerve. This just made Jade laugh even harder, as she held her stomach to help her stop.

“You!” Fidelia spluttered.

“Yup!” Jade giggled.

“But…you…you don’t act….” She struggled, completely flabbergasted by the very concept of Jade being born to a position of so much responsibility!

“Act like a Beta?” She asked raising an eyebrow. “I used to.” She sighed sadly, looking out of her dark window again. “I was going to be the next Beta of my pack, well co-beta.” Again Fidelia gave her a confused look but before she could ask any questions, Jade continued. “I have a twin brother, his name is Jared.”

Fidelia felt her mouth drop open in pure shock. She had honestly not even considered the fact that Jade would have family, even though it would make plenty of sense. But a twin brother, she’d never heard even a whisper of gossip about Jade having a brother.

“We’re fraternal twins, so we don’t look a lot alike…at least we didn’t when we were eighteen, he might have changed…I don’t know…” Even though she was facing away from Fidelia, she could see Jade’s pained expression reflected in the dark window.

“Why don’t you know?” Fidelia breathed, a little afraid to ask the question.

“I haven’t seen him since I was eighteen…And just like my mate, I can never see him ever again.” She choked, clearly trying to stop herself from crying.

“What happened?” Fidelia asked, feeling her heart twist painfully as she waited for the answer.

“Well, it started when I turned eighteen. Like everyone else, the first thing I wanted and couldn’t wait for was to find my mate. The other half of my soul, the person I would love for the rest of my life.” She finally turned away from the window and looked over at Fidelia again. Jade was smiling, but it wasn’t a happy smile, it was one filled with pain and sorrow.

“I was one of the lucky ones. I found him, a few days after my birthday. But turned out he was younger than me, not by much, only a couple of months. So he couldn’t tell who I was yet, but I was more than happy to wait for him. I didn’t want to tell him, I was so excited for the moment he’d sense me and claim me as his that I didn’t want to ruin it.” She paused. “In hindsight…I should have just told him…” She sniffed.

Fidelia swallowed hard. She had a feeling she knew where this was going; she’d heard tales of it before but had never actually met someone who had survived through it.

“Did he…reject you?” She choked out. She felt Blake bristle inside of her at the very idea of rejection, that was how bad it was.

“Reject me?” Jade chuckled to herself darkly. “He didn’t even get the chance…”

Fidelia turned to look at her and was met with her tears again.

“You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to.” Fidelia whispered, feeling her heart twist even more painfully as she saw the tears rolling down Jade’s face. Something bad must have happened to make her react like this from just talking about it.

“No, I want to tell you!” She sniffled, wiping the tears from her eyes with her hands. “I think you’re right, talking about it might actually make me feel better.”

Fidelia gave her a concerned look but gestured for her to go on.

“So, where was I?” She sniffed, wiping the last of her tears away. “Oh, I found my mate but he wasn’t of age yet. I didn’t really know who he was, but I investigated him and found out as much as I could. Turned out he was the son of the Alpha of the…uh, Moon pack.” She smiled, quickly covering up the name of the actual pack. “I was so excited, I even began planning where and when I’d let him discover me. I was going to get an invite to his eighteenth birthday party and that’s where he’d ‘discover’ me.” She used air quotes when saying discover and winked at Fidelia, who laughed in return.

“I even knew how I was going to get an invite, I was best friends with the Alpha of the Sun Packs daughter…at least I thought I was…” She muttered the last part under her breath, but being a werewolf Fidelia still heard her.

“I confided in her. Leah was the Alpha’s daughter and I was the Beta’s daughter, so our friendship just always made sense and I thought we got along well.” She sighed. “She was the only one I told about discovering my mate and how I wanted him to find out at his party. I asked her if she could get me an invite with her or if I could maybe be her plus one and she agreed to help. I was thrilled! She told me not to worry about anything, she’d take care of it and all I had to worry about was what to wear.” She gave Fidelia another sad look.

“I was so happy; I didn’t sense anything off about her. But she betrayed me!” She sobbed.

“What happened?” Fidelia swallowed.

“There was a bad rogue attack, one that was clearly an inside job. Someone had helped the filthy beasts enter our lands without being detected and it was just a horrible mess. She accused me of being the traitor, said I had done it in hopes to kill off the Alpha family so my brother and I, as Beta’s would rise to the higher position. She turned on me and I didn’t even know why, at first.”

“Why? Why would she turn on you like that!?” Fidelia demanded, outraged from what she was hearing.

“She wanted my mate. There was an arrangement, if neither of them found their mate by twenty-one they would mate with each other and the Sun and Moon packs would unite into one pack under their arranged mating.” A tear silently rolled down Jade’s cheek as she spoke. “I found this out while I was in the pack cells awaiting my punishment for being a traitor.” She said miserably.

“Cells! Wait they actually believed her!?” Fidelia nearly screamed at the injustice.

“Of course they did, she was the Alpha’s daughter. You of all people should know how much power and influence that title holds.” Jade said.

It was true, Fidelia did have quite a bit of influence as an Alpha’s daughter but she was raised to never abuse that power! For example, by falsely accusing someone of treason just to get them out of the way so she could get her own way!

“It would amaze you what you hear when your locked away.” Jade chuckled darkly, but there was no real humour there. “Turns out Leah had actually found her true mate too but rejected him immediately. She wanted my mate so badly, that she broke the heart of her own just to get him!”

“They announced my crimes and sentence, not only in front of my packs hierarchy; which included my family. I’ll never forget the looks my father and brother gave me, like I was something that absolutely disgusted them. My mere presence was an offense to them!” She bit her lip so hard, she broke the skin. “But they also asked the surrounding packs Alpha’s and Beta’s to come bear witness.” She looked over at Fidelia, her eyes watering again. “My mate watched as I was sentenced and his eyes were filled with hatred and disgust. The first time his eyes met mine and that was what he saw.” She sobbed.

Fidelia was speechless. Of all the things she thought Jade was going to tell her, this was definitely not it. She wanted to hug her and let her know they were all bastards who didn’t deserve her and that her mate could shove it and her traitorous ex-friend Leah could burn in hell. But she held back for two reasons; 1) if she hugged Jade right now, she’d crash the Jeep and 2) She wasn’t sure she’d be able to manage it; what with being the least emotionally available person she could think of.

“They banished me from all five packs and forbade me to meet anyone from them, even my own family. I think, my dad must have pulled some influence so they didn’t kill me but that was all he did. I was dragged off of the pack lands; my mother was the only one who didn’t believe I’d done it.” She clutched at her chest. “They let her say goodbye and she hugged me, I didn’t even notice her slip a card into my pocket.”

Fidelia gave her a look and Jade instantly elaborated.

“It was a bank card. She transferred money into it, a lot of money, so I could survive.” Jade explained.

“You haven’t seen her since?” Fidelia asked.

“I wasn’t allowed to. But I think about her all the time, she was the only one who believed me over the Alpha’s daughter!”

Fidelia nodded in understanding. She couldn’t imagine never being allowed to see her mother ever again. She knew it would tear her apart and she probably wouldn’t last long without a warm and comforting hug from her.

“What did you do once…you’d…you know...” She struggled, but Jade laughed.

“Been exiled?”

“Yeah, that.” Fidelia replied awkwardly, blushing a little.

“Well, I lived as a rogue for a few years. Not in like the woods or anything, just jumping between motels and the like. I tried to join a few packs but was instantly rejected.” Fidelia raised an eyebrow. “Leah made sure to contact every pack that had connections with them, and let them know her lies and tales about how awful I was and how I was in cahoots with rogues. I was lucky to leave those packs alive, let alone join them.” She sighed heavily.

“Bitch!” Fidelia growled angrily.

“The biggest bitch!” Jade agreed and they both laughed.

Once they had both managed to stop laughing, Jade continued.

“Eventually I gave up with even the notion of joining another pack; I was tired of the constant rejection. I decided to do something with the money mum had given me. I found a neutral, pack free zone and I enrolled in University. It felt strange to actually put my High school work to good use.” She laughed.

“I got in and I was surprised to find I was not the only werewolf to enrol.” She looked at Fidelia with a knowing look and Fidelia caught on immediately.

“You met Axel.” She said, with a smile which felt odd. It was the first time she had said her brother’s name and smiled at the same time, in a while.

“Yeah! At first I was a bit nervous around him; I knew he was an Alpha instantly but my last run-ins with Alpha’s weren’t the greatest.” She shrugged and rolled her eyes. “Eventually, I opened up a bit around him and the guys and it felt nice to not be hated by others for once. It was in our final year that Axel invited me to join Orion Valley. I was shocked, to say the least, but I knew my old pack didn’t have any connections with Orion Valley so there was no way Axel knew the lies about me.” She smiled. “But I was so afraid of being hated and thrown away again, before I knew it I was acting like I was someone else. Like someone I thought others wanted me to be, I was…”

“Peppy, annoying and loud?” Fidelia offered, with a cheeky grin.

“Exactly!” Jade laughed. “And I couldn’t stop, the fear of betrayal just eat me up from the inside and I couldn’t be myself anymore…” She looked down at her hands again, silent.

“You should be yourself.” Fidelia told her and Jade looked up at her. “I like the real you more, you’re less…” Fidelia struggled to find the exact words.

“Peppy, annoying and loud?” Jade offered with a laugh.

“Exactly!” Fidelia grinned back. “You shouldn’t have to pretend so others will like you, the right people will be drawn to the real you.” She said thoughtfully.

“Thank you, Fidelia.” Jade smiled gratefully. “I’m glad I told you, you were right. Saying it out loud didn’t change anything but it makes the past feel a little less heavy.” She sighed contently; she turned to gaze out her window again.

Fidelia felt a strange warmth spread through her. She was happy she had helped Jade feel better and even liked the glimpse of the actual Jade that she was getting to see; instead of the fake, overly cheerful, always switched on Jade she was used to putting up with. Maybe the rest of the trip to Andromeda City wouldn’t feel as long with the real Jade.

But something was bothering her. A name she had left out of her story, like she was afraid to say it. And before Fidelia could stop her stupid mouth from opening, she asked.

“What was his name?” She heard her voice say before her brain could catch up and scold her for asking such a stupid and personal question.

“Damon.” Jade breathed, not even looking back at Fidelia or questioning who she meant.

Fidelia glanced at her before turning back to the road and using all her brain power to concentrate on the road ahead, instead of asking anymore stupid questions. But she kept thinking about it sadly.

The mate Jade never even had the chance to be with was called Damon.