xi. and they collide

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CHAPTER ELEVEN:
AND THEY COLLIDE

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THE WOODS WERE SHROUDED in darkness. Leaves from low-hanging branches brushed against her shoulders as she sprinted through the trees, closer and closer to their meeting spot, only to find the clearing in question empty when she arrived, the silence suffocating her. Verona huffed as she took a seat on a fallen log lying by the treeline, her arms wrapping around her torso as she waited for him. If she was being honest, she wasn't sure why she agreed to meet him. Alec wasn't the epitome of honesty these days. But then again, neither was she. Both of them were just too hesitant to have their hearts broken by the other.

Glancing down at her watch, she noticed how much time had gone by. The longer she spent sitting there, the more stupid she began to feel, her heart plummeting in her chest, a heavy weight tethering her to the earth. And when an hour had passed and he still hadn't shown up, she scrambled to her feet and began to storm back home, tears she couldn't shed stinging behind her eyes. 

"Verona, where are you going?"

She froze, an unneeded breath catching in her throat. Alec's voice was just like she remembered it to be. It sent a wave of content crashing over her, and her nerves were immediately lost in the chaos. Her shoulders tensed as she kept her back to him, and she knew from the way her stomach twisted that if she was still human, her heart would be beating like an over-active drum.

"Verona, look at me."

As he repeated her name, she wheeled around. She could sense him standing there, could feel the longing to run into his arms and hold him close for the rest of forever threatening to consume her. But she kept both feet planted in place, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Alec."

Their eyes met. Despite knowing what she was getting into from the start, her eyebrows arched in surprise at the vibrant red hue that peered back at her, matching the faint blood stains on his lips from a recent feed. Verona's stomach flipped at the scent, at the urge to race over there and press his crimson lips to her own, and she forced her eyes to meet his own as he shifted his stance to match her own; cautious, but nonetheless open to the fact that she was there, just in arm's reach of him.

"You've been ignoring my calls," he hummed, his eyes raking over her figure, admiring every inch of her. "I'm surprised you even showed up tonight."

"I almost didn't," she spat, though she couldn't deny the sparks as he stared at her in such awe. "I contemplated showing you up for the stunt you pulled."

"Did you now?" Alec smirked, a silent challenge for her to let everything out. "Then why didn't you?"

At that, Verona had nothing to say. She didn't have an answer to his questions, for she had no idea why she was standing there when she knew she was supposed to be angry with him. Alec's eyes glistened as they glanced from her defeated expression to her arms, which had fallen slack at her sides.

"I don't know," she mumbled, eyes darting to the ground.

Silence enveloped the two of them. Alec took a step closer to her, their hands brushing together as he reached out to grip them in his own, only to have her take a step away from him, her eyes refusing to meet his. She didn't want to feel his skin against hers, she didn't want to return home with the memory of his touch burned into the crevices of her brain. It would drive her insane. It would send her spiraling out of control.

"I didn't want to hurt you," he murmured, ignoring the stab of pain at her rejection. "You must know that."

"That's not the problem here," she groaned. "You kept something from me. You knew the newborns were coming for us, you knew who was behind it, and you didn't tell me."

"I couldn't go against my coven like that," he insisted, shocked that she'd expected him to do such a thing. "They mean a great deal to me."

"And what about me?" she sneered, allowing her eyes to meet his. "I am your mate, and you were willing to let me fight in a battle that could potentially kill me. What type of person does that make you?"

He scowled, hating how right she was. "That's different and you know it."

"How in the hell is it different, Alec?"

He didn't say anything. Verona stared at him with wide eyes, though she wasn't sure why his words were such a surprise to her. She'd known from the start that her mate's coven had a strong hold over him. But a small, naive part of her had hoped that he cared for her more than them, that he'd be loyal to her as time brought them closer to each other. How wrong she was.

With a disappointed shake of her head, she began to back away from him. She couldn't stay there a moment longer, so close yet so far from what she wanted but couldn't have. She needed more time to comprehend the world crashing down around her. Alec's presence wasn't doing anything but breaking her further, and deep down, they both knew it.

"I think we're done here."

"No," Alec gasped, eyes going wide at the thought. "Verona, please don't go."

She didn't listen to him. Turning away, she refused to look back, ignoring how her heart screamed for her to stay with him forever, to forgive him for his mistakes. She sprinted into the woods, and in just one instant, Alec was alone again, wondering what on earth he was going to do.

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ESME, ALICE AND ROSALIE were the only ones home when she returned. They heard her coming from a mile away, and they were waiting in the living room when she came rushing through the front door, exchanging a knowing look between them as they moved towards her trembling figure.

"Verona?" Esme's hands planted on her daughter's shoulders, enveloping her in a comforting embrace. "What's wrong, my darling?"

"I hate him," Verona hissed, her body shaking with sobs that she'd suppressed the whole way home, only to release in the safety of her family's presence. "I hate him so damn much."

They shared another wary glance. Alice moved to embrace her sister next, allowing her to slump against her in defeat. None of them had to ask who she meant, for they'd known from the start where she was going, who she was meeting, what the ending might entail. Verona caught the pity in their eyes, but she couldn't find it in her to be annoyed, not as Rosalie stepped up in front of her, lips downturned into a grimace.

"No, you don't." Rosalie's voice was gentle, the hard glint in her eyes gone without a trace. "You love him."

Verona wanted to protest, but deep down, she knew she'd be lying. So she gave a nod, glancing down at her feet with a frown, her shoulders still shaking with sobs. 

How she wished for her mother, her real mother, to be there. It was times like those where she wished her biological parents were still alive, if not to comfort her, then to tell her that everything was going to be okay. Her mother always had a knack for making her feel better when she was down. Verona yearned for that piece of the past now more than ever before. Esme wrapped an arm around the younger girl's waist, bringing her out of her reverie. Verona mustered the tiniest of smiles, the grin quick to waver into a blank stare just a moment later. Esme wasn't giving in, though. She knew that Verona needed her, even if she wasn't the mother she so desperately missed.

"Come on." She began to lead her into the living room, her other daughters following behind them. "Why don't we put on a movie and make ourselves comfortable on the sofa? You'll forget about him before you know it, sweetheart."

Verona sighed, her voice bleak, "If you say so."

She took a seat on the lounge, accepting the blanket her adoptive mother placed around her shoulders, before Esme flashed over to where they kept their collection of movies, searching through the cabinet for their options. Rosalie moved to switch on the television they rarely ever used, the piece of technology flaring to life.

"Vee, it'll be okay." Alice curled up beside her, gripping her sister's hands in her own as she sent her a tiny smile. "It may not seem like it with everything that's happening, but you'll realise soon enough."

Verona was grateful for her words, but she didn't believe them for a second. Sinking back into the lounge, she allowed her family to rally around her in her time of need, bringing that spark of light back into the darkness. That was how the boys found them early the next morning, golden eyes glimmering as they stared at the television screen, seated close together in a moment of comfort. None of them asked what was wrong, they just sat down with them, the sun beginning to rise in the distance, bringing a new dawn into motion. 

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THEY WERE STANDING IN an empty clearing, surrounded by an endless plain of trees. Verona was beside her family, her head held high, her mind void of everything but the fight that was about to commence. Her ears pricked at the sound of footsteps rushing towards them, her body leaning forward in preparation for the battle looming ahead. Her eyes narrowed in determination, her body heaving in an unneeded breath of air as the first round of newborns broke through the trees, sprinting toward them with an almighty roar. Verona ran to meet them, and they collided, two sides blurring into one.

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