CHAPTER 26 #2
I can’t let them hurt me. That’s what they will do if I let them back in. I’m not over the last time they rejected me, and I don’t think I will ever be.
No one grows up thinking their mates will reject them. We’re not taught that in school. If anything, we’re taught the exact opposite. We are taught that it is highly rare for an alpha to reject their omega. Yet here are two packs that have done the very thing we are taught against.
Personally, I think school is bullshit when they say that it’s rare.
It happens more than people like to believe.
Remi and I are proof of that. And it’s hard being around them, let alone forgiving them for blowing up our entire lives.
That’s what their rejection did. Everything blew apart. Blew it all to hell.
“Remi, I don’t know if you’re right this time,” I say, hoping she doesn't get mad at me. “I love you, but I don’t think it is.”
She gives me a small smile, winking. “Just wait.”
I don’t acknowledge her. Before long, we’re finishing our meal and leaving. She gets into her car, waving and blowing me a kiss. I get into my car, catch it, and tell her I love her.
Since everything came out in the open three months ago, it’s been a little awkward to finally show people how I really am.
Now, looking back, I don’t know why I didn’t just do it this way from the beginning.
My coffee order, my last name, my hobbies—everything about me I masked to keep people as far away from me as possible emotionally.
Now, though, with my pregnancy, I don’t have the energy to put up the pretenses anymore.
Plus, it’s not fair that I’m not completely honest with my friends.
Surprisingly, they weren’t too mad when they found out about it all.
They were pretty understanding. Except for the hobbies, coffee order, and things like that.
They each gave me shit for that, laughing the entire time.
They didn’t understand why I had to go to such lengths to dupe them.
They understood about Lavish Darlings and my last name.
But the smaller things, I believe, got to them the most. We’re just now getting back on solid ground with each other.
And I’m not going to lie, I missed my best friends terribly.
I missed our closeness. Our book club meetings.
I missed just being around them. Slowly, though, we all started gravitating toward each other again.
Over the last three months, we have grown closer than ever.
Remi and I are the closest. Now, they know everything about me and what happened, and I have never felt such a weight lift from my shoulders as when I confessed everything.
I felt free. Untethered. The restraints of those secrets were no longer holding me down. I wouldn’t have it any other way. To finally be free is a life I will accept with both arms wide open.
I slide into the driver’s seat and close the door, feeling the familiar comfort of my car surround me.
After buckling my seatbelt, I start the engine and take a deep breath, letting the quiet settle around me.
The drive home is calm, the streets bathed in the soft glow of the streetlights, and I let the hum of the engine and the rhythm of passing scenery soothe me as I make my way back to my house.
As I turn onto my street, I ease up on the gas, slowing down as a sleek black sedan catches my eye, parked right outside my house.
The car looks vaguely familiar—something about its polished chrome and dark windows pricks at my memory, but I can’t place it.
Before I even have a chance to get out and see who might be inside, the sedan’s taillights flash, and it pulls away from the curb, heading back the direction I just came from, leaving me with a rush of questions and a lingering sense of unease.
There was something so familiar about that car, like I’ve seen it somewhere before.
Pushing it from my mind, I make my way inside and start getting ready for bed.
But as I’m tossing my shoes down onto the floor, there’s a sudden knock at my front door.
My heart stutters, nervous from the strange car and the late hour, but I try to brush it off as I go to answer the front door.
As I’m making my way toward the door, another frantic knock comes.
“Hold on a minute, will ya!” I call out.
As soon as I swing the door open, I don’t even get to see who's standing there.
I get a face full of pepper spray. The burning hits instantly, blinding me and sending me crashing to my knees.
I cry out, frantically rubbing my eyes, desperate to stop the fire crawling across my skin.
The sharp, chemical sting makes my lungs seize, and I start gasping for air as the pepper attacks my system.
Panic claws at my chest—I'm allergic, and each breath feels tighter, harsher, as if the air itself is turning against me. All I can do is claw at the floor, trying to find something, anything, to hold on to while I ride out the agony. It’s so painful I can’t even think straight, let alone figure out my next move.
All I can do is kneel here, gasping for air, and hope that my body relents and allows it.
I’m crying, slobbering, and snotting so badly that I can’t get my bearings. The pain is out of this world, and I don’t know what to do. The only thing I can do is focus on the pain and the way my lungs seize.
I slide down to the floor in the open doorway, barely able to hold myself upright.
My chest aches, my vision blurs, and every breath is a battle I’m losing.
The world swims around me as I gasp for air that just won’t come, panic and pain twisting together until I can barely tell which is which anymore.
I hear someone yell my name, but their voice feels distant, like I’m underwater, and their call is muffled by the weight pressing down on me.
Suddenly, familiar arms scoop me up, strong and reassuring, and I cling to them as best I can.
The pain doesn’t ease, but the comfort of their embrace carves a small space inside the chaos.
I’m shuffled, slipping from one set of arms into another, these ones tighter, holding me so close I almost feel safe. But I can feel myself slipping away.
It’s coming faster.
And faster.
My body goes limp, and I know I’m fading, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
But before everything turns black, I catch the sound of someone murmuring, “Stay with us, baby. Please, God, don’t leave.
” That voice anchors me, pulling me back for just a moment longer, fighting against the darkness threatening to swallow me whole.
Only it’s no use. The blackness crowds around me, and I gasp for the final time before it all becomes black.