I frown. “Why?”
“I don’t know!” Her hands fly up in frustration. “Whenever I see him…it’s like…I feel like I can trust him.”
That’s definitely not what I was expecting her to say.
“And that’s bad because…?” This is like pulling teeth, but I’m trying to tread carefully because I’ve never seen Mabel this upset.
She stands, pacing the kitchen as she runs her hands through her hair. “Because, Jojo, he’s an alpha, and Ishouldn’ttrust alphas.” She stops right in front of me, her lip wobbling. “Not after what my…my…my pack did to me. Why would I trust someone who’s capable ofthis?”
She whips her sweatshirt off, leaving her in a tank top as she brandishes her arms at me. Jagged, shining bite-scars stare me in the face.
My heart pangs. I stand, taking a step towards her. “But youcan—”
“I should be skeptical, but give him the benefit of the doubt anyway because my sister, who has never done anythin’ but protect me, says so. That is how a normal person would react. But apparently, my body has suddenly decided that he’s not a threat. The fact that I’m at ease around him at all…it makes me question my judgment, Jojo. I haven’t learned my lesson at all, have I?” She sniffs, tears shining in her eyes.
“What do you mean?” I ask quietly, my heart breaking as I watch my sister fall apart before my eyes.
She sniffs once before taking a deep breath. “The Bentwood Pack. I…” She shakes her head. “I tried so hard, Jo,” she chokes out, turning away from me. “I tried so hard to be a good omega. And they were so nice to me at first. I thought…I thought maybe I’d had a fairytale endin’ after all we went through.” She looks over her shoulder at me, guilt shining in her eyes. “I thought, sure, they bought me, but maybe they somehow saw how awful Daddy was and were tryin’ to rescue me. I let my guard down, and I trusted them. They never raised any red flags, my omega was completely at ease with them. They even properly courted me, and I…Iwas the one who initiated our…intimaterelationship. They made me fall in love with them.” Her last words are so quiet, I almost don’t hear them.
But I do, and my hand flies to my mouth in shock. She…she loved them?
She looks back down in shame. “When my first heat hit though…I told them I wasn’t ready for bondin’, but they did it anyway. Maybe they thought I’d have no choice but to bite them back? But I didn’t. After that…they were completely different people. I don’t know if it was because the bond was forced, so we only got each other's negative emotions, but it was like…it was like they hated me.”
“When was that?” My question surprises her, and she turns to face me again, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“When was…my first heat?” She sniffs. When I nod, my jaw tight, she answers. “About six months after Daddy sold me.”
A year and a half.
Eighteen months, she was subjected to those abusive pieces of shit.
“Oh, Mabel…” My voice cracks, and when I open my arms, my sister falls into them. I hold her as we sink to the tile floor, and she sobs into my shirt.
“The last time I trusted myself with alphas, look what happened,” she cries, her fingers twisting into the material of my shirt. “I can’t do it again, Jojo, I justcan’t.”
I hold her, rubbing my hands down her back as she lets go. Her tears soak into my collar as she sobs, her body shuddering with the force of her pent-up turmoil. A faint scent tickles my nose, but I can’t find it in myself to figure out what it is as Mabel falls apart in my arms.
Time ceases to have any meaning as I sit there, holding my sister. When her cries quiet, her breathing slowing into ragged breaths, she pulls back, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry. I’ve just never told anyone about that before.”
When she shivers, I frown. Her discarded sweatshirt is still on the floor where she dropped it. Reaching behind me, I grab it and hand it to her. “Here, you must be cold—” that same scent from earlier finally registers in my brain, and I freeze, my eyes fixing on the hoodie. The scent of the desert after it rains, which means… “Mabel? Who’s sweatshirt is this?”
She frowns, taking the hoodie from me and slipping it on. “It was left on my bed one mornin’, I assumed that Maeve or Helaena left it for me.”
My lips tighten into a line, and my voice is strained when I fake my chipper tone. “Well, that was mighty nice of them. Can…can you scent anythin’ on it?”
She stands from the floor and reaches a hand out to help me up. “No? Should I be able to?”
“Um…no,” I lie quickly, shaking my head. “I just wanted to make sure they thought to switch the laundry detergent to the scent-cancellin’ kind, since we’re a little more sensitive to smells.”
She lets out a bitter laugh. “Not that I need it. I can’t even scentyou, Jo.”
I give her a sad smile. “You’re not missin’ much. We’ll bake an apple pie together, it’ll be the same thing.”
Mabel snorts. “Bet your guys would beg to differ.” Her expression shifts to something more lighthearted as I roll my eyes. Despite her tear-stained face, it seems that finally talking to someone about what happened to her has left Mabel feeling…lighter, somehow.
“Maybe—”
She giggles, giving me a little push. “Bet your guys wouldn’t want to ravish a fresh apple pie with vanilla ice cream—ah!” She squeals as I flick her nose. “You did not just—”
