Deja Vu: The Healer

Chapter 30: Talk About It

KARA/CAROLINE

"Do you want to talk about it?" William asked on the car ride back to downtown, hand threaded through mine, and warm air on blast to help dry our clothes.

"I don't know," I said somberly, staring into the rain trails down the window.

After a few more minutes of listening only to the windshield wipers, I finally spoke. "Do you think my grandfather really only wanted me for what I could do?"

William looked over and shook his head. "No. Of course not. I never met him officially, but I don't think any grandfather would only want their grandchild for a power."

"My dad said he wanted to make me go to another pack to learn how to use it. Maybe they wanted to get rid of me until I was useful."

"No, no sweetheart." He squeezed my hand. "I don't know for sure, but Junior Alphas have to go through a summer of training before they can work on taking over the pack. But that's not until they are nineteen years old. Maybe your grandfather meant a random comment like that. Having you go to the other pack for a summer of training after you were old enough, and your dad just took it as meaning right that moment."

"That makes sense," I relented.

"I didn't know Ralph, but I do know Samuel and I can't see Samuel banishing a child to another pack to learn something that they aren't old enough to understand. And you were Eric's best friend. He wouldn't have ruined a relationship for his son. And really, I talked to Samuel about this, he said him and Ralph weren't even sure that you healing Eric was what happened. They wouldn't have sent you away for something they didn't even know for sure."

"They didn't know?"

"They had a hunch of course, but no one saw what happened so they weren't positive. He said him and Ralph talked about you maybe being a healer, but they weren't sure. So why would they send you away if they didn't know?"

I nodded, quiet to myself.

"Having a healer would be a wonderful asset to the pack. I'm sure they were very excited for the possibility. Any pack would cherish having someone who could heal, so I'm sure they were hoping you were, just like any human would hope for someone to cure cancer. But that wouldn't have meant they didn't want you if you didn't have a power."

I looked over with a slight smile growing.

"What do you feel? What does your wolf intuition say? Do you feel like your grandfather would have only cared for you if you had healing capabilities?"

"No. I think he would have loved me either way."

"So maybe it's just your father blowing it all out of proportion because he already had prejudices against wolf life."

I sighed. "That sounds right." I stared out the window, the city lights bright around us. "I can't believe he paid off Rick to date me." And five thousand dollars a month at that? Dad surely didn't make that much at his road construction job, did he? But just the fact that he was paying off my fiancé, it was like a hole hollowed out inside me at the hurt.

Will's thumb caressed over my hand, reassuringly. "It sounded like your father paid for his silence, not to become partnered. He probably really did care for you."

We both knew he felt he was stretching the truth.

I wanted to believe that Rick cared once, but really it was like it didn't even matter. I tried to remember myself caring for him. It felt like years ago, not just days. A hint of a smile attempted to pull on my lips as I remembered why it no longer mattered. That first meeting with William, seeing him had stopped my life like an explosion. I tried to wrap my mind around that it was just days ago. My life seemed so tied to William's already that it was like he'd always been at my side. I guess now he would be there forever because when one mate died, the other would as well.