“My brother asked me to move into the house he shared with the starting lineup. They weren’t his pack,” I clarified. “Just friends. Conrad didn’t even want them near me at first.”
“And your old pack?” she asked.
“I stopped answering calls and texts when they didn’t pick up that day. They didn’t even know I left until the picture leaked. That alone tells me everything I need to know about their character.”
She nodded. “Sounds like they have a lot of growing up to do.”
“I hope they take some time to fix themselves before taking on a new omega,” I said. “I forgive them, for my own sake, but my omega will never forget how badly they failed me.”
Chapter
Thirty-Four
Lana
Istared down at the letter in my hands, trying to work up the nerve to actually open it. After the interview with Roxie, and knowing that it would be airing today, I wanted to finally read what they sent.
It felt like the final piece of closure I needed before my truth was out there.
I knew I was being ridiculous. I should have opened it or thrown it out by now. Usually, I wasn’t this dramatic, but after telling Roxie everything, I was still feeling a bit raw around the edges.
Blowing out a breath, I finally flipped over the envelope, sliding my finger under the flap and breaking it free. The bundle inside was several pages long, and I braced myself for the words. I recognized Dean’s handwriting on the first page.
Dear, Lana
I want to start this letter by saying how incredibly sorry I am that I failed you. My face aches, but it’s nothing in comparison to the pain of realizing how badly we fucked up. Everything you said was true. We let our careers take the front seat and didn’t care that it hurt you in the process. We read through those messages you sent that went unread. Every single one. Then we listened to the voicemails until we were a sobbing mess.
We did that to you. We caused that kind of pain, and that is irreversible. I know that now.
But you still deserve to know that we’re sorry, that we own our part in all of this.
I still intend to try to show you what you mean to us. We all know we fucked up. If Conrad hadn’t shown up, we might not have pulled our heads out of our asses at all.
God, Lana, that picture.
I have nightmares about it. I’m sure that’s nothing compared to what you endured because of us. I’ve never been more ashamed of myself or us as a pack. We know that you have a new pack now, one that hopefully treats you better than we ever did. But if you still have room in your heart, we still love you, Lana, and we want to prove to you that we can change.
I let out a breath and set the letter aside. The words were heartfelt, but meaningless now. It was far too late for any sort of apology. There was no way to fix what they broke.
The next one was in a different handwriting. Sutton. He was probably the member of my old pack that I connected to the least. We were simply different people. We fit together, we had fun together, but I think we let infatuation take the lead when we shouldn’t have. Hell, he never truly trusted me with his delta, and that said it all.
Lana,
I’ve watched the security cameras from that day. The image of you so weak, crawling down the hall while we neglected our duty to you is something that has forever changed me. You stripped away everything we thought we knew about ourselves and left us vulnerable. You made sure we heard the words you had to say, and we’re listening now, baby.
I know it’s probably too late, but I need you to know that even if we didn’t show it, we still loved you.
We care about you.
Even when we were away, I thought of you all the time. We always had some excuse, something coming up, convincing ourselves that you’d always be there.
Now we have to face the reality that you’re not. That we pushed you away, left you behind, and gave the dividebetween us time to grow, day by day, while you suffered alone.
We can barely call ourselves men. We definitely don’t deserve to call ourselves a pack.
Hockey has always been our life, but you should’ve been our forever. I’m so sorry, Lana, and I hope that one day you can forgive us.
Until then, we hope to remind you why we became a pack in the first place.
