The Dark Side Of Fate

~Sylvester~

Leo and I sat in the empty booth and spent at least one hour discussing Max and Kyle.

I was amazed to learn how oblivious he was of their activities, and I was amazed to learn how extremely democratic their system in the east was. Wolves needed one leader, one they would listen to and follow. They can only achieve a little when given ample freedom of choice. In a situation like that, people like Kyle and Max will get away with many atrocities as they already have. Wolves needed firm hands and definite action.

Leo wasn't weak, as I had thought initially, but his environment made him so.

Their democratic system was flawed, allowing people to meddle in other people's affairs without consequence

If Kyle and Max had a say in whether Amanda should be in Leo's house, it was only natural they would vote for it because that was precisely what they were doing. There was no yardstick to measure moral compass or qualification to vote. It was chaos.

After he told me about Max and Kyle and how best to deal with them, we delved into other matters. "I am of the notion that Kyle did not orchestrate the initial attack against Gad's borders," I said, wanting to know what he knew before I divulged my truth.

"He did say he did not do it, and honestly, I believe him. He isn't that smart to do something at that scale. I have been investigating the incident since the attack happened because I did not want Tamia's sacrifice to be in vain,” he said and chuckled.

"Had 1 known she had gone to be where she would find love again, I wouldn't have been bothered. But I had this hope of finding the culprit and reporting the person to you, hoping you will give me back my wife,” He said.

Referring to Tamia as his wife got to me, but I figured it was out of habit, so I let it be.

"And what did you find during your investigation?” I asked him, and he sighed.

"Well, Kyle's men defected and were working against him." He said, which corresponded with the information that we got too.

"Do you know who they were working with?" I asked him, and he shook his head

"I am yet to find out, but I believe it is one of the eastern alphas because only someone very close to Kyle could do that magnitude of damage. We initially thought Devin did it to force us to join forces with him and attack the north, but when I spoke to Devin, I realised he just wanted to protect his people. He even believed you orchestrated to attack, so you will have a reason to come for us as punishment for going into alliance with the south,” he said. I could not believe how these people viewed me.

"I guess that is why I am called the Dark Alpha," I said, and he smiled and nodded.

"You don't want to hear the stories told about you. They make you sound like a heartless monster that kills at will. Seeing Tamia's joy has changed my perspective of you completely. Tamia has a good heart, and for her to love you completely and deeply means you have a kind heart, too," he said, and I gave a half smile.

" will take that as a compliment, Leo," I said, and he laughed.

He was comfortable enough for me to ask him a question.

"I see Amanda's father is an Alpha, and Tamia told me that is why I got lucky with her. If Amanda wasn't an alpha's daughter, they wouldn't have forced Amanda into your home," I said, and I could tell the memory was painful for him, and he shook his head.

"I made a silly mistake," he said and sighed.

"Finding a fated was so rare that I was excited that I found mine. Instead of rejecting her as you did, I allowed room for conversation and let the bond thrive.

It thrived enough for me to kiss her and make out with her. In the process, her dress got ripped, but I did not do anything with her or accept her.

I planned to reject her, but I feared the weakness that came with it. So I tried to be passive.

I wanted to ignore her until she gave up and moved away.

I was unfortunate because she told her father I had accepted and taken her. So they fought me to get her into my home.

Ramsey asked me a couple of times, then threatened me. When that didn't work, he began soliciting alphas to help him go to war against me. He claimed I defiled his daughter, so a meeting was called, and I was given a week to take her in, or they would come for me.

By then, my marriage with Tamia was rocky. She had already given up on us, and my wolf did not want Tamia, and she knew it, so I let Amanda stay in my house.

I ignored her for a while, and one night, my wolf, overwhelmed by the bond and Amanda's scent, took over while I was sleeping and took me to Amanda's room to claim her. I did not know what had happened until we had claimed each other; by then, it was too late, and there was no going back," he said, and his eyes were teary.

"Black never betrayed me before, but he betrayed me that night. He let the mate bond overcome us, knocked me out and took over my body to claim his mate. When I found out what had happened, I had to accept it and live with it,” he said and bowed his head.

" did not want to let her go," he said and began to weep again

The man was broken, and I doubted anything would put him back together.

"I am willing to let you continue your friendship with Tamia," I blurted out, and he looked at me in shock and wiped away his tears.

"Yes," I said because his eyes asked if I was serious.

"You two have been friends for a while. She told me how you taught her how to pick locks..” I said and stopped.

"There is no happy memory Tamia has about her past that you are not in. Besides what transpired between you, you were her family and best friend. That is why your betrayal was hard. You were all she had and her only relative in the world, so she was trapped until my men came and took her away," I said, and he shook his head.

"She wanted to leave me. She had been trying to leave me. She saw your men as an opportunity,” he said, and I laughed.

"I know," I said, and he was surprised that I knew that Tamia had left him.

"She told me she wrote several letters to various alphas asking them to absorb her into their packs,” I confessed, and he nodded.

"The day I heard she was writing letters to join other packs so she could leave me, I felt destroyed. I never imagined a day when Tamia and Kaira would want to be far away from me. We promised each other forever and always. She did not even take the locket with her. She let me go completely,” he said, and I looked at him.

"Just because you two are no longer mates does not mean you can't be friends. If you want to continue being friends with Tamia, I will allow it," I said, and he was still in disbelief.

"You mean you trust me?" He asked, and I shook my head.

"I trust Tamia. I know she loves me utterly and truly.” I said and looked at him

"Tamia loves deeply and genuinely and keeps her promises,” I said, and he frowned at me.

"A lot of people don't know this, but before I rejected my fated for her, she had done that for me," I said, and he was shocked.

"She went to see Alpha Jake Brighton and ran into Devin Corrigan, who happened to be her fated. She rejected him and came home to me,” I said; he was stunned, but he wasn't surprised, which meant he knew.

"I see you aren't surprised,” I said, making an observation, and he sighed.

"I told Devin to let her be; that you were possessive of Tamia, but he wouldn't listen. He wanted me to write to her and tell her they were fated. I refused, and he wasn't happy,” he told me, and I was shocked that Leo knew and had advised Devin to walk away.

"So she rejected him for you?" he said, feeling inadequate. He should because Tamia had done something he was incapable of.

Leo chuckled and looked at me.

"I am a joke," he said, and I frowned.

"During one of our arguments in the past, I once told Tamia it wasn't my fault that I found my fated, and she could not understand. I honestly believed I did well, and I tried. Now I realise I was weak. After seeing you give up your fated for her without thinking about it and hearing that she did the same, I now realise I was weak and stupid,” he said, and I smiled at him.

"It is okay. We are all where we are meant to be," I said, and he nodded in agreement, but his eyes said otherwise.

"Can you tell me anything about Ramsey? He seemed a bit forceful,” I said, trying to make my questions flow into the conversation.

I wanted him to answer me honestly. If I asked him about Ramsey directly, he would be suspicious and want to protect the man for Amanda's sake. I could not allow that. Establishing him in our discussion on Amanda and Tamia had given me room to inquire more about him without raising Leo's suspicion.

"He is an obnoxious prick. He schemed with his daughter to get rid of Tamia. The worst of his schemes was when he compelled a man to attack Amanda and told me Tamia sent him to kill her when he was caught. I knew Tamia could be ruthless, but she would not kill anyone for something like that. Although Amanda got the best of me, I overreacted in the process. When the eastern Alphas joined forces with Devin, the sleaze bag remained with us. When the alphas returned to me, they were surprised Ramsey never left. I found out he was the one that instigated them to join Devin. I have yet to confront him, but I do not trust the man. My opinion,” he said quickly, and I realised Leo wasn't a stupid man. He was very wise.

"Well, since you have established that on your own, it is safe for me to tell you this," I said and looked at him.

"Ramsey was the one that orchestrated the attack on Gad that led to me attacking the east,” I said, and Leo gasped.

Slowly I saw rage begin to show in his eyes. I could see him destroy Ramsey. He was livid.

"Do you know why?" he asked, and I could hear a low growl. He wasn't weak at all. I felt his wolf, and Leo was a very powerful man; he just seemed like the peace-loving type.

"That is why I am telling you this. I was hoping we would work together to uncover the culprits,” I said, and he was still.

"I do not need to overthink; he had been trying to get rid of my wife. The arsehole knew you would attack and was hoping I would give up Tamia or she would get killed," he said, and I shook my head. "That is too broad, Leo. I need you to take your emotions out of it and investigate. It is too specific. If what you are saying is true, it would have been a dangerous gamble because what guarantees that it wouldn't be his daughter? This Ramsey guy is too smart not to be deliberate and specific. We need to dig deep to find out why he would do such a thing and then frame Kyle for it. Why didn’t he frame Maxwell or any other Alpha? Why Kyle? Do you think you can help me figure it out?" I asked Leo, and he nodded.

"I will gladly do it, your eminence," He said with a promise, and I was happy. He had a bone to pick with Ramsey, and I doubted Amanda could make him change his mind. We shook on it.

"I see you will be on the rugby team,” Leo said, and I could see that he knew what was happening. "I guess Max and Kyle are not out of danger yet," He said, laughing, and I joined in.

"They wanted to chicken out, but I lied that it was compulsory,” Leo said, and we laughed. We weren't the only ones that found their suffering satisfying. Leo did too.