Chapter 16:A Plea for Forgiveness

Tiara watched as Edwin staggered towards the door. Her heart softened at the sight of it.

She quickly stepped closer, tugging at his clothes. She then spoke in a steady voice which was eerily calm.

"Edwin!" She called, reaching out to him.

"I know that you must think I enjoyed speaking doom over you but, I speak nothing but the truth," she softly said

Clearing her throat, “she is going to try to take your place, Edwin. Not just as Luna, but as the Alpha. She wants control over the pack, over the lands, and over everything your father died protecting,”

She paused, letting the weight of her words settle like fine particles of sand.

“And she definitely will succeed…and that will happen if you do not stop her.”

Edwin felt like he could not breathe. His pulse thundered in his ears. Every meeting, every hollow promise, every fake smile and moment with Vanessa suddenly flashed through his head. They all seemed calculated.

"When you knew that she could be stopped and that she was this evil, why did you not mention it before?” he asked in an hoarse voice.

“I warned you,” Tiara said, closing her eyes again, “the moment you walked through that door, I told you that the person you came for will destroy you.”

She opened her eyes, showing the firelight that flickered in her eyes.

“And I meant every word that I have said,”

At this moment, Edwin wanted nothing more than Vanessa's head handing on a platter. His Luna, the same one that he had tried to love and protect was plotting his fall.

"I am sorry about all of this Edwin but it is the reality that you have to embrace," Tiara muttered.

Edwin stood motionless, letting the weight of Tiara’s words crash over him like waves. The prophecy, Vanessa's acts and that of her fathers, it all fit. Every piece of the puzzle Tiara had laid before him, and opened his eyes to exposed a future he never imagined, and a past he could no longer ignore.

Regardless of his problems, anytime he looked at Tiara, the pain in her eyes hurt him more than Vanessa’s betrayal. The way she speaks made him feel like he meant nothing anymore.

He stepped closer, carefully, afraid that if he moved too quickly, she would run from him.

“Tiara,” he softly called. “I know you do not owe me anything. I also know that I lost the right to stand before you the day I let you walk out of that pack alone…”

Tiara’s jaw tightened, but she did not speak.

“…but I need you to hear what I am about to say, all of it.” he said, in a pleading manner.

He took a deep breath. His voice cracked under the weight of unspoken grief.

“It was not my choice to marry Vanessa," he started with. 

"Not until the council turned against me, against us. Apparently, Garrett stirred rebellion amongst my warriors, and the pack started threatening to divide. I had to keep them united, I had to keep the pack under my control,”

“I was young, but not too young when I was made Alpha. I had not even recovered from my father’s death, I was not ready and neither was I strong enough to hold everything together. I was just starting to be bold and confident when the pressure to marry Vanessa set in,”

His eyes met hers, filled with guilt and pain. “And then you disappeared, but I swear to you, I searched for you, Tiara. For weeks. I secretly sent my scouts, and I even left the territory a couple of times myself. At some point, I thought that maybe the rogues had taken you, or worse,”

She flinched at that, just slightly.

“But everyone kept telling me you were not worth it. That you were a traitor, a cursed omega who had brought misfortune to her parents, one who ran off with rogues, and honestly, a part of me started to believe them,”

His voice cracked again.

"In no time, it became a well-known rumor that the alpha's fated mate ran away with rogues and that she was an ill-fated omega that posed as a threat to the pack's peace and prosperity. But now, I know that it was a rumor deliberately spread," 

“But I never stopped missing you, Tiara. I never stopped seeing you every time I closed my eyes, even with Vanessa right beside me, even when I stood right in front of her at that altar. It was you I wanted,”

Tiara’s expression finally shifted. Her lips parted, her chest rising with a quiet, shaky breath.

“I am sorry,” Edwin said, stepping forward. “For all of it. For letting them break us, for not being the mate and alpha that you deserved,”

He looked at her, no longer as a leader, but as a man desperate for one more chance.

“I am ready to fix all of this, to make things right, only if you will let me,”

Tiara did not speak right away.

The silence between them stretched, filled with everything left unsaid: betrayal, pain, love that had not died, just buried itself under years of silence and survival.

"I knew that Vanessa would go to any length to achieve whatever it is that she wanted," she finally spoke in a breaking voice.

"But I am surprised that she went as far as poisoning the mind of people that I brought misfortune to my parents and that I would bring it to the pack when her father was the misfortune that befell my parents and I," she shook her head, trying to fight back her tears.

"What do you mean by that, Tiara?" Edwin curiously asked.

Tiara chuckled lightly, "how could I have stayed back when she and her father sent troops of men after me, tearing down literally every door just to make sure that I was caught and killed so that I do not inform you of their plot?"

"What plot, Tiara?" He asked with a tone of urgency, showing that he was dying out of curiosity.

"Your words are unclear to me, I feel like you are hiding so much from me and it is slowly killing me," 

Finally, she lifted her head, showing her eyes that burned with rage.

"It is a plot of all that has happened, it is not about something you do not already know of," she answered.

"But I still want you to tell me everything, I want to hear all of it from you," he pressed.

"A plot to maneuver their way into making Vanessa Luna and to help her have her way with you so that she could get pregnant, that way you would have no choice other than to love her and accept her as your Luna," she finally spoke.

Edwin was dumbstruck, all that Tiara said was true. They had been plotting against him for long and like a fool, he had been falling right where that wanted him to.

"But why did you not just come to me then? Why did you leave me to such a fate when you knew this much?" He questioned, venting his anger and frustration into his words.

"Are you trying to blame me for what has happened, now?" Tiara asked him. She could not believe her ears.

"That is not what I was trying to say or do, Tiara!" He barked.

"So what was it that you were trying to say? It seems that I am lost," she sarcastically replied.

"I just wanted to know why you decided to run away, out of town when you could have come to me," he repeated.

"Ohh, Edwin!" She cried out.

"What part of Vanessa and her father sending out their men to look for me did you not understand?" She raised her voice.

"You must think that it was a game of hide and seek for me to have slept deep in the woods that night," she hissed.

"The earlier you stop understimating Vanessa's scheme and strength, the better for you, your pack and your forerunners," she advised.

Edwin knew that she was stating facts. He needed to stop being delusional, to stop putting himself in denial and truly face the reality unfolding before him.

"I am sorry for not being understanding, Tiara," he finally opened his mouth to speak again.

"It is just that I find all of this new and quite hard to believe. I just found you after so many years and now, I got to discover that the one person I have been living with and trying to protect is someone unworthy of it all," 

He sighed before sitting at the edge of the seat he had earlier sat on.

"To think that she even wanted to come here with me," he scoffed unbelievably.

"She wanted to come here with you?" Tiara's eyes widened in shock.

"Yes, she was super excited when I agreed to come see you with her and then she acted all sour when I told her to stay back and take charge of the affairs of the pack," he answered.

"Did she think that she would be able to hide her dirty secrets from the seer?" He thought to himself.

"What plans did she have in mind if I had allowed her make this journey with me?"

"Why do you bother yourself with such questions?" Tiara smiled.

"Vanessa is one smart girl and she would go to any extent to protect her image. I am sure that she would have hammered her childlessness if she had visited with you or tried to confuse the seer if not a very strong one," she explained.

"Would you have shown yourself if she has come here with me?" Edwin asked.

"No, I wouldn't have," she answered him.

A long silence fell between them after Tiara's reply. Edwin took the moment to think about all that was happening and all that he had heard and the ones he had overlooked.

"Tiara," he passionately called.

"Yes?" She answered him.

"Would you go back with me to the Dark Moon pack?" He slowly asked, unsure of what her answer might be.

"No!" She sharply replied.

Edwin quickly stood up from his seat and went over to hers, holding her hands in his.

"I want to do right by you, Tiara," he said.

"I want to make things right with myself. I want to give you the life that you deserve," 

"The life that I deserve?" She questioned.

"And what makes you feel or think that I am not happy here or getting the good life that I deserve?" Withdrawing her hands away from him.

"I did not mean it that way. I was just trying to say that I want to restore you back to your original position, back to where you actually belong," he continued.

"And what is my original position? Where do I actually belong?" She questioned him.

"Your position as Luna, just as the Moon goddess wanted and ordained it to be, and you belong right beside me," he answered.

"If you intend to do all these for me, where does that place Vanessa and what do you intend to do with her?" She said, quizzing him.

"I will strip her of the position she thinks she has, I will make sure to find the man she wants to ruin my pack together with, and declare war against him in the least expected way and time," he confidently replied, speaking with so much anger in his voice.

“Words are easy, Edwin,” she said, her voice calm, but not cold. “Show me,”

 Edwin nodded, slow and steady. He was ready to do anything to make Tiara his. He would prove it, but not just to her, but to the pack and the elders of council.

And this time, no one: not Garrett, or Vanessa, or the council could stand in his way or lead him astray like they had done in the past. All that he cared about was Tiara and keeping his pack and position as alpha.