WOULDN’T LIKE THE ANSWER

Declan

“That woman, why did you let her into the house?”

I could understand why Rhys was like this. He was hurt the most by when she ran away and left us. I mean I was hurt too because she was our mate, and she left us. But for Rhys, it was much more than that.

They were best friends and she still chose to leave.

She broke his heart…. She broke both our hearts.

“Rhys it is not that easy anymore, things are complicated.”

Rhys shoved me in the chest “it is not that fucking complicated Declan… she left us after we had such an amazing night, no word no trace and now what? You want us to go hugging and kissing her like all is alright?”

I heaved a sigh “you already know how I feel about her” I said.

That was the difference between Rhys and me. While Rhys had stopped hoping a longtime ago, I still had the hope that if we ever found Grace I would have her back… ever since she left, it was like a part of my heart had gone alongside with her.

I wanted her no matter what.

Rhys scoffed “I can’t believe you Declan… she left us, for five years” Rhys said.

I nodded “I know but things have changed”

“What the fuck is different now Declan huh?”

“The fact that Grace came back with our children”

His hands fell to his sides and his eyes widened “what did you just say?”

I nodded my head “yeah, those twins that she came back with, they out ours”

“How… H-how is that even possible”

I shrugged “I don’t know, but the connection doesn’t lie you know it… the moment I looked into their eyes, I knew”

Rhys ran his hand through his hair “she is so selfish”

“I know that”

“She stole five years from us… she hid our kids from us for five years!”

I nodded “yes, but that is not the issue Rhys, they are sick… I don’t know what it is, but it was bad…. Grace has been using wolvesbane on them as a cure”

Rhys growled, his eyes turning pitch black “where the hell is she!”

I place my hand on his shoulders stopping him “you need to calm down Rhys”

“Get out of my way!”

I added pressure on my hand “I am serious Rhys, take a breather” I said.

He moved away from me “I need a fucking run” he said and headed out of the door. I did not make a move to stop him this time, I just got out of the way and allowed him to leave.

It was for the best anyways… I could not let Grace and him see again tonight at this point.

Who knows what would possibly happen.

I lingered in front of the door.

It was my room and I could barge in if I damn well pleased, but I just could not bring myself to do it… I felt like I was going to be intruding on something.

None of this should have happened, we should have never been away from our kids these past years, if only Grace did not run away from us that day. I could not help but imagine how things could have played out.

Would we have been happy?

Otto and Faith, our kids… would I have been the one to spoil them or would it have been Rhys? And would we have had more children by now?

Many questions that I would unfortunately never get the answers to because Grace had decided that we were not worth it to be with her, to be parents to the kids because of everything that I had done.

Things that I had been regretting every single day for the past couple of years.

I raised my hands to knock on the door when Grace suddenly came out of the room and we almost walked into each other bumping our foreheads.

“Whoa” I said the exact moment that Grace said “sorry”

I stuffed my hands into my pocket awkwardly. After that encounter earlier where I quite literally shouted at her, I did not know what to say now.

I gave her a full glance. She was wrapped in a towel, holding it tightly against her chest like she was scared it would fall. Her hair was still slightly damp from being in the water, and even the small prunes that were beginning to form on her skin.

She looked breath taking.

So much so that my words were instantly caught in my throat.

“Are you listening to me?” she said a bit louder with a small frown forming on her face.

I cleared my throat and blinked hoping not to be too obvious with the fact that I was literally ogling her like some sicko.

“Fuck- I’m sorry do you need anything?” I asked.

“A room please… I don’t think you’d want the twins and me in your personal space more than we already are” she said.

I wanted to tell her that that was all I wanted, for them to be in my life, in my space and for them to never leave.

That I had been counting down the days until I saw her again, that I never stopped believing. But all I ended up saying was “right, follow me”

She nodded “let me get the twins”

Faith allowed me to carry her again and it warmed my heart the way she wrapped her little arms around me and let me lift her, like she trusted me to be her real father. Otto was still actively avoiding me and hiding behind his mother, but I would not stop trying.

“Thank you” Grace said after we had put the twins to bed and I just nodded stiffly “your welcome”

There was a long awkward silence before she cleared her throat “good night then, tomorrow we will be out of your hair”

“Why did you run away from me?” I asked before she could close her door.

“What?”

“That morning, when you found out it was me, why did you run”

I could see her face getting redder and redder with each second that passed and then there were the tears that filled her eyes slowly, tears that she refused to let fall.

It was then that I wished that I never asked that question, because I immediately knew that whatever the answer was would break me.

“You bullied me every single day for years Declan, made me feel like the worst version of myself” she said.

“I am sorry” I began but she wasn’t having it.

She shook her head “I don’t need your apologies” she said. “I just need you to answer me this… what would you have done if you were me?”