Page 35 of Fated to Her

“Tea?”

I nod. She makes us both a cup before leaning on the bench. She sips hers, and I can tell she’s thinking.

“Well, first, you need to know that things were a lot different when we were kids. You didn’t always get to marry who you wanted, and girls as soon as they bled were classed as women,” she says, and she appears to be going back to another place long before my existence, her eyes staring blankly at the wall.

I’ve always wondered what it would have been like to be as old as them, but looking at Emery, I can tell her past haunts her the same as Eli.

“When I was a kid, I always knew I would be married off, just like our older sister was. So, when I came of age, I was twelve. Eli tried to help me hide it. We knew what it meant. I didn’t want the same fate as our older sister, but eventually, my mother found out and told my father. He arranged for me to marry the mayor of the town where our pack was situated in return for land and riches.”

“You were twelve?”

I was still playing with dolls when I was twelve, so to think of someone being married off at that age is horrifying.

“The mayor was onto his third wife. He was also thirty years older than me, so Eli killed him the day before I was due to be wed. He said he wasn’t losing another sister to a monster. My father became furious and beat him till he was nearly dead.

If he were human, he would have died. Dad let him rot in the cells for weeks while he searched for a new potential suitor for me. So, one night, I snuck down there and let him out. I told him to run, but he refused unless I went with him. So, I did. I knew Dad was going to kill him, and he wouldn’t leave without me, so we ran and never looked back,” she says, taking a mouthful of her tea before speaking again.

“We became rogues. Eventually, our band of rogues started to grow, and both Eli and I had Alpha blood, so we started our own pack. Dad found out, and he hunted us for years before giving up. Eli did try to reconcile with him after he found Cyrus and marked him. It was clear Dad would never accept Cyrus. Being gay wasn’t accepted; in some places, it was punishable by death.

Dad attacked Cyrus along with a few pack warriors. Eli killed them and would have killed our father if Cyrus didn’t pull him off him, and yeah, that’s it. He has held a grudge for three hundred and fifty years.”

“May I ask why you would even talk to him?”

I can’t understand how she can even look at the man she calls her father, let alone want him in her life.

“It’s in the past. People change, Adeline. I’m too old and too tired to remain angry. I have no place for hate anymore.”

“Your older sister, what was she like?” I ask her.

“She raised us pretty much. Mom wasn’t of the soundest mind. So, a lot of it fell on our sister until she left. My father married her off to another pack Alpha when she was fourteen. She didn’t even last a week before he killed her. She tried to run home and escape him, so he butchered her and let his pack rip her to pieces.

“She was four years older than Eli. He found her body while out hunting. He was ten at the time. Dad beat him good for it, too, said he had no right to be where he was, but most game was gone, hunted to extinction on our lands at the time. It was by sheer luck he even stumbled upon her, or we would never have known. Her name was Clarissa, and she was the closest thing we ever had to a mother. My mom was worse than my father. You may think that’s impossible, but she truly was the worst woman I have ever encountered still to this day. I believe her influence over Dad drove him to do what he did.”

“So, your mother is here, too?”

She shakes her head. “No, she died a few months back, and Dad sent word to me, so I reached out to him.”

I sip my tea, trying to imagine a life like that; it makes mine sound rather peachy in comparison. Hearing the elevator, she jumps, and we both look toward it, Eli and Cyrus coming in.

“You girls alright?” Eli asks, eyeing me.

“Yep, just girl talk,” I tell him, and Emery nods in agreement, yet I know Cyrus is in my head. Hearing that, I can’t seem to switch my mind off about it.

“Well, I should get going, but we should go shopping sometime, Addie. Go baby shopping,” she says excitedly.

I smile. I’ve been so wrong about her, and I can tell already she will be a great aunt. I kind of feel foolish for even doubting her relationship with Cyrus.

“I need to shower,” Eli says, wandering off.

Cyrus comes over, wrapping his arms around me and pressing his face to my neck. “You okay?”

“Yep, never been better,” I tell him.

“I actually like hearing your thoughts, but I wish she didn’t tell you that. I can practically feel the knowledge slamming you around.”

“I just feel terrible knowing he lived through all that.”

Cyrus nods. “You’re over your jealousy of Emery, though,” he says, kissing my cheek.