* have a great weekend everyone *

The woman smiled, her eyes crinkled kindly as she did so. "I'm Tiffany Summers, née Cromwell."

Since the woman was obviously too young to be Ryker's mother, I immediately assumed she was either his sister or cousin. "Are you Ryker's sister?"

"Yes." She nodded. "I see that you've occupied my mum's old bedroom," she said in a faint English accent. "I live in Washington D.C. now so I don't come here often." Which explained the faint English accent, she'd probably lived in America long enough to lose her accent. "How are you, Xyrra? Has—" she took a small pause, clearing her throat, "Has my brother treating you well?"

From the sympathy shining in her eyes and her concerned tone, I could tell that she knew the whole ordeal with Alana and Ryker and she was feeling bad for me for being caught up in this whole mess. "It's been okay so far," I replied to her with a smile that I hoped would assure her.

Yet she shook her head, didn't seem to be convinced at all. "I'm really sorry."

I opened the door wider and stepped away so she could enter. "Do you want to come inside? We can sit and talk." There was a mini living room inside my bedroom. It would be nice to finally be able to use it. I'd persuaded Trish so many times but her answer was always the same.

"I'd love that." She strode inside and took a seat on the long chaise and I sat next to her, giving a few feet of space between us so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable. After all, I was still a stranger to her.

Tiffany let out a deep sigh and shook her head exasperatedly. "This is what we all feared about. The Fated Mate comes along when he already has his Chosen Mate. I've told him multiple times that he should wait longer."

"That's alright." I gave her a small smile. "No offense but I, um, I don't know if I truly bought this whole soulmate thing. As you probably know, I am every bit a human and I don't turn into a giant wolf at will." Tiffany laughed at this, and seemingly found my speech to be both amusing and entertaining. "I know everyone thinks that I came here to steal Ryker away from Alana," I decided to be honest with her, telling her what I could see in the pack members' eyes every now and then whenever I went outside and met them. I still had no clue how on Earth Miles hadn't found out who I was considering I was the 'evil bitch' who tried to take her sister's boyfriend away. "But that was not why I came here, that's not why I am here." I took a deep, calming breath, and yet when I talked again, my voice was still shaky. "I just want answers."

I looked into those silver eyes that were identical to Ryker's and I knew she understood me. "I know, Dear. I know." She surprised me by taking my hand and holding it. "Ryker and I were born into this. We've spent our childhood here while our brother Walker spent it outside. Ryker and I hated it here." Her eyes turned affectionate as she probably remembered a thing or two about their childhood. "But we know that once we've grown up, we could leave and go wherever we want while Walker would have to stay here and lead the pack. You are different, Xyrra, from what I heard, you didn't even know that your dad is also a werewolf."

I bit my bottom lip and nodded. The fact that my dad had never told me still hurt sometimes although most of the time, I did my best effort to ignore it. Yet sometimes it was too much to know that my life had been a lie. That my very own identity was fake.

"I may not know how hard it is for you but I know it's not easy." Her hand squeezed mine. "However I want you to know that you are not alone, Xyrra. People here might not make it easy for you given the fact that they're already used to the thought of Alana as their future Luna but if you want it, if you want to stay here and take that Luna spot, I want you to know that you can. It is your right and no one else has the right to tell you otherwise." The look she was giving me was full of determination as if she herself would fight her own pack for me if anyone would dare to stand in my way of becoming their Luna. "Nevertheless," she patted my hand with her other hand and her smile turned kind, "should you feel like you don't want any of this and wish to go back to your life, free from this whole werewolf thing, then that's your right too. You can choose whichever you want, Xyrra, and I can assure you that no one will pressure you to choose one or the other." Her eyes glimmered with determination and assurance. "Not even my brother."

At her last remark, I commented, "Isn't he the Alpha? I have the feeling that whatever he says around here goes."

"He is." Tiffany nodded. "And that's true. Whether he needs to exert his Alpha Aura or not, things will go the way he wants them to. But not when it comes to you. Not when it comes to you choosing to be with him or not. You may be his Fated Mate, but you can still choose."

I took her words in and thought about it long and hard. Finally, I asked her the question I'd been wanting to ask every married couple, the question I'd once wanted to ask Alana on her wedding day. "How did you know? How could you be so sure that your husband, your Fated Mate is the one for you, that you would be spending the rest of your life with him?"

Tiffany tilted her head to one side and looked at me intently. "I'm not married to my Fated Mate, Xyrra. My husband is not my Fated Mate."

Then that was when I finally understood why she was okay and didn't seem all that appalled if I didn't end up choosing Ryker. It made sense why she had been telling me that I had the right to walk away as much as I had the right to stay. Because she had once made the choice for herself, she had chosen to be with her Chosen Mate instead of her Fated Mate.

But my question remained the same. "I'm sorry for assuming but still, how did you know that he's the one?"

"There's no definite answer when it comes to a question such as this one," answered Tiffany quite diplomatically. "Because I just know that he's the one for me and I know that's not the answer you're looking for." She let out a small giggle, her cheeks blushed. "I love him. I love my husband. And I realized that I couldn't imagine my life without him, as cliché as that sounds."

"And your Fated Mate understood that?" I asked curiously.

"Yes. He loved me enough to let me choose who I want to be with, even if it's not him." There was no regret in her eyes or her voice. "In fact, he lives happily with his Chosen Mate now. I've seen his kid a few minutes ago." Her kind smile returned.

"His kid is here?" I couldn't be more shocked. I wondered how she would react if she accidentally bumped into him here. Would that be awkward?

Tiffany nodded. "Yeah, she's visiting. Just between us, I think she likes it here rather than in Siberia." She gave me a conspiratory wink.

I blinked. Once. Twice. "Wait, are you talking about Trish?"

"Ah, you've met her. Isn't she lovely?"

I didn't think my jaw could be so far down on the floor but it was. "Trish is your Fated Mate's daughter?"

"Yes." A small frown slowly appeared on Tiffany's smooth forehead. "I don't think the Ethereal would allow outsiders to come inside their territory although, of course, you are an exception with you being the Alpha's Fated Mate."

Her words reminded me of what Trish had said to me the other night at the party. She'd said the same thing and I'd thought that she was allowed to come here because she was Dmitry aka the Beta's cousin. Looking at Tiffany, I instantly knew that she was able to answer any questions I had about Ryker or the Ethereal. I realized that she would be a better source of information than Trish or Tatiana.

"I'm sorry but can I ask you something?"

If Tiffany noticed the change of topic, the older woman didn't show it. "Sure. Anything."

"What happened to Walker? I know that some people told me that he'd died and Ryker had to step forward but what happened? And why Ryker? Weren't you the next in line for the succession?"

The gleam on Tiffany's face was gone. Her silver eyes were now filled with pain and hurt and for a moment there, I truly felt bad for bringing this stuff to her, knowing how difficult it must have been for her. Yet true to her words, she gave me the answers I was looking for. "Walker was killed in his sleep. We all believed that a rogue has done this. Alana and two other girls heard when the intruder came in but it was too late." She shook her head as if she was trying to shake the sadness away and failed miserably. "And as for the Alpha position, I know there are female Alphas out there but I couldn't be one."

I wondered why and didn't realize that I'd said that out loud until Tiffany answered, "Because I have no wolf, Dear. That's why."

I wanted to tell her that I had no wolf either considering I was a human so there was no way I could be a Luna even if I wanted to — although I wasn't saying that I wanted to. Just hypothetically, I couldn't possibly be one when I was just a mere human. But before I could tell her that, my bedroom door swung open revealing none other than Ryker. His face hardened when his eyes caught sight of his sister.

"What on bloody Earth are you doing here, Tiff?!"

* * *

Dundundundun... (forgive me, really want to say that at least once) Dear Readers, what do you think about this new piece of information? A bit shocking, yes? Also, about Tiffany, yes, her last name is Summers and she is indeed in relation with the MC in "Since Summers".