With Hearts to Hear| ✔

|23|

Adelia had reserved a table at a fairly new fancy restaurant that had opened in Willsden Brooke. The neutral territory wasn't really necessary even though the she-wolf he was meeting was from a different pack, but according to his mother she had taken leave in Willsden Brook for a while and was quite the promising warrior.

The thought of the small town sent a small rush through him, a strange mix of nervous fear and exhilaration. The memories of the past, the thought of his future all beginning there sent an acidic shot to his heart and a strange tumble in his stomach.

Killian knew that his mother was right; he needed to move on. Rachel was gone, with no guarantee or indication that she was ever coming back. He wanted to believe it wasn't true, but every day he waited, and every day she didn't come back. He had not waited for her before he found her the first time, perhaps it was unwise of him to wait now.

There was no reason he couldn't, at the very least, try to get over her. Even if he already felt that it was impossible, it made him a little less miserable to believe he had an element of control over the heartache.

It was time to stop waiting.

"The car is out front," Leandra announced from where she stood just by the door. She had hardened over the last few years. She had to, because when Killian had been sobbing over glasses of whiskey in the middle of the night, he needed someone to keep him up; or when Killian had closed himself off from the pack, from the world, she needed to be tough enough to break through his stubborn exterior. "Are you sure this is the best idea, Alpha?"

"What else am I supposed to do? She's gone." Killian sighed, a brand-new defeat settling over him. It was a resignation that Leandra had not seen in him previously; he really believes that she isn't coming back.

His beta gave him a sad smile, clasping him on the shoulder in what she hoped was an act of comfort as he moved past her out the door. What else could she say? She didn't want to give her Alpha false hope, but she also thought that the former Luna was forcing her son to make a decision that would make him even more unhappy. For the first time in a long time Beta Leandra said a silent prayer to the Goddess, praying that she would mend this whole situation. She doubted it would help, but she wanted to think that fate would correct itself.

Killian sighed, pretending not to notice the sad pity in Leandra's eyes as he walked past her. Perhaps once he would have been angered by the pity, but now, he knew it only as the feelings of a friend who wanted the best for him.

He knew that Leandra thought he was making a mistake by listening to his mother; she didn't have to say the words that were written plainly across her face. However, Killian couldn't help but disagree, at least this way he was doing something. He had no trouble being on his own, he had a lot of practice of it long before Rachel came and went again but sitting alone with his thoughts of her was torture.

He sighed, as the car door slammed shut behind him. He had agreed to meet his mother and this she-wolf at the restaurant, the slip of paper with the scrawled address between his fingers as he tapped an anxious drum beat against the steering wheel.

There was still time for him to change his mind.

He let out a strangled sound, something between a growl and a grunt forcing himself to turn the ignition before he could convince himself to get out the car. The dark vehicle pulled out down the gravel drive and sped off into the evening to where perhaps a new beginning awaited him.

The restaurant was a fair size, well lit, and obviously expensive. Chairs and chandeliers all gilded in gold, matching the centrepieces on all the tables; plush red velvet sat on each chair all working perfectly with the matching drapes that hung over the windows with a perfect view into the cosy town beyond; the patterned marble shined so brightly it rivalled the silver cutlery placed to perfection at each table. At the very back of the entire space had a wall of mirrors, reflecting the warm ambient glow of light and giving the illusion that the space was twice its actual size.