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“And what exactly does Mr. Romero do for a living?” her dad asked.
“He’s a firefighter in Rawley.” Again, a simple and true answer with no elaboration.
“Jesus! Allie! What were you thinking? A firefighter? Really?” Her mom turned green. Straight up freaking green.
“Mom, stop. Just stop. You’re not his mate. I am, and I love him.” She placed her napkin over her plate and pushed it aside. So much for enjoying a fabulous dinner.
“You mate some riffraff, and I’m supposed to be perfectly okay with it. You might as well as have stepped in dog shit and tracked it all over the carpet.”
“Are you kidding, Mom? All those years, you told me not to worry, that I’d find my mate someday. Was that just a bunch of bullshit, or what? Did you secretly hope and plot that I’d never find him? I swear, this family. I don’t know why you can’t just be happy for me.” Allie was pissed. Not just regular pissed. She was super pissed. She was done being talked down to and made to feel like she wasn’t worth the air she breathed.
“You think that we should be happy because you decided to mate with some lowlife?” her mom seethed, spittle flying from her mouth.
She’d never seen her mom so upset about anything. This definitely wasn’t the reaction she had expected. Mad, yes. Crazy, a bit. Batshit crazy and in need of valium, no.
“He’s not a lowlife. What is wrong with you? You act like he’s some homeless man off the streets I just bumped into or something. He has a job. He has a home. He’s a good man. Besides, he’s my fated mate. If the fates thought he was good enough for me, you should too!” Allie shouted. “You know what? Never mind. It’s not even worth wasting my breath on.” Allie turned to leave. She didn’t want to hear another fucking word out of her mom’s mouth.
“Sit your ass down,” her father shouted, stopping Allie in her tracks.
She wanted to move. She tried like hell to place one foot in front of the other and walk out the door, but she couldn’t.
One glance around the room, and Allie knew why. His father’s witch was present and keeping her trapped in an eerie mist that had suddenly filled the room.
“Let me go,” she growled, her fangs pushing through her gums. Her beast wanted out to settle the score with the witch who was holding her captive against her will.
“I will do no such thing. You will sit and finish this conversation,” her father said, never once leaving his seat. He had an uncanny ability to stay calm no matter what. The fact that he had shouted at her fell into the scary-as-hell category of behavior. He was the calm and collected type. Her mother was a force of nature who could never be calmed. It seems that finding out about her mating had flipped the script on her parents.
“We need to run,”her tiger’s voice filled her mind.
“I know, but the witch. We have nothing to defend against her magic,”Allie said, knowing she was well and truly fucked.
“How did you meet this mate of yours?”
Allie thought for a minute before she answered, hoping to come up with something that would calm her parents down. “I met with Gerri Wilder at the Paranormal Dating Agency.” It was the absolute truth. Though, she did leave out the bit about meeting him on her camping trip and hitting it off from the minute they had met. And she certainly wasn’t about to let them know they she couldn’t keep her hands off him and jumped his bones within hours of meeting him.
Nope. Those were her thoughts and memories, and she was going to keep those bitches to herself.
“It’s no wonder why you ended up mated to a loser. You went to a hack to find a mate.”
“How dare you! You don’t know a damn thing about my mate.” A fire burned through Allie’s veins. She was so tired of her parent’s sanctimonious behavior. It wasn’t even funny. She wasn’t about to sit idly by while they disrespected a man they’d never once met.
“I know that he’s not of a worthy station in life,” her father said with an arched eyebrow. “That he doesn’t have a degree from an Ivy League school. I know that no matter what, he will never be able to provide the type of home you are accustomed to.”
“Type of home I’m accustomed to? What are you talking about?”
“Look around, Allie. Do you think we could have ever afforded such a lifestyle if we hadn’t had a good education and a top-paying job?” her mother asked.
“This is your home. Not mine. My house is small and modest, and it’s perfect for me. I don’t need, nor do I want, all of this. It means nothing to me. You are obsessed with your lifestyle, not me. Or haven’t you figured that out by now?”
“Don’t speak to your mother like that,” her dad barked at her.
“Look, I’m grateful for everything you did for me when I was younger, but I’m not you, Mom. I don’t want the same things you do in life. I know how hard you’ve worked to have the perfect life. But that’s not me. You have to know that by now. I love Marc, and he’s my mate. That’s the end of it. Now, let me go.” She was done fighting, done explaining, and done with them.
“I’m sorry, honey. That’s just not possible. We’ll fix this for you. Fix everything that you’ve messed up,” her mom said.
“What! What are you talking about, Mom? Everything is …”
The darkness started to seep in around Allie’s vision. She fought like hell to push it back, but the witch’s magic was just too damn strong. She had no idea what her parents were up to.
