I Can’t Sleep Cause Thoughts Devour

[GREALOR]

Nothing would ever be the same anymore. That was a reality that Gabe was faced with even as he stood there and watched the gravesite for the woman who was supposed to be his luna until he convinced Tamiko to choose him. 

He hadn't lived a good life, or even an honorable one, though Gabriel always hoped that he had more time to make things right. He always hoped that the universe would let him have the chance to make it all better. 

But then twenty-five whole years was a time he had been granted unconditionally, and in all of that, he had screwed up every single time. He had hurt the one that he wanted. 

Gabriel was an alpha wolf and that meant that unlike the other wolves who found their mates at twenty-five, Gabe already knew who his mate was when he was eighteen. He could have spent the seven years before the mating festival for him to make things right, but he hadn't done shit. 

He had kept pretending that reality was not as bad as he thought it was. He had let everyone stomp on the man he was mated to. He had let the realm know of his mate as an outcast. 

Gabriel always had a perfect window to put an end to the suffering Tamiko was going through, always. He was the alpha's son, and he had the power to command the pack or even force them into submission. 

But then instead of saving his mate. Instead of making Tamiko's life better, he fucked up even worse. Now here he was, sitting beside the grave of someone who died for him, a grave that should never have been there in the first place, trying to make things make sense.

"You're not welcome here. Get the fuck out before I kill you myself, Grealor," Danny, Galya's twin said to the alpha who was seated next to his sister and father's grave. 

He had lost everything because of the house Grealor and hells be damned, he wouldn't ever be able to forget this. Danny had lost more than was possible in the hands of the man who was his best friend. 

There were days when Danny wanted to find Tamiko and kill him, but on other days, he knew he could have done worse than Tamiko if their positions had been switched. Maybe that was also why Danny had never talked about Tamiko since he killed his sister. 

What Tamiko had done would never leave his mind, and the emptiness by the man he had once considered a brother would never leave. Perhaps Danny was bitter or even unhinged for striking a doubt in between, but what else could he do? 

On one hand he had his family, the powerful Belova house that ran the pack. The house that knew the secrets that revolved around Tamiko and yet for more than twenty years, despite knowing all of that, they never did anything. 

Instead, they had not only kept Tamiko in the dark, but had also taken the back seat on the mess. On the other hand, Danny thought back to the reality that Tamiko had endured in Grealor and understood that whatever had happened was deserved. ,

His moral conflict got him at a crossroads, which was why he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with Tamiko. 

Was he supposed to forgive and forget, or was he supposed to try and take his revenge to the Lycan prince of Kawai, right when his father was alive and back in the realm to spread horror? 

Oh, there were no chances for Danny. Maybe it was better for him to be here at the gravesite with his family like he always did.

"I came to pay my respects to my warrior and beta,'' Gabriel said angrily as he looked at the skies. 

He couldn't believe that this was what had happened to him. He had been a good person to everyone except the person that mattered and now he didn't even have anyone on his side. 

His father was probably dead and if he wasn't, he would definitely not want Gabe around him.

"Get the fuck up, Grealor. None of you lot in this fucked up pack are allowed near my family. Leave while you still can and don't make me repeat myself, because if I do, then your father won't have to worry about you being turned into a horny omega for Tamiko anymore. Leave," Danny said, his anger still evident. 

It had been months since the murder of his family and he hadn't faced that truth yet he hadn't healed and he wasn't about to play pretend with the man who had forced them into this mess. 

They had all been dragged in because they were tasked with protecting Gabriel's alpha position. It was like they were just pawns on the chessboard along with everything that was meant to make the Grealor pack great. 

He just didn't know how great a price he would pay for this.

"He marked him," Gabe said softly, not getting up from his position.

"Good for you," Danny said coldly as he put down the beer jug he had come with on the ground. 

He had three cups with him as usual. One was for him, one for his dead father and sister. It was heartbreaking to drink alone, so the Grealor beta came to drown his sorrows beside his family. 

After all, the Grealor pack never felt like home anymore. Tamiko wasn't here because of his family's betrayal and was probably going to come back and kill them all, but maybe he could use the little time to live through his sorrows and drown to the death with his family, right?

"I guess I deserve that," Gabe chuckled emptily. He has scars all over and fresh cuts on his body he looked like shit and of he was being honest, he was numb. The pain was something he wanted to feel because he couldn't take the rejection anymore. 

Tamiko had not chosen him and he was never going to be able to win Tamiko back. Lycans only ever had one erasthai throughout the lifelines, so that chance was gone for Gabe.

"Welcome to the side of life that Tamiko endured for twenty-five years," Danny said as he poured himself beer in one of the cups. He was haunted by the kind of person he had been for Tamiko and no amount of apology could fix that. At least Danny was slowly making peace with that reality.

"I wish it were different…'' Gabe sighed as he grabbed a cup from Danny and poured himself beer. Danny gave him the stink eye but then it wasn't like there was anything better for the both of them.

"You seriously didn't think he would choose you, over Igor Konstantin, did you?" Danny asked with a sad laugh as he looked at Gabriel's' defeated face. This shit was getting even more interesting and he wanted to rub that shit in. 

Maybe he didn't even need to because if Gabriel ever had eyed, he could have seen just how down Tamiko and Konstantin were for each other. It was like they lived for each other, regardless of whatever shit happened in the world.

"I hoped he would forgive and choose me. I wanted to change, but I don't even know if he will ever look at me," Gabe said and this time Danny laughed heartily like this was the most absurd thing he had heard since the day began.

"You can't really be serious about that, right?" Danny asked incredulously, though when he looked at a defeated Gabe, he realized that the port thing was really hoping to be the better choice for Tamiko. Oh, but he needed a reality check.

"Wow, you're a sucker, hmm?" Danny said and glared at him, even though it wouldn't have any effect on Danny. Losing his sister and father had turned his life and there was nothing that would ever heal that wound.

"He was the first person I liked," Gabe whispered in defeat.

"Well, if I'm being honest… assuming the fallout with my family didn't happen, I wouldn't have let him mate you no matter what you had dangled before him. My brother deserves all the happiness in the world and you sure as hell aren't that for him.

"You're easily the worst thing that could happen to anyone. You hurt my brother one too many times Gabriel, and I won't forgive you for that. As we drink our sorrows away, just know there will come a day when I will come for you for what you did to my brother. 

"Not even the power in Grealor will save you from me. However, until then, cheers to our loneliness, huh," Danny said with conviction as he looked at Gabriel. This man here had caused Tamiko so much pain that he wasn't about to forget just because Tamiko wasn't here. 

This pack was full of shitty people who exploited the poor kid even when he was under the protection of the house Belova and for that, Danny would collect souls and burn them all.

"Brother?" Gabe asked after a long silence that maybe he had heard Danny wrong. There was just no way that Daniel Belova would consider the outcast his brother, even after what Tamiko did to his father and sister, right?

"Yes. He will always be my brother, no matter what side of the realm he lives in. Whatever Galya and father did, broke his heart so much and he reacted for the first time. Sure, it wasn't in the way I hoped, but he fought back and I'm proud of him," Danny said proudly.

"Blood or not, he will always be my little brother Gabriel. Always," Danny added as he looked in the direction of the woods.