AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“A Luna should really have bigger dinner spreads—it’s a show of wealth.” Jakob eyes the table with a sneer. I’m not sure how Mom managed to make it happen with so little food in the fridge, but Greta serves us a perfectly good meal of chicken, vegetables, and fancy little potatoes that I definitely know we didn’t have a few hours ago.
“It’s a show of waste,” I challenge, meeting Jakob’s eyes in a way I’ve already discerned he hates.
His upper lip tugs higher, and my wolf celebrates his sneer gleefully. “Only a poor pack worries about waste.” His gaze flicks away dismissively, and he shoves a chunk of meat into his mouth. He chews with his mouth partially open, and my stomach turns at the sight of the half-chewed food rolling around his mouth. At least it shuts him up momentarily.
I meet my mom’s gaze from across the table with a glare. She tried to put me next to Jakob, who sits at the head of the table in my dad’s seat. He had no right to take that place, and I made sure to point it out, though neither he nor Mom seemed to care. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from commenting on it again—marking the first time I’ve kept something to myself since we all sat down together.
Arielle slipped into my normal seat to put herself between Jakob and me. Something about her being near him skeeves me out, though. I don’t like that she put herself into that position, but I understand it. It’s the only way she knows how to help at the moment. At least someone is on my side here.
“I told Geo we’d leave immediately after dinner,” Jakob announces loudly a moment later, forcing our attention to him again. He washes his food down with a long gulp of whatever brown liquid Mom scrounged up for him to drink. “This shit town is no place for an Alpha.” His chest puffs out.
I hold my tongue for only the second time during this meal and return my steady gaze to my mom.This is the life you imagined for me?my wolf asks her silently.
Her bottom lip wobbles, the only sign that she’s still my mom in there. Her eyebrows sink down and weariness mars her forehead with worry lines. She looked pristine when she left my studio for her meeting with Jakob MacKay. Now she just looks tired.
“I guess it’s a good thing that you’re not an Alpha then,” Arielle bites out viciously, no longer content to participate quietly in this dinner.
All of our heads swivel to look at her, but I quickly look back at Jakob. His face is an angry red color, and he barely contains a hateful sneer. He slams his hands down on the table and starts to stand, and I have the horrible realization that he’s tensing as if to go after her.
“I, Quinn Cassidy, reject you, Jakob MacKay, as my mate.” My words ring out loud and clear.
Mom gasps as Jakob’s coloring begins to turn purple.
Arielle grasps for my hand under the table and squeezes tightly. The tension in the room swells to unbearable levels and my heart races.
“I will not accept a rejection,” Jakob growls. “If I have to, I’ll tie you up in the trunk of the car to get you home. Iwillpresent a mate to my parents and ascend as Alpha. Some little girl from a pack no one cares about isn’t going to stand in my way.”
“Mr. MacKay, don’t speak like that in my home.” Mom stands, crossing her arms over her chest, and frowns deeply at the man.
But… That’s it.
There’s no denial of his claim to me. She doesn’t demand he leave right away. Instead, she looks worriedly from him to me, sizing the two of us up like she’s still trying to figure out how to make the bond work.
At this moment, for the first time in my life, I think I hate my mom. We’ve been through too much together over the past several years for her to throw me to the wayside like this.
I let go of Arielle’s hand and abandon my barely touched dinner. I’m sure I’ll regret it later when I’m hungry and with no real plan in mind, but at the moment, it’s the least of my concerns. Arielle cries out for me as I storm around the table toward the exit, but the sound is minimized by the whooshing sound pounding angrily in my ears. I feel like a volcano preparing to erupt, destroying everything around me.
“Where are you going?” Jakob reaches for me, but he’s slow and I anticipate the motion.
Without missing a beat, I reach my left hand back to the dinner table and raise a dinner knife. He doesn’t pull away fast enough, and I impale the knife shallowly into his chest near his shoulder. He howls even though the knife only makes it maybe an inch into his flesh.
He’s lucky my right hand is my dominant one.
The room erupts into even more chaos. Mom is beyond freaking out as I spin on my heel to leave the room. Arielle seems torn between following me or listening to Greta as the housekeeper sweeps into the room and starts barking directions for a first-aid kit.
If Mom wasn’t actually going to kick me out of this house and pack before—she’s definitely going to now.
Rushing into my bedroom, I head straight for my bag. I pick up the cell phone on my nightstand but don’t pack it away, keeping it easily accessible as I zip through the room. I move into the bathroom next, throwing only the most basic necessities in before moving along to Arielle’s room.
I tuck my phone under her pillow where she’ll find it tonight. I know she’ll be furious with me when she realizes what I’ve done, but this is the best way to make sure I can reach her.
The only number I ever memorized was my own, since Arielle has only had a phone of her own for a couple of years. This way, I don’t have to worry about breaking my phone and losing contact with her. I’ll find a phone when I can and know I can call my own number safely. As long as she’s careful to hide the fact that she has this phone, this is the best solution to stay in contact.
I feel like I’m moving in slow motion as I work my way as quickly as I can through the house. My heartbeat pounds so loudly in my ears that it feels like there’s a metronome inside my head.
There’s too much risk in heading back downstairs, so I bypass the stairs and head for Mom’s room instead. There’s a tree right outside her window that we’ve been talking about having cut down for years. Thankfully the hard times hit and we haven’t been able to.
I sling my duffel over my head and position the bag at my back so my arms are completely free. Careful to not make a sound, I open the window slowly. As I duck my head under the window and slide out of the room, I finally hear footsteps making their way upstairs.
