Chapter 16 Rowan
Rowan
My coffee is black and bitter as I brood alone in the lodge’s café. I’m on a break as I just needed to get out of the office.
I’m pissed. My brothers are out there, playing Alpha with Daisy Rose, while I sit alone with my black-as-sin coffee.
Even if I wanted to participate in their foolish games of egg-hunting, I couldn’t. It’s too late for me now.
Daisy hates me, as I made absolute sure of that. I have convinced her that I don’t care about her and that her memory is of no consequence to me.
However, the day I rejected her—it lives rent-free in my mind like an old movie reel. It repeats over and over on a loop at my lowest points, just as my mother’s last few moments on earth do.
I can’t stop my brothers from pursuing her. Not this time. They have finally developed minds of their own.
Life will never be the same again. I suppose I will just have to get used to a life of being an outsider, pretending that she doesn’t exist.
Just like our own dad did to our mom. He was a poor excuse of an Alpha, and I suppose the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in the end, after all.
Maybe I am just like him. Worse, in fact.
But this is for the best. I would only break her heart, as our father did to our mother. Thank goodness our grandparents were there to pick up the pieces.
But it wasn’t enough… In the end, she died of a broken heart. Some Omegas can become ill from an Alpha’s rejection. And the fact that she had already borne him three sons… it made matters ten times worse.
I was sixteen, listening to her mournful cries out in the hallway of our grandparents’ house. Eleven years she lasted after our father left…
That’s why I wanted to stop history from repeating itself. I’m nine months older than Ash and Briar. So, of course, I felt responsible for their well-being.
Therefore, we could not have an Omega. Lest we wrought the same kind of cruelty our father did our mother.
We’re his sons. We share his DNA.
So, I decided to cut down that insidious apple tree before it had a chance to spread its seed.
Mother’s cries echo to me now as I grip the mug tightly in my hands, shaking.
All around, children squeal in delight as they enjoy the Easter festivities. I don’t even know why I came here.
I’ve always been allergic to fun, after all.
“Rowan?”
I startle, peering up to find Noelle’s concerned brown eyes.
How we always butted heads as kids. She thought that because she was two years older, she knew best.
In fact, she does now.
I still don’t wholly forgive her for those tea parties. She made me dress up as the most ridiculous things. A rabbit, a cat, and even a teddy bear at one point.
“Hello, cousin,” I reply curtly.
Noelle rolls her eyes, joining me at the table. Now she just stares at me for some time. I raise a brow. “Is there something you want?”
She shakes her head. “You’re an idiot. I’m ashamed to be related to you.”
My other brow shoots up. “Come again?”
She sighs. “You’re sitting here feeling sorry for yourself while your brothers are winning her over.”
I snort, sipping my black coffee. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
Noelle’s nostrils flare. “Daisy, of course. Though maybe Delta may ring a bell for you. Seriously, Rowan. If you know what is good for you, then you will stop calling her that.”
I have no response to give. Now I just scowl down into my nearly empty cup of coffee.
Robin soon joins Noelle on the other side of the table, and I really didn’t ask for company. I’m surprised Robin is even entertaining me. He’s never really liked me, even when we were kids, but he tolerates me.
“Is everything all right here?” he asks, looking between us.
He’s asking if I am upsetting his Omega. I’m not. She’s upsetting me.
Noelle groans. “I’m just trying to teach him to see sense.”
Robin snorts. “Good luck with that.”
I regard the Alpha irritably from the corner of my eye. Then I rise, taking my cup with me. “If you will both excuse me.”
I need to be alone for a while.
Before I leave, Noelle grips my arm, speaking way out of turn. “Rowan… please don’t make the same mistake as your father. You’re… not him…”
I freeze, closing my eyes as the memories come rushing back. She’s talking about our so-called father.
The one who ran out on our sweet mother.
Daisy reminds me of her at times. A similar disposition, I guess.
However, Daisy is the kind of flower that thrives in hardship. Like a daisy sprouting up between a flagstone.
Nothing can keep her down.
I don’t meet Noelle’s eyes. I have to remember that my mother was her aunt. She lost someone, too. Her father, Joel, our uncle, was distraught after he lost his sister.
“Noelle…” Robin warns her gently. “Let him go.”
For once, he doesn’t sound so indifferent around me. No, he sounds sad for me. Pity is the worst… But he’s no stranger to a parent that walks out on him, too, I suppose.
I calm my breath, peering down at my older cousin. Her brown eyes shine with unshed tears. She cares; I see that.
So, I entertain her now. “Well… what do you suggest?”
The Omega taps her chin in concentration. That’s when a commotion sounds at the door. A giant, anthropomorphic pink rabbit enters the café, and the children scream. He hands out eggs, and I shiver at the sight of it.
Lo and behold… it’s the Easter Bunny. And he’s nightmare incarnate.
At least some children have the sense to keep away. One toddler screams in horror, huddling close to her mother.
Good call. Never trust a big rabbit with forward-facing eyes.
However, when I see the expression on my cousin’s face, my stomach turns. “What?”
“I have an idea,” she says.
Oh, fuck. This is going to be like one of those times when we were kids. Noelle always liked playing dress up and making me suffer.
See, this is why I don’t leave the office.