Chapter 3 - Emma
I had celebrated the day I walked out of Silver Falls every year since I had left.
I’d bought a cake in honor of my freedom, to remind myself that I was capable of getting out, that I was strong enough to make my own decisions and break away from everything.
As I savored my victory in the tiny, shabby apartment I had rented using cash, I made a solemn vow as I bit into the marbled crumb and slightly too sweet but still delicious frosting that I would never go back.
I was free, and no one would take that away from me again.
As we drove back through the unpleasantly familiar streets, I tried to remind myself of that night, how I had driven away and never looked back. I had gotten out of here once before. I could do it again. Except I knew that wasn’t the case anymore. Not if I really was Elias’s luna.
He’d explained the situation on the short drive from Adobe Creek, explaining about the wraith and the struggles of the town, and the Oracle’s prophecy. It seemed nearly impossible to believe. And yet, here I was, back in a town I despised, Grace sleeping against my shoulder in the back.
Elias pulled up in front of a small but tidy house.
I sucked in a breath as I stared up at it, not bothering to mask my feelings.
The last time I had been inside this house, my parents had called me a worthless disgrace and disowned me.
Now, I was supposed to stay with them until after the wedding.
I hadn’t argued because I knew it would be useless.
Still, the idea of having to stay in this horrid house for more than a few seconds made bile rise up my throat.
Still, I didn’t exactly have a say in the situation. With a frustrated sigh, I pushed open the door and slid out of the car.
The lights were still on. Mom and Dad were waiting for me, apparently.
“I can help you take your bags in,” Elias offered.
“We’re fine,” I said through gritted teeth. Turning my back to him, I grabbed my suitcase and jerked it out of the car, followed by Grace’s smaller suitcase.
Elias watched me, hands in his pockets, his eyes dark and inscrutable. “I’ll be in touch about the details for the wedding.”
I barely gave him a short nod as I ushered Grace up the path to the house.
“I can walk you—” he offered.
“We’re fine,” I snapped in a clipped tone.
He glared at me, then rolled his eyes and stalked off to the front of the car.
I heard it peel away as we walked up the steps.
I may have been preparing myself during the trip, but that didn’t stop me from hesitating when I reached the door and raised my hand.
Squeezing my eyes, I pounded on the door.
Shuffling inside, then the door opened to reveal two middle-aged, unsmiling people. A woman with my hair, and a man with my eyes and nose.
“Hi, Mom, Dad,” I said in a tight voice.
“Emma.” Dad gave a tight jerk of his head, his expression hesitant. “It’s…good to see you.”
The last time I had seen them, they had called me a slut and kicked me out for getting pregnant as a teenager. I guessed that now, with my surprise elevation in pack hierarchy, they were at least trying to be diplomatic.
That, more than anything, seemed to make the whole thing sink in.
My parents, my father in particular, had treated me like dirt once he found out I couldn’t shift, labeling me as weak and useless.
Hell, they had cast me out. If it weren’t for Elias, if it weren’t for the fact that I was supposed to be their luna, they wouldn’t let me in their house.
It was all true. I really was destined to be their luna.
I was mated to Elias. Fated mates, just as I had first thought all those years ago.
Except I had put those dreams behind. I had put Silver Falls behind.
I didn’t want to be here anymore. I didn’t want to be their luna.
I just wanted to be back home, in my shabby house with my crummy job and crummy pay, but happy, and without the constant feeling of being a disappointment that had plagued me for years before I left.
Except that was no longer an option. Any hope of being able to walk away from this new life died as my parents deigned to acknowledge me.
My father lifted his head, sniffing the air, and I didn’t have to guess or wonder whose scent he had caught. There was no use delaying the inevitable. We were staying here until the ceremony after all.
Ceremony. The word still made my skin crawl and set my teeth on edge. How the hell was it okay that I was expected to mate someone I hadn’t seen in years? How the hell was it okay for them to force me into doing it?
And what did it say about me that, despite everything, all these years, I still felt that pull of attraction toward him?
I stuffed all those thoughts deep inside. I could worry about them later. Right now, I was just delaying an encounter, taking every few seconds that I could, protecting Grace one last time before throwing her to the literal wolves.
Gritting my teeth, I took a deep breath and stepped to the side, revealing the tiny girl behind me, who was using me (admittedly not very difficult, given my size) as a blockade between herself and these two strangers.
“Grace, these are your grandparents,” I said. “Mom, Dad, this is Grace. My daughter.”
They stared down at their granddaughter, and I couldn’t read the expression on their face. It could have been reluctance, guilt, or disgust. Grace stared up at them with genuine curiosity, her head tilted as her eyes darted between the two of them, as if searching for herself in their features.
“Hi,” she said, waving awkwardly.
“Hi,” Mom said.
Dad’s jaw twitched, but he didn’t greet her; instead, he turned back to me. “Well,” he said, his tone still clipped, disappointment etched all over his face. “I guess you remember where your room is. You and…Grace will have to share.”
I gave a curt nod, again trying to hide that frustration.
He wasn’t even trying to hide his feelings about the situation.
At the very least, he could have tried for his granddaughter.
And in a way, I could feel that kernel of hope that I had secretly harbored dissipating.
I had thought that maybe, given the circumstances of my return, we might be able to start over.
Not as a family, necessarily, but maybe we could have built back to it.
I had never wanted Grace to have only me.
But one look at Dad’s face told me everything I needed to know about that possibility.
It didn’t matter to him that his daughter had been picked as luna, that the Oracle had prophesied it.
No, I was forever and always going to be a disappointment to him.
I was weak. I couldn’t shift. Last time he saw me, I could barely stand up for myself. And, of course, I was a woman.
For a wild moment, I almost considered spinning on my heels, bundling Grace in my arms, marching to Elias’s house, and demanding that he let me stay somewhere, anywhere, else.
But I remembered the pack and its obsession with tradition.
I was stuck here, stuck with my parents, until the mating ceremony.
For the first time since all this had happened, I actually found a reason to look forward to it. To want it.
All of this flashed through my mind in a matter of seconds as I nudged Grace into the house and up the stairs to my childhood bedroom.
***
I came downstairs the next morning to the smell of sizzling bacon, Dad’s favorite. A meal I personally hated. If it was a directed attack, it was a subtle, clever one. Enough petty revenge that I couldn’t complain or really attribute it to malice.
“Good morning,” Mom said as I walked into the kitchen.
“Morning,” I yawned.
We regarded one another for a long moment, sizing the other up.
“Your father wanted eggs and bacon,” she said. “I don’t suppose you would want any.”
“Nope. I’ll go to town and get myself something at the bakery.”
Mom pursed her lips, eyes flicking up and down my body in pointed silence. I didn’t have to guess what was running through her mind at that moment. My jaw clenched, but I stayed silent. She had never missed a chance to critique my figure before. I was surprised she was holding her tongue now.
A rustle of movement behind me, and Grace pushed past me.
“I like eggs!” Grace beamed up at Mom. “Can I have some?”
Mom stared down, and I could see something flicker in her face that looked as though her frozen heart might be melting a little.
“Sure,” she said.
I stared down at Grace. As of right now, she was acting more like this was an interesting, permanent vacation.
She didn’t realize her mother was being forced into an arranged marriage.
God, how was I supposed to explain all of this to her?
How much did I try to explain to her? I couldn’t tell her about Elias.
No one could know who her father was. There was no telling how they would react, including Elias himself.
Dad’s thundering footsteps dragged me back to reality. He marched into the room, glaring at me as he sat down, and Mom filled his plate. He started scarfing down food, darting glances between Grace and me.
“So,” Dad said. “How is Grace’s father going to feel about all this?”
The tone came across as though he was attempting to make light conversation, a small chat over coffee, as if he was asking about my day. Except I could see the disgust in his eyes, and I knew him well enough to recognize a deliberate barb.
“Mom doesn’t talk about my dad,” Grace said.
“Grace, why don’t you go upstairs and get changed?” I said. “I’ll take you out on a walk here in a bit.”
If she noticed the hostility rippling between my father and me, she knew better than to comment. She scurried off before Mom could fix her a plate.
“I don’t know,” I said when I knew she was out of earshot, keeping my tone even, matching that forced casualness. “But I think that stopped being your business the second you kicked me out.”