18. Aspyn
Chapter eighteen
Aspyn
A spyn- Aged 17
On the tarmac, she tells me everything.
My mother made a deal with Typhor Raines that we would leave and never, ever come back. She insists we need the money and that we need to get away from Kelly. He’s a bad alpha.
The deal she made is simple. I would never reach out to Kelly, never look for him, never approach him. There would never be a day I returned home. And, in exchange, I get to live in peace.
In return, for her side of the agreement, she got a mere few thousand dollars, two tickets to nowhere, and a ride to the airport.
She cries when she tells me she sold me out. The car stinks so thickly of shame that the driver of the filthy vehicle had to open the windows.
I’m trying to understand, but I keep the way I feel under wraps where she can’t see it. Where she can’t hurt me.
She’s stolen something vital from me.
My scent match is now forever out of my reach.
I can never come back?
I can’t breathe.
P resent Day
I stand where they put me, numb to everything. The world without my Daane, without Keagan, Shale, and Beau is miserable. It’s excruciating. I’ve never felt more alone. I have no protection, no kind words. It’s like they’ve died. They won’t even let me see them. Inside, the storm is raging. I can hear the torrents of water, the howls of the wild winds. The rain is falling faster and thicker than ever.
I’m drowning in the dark.
People mutter as they walk past me. I can see them distantly like I’m watching a screen. It’s the same hate and disgust that always comes my way, except now my shield is gone.
Kelly, Gael, and Ezy are out surfing the big waves, riding to glory, while their supporters spit slurs at me. I’ve been reduced to an omega pet on a golden chain. I can’t even leave them. There’s nowhere for me to go.
I am numb to it.
The reporters have spread the story across the world already. The heir to Boothe fortune and Alpha Labels have been taken off the market. Even Gael is from a long line of respected packs. They are innocent, fun-loving alphas who deserve so much more than an omega like me.
I heard Kelly and Ezy arguing this morning. Dissension in the pack? I don’t give a fuck. Ezekial Boothe didn’t share his status with his pack. Or the fact his parents had died recently.
I might have cared, but that was yesterday, when I was trying, when I thought scent matches were good people. My scent matches were worthy of getting to know.
One of the local reporters who hated the Daane dredged up my past as easily as a child turning over a rock, searching for crabs. It was easy to write about my poor family tragedy. My father who died and how his business went under, leaving hundreds out of work. It was easy to talk about my sister and imply my family had problems of abuse and neglect. My mother’s alcoholism and whorish tendencies got splashed across the news. I got to sit at the table and listen while Kelly read the article out.
He’d said very unconcernedly. “I’ll fix it.”
I’d looked at him flatly and told him. “Why bother? It’s all true.”
They went and interviewed people on the island. Gwen, oh, yes, somehow they managed to interview Gwen, and she spilled a sickening tale that was corroborated by her friends. I’m the crazy con woman omega who is broken and abandoned, claiming to have psychic abilities and scamming the poor people around me with my sob story of woe.
The images are cruel and paint me as unworthy.
I am seeking money and fortune.
I tricked Kelly, Gael, and Ezy.
I accused them of heinous crimes to trap them.
I cheated on them. I am the villain in the Raines saga story.
How can twenty-four hours ruin a life so quickly? I thought I was already ruined.
The waves roll high, and, for once, I wish they would roll here and swallow me up and steal me away.
I must make a sound because Nat grips my hand tighter. She’s furious with Pack Raines, and I love her for it. She is the only rock holding me here right now. If I was alone, I might have just limped away and vanished out to the waves and certain death. They made me sleep in their room last night, on the couch. Nat only left because they threatened to send her home.
I’m not okay. Not even close. The feeling of being betrayed by Pack Raines and drowning in the guilt of what I did to the Daane is eating me alive like ants on a carcass.
“I’m okay,” I whisper.
“I’m just going to go get you a drink. Those idiots are going to be preening for a long time.”
August Raines tried to talk to me earlier today, but Nat cut her and her pack off with such a vicious tirade that they had retreated. I’m grateful to my best friend. I am so glad she’s here.
I am. I just feel like my soul has been cut to ribbons.
Kelly walks out of the ocean and onto the beach. He bumps fists with the other alphas and smiles as he flicks his hair. Why is he so happy to cause me such pain? Yesterday, I thought I could love him one day, but today, I feel nothing for him.
He might be my scent match, but I can hate him, I’ve discovered. I can hate them with the cold of all the oceans.
As soon as Nat disappears, the reporters brazen in, jostling to get in front of me. They take photos of my red-rimmed, swollen eyes and gleefully lap up my misery.
They are vultures without morals.
I hear laughter, the smell of sunscreen, and the salty scent of the ocean. The sun beats down on me, making my headache worse. I’m desperately thirsty. I’ve cried all the liquid out of me.
One of the reporters suddenly bumps into me, and I go sprawling. The sand burns. I feel suddenly so vulnerable with all these people around me, staring down.
It’s my worst nightmare.
Shale would be here. Keagan would have chased them off. Beau would have held me.
I am alone.
Why didn’t I take the chance before? Why did I let fear stop me?
Tears blind me as I push myself up, but when I get my balance, I’m jostled again and let out a cry as my leg seizes.
I writhe on the sand, my teeth clenched, unable to do anything but exist in the moment and then the next. The pain is agony.
Where are the Daane?
And no one comes.
My heart can’t take this.
“GET AWAY FROM HER!”
I’m barely aware of the sound of the beta’s rage as she pushes at the reporters. They scatter, and a huge alpha with sapphire eyes leans down and picks me up as if I weigh nothing.
The pain gets heated like a blast of fire along my nerves. I scream, my body arching.
I close my eyes and succumb to the darkness.