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“You didn’t think we’d notice the scent, did you, brother?” Iris sneers, laughing.
“What are you going on about, peaches?” Aaron asks, looking between the men and his mate.
“They’re keeping secrets from us,” Iris says, laughing bitterly. “Ryan Grey, the pathetic cousin of ours, fathered their little pup. That entire branch of our family is toxic, Aaron. You remember, don’t you, Cade?” Her words seem to be upsetting her mate as well as mine. “They’re murderers with no morals, and here you are raising one of their children, acting as if she’s yours.”
Bile rises in my throat, tears pricking at my eyes. I hang my head, unable to let her words wash over me whilst hiding a reaction. I don’t understand her hatred, but that doesn’t mean she’s not entitled to it.
But now, it all makes sense, why she’s been so stand-offish since she got here today.
Doesn’t excuse last time, though.
“It’s disgusting,” Iris finishes.
My throat closes up, and I can’t bear to look at her. I can’t do it. I feel foolish for not considering the way that they’d feel.
“That is enough,” Cade snarls, glaring at his mate. “Maia has been nothing but?—”
“Oh, fuck off,” Iris hisses, glaring at her mate. “We all know how you felt about the fucking Greys. So, of course, you’d care about their newest spawn.”
My heart is pounding, sweat forming on my palms, as the tensions increase. My body is frozen, unable to get up and leave like my brain is begging for.
I can’t do this. I can’t sit here and take this.
And yet, I am.
Because I’m pathetic.
“Do not fucking dare talk about my daughter like that,” Kane roars, slamming his hands down on the table, after wrestling himself away from Alex and Ben. “My daughter is not born of her father’s sins. But more than that—her father has no sins.”
“He killed her,” Talia and Iris snarl at the same time.
“He was a child.” My words are a whisper, and everyone freezes, looking at me, almost as if they forgot I was there. I don’t look at anyone but Kane, his bright green eyes holding me in place, giving me confidence.
“My… Ryan was a child when you lost your cousin. He couldn’t have done anything. But what’s worse was it was never his job to. That fell to his parents, to the adults in her life. It was their job to protect their daughter. You shouldn’t have lost her.
“But that did not fall onto him, and what's more, it does not fall onto my daughter.”
“Ours,” Kane says, giving me a nod.
“Maia is correct,” Cade says, giving Iris a soft look. “We’ve had this argument so many times, love, and we can’t keep living in this grief. Morgan is gone, but we don’t need to keep up the life of hatred.”
“They killed her.”
The words “and your mum killed Ryan” is on the tip of my tongue, but I bite it back at Kane’s subtle head shake.
“That’s enough. All of you calm down, now,” Alex snarls, and I feel the pressure behind his words from Max working with him as everyone has no choice but to fall silent and relax. “Enough. I don’t know what you think you know, but you know nothing.”
He rises to his feet, his eyes looking between each person, and he sighs at the faces of annoyance and devastation. “A lot is going on that you girls know nothing about, and I’m not going to sit here and let you act like you do. Your words towards my child are not okay, and they will be dealt with. We’re not living like this.
“If you want to live the rest of your life full of anger and hatred, then you do that. But it won’t be in our lives, and it won’t be in this pack. My mate and daughter come first. You will always side with our parents?—”
“Daddy’s girl with huge mummy issues,” Ben mutters, his eyes narrowed into slits as he glares at Iris.
“Enough,” Alex warns as he looks at Ben. Ben nods, but he flips Alex off behind his back, so it’s clear he didn’t take the warning to heart. “We’re going to talk with Kyle about the rogue issue. We’re going to figure out what’s been happening and especially what has happened whilst we’ve been in charge. And then, we’re going to take it to our parents and most likely take the pack whilst we’re at it.”
Talia crosses her arms in front of her chest and nods once. Iris doesn’t even react. As much as I wish I had the bond to Alex so I could feel the way he does, I know for a fact that it’s for the best so that he can’t feel me.
“A lot has happened that you’re not aware of regarding Maia, and Phoebe, and their history with Ryan Grey, and I’m not going to sit here and let you disrespect either of them.” He sits back down and looks at his sisters in turn. “I love you both, I truly do, but Maia is my soulmate. And as my mate, I will not tolerate this behaviour towards her. Maia is not going to sit here in her own home and be glared at and insulted, and neither is our child.”
