The passenger makes a phone call, lets them know he has me and we’ll be there in thirty minutes, then hangs up.
Think, Amber, think.
How do I get these guys on my side? I know Pack Fernando is loyal to my mother, but these guys, they’re loyal to Jade.
The sister I killed.Fuck.
My fingers reach for my necklace, pulling it from my dress and sliding the pendant back and forth as I struggle for an idea.
Five minutes go by, then ten, as I sit in terrifying silence, trying to come up with a strategy. The men all avoid my gaze completely. They could have just shot me in the car, but they didn’t. They’re bringing me back to my mother for a reason.
Fifteen minutes.
“You guys don’t have to do this,” I say softly. “I’m so sorry about Jade. If I could take it back, I would, a hundred times over. I would take her place if I could. I loved her so much. She was my sister and one of my best friends. I never meant to hurt her or you. I know it doesn’t make up for things, but please. Please don’t do this.”
Absolute silence settles throughout the vehicle. They are ignoring me completely, making my pleas useless. Their grief won’t let them see through their hatred of me.
Twenty minutes.
My heart rate speeds up—I have fewer than ten minutes to plead my case.
“You know my mother is a master manipulator, right? It’s what she does. She twists the truth, or outright lies. Whatever it takes to get what she wants. She always has. And whatever she told you? It’s not true. I love Jade—loved Jade. I’d never intentionally hurt her in a million years. She was coming back to help me. She found out what my mother was doing.”
Still no response.
We’re now less than five minutes from the cabin, and my heart pounds in erratic beats, threatening to burst through my chest and kill me before anyone else can. I literally have nothing else to lose, so I throw caution to the wind.
“Don’t you get it? This shit, this shit we’re doing right now, is the reason my sisters all left her. I’m her own daughter, her youngest, and yet she didn’t bat an eyelash at throwing me under the bus to save her own skin. Because you know it’s her fault, right? You’re all alphas. Don’t you remember when you manifested? How intense it was? How scary? What if you’d been receiving hormone suppressants for years, and that tension, that anger, just built and built in your system with no outlet, and you didn’t understand why you had such dangerous, angry thoughts, or primal reactions that made you feel like a crazy person?”
The guy to my right shifts uncomfortably, and I watch Vette’s jaw tick from behind. They are listening, after all.
“Maybe you don’t care about the truth, but I’m going to tell it to you all the same. My sisters all came to town to celebrate my eighteenth birthday with me. It was my last one at home before heading off to Omega Prep, or so I thought. My sisters were out planning some last-minute surprise for me when Pack Fernando showed up—my mother was giving me to them as payment for their loyalty—yeah, I’ll let you figure out what that means. Because I’m an alpha, not the perfect omega daughter she expected. She treated me like property, and I snapped. I stole one of their guns and I was going to kill that bitch because she tortured us all for so many years.”
Tears of grief and anger burn my eyes, my mind reliving that day again.
“But Jade forgot something at home and came back with Violet to get it. Mother wasn’t expecting any witnesses to her little deal, and I wasn’t expecting anyone to get in the way once I had that gun. But Jade reached forward and tried to stop me. I have no idea why, perhaps she actually cares for our mother deep down or maybe she just didn’t want me to become a murderer, but she got between us and took the bullet meant for Sage Steele. I didn’t do it on purpose, and I don’t think she did either, but that’s what happened. I stayed with my sister as she bled out, and our mother made arrangements to make Jade disappear and send me off to a boarding school. She didn’t do it for my sake, you understand. I wanted to tell you. I thought you deserved to know, but she refused. I promised she’d get a bullet between the eyes before I let Pack Fernando have their way with me, and she believed me. She knew I would if she didn’t destroy me first… using you to do it. This is all just a fucking game to her. Can’t you see it?”
I settle in my seat, sliding the pendant back and forth subconsciously.
“I have no idea what explanation my mother gave you. I’m sure it was reasonable, and I’m sure she was able to sympathize with you, and assure you how sorry she was about this terrible tragedy. But the truth is Sage Steele doesn’t give a shit about anyone besides Sage Steele. I’d be willing to bet she’d sell out her own mates if she had to choose between herself and them. Whatever it takes, my mother would survive the nuclear winter along with the cockroaches.”
I run out of words as we pull up to the cabin I’d so recently escaped, decidedly worse for wear than when I’d left.
When we stop, the man on my left grabs my arm and pulls me through his door. I straighten to my full height. Vette steps out of the driver’s seat, and I face him defiantly. His blue eyes glare at me with contempt, then drop to my chest and widen with surprise.
“Yeah, I have big tits, asshole. Thanks for making me feel like a piece of meat right before judgment day. Can’t go a day without being sexually harassed, I swear.”
Vette’s eyes narrow, his jaw clenched and ticking again, then he takes my other arm.
Like a nightmare coming true, my mother and her lackeys walk out of the cabin.
To my intense pleasure, I seem to have done more damage to Edward’s nose. It’s freshly stuffed with tissue that’s already stained a dark red, and the dark bruising has spread across his cheeks. He glares at me as if he’d like nothing more than to rip my head cleanly from my body.
Mother, however, is an even more satisfying surprise. She’s decided to play up the coffee incident for sympathy with Jade’s pack, as far as I can tell. Instead of trying to cover the burns the liquid caused, she’s proudly displaying the painful red marks that mar two-thirds of her face. God, I hope those burns are permanent.
We stop a couple of yards from Mother and the assholes, Jade’s pack flanking me and gripping both of my arms tightly, with no means of escape.
“Well, get on with it. You’re the ones who wanted this little moment.” Mother sniffs then breaks out in a dramatic sob. “The little savage burned my face out of spite. What more do you need to hear?”