Faze

Chapter 31: Choice

Chapter Thirty One 

Rain slammed on the window in Neo's room and he couldn't look away, not even when Ruth joined him on the bed. She sat where everyone always sat, at the end, and cautiously started a conversation.

"You don't have to go out there," Ruth said. Neo looked away from the window to meet her eyes, looking for anything that showed that she might be lying. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

It sounded like a reminder but Neo didn't remember the last time he'd heard words like that. Not even from Devlin, who didn't disobey Nathan only to survive. "I feel like I have to," he admitted and Ruth's eyes looked a little duller.

"You can, if it makes you feel better but just know that it's all your choice."

Neo looked from Ruth to the window until he settled further into his pillow. "I've been with Nathan since I was nine years old, I don't feel like anything I do is my choice."

"Well, it is now," She smiled at him. Neo slightly smiled back to show that he was grateful for her.

"Nathan isn't a good person," Neo said.

Ruth let out a laugh, "oh, I know. I used to be his friend, way back when."

"Really?" He raised his eyebrows, white like snow.

She nodded, "Nathan, Kester, Cliff, and I."

"That's weird to imagine," Neo admitted. "No packs seem to get along now."

"I have an alliance with Kester, but it is only for peace," Ruth said. "We don't talk, we don't help each other out. We only keep a distance, and share our medicine."

"What did he do for you to not be friends anymore?"

"More like what he didn't do," Ruth looked at the window, the raindrops reflecting in her eyes. "he stopped coming around, visiting less and less until there wasn't a peep of him anymore, once he became alpha. I blame it on Nathan, he scared him away."

"He tends to do that," Neo nodded.

"I'll find the real reason one day," she sighed and Neo didn't bring it up again. "Nathan, on the other hand, got aggressive one day. He wanted to be my mate, dreamed of it even and when Cliff came along, he saw green and hasn't been the same since."

Neo rested his head on his knees. He looked out the window with thought, a frown on his pale face. Ruth noticed the shift in his mood. She leaned forward and put a warm hand on his shoulder, leaving it there when he didn't flinch it away. "What are you thinking about?"

"How can someone do something so cruel over a stupid crush?" He looked at her, more angry than upset. "Every wolf knows not to get attached romantically when they're not your mate. He knew that too and because he was too dumb to listen, he's taking his feelings out on every person who doesn't deserve it!"

"I agree," she sighed. "Nathan isn't thinking and in turn, so many people are getting hurt."

"It's more than that," Neo looked at her, a strong look in his eye that mimicked a plea of some sort, like he was silently begging her for something he didn't even know he wanted or needed. "He's so selfish!"

Ruth stared at him because that was all she could do at that moment. Neo was angry and hurt, and he was finally letting it all out.

"He killed my parents. He burned the house down and they got trapped inside. But he went in to save me. I thought he was a hero or something," he didn't look away from her. "He told me that I was safe and I had somewhere to go, he said I had a home. I followed him, of course, I had nowhere else to go. But I was wrong."

"You don't have to go back," Ruth said.

"That's the thing, everyone keeps saying that to me but I am Nathan's, like an object or a piece of property. The second he sees me, I'm no better than the dirt under his shoe. Or worse, he'll trap me because I'm the only omega he has."

She shook her head, "Alina's law states that you can choose your pack, as long as the alpha is okay with it and I am very much okay with you being here. Nathan can't do anything anymore, he's powerless against you."

Neo let the words settle in. He'd never felt such support before. Nathan was powerless against him, and he smiled at this. For once in his life, he felt more than just a healer, more than a tool.

"Thank you."

Ruth tilted her head with a smile, "this room is all yours for as long as you want it to be."

She went to leave and before she left the room, she faced him once again, "remember, your life is yours, the choice is all yours, no one else's."

She left and Neo stared at the window that was covered in raindrops. Ruth was right, he could make his own decisions. The first one being the rain. He decided to go out in the rain. First, he felt the water on his face. He wouldn't let Nathan control him again. He wouldn't hate the rain, mother nature's creation.

He crouched down and shifted, his white wolf coming to life, quickly getting soaked in the rain. He ran through the forest, letting mud cover his paws, letting the rain cover his body. It was his choice.

Nathan couldn't make him do a thing again. He didn't stop running, because he wanted to. Then, he thought about Devlin. Nathan couldn't stop him from loving him.

Neo howled to the sky.