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“Can't have that, can we,Dad? Daddy's little girl sleeping with her father's rival? So instead, you shun her, sweep her disgrace under the rug,” Ava says. I press my lips in a line. Her words sting. What I’m not expecting is for him to admit it, especially in front of Valen.
“Of course, I fucking knew! Do you think I didn't check hotel security cameras when neither of you returned home? I knew exactly where you were and whose room you were in. Who do you think had them wiped?” he bellows. “You ruined everything. You had one job, Everly, and you fucking disobeyed me.” His face is red with fury. “You nearly cost me my pack!”
My brows furrow at his words, which make no sense to me whatsoever. Me having a child was the downfall of his pack? However, upon hearing my father's words, Valen growls before taking a mighty step forward and swinging at my father. My father, blinded by his rage, doesn’t see it coming—or at least, by the time he does, he has no chance to block it—and Valen's fist connects with his face.
ChapterEighty-Six
My father stumbles back, blood spurting from his broken nose, as Valen swings again. The impact knocks my father down before my mate pounces on him, raining blow after blow. My father curls up, trying to block the punches. My father’s warriors, the ones that chased me here, race toward Valen as he pummels my father.
My father snarls, blocking the next hit and punching Valen in the ribs, then splitting Valen’s eyebrow open with his next hit. My heart races as my father's wolves circle around us, trying to get to Valen without attacking my father.
Valen punches my father again before my father lifts his leg and kicks Valen in the chest. My mother screams as they continue the fight for supremacy. Valen is forced back and is now open, vulnerable. The wolves charge toward him, and I gasp, flinging myself in their way.
“STAND DOWN!” I scream, and my aura erupts outward. It washes over them, and they all freeze where they stand. The realization that my command worked on them shocks me. I suppose Iamtechnically their true Alpha; however, I still didn’t think my command would have an effect on my father's pack, since I’m no longer a member.
Valen snarls, and my father goes to tackle him when Ava shoves herself between them. Both are breathing heavily in their rage, and I can feel that Valen is on the verge of shifting. I grab his arm, pushing him away while Ava and my father stand off. She is tiny between the two Alphas, and if they attack each other again, she would get caught in the crossfire and so would I. Thankfully, my mother rushes down the steps, tears streaking her face as she grabs my father’s arm, tugging him back.
“You knew I had a child?” Valen snarls behind me and stalks toward my father again. My hand hits his chest as he goes to attack him. Yes, he has every right to be pissed at my father, but this isn't his fight. We are also severely outnumbered. This wasn’t supposed to happen, though the information that he knew all along is shocking. I don’t want this to become a fight; not for Valen, anyway.Icame here, and I will not look weak by hiding behind my mate.
My father shrugs my mother's hand off and wipes his nose with the back of his own hand, then spits blood on the ground. “Of course, I knew. I wasn't about to hand over my daughter to the likes of you to use against me,” my father snarls.
“But it's alright that you try to pawn your other daughter off to him years later,” I scoff.
“Yes, to clean up the mess you made! All you had to do was have the abortion, Everly. Instead, you’ve put my entire pack at risk of breaking the treaty. How was I supposed to know Valen would turn out to be your mate!” my father snarls.
“What fucking treaty? I had a baby! A son! A precious little boy—your grandson. You didn’t just punish me, you punished him! You punished my son because of who his father is?”
“Yes, because you were promised to another! Your future was planned out, and you ruined it all!” my father screams at me.
“John!” my mother gasps behind him.
“To whom?” Valen demands with an angry growl. My father glares at him before turning his attention back to me.
“You have done enough damage, Everly. Now get off my pack lands,” my father says, turning to walk inside.
“Sign the petition, Dad! You owe me this!” I tell him, and he stops. His entire back tenses as he turns to face me.
“Owe you? I fucking SAVED YOU!” he screams at me, and I laugh.
“Yousavedme? No, youabandonedme. You tossed me out in the fucking rain and threw your grandson and me into the streets to fend for ourselves. You didn't save me! But I should thank you because if you hadn't, I would be wearing the same rose-colored glasses as the rest of you here,” I tell him before looking at the crowd gathered.
“You are all blinded by your own ignorance and ego. Blind to those that reside in the city, those you all once promised to protect. Packs, packs are supposed to be family. Not one of you here knows the meaning of the word! If you did, your children and grandchildren wouldn't be homeless; they wouldn't be living in deplorable conditions because of a label you bestowed upon their mothers—your own kids!” I scream at them.
“Your kids, the children you watched grow, the same children you taught how to use a spoon, how to talk. You claim you are the city's elite, better than them, but you're not. Because despite the labels you gave them, they stood up when the rest of you backed away. They stood up and raised the children that your mates pretend they don't have! And if you think you're good parents, then why aren't you fighting for them? Love, nurture, protect—that is what a parent is, and not one of you deserves that title,” I tell them.
They whisper amongst themselves. I notice more of my father's warriors have appeared in the crowd, some in wolf form as they creep closer. I chuckle. He would have them attack his own daughter over the truth.
“I suggest you leave, Everly,” my mother murmurs, glancing around nervously, then suddenly looking at my father in horror. He looks smug and folds his arms across his chest in a show of intimidation.
Yet, I don't scare easily. Not anymore. What should have frightened me no longer does. That was one thing being a rogue showed me; fear changes and morphs into something else.
You don't fear being forsaken. You fear the next day and how you will feed your child. You fear them growing up with the same label you hold. You fear the regret for the opportunities you know they will miss. You fear them being suppressed and silenced.
I refuse to be silent, yet I also know that Valen and I are severely outnumbered here if my father orders his warriors to attack. We can’t risk that, not with Valarian.
Our pack wouldn't get here before they ripped us apart, and there is a reason my father has the status he does—why he’s second only to Alpha Valen's pack. They’re just as lethal. The only difference is they don't have his pack's numbers. But numbers mean nothing when they can't get here in time.
Although I have no doubt we could take down a vast majority of them. I know for sure Valen could and would for me.
