Chapter Six

ALEXANDRU'S POINT OF VIEW

"I'll move to a bigger place, maybe a condo, with Cyp and we'll spend our honeymoon in Paris, then France, and I'll have children in a couple of years. I have a life. I have a plan, and I'll be damned if I let you ruin it. Who do you think you are? I don't even know you anymore, trying to ruin my life because it doesn't fit your description of my supposed family. Damn you, all of you. I have come this far. I, not you, I was alone and I toiled and I worked really hard to get here, and here you are, trying to belittle it, belittle all I've worked for because it's not what you wanted. How dare you?"

She's heaving, angry, and I'm staring at her, feeling sympathetic, but angry nonetheless.

"You want to build a life away from us? From your actual family?" I say, furious.

"Oh my God! You are not my family, Cyp and Zoe are my family." She yells, and I take a step back, casting my eyes skyward.

"Tell me if this sounds familiar." I say, and she stares at me. "You feel fulfilled, you have everything you want, your life is complete, and you've, to Philosophers dismay, have found the meaning of life, but there's a void, an emptyness. Occasionally, you feel like you live a very empty life. You feel empty, sad, depressed for no reason. You have people around you but still feel undoubtedly lonely. If I hit your chest, will I hear it echo?."

"Perhaps you don't know why you feel like this, or you've always been like this. Chasing the notion of a home, not knowing where it's supposed to be, you think you're supposed to find it in yourself, but you feel a mess. The loneliness is everywhere, even in the midst of people as they blur into one. It's a sadness that always return. A familiar grief that has made a home in your ribcage. I am lonely, torn between who you are, and who you want to be -- you want to be a Wanderer, want to fleet and drift, but you want to be loved, you want to have a home. You don't know how these two can work together."

"You want to be loved, but seeing as you're lonely, no one will love you. You want to be enough for yourself, but you don't like yourself very much. You once watched Little Women and cried like a baby, because you think your life sucks and you see Jo March, you look like Jo March, you feel like Jo March, you want to be a powerful woman who is not just known for love, but for the great things she becomes, however, you are also lonely, very lonely and empty, and sad, but it's just another day, and tomorrow, another, so you push on."

"Does it sound familiar?" I says, and she's frozen, so still.

I lean back on the wall, and I watch her, as she processes my words. She is different, grown, but still stubborn, annoyingly so.

"No." She whispers, and I can't hide my disappointment.

"Okay. I hope you find what you're looking for. Goodbye Aurora." I say, and I walk away.

"You're an asshole!" She yells, but I don't turn, I walk away, knowing fully well she lied, so did I.

____

"She's gone." Camille says, drinking tea.

It's midnight, and I couldn't sleep, turns out no one could.

"I'm sorry." I say, sitting beside her.

We are all sitting under the moonlight, lost in thoughts.

"I did all I could." I add, needing to justify the fact.

"I know, son, but Adaline has always been strong-headed." Pietro laughs sadly.

"She wasn't right about us." I say, but it sounds more like a question.

"Alex, this is not a military." Rick says "We are not in a totalitarian regime. We have choice, just like she had the choice to leave. No one is forced to stay in the family. You could leave if you want to. Aurora made a life for herself, and I respect her for standing by it. Yes, she could have everything here, but it's not enough for her, and we'd be cowards and hypocrites to shame her for sticking to her choice. It's a bold move, no matter how painful it is Alex."

"I'm fine. Painful? Absolutely not. I haven't seen her in years, I don't even know her." I say.

"She'll come back to us, to me." Camille says, hopefully.

I doubt it. Adele is gone.

_

I stand at the back, and I watch as Rick speaks to the crowd. We are currently in the French Quarter, and this is an event we host every month, It is our way of maintining the relationship between the Humans and us, this relationship goes as far back as 1709, we've lived amongst human undetected, there have been situations, close calls, but coupled with our strenght, we have deep intelligence, so we've always found a way around it.

Rick calls it Community Relation, I disagree, we ae the community, the wolves and tge witches, we own New Orleans, but I try not to argue with him, he probably doews i to keep up with the facade, the image we've meticulously created, and I respect him for all he's done.

"To show our appreciation for your continuous kindness towards us, my family and I have decieded to build and funish a Community Library, because we know the importance and power of books." He smiles, gesturing, he has mastered ths diplomatic shit.

"Eat, Merry, Dance, Have Fun." He concludes, and the congregation statrs clapping and cheering, if only they know who we are, what we are.

Werewolves grow old and die, we are not like the mythical creatures - Vampires, but we age slowly, with our healing we always look younger than we are. However, we are wild beings, with an insane hunger and need for freedom, it is imposible to cage us, we are the definition of wild, trying to supress our wolves has never ended well for us, It could be like a split personality, the wolf in us, it takes time to merge, it gets harder and painful if we try to supress it, and unlike myths, we do not need to kill to activate it, because contrary to popular belief, it is not a curse, but a gift, a blessing.

"Hi," I hear, and turn my gaze to the person, I see a young woman.

"Hello." I smile at her, her eyes widening.

"Hi," She smiles, then chuckles with embarassment at her repetition, I just stare at her with renewed interest, waiting as she ges herself together.

"I'm Francia." She smiles, and I arch my brows.

"Hi, Francia, I'm Alex." I say, frowning to myself as she smiles at me, Is she flirting? Am I flirting?

"Wana get a cup of coffee sometimes?" She say, and my frown persist, I don't want to send the wrong message, neither do I think I'm ready for a relationship or whatever she has to offer.

"I . . I just got out of a long commitment, and not sure I want to dive into something serious this early." I say, smiling at my choice of words, better than my mate rejected me.

Francia nods "So did I, understandable. My ex cheated on me, what did yours do?"

"Ah," I muse, leaning on the wall, finding the right words, but deciding to throw caution to the wind. "She rejected me."

She gasps "You proposed to her, and she said no, oh my God."

I nod, smiling "That's a way to put it."

She stares at me "I'm so sorry, how did you propose?'

I frown, then say "In front of our families."

This is me trying to move on. Keyword is trying.