Raven's DarkNess | ✔

Chapter Thirty

"How?" I asked Enzo, still confused. "How did your brother change everything?"

Enzo only inhaled deeply and I could tell from the way his features melted into silence with drastic unease that this was not a story Enzo wanted to tell. But it was certainly a story that I wanted to hear.

"When I left, no one approved of it but what did I have left here to even stay for? Rhys was so brainwashed into thinking he needed to live up to what it meant to be Alpha born. Erica was too attached to our mama to ever leave and mama's place was beside our father no matter how cruel he was to her, his children or his pack. My place was not here. It had never been,"

"How did you leave, Enzo?" I asked because I couldn't imagine his father ever letting him go. From all that he described, his father just didn't seem like that kind of man.

"It wasn't easy but I was determined. When I graduated, I told my mama that I couldn't stay here anymore. Mama loved us dearly. She didn't want any of us going away from her. Her three children and her mate were her whole life and removing even one of us from that equation meant in some way, taking away a part of my mama's happiness. She didn't want me to leave. She cried for days but I was selfish about it. Aoife, we all know who we are. The same way you feel like my pack isn't for you, the same way you feel like the rules here suffocate and restrict you is the exact same way that I felt growing up,"

I took Enzo's hand at that point, wanting nothing more than to pull him to me. I wanted to drag him to his own bed so I could wrap my arms around him because I understood exactly what he meant. I understood exactly what he went through but when my eyes locked with his, I restrained myself.

Enzo was engaged.

Engaged.

The reoccurring thought clenched itself around my heart and I flinched. No matter how many times I told myself that it didn't matter, that she was just a casualty. Whoever she was. Males weren't necessarily loyal to their partners. I knew this from personal experience but even I wasn't hearing my words. I wasn't listening to my very own thoughts. I wasn't allowing my own experience to guide me.

Things were different this time and I couldn't figure out why. So I took my hand back as Enzo's eyes watched me intently.

"The formalities or details of how I left doesn't matter," He started again, pushing his fully dishevelled hair back as he sat up straighter in the chair before me. Something started to burn at the back of my eyes. "I got a scholarship because I was good with the piano. Better than most and I moved in with Ronan's family because that was my father's version of a compromise - to have me live with another Alpha to help straighten me out. Well, he chose the wrong Alpha for that task,"

Enzo stood up at this point. His story was fading into the background. I just wanted to know about his fiancee. Who was she? How does his sad life history relate to her? That's all I needed to know. As if he could see the impatience in my eyes, his eyes pleaded with me to listen. I blinked back my agreement.

"The Crystal Heart pack is gorgeous. Their buildings are a mix of old and new architecture, all like a world left undiscovered and I fell in love at first sight. In that pack, I was free. I was free to live, learn, love. I was just free to exist,"

"So what? You became like Ronan, the chain-smoking rebel who can't keep his eyes from wandering to any female?" I blurted out my curiosity. What kind of college life did Enzo lead? Was he a playboy? A Junkie? Who was he when he had the privilege to be anyone? When he wasn't held down by fate and obligations?

Enzo's eyes glinted with mischief as the side of his lips arched upwards.

"I come from a pack where respecting females is in our blood. Once that's a trait, you can't run away from it. Women in that pack were freer, promiscuous, fascinating but I knew my limits with them because limits have always been a part of me. My mother made sure of that. Just like I know my limits with you," The way he said that had his eyes settling on mine and made me gulp as acid built up in my throat. "I loved someone once, yes but we'll come to her. As for substances, I tried everything and liked nothing. The thing about being high is that this world is balanced. When you break the balance, it punishes you. The punishment for an all-time high is an all-time low. I don't enjoy being punished especially for the things that I enjoy but the moon always seems to do that to me,"