I sat on the couch as still as a rock, staring mindlessly at the blaring television. It was the last channel my dad ever watched. I was numb even when Zaff sat next to me, patiently watching my every move as he pulled on a pair of jeans.
I watched as Ruston, Chad, and Oscar carried a rolled-up rug out the front door after shifting out of their werewolf forms.
My dad’s body was inside that rug.
Time seemed to stand still as I wondered one question. Why couldn’t I have had a normal family? I just murdered my own father.
“Am I a monster?” I asked out loud in a bleak voice.
“Not even close,” said Zaff, also watching his pack carry the body out. “He was the true monster. No father should ever hurt his daughter the way he did to you. You are free from him now.”
“No, you’re right,” I sighed, looking down at my hands covered in my dad’s blood. “He was a monster my entire life- ever since he found out I was a beta.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“He never liked me,” I said. “I hoped deep down he loved me but was afraid to show it. But he didn’t have an ounce of love to give. He even killed his own wife.”
“No, he didn’t,” said a shrill voice from the front door.
I turned my head to see my mom bursting into the house with a little boy in tow.
Wait, she wasn’t dead.
She was very much alive when she walked in. She wore a black hat with ribbons and a black lace dress. Her hair had greyed considerably, and her face had wrinkled over the years.
“You’re alive,” I breathed.
“You killed him!” she screeched with a hand over her chest. Tears were running down her face as if she was in physical pain. “Do you know how it feels to lose a mate? I felt it the minute you killed him.”
I didn’t say anything as she continued to scream and rant right in front of my little brother. I couldn’t believe she was acting this way, but it was better for me to stay quiet than add fuel to the fire.
“Settle down,” barked Zaff, but that made her angrier.
“You!” she screamed, jabbing her long pointer finger at his chest. “You helped my evil daughter kill Alan, didn’t you?!”
“Sister,” said a second female voice joining us in the living room.
My eyes widened with shock upon seeing Aunt Julie joining us with three alphas standing behind her. I was dismayed to see the mark on her neck, which meant the alphas had successfully claimed her.
I could barely focus on my aunt and her alphas since my mom was going off the rails at me. She tried to approach me but Zaff immediately stood up and blocked my sight of her.
“You’re all murderers,” my mom wailed at the loss of her mate, falling to her knees in the middle of the living room.
“There, there,” said my aunt, who hugged my mom. She winked at me, and I felt a little bit better. I wasn’t the one who destroyed my family.
I really couldn’t believe what was happening. The little boy standing at the door caught my attention. His big brown eyes looked frightened as he watched his mother collapse into tears.
My little brother was scared. And I had to take him out of here.
Everyone else forgotten, I headed towards him and knelt so I was his height.
“Do you want to play outside?”
“Okay,” he said uncertainly.
When I had finally gotten him out of the house, I tried to avoid the areas where there was fresh dirt dug up in the backyard.
“What’s your name?” I asked as he kicked a red ball around half-heartedly.
“Eddie,” he said.
“Hi, Eddie,” I said, noticing the similarities of our facial structures right away and our similar hair color. I felt sad that he still had to live with my mother. She didn’t do crap to save me from Alan. But he looked like he was well-taken care of and chubby.
His white sneakers also showed that he could have been spoiled because no one had bought me anything new in my entire life growing up here.
“How old are you?” I asked.
“I’m five,” he said, looking at me in surprise when I kicked the ball back to him. He probably didn’t have many people partaking in games with him.
“My name is Bree,” I said.
“Like the picture?” he asked.
“What?”
“Follow me,” he said, running back into the house. He was heading to my old room, and I didn’t want him to go there after our dad was literally murdered there an hour ago. My mother had quieted down as my aunt consoled her. Zaff and his pack were standing huddled in the kitchen as they discussed something amongst themselves.
Zaff looked over at me curiously as I chased Eddie up the stairs to stop him from going into the room.
But there wasn’t a drop of blood anywhere, and the only different thing was that the rug was gone. If I saw even one drop of blood on the wall, I would throw up, so I didn’t inspect too hard.
“What are you doing?” I asked out of breath. He darted into the closet and pushed the door open, pointing to a scratch on the back of the door.
“It says your name,” he said proudly.
I had completely forgotten about that. As a kid, I’d lock myself in the closet and scribble on the back of the closet door when I didn’t want to hear my parents arguing.
“You know how to read?”
“Duh,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“I used to live here,” I said, hesitant to tell him the truth about who I was and if Mom would get angry. But she was such a disappointment for most of my life, and I didn’t care anymore. “I’m your older sister.”
“Sister?”
“Yes,” I said, watching his face closely.
In seconds, his face broke into a wide smile, and his eyes lit up as he rushed towards me to give me a huge hug. I hugged him back, and tears sprung to my eyes in an instant.
“I always wanted a brother or a sister,” he said, voice muffled against my shirt.
“Me too,” I said, unable to let go of my baby brother. “I will always love you no matter what. If you ever need anything, I’ll be there for you.”
Downstairs was a depressing mess of crying, compared to my joy of reconnecting with my brother. We joined our mother, and this time, she was sniffling into a bunch of tissues, considerably calmer than before. The alphas had all left the house, instead chatting outside but keeping an eye on us inside.
My aunt was sitting next to my mom on the couch with her arm around her shoulders. I hugged my aunt and gave her a silent nod before addressing my mom.
“Mom, I feel bad you have to go through this,” I said. “But I’m not sorry that Alan is gone.”
Her bloodshot eyes widened at my words.
“I know you never liked him,” she said. “But that’s not a good excuse to kill him.”
“He tried to kill me,” I said. “And he said you were dead.”
“What?” she asked, hiccupping.
“What happened, Mom? Where’s Rodmon, your second mate?”
“He diverged from the pack,” she said, sighing heavily. “He was my first true love, but he couldn’t protect me from Alan.”
“He left?” I asked, not so shocked. Alan was a lot, and that was the only way Rod could have saved himself. But I didn’t appreciate him leaving my mother all alone and vulnerable.
“He did. He couldn’t take it anymore.”
“So why are you crying over Alan?”
“Daughter, I wish I could tell you a reasonable answer,” she said, with tears flooding her eyes again. “But when you experience the loss of a mate, it makes you want to join them.”
“But he was horrible.”
“No matter how terrible your mate is,” she said. “You will still bond to them. You will bond with your entire pack. I lost both of them.”
She began to sob again while clutching her heart, and I bit my lip in uncertainty as I watched her. She couldn’t be faking all this.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But you still have your children.”
“Don’t be,” she said. “I wish I had been a better mother to you, and you didn’t deserve anything Alan did or said to you. You are perfect the way you are, and you’ve grown into such a beautiful person.”
I rubbed the tears from my eyes, shocked to hear those words from her.
“I don’t know if I can fully forgive you now,” I said, and she nodded. “But in time, I hope it’ll get easier.”
We hugged, and I had to force myself not to cry into her shoulder. I didn’t trust her yet, and the years of pain within me were not easy to erase completely.
Later that day, we were all gathered at my aunt’s house since the ghost of Alan seemed to linger at my parents’ house. Everyone was in better spirits, and the males had gone out to buy dinner. My mom was organizing the dining room despite crying every few minutes. I had been wanting to talk to my aunt all day when her new alphas weren’t around, and finally, I had the chance while she dug for paper plates in the bottom cabinet.
I couldn’t stop staring at the bite mark on her neck. Three small puncture wounds indicated the marking that had taken place.
“Auntie,” I said. “I think we can escape tonight.”
She pushed her gray hair back from her face and bit her lip.
“I have to tell you something, Bree,” she said as she sat on the kitchen floor.
My palms turned clammy, and my pulse started to race. Deep down, I already knew what she was going to say. And I wasn’t thrilled about it.
She was an omega, after all.
“Yes, Auntie?”
“I don’t want to leave them,” she said slowly. “I believe I’m meant to be in their pack. And you can live with us as our daughter.”
I shut my eyes tight with annoyance.
“It’s the claiming mark that’s blinding you from what’s really going on,” I said. “The alphas kidnapped you, Auntie. You really can’t be serious.”
“But I am serious,” she said passionately. “They really care about me, and we spent a half-day in the best hotel I’ve ever been at.”
“Okay, I don’t need to know the details,” I said. “I just want to make sure you’re not brainwashed.”
“I’m not dear,” she said. “It’s nice not having to worry at my old age and having alphas taking care of me.”
“But they have an omega already. Did you know about that?”
“Yes, they told me what kind of affliction she has,” she said slowly. “They have a heart not to break things up with her, no matter how eccentric she might be. I plan to be her best friend and be there for whatever she needs.”
My aunt got along with anyone, and I started to see how this might work out for her even though I may disagree with her choice of lifestyle.
But something within me felt broken.
“I’m going to miss living with you in our trailer,” I said, letting out a long sigh and wondering what I was going to do with my life.
“I’ll miss taking care of you as if you were my own. But it’s time for you to be free and live as you want. Either with the humans or here with me.”
