“Well, where should I start….?” Hope perks her lips a little as she glances around. “Don’t tell her I told you this because she will kill me. But, Penelope had a mate, before, and he was everything to her. They weren’t married so they aren’t actually mates, but, she loved him, nonetheless.” She leaned back into her seat and ran her fingers along her forehead. “They spent almost five years together and it turned out he was kind of…. A bastard…. I should say…”
“I would like it if you were a little more specific.” Ace rolled his eyes as he glared at her in annoyance. “A bastard can actually mean a lot of things.”
“Well, I was getting to that.” Hope rolled her eyes as she glared back at him and rolled her eyes. “His name was Victor. He was a rogue too. He didn’t really come here to actually settle, he just happened to be ‘walking by’ for five damned years. He was a very friendly and charming person from the outside, he showed he loved her so much but when the time came for them to get married, three weeks before then he tried to kill her, thinking Penelope was the one going to become the Luna and that he would become alpha, since my father really loved him like his own son. When he managed to stab just a bit of her waist, luckily, he missed all the vitals, she managed to attack him back and she ended up killing him, by accident, out of self-defense. She blames herself for it, since.” Hope nodded her head at her own words as Ace took in a sharp breath.
No wonder she didn’t want to talk about it.
“Where did you bury him?” Ace asked with raised brows as he stared at Harley who shrugged his shoulders, then to Hope who blinked a few times.
“We found his body, that night he tried to kill her and took him to a ‘rest’ house to bury him the next morning, but then after that, we couldn’t find his body. Penelope said she torched him up since the house was literally in flames in the morning when we got there.” Hope shrugged his shoulders and glanced at Ace who furrowed his brows at her in confusion. “Why are… you looking at me like that?”
“And you believed her?” Ace chuckled out as he stared at them, as though they were stupid. “She torched the rest house? Out of the blue? She clearly was covering up the fact that he woke up and she helped him run away guilt free.”
“Why are you assuming that?” Hope chuckled out forcedly as she glanced at Harley in confusion, then back at Ace who smirked at them both.
“Penelope had a sad and guilty look. She looked at me as though she was trying to forgive herself for something by helping me. Like she had a mission in helping me. I’m a rogue, well, I was. Victor was a rogue, he might have felt left out and hardly connected, so he wanted to be alpha. The exact same reason I wanted to be, to feel connected to the pack. I’m basically his replica, except I didn’t try to kill you-.”
“Yes you did.”
“Excuse me, Harley, I didn’t ask for your opinion.” Ace rolled his eyes as Harley smirked at him. “Anyway, he tried to become alpha faster without risking falling in love or something. Just like I did, partially. So he pretended to love her, just like I did in the beginning. He saw he was running out of time and with getting married around the corner, he decided to kill her and probably frame someone who was also a threat to him at being alpha, maybe Hope. So when he failed he pretended to die the moment she stabbed him. She realized what was going on and cried, begging him to come back and that she still loved him and could forgive him for it. He heard this and decided, ‘hey, I’m still alive, how about I pretend to die and you come help me escape later’. So she agreed and torched the house after to cover up her tracks.” Ace smiled as he glanced up at the ceiling for his incredible detective work, managing to convince both Harley and Hope who stared at him astonished.
“I should ask her then!” Hope said as she stood up in panic. “She always brushes me off whenever I ask her about it and that could be it!”
“Exactly!” Harley nodded in approval to Hope’s words as he glanced at her admirably.
“That would be a very stupid thing to do.” Ace rolled his eyes and sighed out as he rubbed his finger against his temple. “If she won’t tell you, there’s a reason behind it. Maybe Victor isn’t really gone. She probably knows his somewhere close and she can’t tell you because she will risk getting him caught. If you confront her about it, she’ll end up leaving with someone who would kill her in the end.” He explained, getting Harley to raise his eyes in shock.
“How on earth did you come up with all that from what she just said?” Harley asked with furrowed brows.
“You said she was madly in love with him.” He shrugged his shoulders and smirked at Harley. “Plus, Victor seems to resemble me in some way, so I would pretend to die so I don’t actually get killed by a pack of angry werewolves. Plus, I would be thinking of ways to come back but this time, as an alpha by force.”
“At this point, I’m afraid you would have been more dangerous if we didn’t invite you in.” Hope sighed out as she stared at Ace who stared thoughtfully towards the ground.
“But I can’t say… maybe Victor actually died.” Ace shrugged his shoulders and stared back at Hope. “But nonetheless, she’s really bothered by it and is trying to make everyone feel good to make up for it. So I just needed to know, so she can accept it if she actually killed him.”
“Oh.” Hope nodded slowly. “So, are you going to talk to her now?” she asked as she studied Ace who furrowed her brows at her.”
“Why?” He asked. “What’s wrong with later?”
“I made her cry and get a little upset. So I would appreciate it if you went to cheer her up. She chased me out of the room.” Hope chuckled out nervously and Ace frowned.
“What did you say to her?” he asked with a deep frown to which she nervously glanced at Harley, then back at him.
“That…. You’d be a good replacement for Victor…..” She smiled sheepishly as she glanced elsewhere except at Ace’s annoyed glare.