Chapter 44
FORTY-FOUR
It feels like I’m in a spy movie as I enter the penthouse. All that’s missing is an all-black outfit so I can be fully incognito.
Everett is downstairs waiting so we can carry the stuff back together. I may lift over two hundred pounds, but not down the busy city street. That sounds like ass.
Although, I would do it if push came to shove. My omega is going to need plenty of items with our scents on it before going into her heat, and that can only be accomplished by getting our luggage. I’d go purchase a hand-truck just for this occasion if it meant providing her what she needs.
Still, I’m entering the penthouse alone in the dead of night because I’m afraid I’ll run into one of my parents anyway. Or worse, I’ll run into Nicole, and my alpha certainly can’t see her right now without spewing hateful words.
Everett’s alpha can’t either, which is why he is downstairs actively avoiding this possible disaster. I have to take this risk alone.
Once I gather up everyone’s luggage—including my omega’s duffle bag that emits the strongest cranberry scent ever—as quietly as I can, I put them beside the elevator door.
I need to get my own suitcase so I tiptoe back down the walkway, but the light suddenly comes on in the kitchen, stopping me in my tracks.
I freeze behind the wall of the open doorway. I even try to breathe as quietly as possible, but the action is futile.
“Daxter, you’re not as sly as you think you are. Get in here.” My mother’s voice isn’t loud, but it still hits me in the solar plexus all the same, like I’m being called in for doing something mischievous at school.
I take a deep breath before entering the kitchen. Partially blinded by the extreme whiteness of the room, I see my mother standing by the counter, her hair up and out of her face while stirring a cup of tea in one of her favorite mugs.
I sigh. “Can you please never tell my pack about my full name? They’ll never let me live it down.” And not only Jett, even Rory and Everett would join in on the teasing.
She laughs. “You’re named after a video game your dad loves, I thought that was considered cool.”
I partially roll my eyes. “No wonder you were able to keep us a secret. Literally no one would ever expect the Cordelia Monaghan to name her son after a video game character. Especially one like Jak and Daxter.”
That causes the lightness to fade from her expression the tiniest bit. “It’s true. I’m not as glamorous as people think.”
The change in her demeanor causes me to raise an eyebrow. “Is everything okay?”
My mother gives me a sad smile. “Come sit down with me, darling.”
I think about my pack mate waiting for me downstairs, my omega waiting for me across the city. I feel rushed for time, but something on my mother’s face causes me to follow her to the bar and sit.
“Ev’s waiting for me,” I tell her, emphasizing how little time I have.
She nods before looking down at her tea. Her usually bright aroma is dulled and full of worry. “I understand. This won’t take long. It’s about Nicole?—”
I start to stand back up. “I don’t want to talk about that yet.”
“Dax,” she warns.
My body stands up a bit straighter as I steel my spine. “No, Mother. Please . Don’t ask me to forgive her, because I can’t .” I’m barely containing my alpha as a growl sits in my throat. “Don’t do this.”
“I’m not asking you to forgive her,” she responds as she pats the seat beside her again. “But there is something you should know.”
A part of me doesn’t care. There’s nothing that she can tell me that will make this better.
But also, I’m surprised to hear that I don’t know everything. We’re a family that doesn’t have secrets (besides the big obvious one), so hearing those words on my mother’s lips is concerning.
I reluctantly sit back down, but I keep my pack in the back of my mind. My omega’s anger gleams in my memory like a beacon.
My mother sighs, still watching her tea as it becomes cold on the counter. “Your sister has been going to therapy for the past couple of years. She’s also been on mood stabilizers.”
I blink. “What?”
“Before her freshmen year at Bensen, she went to NYU for an open house. She stayed the weekend, but some things happened there that made her unable to attend in the fall. We helped her transfer over to Bensen with some… persuasion ? — ”
I narrow my eyes. That normally means donation . “What happened?”
She gnaws on her lip. “She didn’t get along with her bunkmate, some hateful words were exchanged apparently and Nicole thought destroying all of her roommates’ things was the correct response.”
I balk at that. “Holy shit.”
“I know,” my mother responds. “Not only that, but the roommate turned out to be the dean’s daughter. So, your sister’s acceptance was rescinded and we had to figure out what to do after that. New York wasn’t an option. The dean has… a lot of friends.”
“So, that’s the reason why she didn’t go to NYU?” I had no idea. I always thought it was suspicious because Nicole loves New York, but I didn’t question her choice to go to Bensen with me.
“Yeah. After that, things were hard. She couldn’t understand why her acceptance was rescinded and it was day after day of aggressive meltdowns. We finally told her that she needed to go see someone. It didn’t take them long to diagnose her with Narcissistic Personality Disorder.”
“She’s a narcissist?” I raise a brow. No, that can’t be it. She’s my little sister. She used to capture bugs to take them outside. One time she cried when her friend got hit in the face because she felt the pain of it, too.
“It doesn’t mean she’s a bad person, Dax.
But there were things we noticed, even before that.
Her heightened sense of importance, her need for praise, being emotionally dysregulated when she’s losing control.
We couldn’t ignore them anymore. And Nicole was also tired of feeling lost, so she agreed to see a therapist, and then she agreed to start medication. It helped her tremendously. ”
“I’m still not understanding,” I say. “What does that have to do with what she did earlier today? She’s obviously not fine.”
She huffs out a low breath. “We noticed that, too. We had our suspicions for a few months now. That’s why we wanted you both to come home for Thanksgiving.
We needed to see her, see she was okay. But she’s not.
We confronted her about it, and she told us that she stopped seeing her therapist over the summer and she stopped taking her meds, too. ”
I can’t believe everything I’m hearing. Not only has this been happening for at least two years, but no one has said anything. How is it that I’ve been so out of the loop with my own family?
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask, letting the thrum of theatrics in my DNA take hold for this one melodramatic moment.
“Nicole can barely admit to herself that this is happening, do you really think she wants to admit it to you?” My mother places her hand on my cheek. “You are one of the kindest souls, Dax. She didn’t want you to see the cracks in her armor.”
I let out a defeated sigh. “I could have kept an eye on her, made sure she was still getting treatment.”
“We know you would have, but that’s not your responsibility. Nicole is an adult, she has to want to get better. Anything else won’t do anyone any good. It would just lead to resentment.”
I nod, trying to understand. “I can’t forgive her, Mom. Not yet. What she did… that’s my pack . My omega .”
She looks down at the new bite right underneath the collar of my shirt. “I know. You don’t have to. If she wants to repair her relationship with you, that’s something she has to do on her own. I’m not going to ask you to forgive or forget. I just wanted you to know everything. It was time.”
Today’s been an absolute whirlwind. It feels like a million milestones in one, and I think I just need to go back to my omega and finally sleep with her in the same bed.
My alpha yearns for it, and after my mother helps me get the rest of our things, she hugs me tight. “I always knew you were meant for an amazing pack. That girl is going places, I’m so glad you get to be there for the ride.”