Change of Heart by Rina Pattinson (book club recommendations TXT) 📕

“Then why did you go through all of this? Why didn’t you just kill me yourself for it?”

“Because I wanted to hurt you. I wanted to hurt you so bad Jennifer. Most importantly, I wanted love to hurt you. You honestly believed that all these years I really loved you. I didn’t. Every bit of it was a lie. I wanted you to feel what it felt like to be betrayed by love.” He said coming closer. “You’re feeling it aren’t you?”

“I can’t believe you.” I whispered wiping my face.

“Well believe me!” He shouted. “All these years I suffered, looking at you every day with all of that power, thinking about how it was rightfully mine. And you know what Jennifer you didn’t care about how I felt.”

“Yes I did Reid I loved you.” I sobbed.

“Shut up!” He yelled. “You didn’t care. You never asked me once if I ever wanted to be an alpha. You took your power and you rubbed it in my face.”

“If I knew−

“If you knew? Bullshit!” He said. “You said you loved me? Then you should have known without me telling you.”

“Vince gave me his power for a far better reason than love Reid.”

“There was no better reason. He knew me for over a hundred years, he knew you for ten and he just gave it away to you. He fell for your pretty face and sweet ways. He gave you that power because of love. Only because of love.”

“You have what you want. You’re the alpha now.”

“Yes I am.” He smiled.

“Great. So now what? You think you’re gonna be our leader now?”

“Oh I’m gonna be a leader but not for you or your pack. You can’t be alpha for a pack that doesn’t exist.”

“What do you mean we don’t exist? I’m right here. The others are fine except for one.”

“Not for long sweetheart.” He smiled his claws out as he walked closer to me. “I’m glad you didn’t die when Ian stabbed you. Now I have the honor of killing you myself.”

I closed my eyes and waited for him to rip me apart knowing that I couldn’t fight him. Three, four, five, nearly ten seconds passed and I was still waiting to feel my heart being ripped through my flesh. The breaking and crashing of glass caused my eyes to open. I didn’t see Reid but I saw the back of a man dressed in all black looking down the broken window. Before I could ask who he was he turned around and smiled at me.

“You−

“I know who you are! I saw your face! It’s Vince!” Adrian yelled running in to the room.

“Adrian? What are you doing?” I asked.

“He’s the person who was helping us. Vince it was you. You killed almost all of Ian’s pack.”

“Yes. It was me.” Vince said. “Adrian could you give me and Jennifer a minute?”

“Sure.” He said backing out of the room slowly.

“Vince. You’re ok. Where have you been?” I asked.

“A lot of places.” He said.

“I missed you.” I said hugging him. “Why did you leave us?”

“I had to. After I gave my power to you I left so that you could become the leader you were meant to be without my help and you did. You did so well I’m so proud of you.” He smiled.

“How did you know where to find us? How did you know we needed help?”

“For the past couple of months I was with Ian and Reid.”

“What?”

“I found out what they were up to and I pretended to join them so that I would know what they were gonna do and when they were gonna do it. I was never gonna let them hurt you or anyone. I’m sorry about Kai and Cal I couldn’t help that.”

“You’re still looking out for us.”

“I will for the rest of my life. Now here, it’s not good to take a gift back.” He smiled giving me his hand. I knew he was going to give the power back to me.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“I’ve never been more sure in my life.” He said giving the power back to me. In less than a minute my eyes were able to turn red again.

“Thank you Vince, for everything.” I smiled.

“My pleasure, now I think there’s something else that needs to be taken care of.” He said nodding to Ian who was now becoming conscious again on the ground. “I’ll wait outside.” He said and left.

I walked to his side and sat by his side. “Ian?” I called his name softly while rubbing his face gently. His eyes looked up at me, blue and moist.

“Hey, you’re ok.” He said.

“Yea so are you.” I smiled. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. You even tried to tell me before but I pushed you away.”

“It’s ok. It wasn’t your fault.” He said trying to sit up. I helped him.

I smiled and hugged him. “I never thought I’d say this but I’m glad you’re ok.”

“Never thought I’d hear it.” He smiled.

I passed my hand through his hair pushing it back. “I wanna know why. And please don’t say it’s a long story because we have time.”

He took a deep breath. “I met Reid a couple months ago, maybe seven. We became good friends. He helped me out a lot by sending loads of cash to my mother and sister in Russia. They needed it and I couldn’t provide it fast enough. One day my mother called me and she told me that my sister was dying. She had cancer and it was getting worst. I was devastated. I didn’t know what to do and I definitely didn’t want to lose my sister.”

“I’m so sorry. What did you do?”

“I told Reid about her and he said he could help me. He said he could help my sister by curing her. I didn’t believe him at first but I didn’t have much hope. I told him that I wanted to know how he was gonna do it but he wouldn’t tell me. All he said was that there was something that I had to do for him first. Something I had to get for him but in order for me to do that I had to change. I didn’t care I told him that I was willing to do anything to save my sister and that’s when he bit me and turned me in to a werewolf.” He explained. “When I turned he told me the plan. He told me about you and that I was supposed to kill you. Everything I did, from writing you that first note, taking you to dinner, killing Kai, trying to kill Adrian, all of that was controlled by Reid. I was like his puppet. He said what to do and I did it.”

“Why did you try to kill him today then?”

“I knew what I was doing was wrong. I didn’t wanna hurt anyone especially you Jennifer and when I thought I killed you I got so mad. I just wanted him dead.”

“But if you killed him then your sister−

“I know, but it was unfair to take lives just to save one. I didn’t want my sister to die but I didn’t wanna hurt you either. I guess I’ll just have to deal with lost just like everyone else.”

“Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up and ready we’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

“Where are we going?”

“To Russia, I’m not letting you lose anyone.” I smiled.

“After all I did, you’ll do that for me?” He asked standing up next to me.

“I’ll do it for you.” I said sliding my hands behind his neck and pulling his face closer to mine. “Because I love you.” I smiled crushing his lips with mine. That feeling I always got around Ian, the one I was never able to describe was love and I realized that only now. I smiled and released him.

“I wanted to do that since the first day I met you.” He smiled.

I laughed. “No, you wanted to kill me.”

He laughed and kissed me again. “I could do this all day.”

“Sure you can but we need to go.” I said and walked ahead in front of him to the door. The voice in my head brought me to a halt.

At first there was laughter. “Stupid, stupid Jennifer. Love just thought you a lesson yet you’re gonna let it destroy you again. I guess you gotta learn the hard way. Anyway, don’t think of this as goodbye, think of it as….. until we meet again. Because trust me we will.” There was another laugh and then silence.

“Jennifer?” Ian called me. I looked up at him. He was in front of me now holding out his hand. “Are you coming?”

“Yea, I’m coming I−

“Jennifer…” Vince walked in to the room looking worried.

“I know Vince. Don’t make a scene right now.” I spoke in his mind and he left the room.

“Jennifer what’s going on?” Ian asked looking confused.

“Nothing.”

“Are you sure?” He asked.

I smiled. “Everything’s fine, let’s go.” I said taking his hand and as he led me outside the only thing I heard was Reid’s laughter echoing in my head.

Text: Rina Pattinson
Editing: Rina Pattinson
Publication Date: 10-12-2013

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