19. Melanie
Melanie
I ’d sat on my red leather couch, blinking up at the glow-in-the-dark star-studded ceiling, numbly clinging to Caspian’s blanket like a shield while Taken by the Rogue Alphas played in my headphones.
As I picked at the rough skin around my nails, I didn’t care if blood got on the fabric. Listening to Amanda pleasuring the rogue pack leader to try to earn her freedom wasn’t enough to distract me from my racing thoughts, and the sting of each tear of skin helped numb them.
Attending a party with the three of them was a far cry from calling them up and asking them to give me somewhere to stay.
It wasn’t just about renting a hotel room for the night. I couldn’t abandon my nest when the landlord had a key. If he entered when I was away, even for five minutes…
I tensed, shivering again in the sticky heat of my flat.
I’d done everything I could to get rid of Zania’s scent. What would happen if that sour milk scent stained my nest as well?
I needed somewhere to move my things, and fast. It didn’t have to be my whole nest. Just some of my more precious things.
But I didn’t want to hire delivery people to do it.
There were nest services that only used scentless alphas, betas, and omegas for delivery who also had storage services that I’d looked into after my heat ended.
But now none of them were available at such short notice.
But I didn’t know anywhere safe to store it, anyway.
Even though I was bonded to Kai, after the way I had rejected Sin, and Caspian’s pure anger the last time I’d seen him, it didn’t feel fair on any of us if I asked for their help again.
My phone pealed from my pocket, cutting Amanda off mid-blow job, and I numbly extracted it. I didn’t look at the screen as I swiped it, my mind slipping into white noise.
“Mel! There you are, oh my God! I’m so sorry I didn’t get back to you. We had a weekend play date with one of Tommy’s friends in Spain and we’ve just come back. How are you doing?”
“Tommy is two, Rosa,” I replied numbly, not ready to answer her question.
“You can still have friends in other countries at that age! Besides, it was all expenses paid, so how could we say no?”
“Why have you been ignoring my calls?” Because I knew she hadn’t phoned me out of the goodness of her heart. She never did.
“Well, life got in the way—you know how it is. Anyway, I have a teeny tiny problem. I had some more of those pesky letters from Greensprings—you know how much I hate those. And it turns out it’s all still registered in my name.
So, I was just thinking, since your new sugar daddies paid off our debt, why don’t we transfer it back to you? ”
The room was deadly quiet. Not even the cars driving by right under my window could ruin it.
It was another day where things were being dumped on me in quick succession, and I wanted to deal with her least problematic point first.
“What do you mean by ‘sugar daddies’?” I asked, rubbing my forehead, not really wanting to hear the answer.
“What? Are you joking?” She scoffed. “Oh my God, Mel, that’s so rude.
You totally hid the fact you’re sneaking around with the Risler pack and then you’re going to pretend you don’t have any money?
I saw the dress you were wearing in those photos last week.
It’s so obvious where you got it. So, why don’t you ask them for more and then all our bills will be taken care of in the future too, nice and easy. ”
It was the ‘our bills’ that really got me.
I guessed Greensprings hadn’t told her how much I’d paid in advance. And I wanted her to sweat some more. She’d put me through enough, and I was annoyed enough to drag it out.
I’d been so wrapped up in the drama of that night that I’d forgotten all about the flashing cameras when I first arrived.
“It doesn’t work like that, Rosa. I can’t just ask them for money.”
“Are you stupid? Look, I don’t know how you got an in with them—to be honest, I’m pretty proud of you, as well as insanely jealous. But, Mel, listen. Guys like that are basically custom-made to spoil their omegas. All you gotta do is spread a little perfume and they’ll be all over you.”
“And you would know?”
“Totally. You know how I was after I presented. I could get into any party or club before I scent-matched. And you can do it too. Ask them for extra cash or get some more shoes and dresses out of them and I bet they’ll shell out.
Then we can sell them later.” She laughed.
“I mean, I saw you in a shot with the actual Kai Risler. There’s no way you can’t get a ton of things from him. ”
My memories went back to how softly I’d held him as he cried in my arms. I’d never felt more needed by anyone. I knew for sure that I was the only person who could hold him like that, and he’d needed that release as much as I did.
And Rosa wanted me to make an already messed-up situation even worse by demanding more money from them.
“My landlord is kicking me out and I need somewhere to stay,” I said dully.
Rosa’s pack house originally belonged to our parents.
Before our dad died, it was a full and happy childhood home.
But when he passed away, the house became one of the only things that kept Mum together.
I was practically born in that house. And now, more than any time in my life, I wanted to go back.
I sighed, rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand. “I know you filled my old bedroom with all your junk. I could clear it out and use it for a few weeks. Just while I sort myself out.”
I wanted to see the art that Mum painted on the walls in the living room and the furniture she chose to decorate our home.
Despite her nature, Rosa kept it all the same.
She’d always hoped Mum would come back and the house would be waiting for her just as she left it.
It was why I still believed my sister had a heart.
Rosa scoffed again. “Why don’t you ask your new pack for it? If they can afford to take you to parties like that, they can totally afford to set you up.”
“Because I want to come home, Rosa.”
“That’s just stupid. A mansion is ten times better than this place. I saw the kind of cars they drive. Their house must be huge as well. Go ask them.”
I knocked my head back against the top cushion of the sofa, looking at those stars waiting for the darkness to help them shine.
“Are you being serious? You won’t even let me come and stay for a week?”
“Well, you were super mean to me about Mum’s bills, all shouting and screaming and stuff. Why would I let you come and stay if you’re going to be a bitch to me the whole time?”
My eyes fluttered closed as I stepped back from the wildfire of pain. It was too hot, and so uncomfortable that the only way I could get relief from it was by hurting something in return.
I didn’t want to bow my head or ask for help anymore. I wished I didn’t have to admit again how weak I was. I was meant to support my family, but I couldn’t even do that anymore.
“Rosa, let me come and stay, please? I’ve done so much for you over the years. Can’t you help me just once?”
“Not if you’re not even going to appreciate it. What can you give me? You don’t have a job and Tommy goes to his friends for babysitting now, so I don’t need you at all.”
“It’s not about need. I’m your sister.” I knew I should have hung up the phone and given up on her, but I couldn’t stop.
“That’s never mattered to you before,” she bit back.
I choked out loud at her words. I wouldn’t in a million years call myself the best sister ever, but I at least treated Rosa as a person instead of a means to an end. No matter how she broke my heart, she was still my family, but it looked like she’d never felt the same.
I sighed heavily, pushing my clenched fist against my forehead as if I could force out the thoughts of how I could harass her to make her say yes. I’d changed too much since Zania invaded my nest, and I hated it.
I’d gone from comforting Kai and feeling like the most important person in his world, straight back into being sad and desperate with no way out.
“And if I transfer the Greensprings account over?” I asked, my resignation setting in.
She paused at the end of the line. I hated how she had to think about it.
“No. No, I’m sorry, Mel. It’s just too much. We can’t afford to have another person staying with us.”
“What if I pay rent?” It was getting more humiliating by the second.
“You can’t even ask the Risler pack for money. There’s no way you can afford to pay me.”
Disappointment sent my heart plummeting. I should have known better than to have expectations.
If I told her how much money I had left from Zania, she would instantly change her tune. But how much would she demand from me? Would she be like how I imagined my landlord and try to get something from me whenever I saw her?
I couldn’t trust her with money or this.
I just wished she’d extend a hand to me, to lend me support for once.
“Okay, Rosa, sure,” I replied numbly. “Thanks for nothing.”
“Come on. Don’t be so grumpy. You know you’re always welcome to come by for tea! Oh, except tomorrow because I have baby yoga. Oh, and Fridays are for Carl’s crystal healing. And then Saturday we’ve got—”
I didn’t need to hear any more. I ended the call, my arm dropping to my side in glum defeat.
I had two blankets in my bed and one wrapped around my shoulders that told me where to go.
But I called them every time something bad happened, even though it was meant to be a short-term deal.
Lucielle told me a guest was responsible for how I’d met them. Apparently, they paid to have me sent to that room, and they asked her to send me. Specifically.
But the only reason I could think of someone planning that would be to use me to do something to the Risler pack.
Zania kept going on about bloodlines and keeping everything pure.
If the aim was to make sure Caspian had children, there was no way she would use me.
Not only because I couldn’t have children.
Because, to them, I hadn’t just been a maid. They all thought I was a host, including her. I was the very last kind of omega Zania would want in her son’s pack.
No matter how I thought about it, there was no logical reason to blame Zania.
So why else would I be sent to their heat suite?
How did they know I was a latent omega when I’d lived as a beta my whole life?
How did they even know we were scent matches?
I still couldn’t discover answers from my position.
So, was it fair of me to lean on Sin, Kai, and Caspian even more when we all might have been manipulated from the start?
I kept telling myself I couldn’t do that to them, but if Kai was the one who agreed, would it be okay?
I groaned at the disappointment swimming around me, both because of my sister and myself.
I was going to have to risk it.
It shouldn’t be so hard to ask them for help again after everything we’d been through together, but it felt like another chip in my already worn-down pride to call them.
I tipped my head to the left, my gaze panning over the mountain of gifts they had sent me already. Pain pierced straight through my heart at the sight of their love crowding my living room like they could buy me presents and make every hurt they’d caused go away.
But I’d let them if it meant I had someone to hold me.
I could tell them Zania threatened me, that she might be watching me. I could tell them I thought she was somehow behind the landlord’s offer, while hoping they’d never find out about the cheque.
And staying with them would be the perfect way to get to Zania and her mates after everything.
I worried my lip with my teeth as I found Kai’s number. His bite still tingled around my nipple, and I pulled Caspian’s blanket tighter, pressing my nose against it to take a deep hit of caramel before I drew in a shuddering breath, hit dial, and waited.