The Luna's Last Choice

20. The Beta's Answers

"Now, if you want to understand Daniel Wood," he looked at me as he began "you will have to first understand his father, Liam Wood. The Daniel you see today, the good and the bad, is directly or indirectly a product of his dad. I assume you know the story of how Alpha Liam chose a human over his mate?" I nodded "Well, that shouldn't be the only thing that defines the senior Alpha.

When Alpha Liam was younger, he was strictly against the idea that werewolves are animals. He argued that had the goddess wanted us to be animals, our human side would have been dead long back. His philosophy has of course brought a lot of positive changes to our pack and to our community but, in his own words, he's a human and he made mistakes. His biggest mistake was that in his quest for humanity he completely ignored the animal bit of him. He was making the same mistake as his predecessors, only the context was the opposite.

Only after he found his mate did he realize that the woman he always desired was the one that was meant for his wolf. He realized that a mate isn't just for our wolves; a wolf's mate is also our mate, a perfect match for our human.

Dan comes into the picture when his father had already suffered consequences of his actions. He has seen his how his father could never get over the mistakes he made. Alpha Liam still mourns the loss of his child and he still tortures himself over the guilt of ruining his first wife's life.

Dan's teen years were kind of messy. He had that rebellious phase where he hated his father to bits. His mother too wasn't spared sometimes. I must admit it was a long scary summer. However, he started his Alpha training soon after and slowly things started cooling down. He got over whatever he had against his father or so we thought.

As the years went by we started realizing how much his dad's past had actually affected him. Only now, he wasn't rebelling against his parents, he was rebelling against himself. He was punishing himself for a mistake he never committed. It started slow; we didn't notice for years how he was pushing people away, how he stopped socializing. We didn't understand for years that he was doing it because he was afraid of falling in love"

I gasped.

Ethan gave me a small smile "He knew his father was right, a part of him was human too. And the human in him desires happiness, it desires love. There was no way he wouldn't grow fond of someone if he allowed them in his life. So he cut them off before they could get to him. Even with Autumn, he only let her get close to him once he knew they weren't mates" He shook his head when he realized I was about to speak up "I know you have questions but let me finish before I answer them okay?" I nodded

"Having said that, Dan isn't a saint. His way of coping with his misery has hurt people, sometimes humans too" I know what he did to Bryan's girlfriend but what else could he have done? "He plays people like cards. He will do anything to have what he wants. He has grown more and more frustrated over the past couple of years and that has driven him to the edge. Waiting for you wasn't easy Anna. I would have given up long ago" he said accusingly.

"The fire" I asked, trying to divert my mind from the emotions my heart felt. The pain in my chest was growing heavy with each passing moment "What happened that day? Where did he go?"

"I was getting to that" he sighed "He started it, the fire. Don't look so horrified, it was a gift for you. Had it not been the house it would have been something else burning down and I'm sure you wouldn't have liked that. He's giving you the time and space Anna. Even when he's in such a miserable state himself, he's making sure you don't suffer" I wasn't even hiding my tears any longer "His wolf was so out of control that despite promising me that he wouldn't ever take that road to hell again, he went there with no intention of returning"