AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t see how you could be my daughter,” she sulked, and my mouth opened and closed wordlessly. I leaned back against the seat, taking shallow breaths as I willed the pain throbbing through me to cease. It didn’t work on the pain, but it did give me time to calm down enough not to kill her.
We rode in silence for what felt like an hour, but since she’d turned all the inside lights down, I couldn’t tell what time it was or what direction or even speed we were going as we drove down the empty highway.
I toyed with the thought of attempting to contact Dom, my mind worrying the fragile thread that still connected us, but what could I tell him other than I was alive? My mother had me? But what good would it do him?
He might not go attack the Hanleys, the sensible part of my brain told me, sending another flare of panic through me. How long had I been out?
“How long was I,” I paused before I said unconscious, figuring I better try to get on her good side so she might actually answer me. “Asleep?” I said instead, patting myself on the back for my cleverness.
“A few hours?” She finally answered, her shrug indifferent.
“Hours,” I repeated, forcing myself not to screech the word. I knew it had to have been a while, but hours gave Dom enough time to attack the Hanleys, to possibly be killed.
He’s not dead, you nitwit, I scolded myself. The bond is still there. I took a deep breath and held it until I felt lightheaded and my chest ached, exhaling in a loud rush.
Clearly, one of us needed to be an adult here and it obviously wasn’t going to be my mother. My jaw worked as I gathered my patience to try and get information out of her. “Why did you,” I hesitated as I said it, the word bitter on my tongue, “Rescue me?”
She shot me a sideways glance, not trusting my suddenly calm questions. I forced a neutral expression, knowing how my mother operated. Or at least I’d thought I’d known. Kidnapping was an entirely new level of crazy, even for her.
“To save you from a life of slavery,” she said patiently, her tone indicating I should already know this.
“Okay,” I replied calmly, as I considered a different way to get answers since she wasn’t making any sense. “Where’s Brian?” I asked about her new husband, my stepfather, and the one she’d dumped Dad for, a fact I was fast becoming forever grateful for.
“I left him in France,” she said baldly.
“Left him as in separated or left as in he’s there working and you came to visit?” I questioned, needing more details.
Once again, she shrugged, and I could see why parents might consider murdering their young over the use of the casual motion. I decided to go with stating facts to see if it would get more of a response.
“Mother,” I started and she wiggled in her seat, positioning her hands more firmly on the steering wheel.
“Yes, daughter?” She replied eagerly and I had to bite back my instinctive sarcasm. I’d definitely grown, I decided to myself, knowing even a few weeks ago I wouldn’t have been able to resist, but now I had more important things to consider, like making sure Dom didn’t do something ridiculously rash and dangerous on my behalf.
“I’ve been living with Dad the past few months, building a business,” I told her carefully. “I’ve been happy. In fact, I graduated high school early,” I added in an upbeat voice, hoping it would trigger something.
“That’s wonderful,” she gushed. “It’ll make things so much easier to find a place to live without you having to finish up high school.”
Okay, that hadn’t been my intention but it was good to know she’d been thinking ahead. A trickle of unease went through me at how well she had planned my kidnapping. I’d never suspected this when she’d arrived this morning. Yesterday morning? I didn’t really know anymore, but a furtive glance at her nose revealed a flesh colored bandage and some expert concealer coverage. Had she planned this before she’d arrived?
“You sent Monster to stay with us,” I continued and watched her lips make a small moue.
“You know I hate that nickname,” she interjected, her tone repressive. “What is so wrong with Theodore?”
So many things, I begged to say, but kept my mouth shut. Number one being the fact that he hated it. A fact she never seemed to care about. “Why didn’t you….take Monster?” I asked, carefully avoiding the words kidnap and rescue.
She rolled her eyes, “Because he’s a shifter. They’ll prize him.”
My forehead wrinkled at her words, and I wasn’t sure if it was the pain from my headache or what, but her words were starting to sound awfully familiar. “And they wouldn’t prize me for being a breeding female?” I verified, for the moment ignoring who ‘they’ were.
