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“You mean the alpha of the Silent Pride? Yeah, he sure did tell me about Dirk,” I snapped. “You were engaged to marry him, and then you ran off. That makes you a coward.”
Her eyes blazed with fury. “If it makes me a coward to save my children from an abusive alpha, then so be it.”
My chest seized. “…What did you just say?”
“So, Blakedidn’ttell you everything.”
The irritated twitch of my right cheek became so violent that I had to massage the area before it became a huge problem. Abuse? That wasn’t something that had been mentioned to me. “He told me you broke off the engagement and that he became belligerent.”
She scoffed. “That’s one word for it.” Her gaze dropped to the ground—and in the same instant, her anger snuffed out, replaced by sheer dread.
I hated seeing her like this. But when I stood up from the ground to approach her, she stepped back.
“Just…give me a minute,” she whispered shakily. “This is a lot to remember, okay? It’s just a lot.”
“Are you afraid of me?”
The look she gave me was full of pain. Hesitation framed her quivering lips. Fear echoed in the way she stood with her hands held up and her shoulders crunched in. She was shielding herself.
Fromme.
Hurt like that couldn’t be ignored, but I did my best to set it aside. This wasn’t about me and my feelings. This was about the truth—every dirty, filthy inch of it.
“What did he do, Virginia?” I asked gently. “I’ll listen. I promise.”
Her hands dropped a couple of inches. She took a deep breath, held it, and then released it slowly, lowering her hands the rest of the way with her exhalation. Another shuddering breath propelled her toward me. It was just a small step, but it was a step, nonetheless. I counted it as a win.
“Dirk was…” She chuckled with disbelief. “He was a hothead. He didn’t like to be told no.”
She closed her eyes, the motion squeezing out tears I hadn’t noticed in the low light from the single lamp hanging near the porch. My entire body ached to sweep her into my arms. We had gone from utter rage to sympathy in seconds—and that meant I needed to release it somehow.
I had to hug her. I had to touch her.
But I also had to respect her space.
I motioned for her to sit with me. She slowly shuffled to my right and sank to the ground with me, crossing her legs underneath her. “Anthony saw it once. My poor baby.” Her voice cracked.
Instinct told me to extend my hand. She took it lightly, staring out into the wilderness beyond the school while letting me massage her knuckles.
“Dirk was awful to us. That’s just putting it lightly. He didn’t hit me much. He just grabbed me a lot, yelled at me, put me down.” She shook her head slowly. “Gods, my parents were so disappointed when I broke it off. The only reason he gave us any shelter was because of my engagement to him.”
“That’s a shitty thing for an alpha to do.”
She swallowed hard and nodded. “I did it for my family, for my kids—forourkids.” She absentmindedly touched her stomach. “I mean, I knew they were yours. I knew it after we left. But I swear, Slater, it was onlyafterwe left the Frostcrown pack that I found out I was pregnant.”
I nodded.
“There were so many times I wanted to contact you, but—” She hiccupped. “I knew you were angry. I knew your family was angry. It was a tough time for everybody.”
“It was tough for you.”
She shrugged and then swiped the tears from her face. “Yeah, well, I did what I had to do. I put up with Dirk’s shit for five years, and when I got sick of it, I grabbed my babies and ditched. I got Fred to get us papers.”
“Fred?”
“Commonly known as F.E. to you.”
Realization smacked me like an offended nun. “Oh shit.”
