Divided Territory

Chapter Eight

Later that night, Vicky sat in her room and made the decision to seek out closure.

She didn't want to call Nicolas, she truly didn't, but she knew there was no other way she'd be able to find peace with herself. 

The excuse that she had been clinging to was one of mock safety- the claim that Nicolas would be in danger if she called him, the thought that somebody would track her call and cause him to be the next one forced into a pack.

But who was to say that hadn't already happened?

Nicolas hadn't been opposed to joining a pack but he'd refused for Vicky's sake. Now that she was gone, and was sure that her brother had notified him on her departure, there wouldn't be anything holding him back from it. 

Joining a pack was easier than hiding out, especially now that the law wasn't on their side.

So, that had been the excuse but Vicky knew she had only been fooling herself. 

From the moment she had left home and proceeded to pack grounds without her phone being taken or belongings being searched, she had realised the truth of the matter. The government, the humans, her city had gotten what they wanted- another shifter shipped away into a pack. 

They weren't tracking her calls. To them, she had been dealt with and that was that.

She had deleted the majority of her contacts for nothing.

Thankfully for her, although Nicolas' number had been one of the casualties, years of calling him meant that she had the sequence of digits memorised. It took her longer to press the call button than it did key the number into her mobile.

When phone started to ring, she tentatively raised it to her ear and waited for the boy to answer.

It may have felt like an eternity, but it was only a second later that he did.

"Vicky," he breathed. He sounded worried, relieved, like he'd been anxiously waiting for her call. "Thank God you're okay. Sebastian told me not to call, I was worried about you."

It was as painful to hear his voice as it was sweet, so many memories attached to the noise.

"Hi, Nick." She responded, softly. "I've missed you so much."

He sounded broken when he responded. "I've missed you too, Vicky. More than you even know."

She embraced the burning at the back of her eyes, letting it become the tears that dripped down her cheeks. "Oh, Nick."

"It's not coming back, is it?" There was a long silence, a pregnant pause. Resignation. "The mate bond. It's gone for good, hasn't it?"

She had to tell him. It was what she had called for in the first place. It was what she needed to say.

Closure.

"I don't know how to say this, Nick." She murmured, wiping at her tear stained cheeks. "At this pack, I've- damn it. There's a guy. He feels like my mate."

"Feels like or he is?"

"He is. I feel it. It's exactly the same as it was with you."

Now Nicolas was crying, torn, angry sobs that hit Vicky's ears in a torturous rhythm. 

"So, this is it?" He sniffed, devastated. 

Vicky didn't even have to respond. 

The answer was clear.

This was it.

It was time to move on.

"I leave for my new pack tomorrow." He finally told her, voice sounding like he was still attempting to compose himself. His voice was heavy with emotion. "It's in Somerset. By the beach. Apparently very progressive."