Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
Dhara
As soon as we woke up the next morning, I made sure the guys left. They were reluctant. I wanted them to stay by me forever but I had a feeling that she’d be back this morning.
The last thing I wanted was for them to get caught in the crossfire.
Sure enough, the moment they disappeared from sight, my mother’s car rumbled into the driveway. I practically tore out the front door.
I ignored her completely as I rushed to his side of the car, practically yanking him into my arms before checking him over.
No visible bruises or cuts. There was nothing to indicate she or someone else hurt him but I knew that most pain could be hidden away.
“Are you alright?” I demanded.
“I’m okay,” he promised. His voice was strange and distant, the sentiment half-hearted at best.
Gavin wasn’t okay.
The circles beneath his eyes were darker than ever, and he looked dead on his feet. I doubt he’d slept at all since I’d last seen him.
Granted, it’d only been a few days. It somehow felt like weeks.
“Don’t you dare act like me spending time with my son is a problem.” My mother’s sharp voice cut through the morning.
I braced myself before finally turning toward her.
“I take care of him every day, and you took him away without a word.”
She scoffed, her face twisting into that familiar sneer. “Yeah? What was I supposed to do when I hear my daughter’s whoring herself out around town to some random pack?”
“They’re not random.” The words came out before I could stop them. “They’re mine. I wasn’t whoring myself out.”
The second she brought my pack into the conversation, my omega reared up, ready to defend them. Gavin’s eyes widened, his expression pleading for me to stop.
He’d probably spent the entire drive home listening to her rant about how she was going to put me back in the pretty little box she kept me in.
“Unless you want me to pack Gavin up for good and leave your ass behind, I suggest you fall in line, little girl.”
I glared at her with my jaw clenched so tight my teeth ached. It took every ounce of my own willpower to not say a word.
“I’m okay,” Gavin repeated in a hushed whisper. His fingers gripped my wrist in desperation.
“Don’t lie to me.” My voice cracked. “Don’t lie for her.”
He simply lowered his head in defeat, unable to deny it.
“Get in the house,” our mother barked.
My brother jolted into motion so quickly it made my stomach churn. What the fuck had happened over the last day and a half to make him obey that fast?
My fists curled at my sides, my nails digging painful crescents into my palms as he hurried past.
I wanted to hit something. Not something. Her. I wanted to hurt her like she’d hurt me these past few days. Hell… years.
We stood in silence, glaring at one another while Gavin hurried inside. The moment the front door clicked shut behind him, she moved.
Her hand cracked across my face hard enough to make my vision blur.
“Don’t you ever question me like that again in front of my son.” Her voice was low and dangerous, her eyes that were far too similar to mine and Gavin’s were brimming with loathing. How could a mother hate her child like this?
“Sometimes, I think you forget who’s the mother here.”
“You’ve never acted like a mother to us.
” I tasted blood where my teeth had cut into my cheek and the snarl I gave her was coated in it.
“You don’t take care of him or pay our bills.
I put food in the fridge, I make sure we have lights on, I keep him safe.
You will never take him away like this again.
I’ll call the authorities.” My finger jabbed my chest with each point that flew right over my mother’s head. She’d never cared about any of that.
She just laughed at my empty threat. “Go ahead. They know me by name, little girl. I’ll get a restraining order against my deranged daughter who’s trying to steal my son away.”
“Then who’s going to pay your bills?”
Her nostrils flared as she stared at me like an angry bull. I guess I did hit a few buttons this time. “You think you’re going to find a pack and be better than me?”
“There it is.” A bitter laugh escaped me. “I’ve never understood why you would think we’re in competition. Do you really think my pack would choose you?”
The idea was laughable.
My head snapped sideways and pain bloomed across my cheek as a second slap landed. I’d taken it too far. Usually she avoided leaving marks but here she was slapping me in broad daylight, hard enough to leave marks behind.
“Get in the house, you little bitch.” She grabbed my arm hard enough to bruise and dragged me inside.
Grief hit me so hard I had to fight back tears as the door slammed shut behind us. My time with my pack was over. My life was back to walking on eggshells and absorbing every hit that would save Gavin the pain.
She shoved me so hard I stumbled. My body slammed into the floor, pain radiating through my knees and palms.
I’d never understand why she’d chosen to have children just to treat us like this.
“Surely, you didn’t think I wouldn’t hear about you whoring yourself out around town?
I wouldn’t care...” Her voice dripped with contempt.
“Except hearing that my daughter is making a complete embarrassment of herself reflects on me. Not to mention. Do you really think those deltas and alpha want trash like you? You’ve always been a failure. ”
She crossed her arms and stared down at me, amusement dancing across her face.
“Omegas like you don’t get whisked away to some stupid happily ever after, Dhara.”
The words rolled over me. I knew they weren’t true now. Not after everything my pack had shown me.
“So, let me tell you what’s going to happen.” She stepped closer until I could smell the alcohol still lingering on her breath. “You are never going to talk to them again.”
I didn’t even bother to look up. I knew this was coming. She couldn’t stand for me to have a life outside of her.
“You’re going to quit that job at the arena because, yes, I know exactly who they are and where they come from.”
“No. If I quit, then—”
“Gavin can’t what? Become a hockey player?” she interrupted, laughing at the idea like her own son didn’t have incredible talent.
“You’re going to resign tomorrow because your only focus is going to be this house and the diner that brings in those fat tips while you flirt with sleazy, old men like the little whore you are.”
“You can’t make me quit my job.”
“Either way, he’s not going back. I revoke my permission. In fact, maybe I’ll just remove you from all school drop-offs and pick-ups.”
“Oh, and what? You’re going to start being a mother again?” Apparently, my frustration had thrown every ounce of my self-preservation out the window.
My vision blurred as another slap landed. I threw my hands up to shield my head, already knowing a bruise was forming from the way my cheek throbbed.
She rained down a few more blows before driving her foot into my ribs.
Pain exploded through my side and I groaned, wishing I would have kept my damn mouth shut.
“Get your ass in your room. You have to be at work in the morning, and I expect extra tips this week.”
I’d barely started to move when I heard the refrigerator door slam open.
“Who the fuck told you to buy all this food?” she screamed after me.
I ignored her as I wrapped one arm around my ribs and headed for my room. Gavin peeked out of his door, eyes full of tears.
There was nothing I could do to ease his worries tonight.
Everything hurt too much and I held far too much guilt for letting it escalate like this tonight.
“I’m so sorry,” I rasped as I walked past him.
Unable to offer him any reassurance, I stumbled into my room and collapsed onto the bed. The television was blaring loud enough from the living room to shake the walls.
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before my bedroom door creaked open. Gavin’s quiet footsteps padded across the floor before he climbed into my bed. His forehead pressed against my back. I could feel him shaking.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered.
My heart shattered. He had nothing to be sorry for.
“Don’t apologize,” I whispered back.
My own tears slipped down my face, stinging against my swollen cheek.
“It doesn’t matter that I have to give up hockey.” His voice cracked. “But if I have to give it up anyway... why can’t we just leave?”
“Because Mom has contacts in multiple states.” The words tasted bitter on my tongue. “Their faces are recognizable. She’d put on a campaign and plaster us in every news source that would listen. We’d be hunted.”
“I’ll do classes online. We’ll get fake identities.”
My chest tightened. “I’m sorry.”
I’d never stop trying to find a way out for us. But for now, I had to play by her rules.
“Are you really going to ghost them?”
“I have to, Gavin.”
“You can’t.” He let out a quivering breath, fighting his own tears now. “That’s the only time I’ve ever seen you look happy.”
The sob tore out of me before I could stop it. His arms wrapped around me as tightly as they could. The brother I promised to protect held me while I fell apart.
I wished with everything I had that our lives could have been different. That we’d found a way to break free of this curse.
“It’s going to be okay,” Gavin whispered, holding me close.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him now that I had them for a little while, I wasn’t going to be okay. For the first time in my life I had let myself believe in a future only for it to slip through my fingers.
How could I survive that?
I prayed they would hate me for cutting contact. It would make walking away so much easier.
No matter how badly it hurt me, I was going to have to walk out there and pretend they were strangers, when in reality they meant the world to me.