“Reika, calm down! You think we asked for this to happen?” I heard Tyson yell at her as Rayan and I rushed out, peering over the balcony to the floor below. Tyson ducked as she threw something at him, and it hit the wall behind him, leaving a dent.
“Love, enough,” I heard Ryker, my stepfather, tell her.
“What? Are you fucking okay with this? It is fucking wrong!” she screamed, and curiosity got the better of Rayan and me. I crept down the steps. Rayan, also curious, followed me. One of the steps creaked under his weight, and he smiled, his teeth clenched and his eyes squinting. My mother looked up at me, her face twisting in anger at the sight of me.
“And you! You wait till I get my hands on you!” she growled, about to storm up the steps.Thanks, Rayan. Now we don’t know what they were arguing over, I thought to myself when I saw my mother’s thong flying toward me. I ducked before snorting that she just threw her shoe at me. I watched Rayan dart off, escaping her fury.
“Get here now! Do you have any idea what you have done?” she snapped at me before I felt the command wash over me. My feet moved on their own accord and marched me directly to her. I thought it was bullshit that I had no wolf and yet was still affected by her aura or any Alpha’s aura, it didn’t seem fair. I stopped in front of her, and I had never seen her so angry.
“You humiliated our family. Do you have any idea how hard it was getting you back into that school the first time they kicked you out?” she screamed at me. I knew it was the hormones from her being pregnant, but saying I was petrified of her was an understatement. She never hit me growing up, but I did get in trouble with her or her wolf Amanda the last four times I had been home. Before I could even answer, I felt her hand connect with the side of my face, her handprint bleeding into my skin as my head whipped to the side from the force. I felt my lip split open before blood trickled down my chin. I heard my stepfather growl furiously as she raised her hand again.
Chapter eight
Onlythistime,herhand didn’t connect. Instead, I saw Ace grab her wrist just before she struck me again.
“Pregnant or not, I will break your fucking arm if you strike her again!” He growled at her, and I rubbed my lip with my thumb to find it bleeding.
Ryker growled, and I felt his aura rush out at the threat against his mate, my mother. Ace and Tyson could resist it slightly, being family. As for me, it dropped me on my ass, and my teeth clenched so tight I thought they would break as I screamed at the sudden agony before the command dropped and my father gripped my arms.
“Shit!, Lucy, I am sorry. It wasn’t directed at you,” he said, gripping my arms, hauling me upright while I tried to catch my breath.
My mother glared at me but said nothing.
“Everyone needs to cool off. Lucy, go with Tyson and Ace till your mother calms down,” said Ryker.
“Are you fucking insane? She can’t go with them after what they just told us!” my mother screamed at him, and he glared at her. My father had never denied her anything, nor did he ever go against her. He could usually persuade her but never directly told her what to do. But today, I could see she really got under his skin.
“Lucy is going with Tyson and Ace, and that is final. You had no right to lay a finger on her. I don’t care what she did. She is our fucking daughter!” he yelled at her while pointing at me.
I flinched away from his sudden anger, which I was not used to. He was always calm and loving growing up, this was another side of him I was not used to. Though I had heard stories of the Alpha King and how cruel he was. Still, to me, he was dad.
“Fine, she can go!” she said, looking at him before turning to me. My stepfather sighed and looked relieved until the next words left her lips, shocking all of us.
“Don’t come back. I am sick of digging you out every time you bury yourself. I won’t have Rayan around your destructive behavior. You should be ashamed of yourself. I know I am,” she said, and I felt my stomach twist painfully. I could see she was upset at what she’d said. I looked at my father, and he mindlinked me.
“I will speak with her. Just let her calm down,” he said before touching my mother's shoulder.
My mother hung her head, her long blonde hair falling forward, and he pulled her to him, tucking her under his chin. I could see dad was upset for yelling at his mate, but she was being a little over the top. I never expected her to kick me out, though, and never thought she would be embarrassed by me. I knew it caused conflict with Aamon and Avery, seeing as they were mom and dad’s best friends, but to say she was ashamed of me stung. I had enough shame, and she was the last person I wanted to be ashamed of me.
“Go, Lucy,” he said softly, nodding toward the door. I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked to the stairs to see Rayan standing on the top step. I walked toward him when I saw tears slip down his face at me being kicked out. I felt bad I had let him down. I was only home for five minutes, and I was already being kicked out.
“Get out,” my mother said, not even looking at me, and I stopped looking at my brother. I pressed my lips in a line, fighting back the tears before turning on my heels and walking away from him. I walked outside, and Tyson grabbed my arm, and I ripped my arm from his grip.
“Don’t touch me. This is exactly why I didn’t want to come home. She never lets me explain,” I told him before walking toward the forest.
“Explain what? What did you expect Lucy, when you burned a classroom down?” Tyson said, throwing his arms in the air. I didn't bother answering, there was no point. Instead, I started running toward Mitchell’s.
Mitchell’s was the only place I knew I could go. I couldn’t face Tyson and Ace, they seemed just as disappointed as my mother. Everyone always saw the worst in me. Maybe I was bad, maybe I asked for it? There was nothing lonelier than having no one on your side, no one you could relate to. I was basically a vampire living among wolves, the illegitimate child of the Alpha King. Though dad never treated me like I didn’t belong, that didn’t mean I knew I didn’t. That was why I asked to go to the boarding school in the first place.
Melana and Josie thrived under the attention of being mutations. Melana enjoyed the attention she received in school, however, to me, it was just a constant reminder that I didn’t belong. I was the only mutation without a wolf. The rest survived the shift. My biological father, a human, made me weaker than them, and my wolf never survived. I never survived. If I didn’t have vampire genes from my mother being a hybrid mutation, I would be dead. Dying awoke the vampire gene within me, and now I was basically a bloodthirsty monster among a pack of wolves.
When Aamon and Avery opened the boarding school, I begged my mother to let me go, and it was Tyson and Ace who convinced her for me. They knew how much I struggled in school and saw how much I struggled with my own identity. Turns out I didn’t belong there either. Boarding school was just another place of torment but for different reasons. The first four years were great, the last year had been a living nightmare. I put my trust in the wrong person, and that trust was abused.
“Lucy, where are you going?” came Ace’s voice through the mindlink.
“I am going to Mitchell’s,” I told him as I tried to focus on where I was going without running into a tree. The mindlinks could become distracting, and it wouldn’t be the first time I had run into something.
“Make sure you are home before dark,” he said before cutting the mindlink. I could tell he was angry I ran from them, yet I didn’t understand his issue with Mitchell.