46. Fallon
46
Fallon
T he door is unlocked.
They never forget to lock it behind them. Ever.
And as my hand touches the brass handle, it feels as though someone’s thrown a cold bucket of water over me, submerging the warmth I’ve felt today and burying me beneath the coldness that emanates from beyond the door as I push it open.
My pulse slows to a crawl as I step through.
No use in avoiding it.
Zeke is outside. He’ll be here in a moment.
The thought should reassure me, and it does – it does . But Zeke is one alpha, against three. And the thought of him getting hurt… it tightens my lungs until I think I might pass out.
I’ve held on for seven years.
I only have to hold on until tomorrow.
And my mates are waiting for me.
I pause for a second, letting that thought soak in, snatching the strength it provides.
I can do this.
They’re waiting in the kitchen, seated around the table. Several empty bottles litter the counter, but there’s no—
No dinner on the table.
I stop in the doorway. And Ellis smiles at me. A small, curved twist in his lips that makes me take a step backward.
Coming home at this hour is bad enough.
But… the grocery money.
The money Shaun leaves me every morning, just enough and never too much, is tucked away in my desk at work.
And in the pandemonium of today, I completely forgot about it.
“Not so fast.” Rory has his fingers around my wrist. He tightens his grip, dragging me forward. “Where the hell have you been , Fallon?”
Anger threads his words. “I was—,”
“No dinner on the table,” Ellis remarks silkily. He tips his bottle to me. “No groceries in the cupboard. You must have had quite the adventure today, Fallon. Why don’t you tell us about it? We have nothing better to do than sit here and wait for you , after all.”
My cheeks feel hot as Rory tugs me into a seat. He doesn’t sit. Instead, his hands land on my shoulders, gripping me. “Rory, that hurts—,”
“Where have you been?” He roars it, directly into my ear. I slam my hand over it and flinch away, but his nails dig into my shoulders and drag me back until my back slams against the chair, almost winding me.
“I—,” I fight to take a breath. “I was—,”
“Don’t bother,” Shaun says quietly. Ellis shoots him a sharp look, but he ignores it. “We know where you were.”
Any wind is sucked directly out of my sails. I feel my skin pale, grow clammy. “What?”
In response, Shaun slides his phone across the table. “Quite the scene from our fellow publishers today. Maybe you could fill in the gaps.”
I stare down at the video. My heart jumps into my throat and stays there.
Oh, Zeke.
His face desperate, Zeke bursts out of the Ink a blind, grieving idiot for far too long. I let my light go out, lost myself in the numbness and let them take it all.
I let them take me.
“What happened to my house?” I keep going, when they don’t say anything. The heat of my anger scorches through the cold, burning it away and leaving fire in its wake. “My parent’s house? My things? My bank account? My identification? My life ?”
I’m breathing faster now. “You stole it. You stole my identity. My family’s legacy. You stole it.”
“We didn’t steal it.” Rory’s voice is hoarse. “Fallon. How could you think—,”
“Then explain it.” My voice is rising. “Tell me how you did it. Because for the life of me, I don’t understand. But then again, I’m just a useless, ugly, frigid excuse for an omega. Aren’t I? Maybe I need another lesson .”
“You little—,” Ellis stands, his face purpling. “You haven’t seen a damn lesson yet.”
Shaun grabs his shoulder. “Sit the fuck down, Ellis. Jesus.”
Ellis sits. And Shaun disappears. I can feel Rory’s stare burning into the back of my head, but I stay silent until Shaun returns.
He slams a document down in front of me. “That’s a signed Power of Attorney form, Fallon. Tell me – whose signature is that?”
The rock in my stomach becomes heavier as I stare at the paper.
At my signature. “I don’t remember—,”
“You signed it the day after your parent’s funeral,” Rory says softly. Even his touch softens, his fingers rubbing at my shoulders. “You were so overwhelmed, Fallon. You begged us to help you. So we did.”
I don’t remember begging them for anything. And I certainly don’t remember this.
“We bought you a house.” Ellis smirks. “We made sure you were taken care of. And if we used some of those funds to keep you warm and fed, then you’ll find that legally, we’ve done nothing wrong. Not in the eyes of the law. Because you’re not capable of making these decisions. So we make them for you.”
I don’t say anything.
Not for a long time.
“Now that’s out of the way,” Ellis says finally. He taps the darkened screen of Shaun’s phone. “What’s this?”
Rory tenses again.
I press my lips together, and I say nothing.
“Tell us.” And at Ellis’s bark, my spine locks into place.
I can’t stop the words. Ellis’s bark tears them from me, pulls them out into the heavy space between us. “They’re my… scent-matches.”
I’m not sure if I even want to hide this from them now. I lift up my chin. “And they’re better alphas than any of you will ever be.”
The silence stretches on. Finally, Ellis shrugs. “Interesting. But ultimately, it doesn’t matter.”
I tense as he and Rory exchange looks over my head. “I’m leaving. You can’t stop me.”
“But we can.” Rory’s hand slides to my neck, clamps down on it. “We have a signed document that says we have the ultimate say over your welfare, Fallon. You’re not going anywhere.”
Panic floods my system. “You can’t do that—,”
“Yes, we can.” Rory rips me from the chair. I struggle against him as he keeps a tight hold on my neck, pulling me across the kitchen and into the hall.
My hand stretches out, reaching for the kitchen light switch, brushes it—
Ellis gets in my way. “We’ve decided that you’re a little out of control, Fallon.”
“A bonding mark,” Rory says tightly. “Your heat is coming soon. As soon as it does, I’m putting my teeth in your neck and an end to this. With a mark and a Power of Attorney, you won’t be going anywhere.”
But Shaun—
I don’t say anything. I don’t tell them that he already gave me the medication to stop my heat. I can’t see Shaun at all.
Instead, I fight. My nails rip into Rory’s wrist, his face as he pulls me down to my shitty excuse for a nest. He’s breathing heavily as he shoves me through the door, and I land on the mattress. “You’ll be staying in here until your heat hits. However long that is.”
I stare up at him wildly. “You’re insane if you think I won’t fight this. I’m done, Rory. I want to leave. Now.”
He shakes his head, a sad smile appearing on his face. “I don’t know where this attitude has come from. But that won’t be happening. We’re going to get past this, Fallon. You’ll see.”
Ellis appears next to him, and my eyes drop at what he holds in his hands. He turns it over in his hands, inspecting it with a sneer.
My single copy of The Light in Us .
I inhale raggedly. Slowly, my hands raise. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry – wait —,”
Oh god, oh god —
I lunge for my father’s book.
“ Get back .”
My body yanks back, my knees landing with a bang at the order.
“I don’t enjoy this,” Ellis says evenly. “But you have to learn that actions have consequences, Fallon. Watch .”
He puts his hand to the cover of The Light in Us.
And he tears it from the binding.
I would have chosen a knife. It would have been cleaner than the agony that tears into my chest as I watch Shaun rip my father’s book to pieces.
Page by page. He rips them out, crumpling them and tossing them into the room around me.
And he makes me watch every single one.
I can’t see by the time he throws the rest of it in. The tears have blinded me as I rock back and forth.
“There,” he says cruelly. “At least you have something to read while you’re in here. If you can fit the pages back together, that is.”
I reach for the page closest to me, smoothing it out with trembling fingers.
For Fallon,My unofficial editor and my brightest light. This book is what it is because of you. May you always shine.
I grip onto that page tightly.
And I find the words buried deep in my chest, pulling them out into the light. “You’re frightened. Weak .”
Ellis snorts. “How exactly do you work that out?”
“Because,” I stare down at my father’s words. “Any decent being would never have done this. After all you’ve taken from me, you decided to take this too. Because you’re scared , Ellis. You’re scared that you can’t control me anymore. And you’re right.”
My eyes are dry. Gritty, but dry as I pull myself to my feet. “My mates – my real mates - are going to rip you apart. One day soon, I’m going to watch you learn your own lesson. Because actions do have consequences, and when you face yours, I’m going to be watching.”
“They’re not your mates,” Rory snaps savagely. “You made a mistake, Fallon.”
“Yes, I did.” I snap right back at him. “You’re right.”
And I put every ounce of fear, anger and pain that these alphas have caused me into my next words until I’m screaming them. “Letting you into my life was the worst mistake I ever made. But I’ll never make it again. Now get the hell out of my fucking awful excuse for a nest, since I paid for it . You manipulative, abusive, weak, thieving excuse for alphas.”
Rory stumbles back. “I don’t even recognise you right now—,”
“ Because you never knew me !” They saw a shy, nervous omega in a new environment. And then, when I was grief-stricken and terrified, they manipulated me into doing what they wanted.
But I’m not that omega anymore.
I hold onto my flickering light as tightly as I can.
I’m sorry it took me so long to find it again, dad.
But I’ve found it now, and I have no intention of letting it go out. “ Get out !”
I yank off my shoe and fling it at them. Ellis slams the door shut, and my shoes bounces off it uselessly. I tug the other one off as well, just to hear the satisfying clunk as it hits the doors.
I wish it was their heads.
But I made my point. Seven years too late, maybe, but still.
I wait until my breathing slows before I start to gather up the torn pages. I carefully shuffle them into a pile, settling back against the wall.
My heart hurts as I take in the ripped, jagged edges. But I sort through them anyway, carefully putting them back in order of the numbers in the corner of each page beneath the bright light.
And I wait for my mate.
He’s gonna lose his shit.