Chapter 27 027

Chapter 27 027
Chapter 27: Talia’s POV
Morning came and I woke up earlier than usual to avoid running into my mother. It was almost like she read my mind; she got up early too and was standing by the entrance of the kitchen with a cup of coffee in her hand. There was no way to avoid her, so I mumbled a greeting before making myself a cup of coffee.
She just stood there, looking at me for a long time. "Varian told me that you reached out to him last night. Are you thinking of reconciling?"
Her voice was completely neutral, but somewhere in between, there was a fault—a slip-up—that told me she was desperate for me to say yes. I waited until I had the smell of coffee with heavy cream in my nostrils, then I responded.
"Nothing in this world could ever make me go back and be with Varian anymore."
"Not even your child's life?" she said.
Suddenly, the temperature of my coffee spiked and it lost its taste. I slammed it down on the counter harder than intended. "After everything that went down between the two of us, do you really think that I can go back there? What is there to even reconcile about when our entire relationship has been nothing more than a lie?"
She bit down on her bottom lip, shifted awkwardly from side to side, and then took a prolonged sip from her coffee. "He told me that he was ready to apologize for the lies, that he's ready to make things work among the three of you."
The more she spoke, the more I could feel a knot in my stomach tightening. "Are you even hearing yourself right now?"
"I am, loud and clear," she said, her voice finally rising to something that sounded less like a mumble. "I’m not saying that what he’s asking for isn't a lot. It is. But..." She placed her coffee aside and looked straight at me. "But you wouldn't be the first woman to accept an arrangement like that. I, of all people, should know."
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, grabbing her by her arm and not giving her a chance to escape. It didn't look like she was going to.
That was when she told me another secret, as if I didn't know enough already. My father—the perfect Beta father, the man who was heralded as the ideal role model for all Bloodmoon pack members other than the Alpha—had cheated on my mother.
I took another breath. "Who was she?"
Mother’s eyes turned down with a soft sadness. "It was a maid." She closed her eyes as she recalled the memory. "He admitted that he was drunk during your shifting ceremony. A maid helped him back to his room. One thing led to another and they had a one-night stand. The next day, I found her underwear stuck under the bed frame and I just knew what happened. He tried to deny it at first but eventually confessed and told me he would never do it again. As far as I knew, he didn't. We went ahead to have a fulfilling and happy marriage."
She tried to force a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. They were void of joy. Her words had backfired; even if I had the slightest inkling of returning back to my cheating mate, what she just said had wiped it clean off me.
"I’m going to meet with Varian," I said. I could already see the hope beginning to pop back into her eyes. I quickly squished it down. "I’m not taking him back, Mom. No matter what."
Her shoulders slumped at that. "I know my situation is not exactly the same as yours, but even if it was—"
I interrupted her. "I still wouldn't go back to him. Nothing can ever make me go back to him anymore."
I asked her for her car keys. Her eyes wandered around the kitchen for a while; she said I could take them, and I already knew where she kept them. A few minutes later, I was on the road.
I had already arranged a meeting with him at a local coffee shop that was often patronized by several pack members. When we were teenagers, this used to be one of our favorite date spots. But as I reached the door and pushed my way in, all the memories that used to make me feel fuzzy and warm had gone cold and flat. I took one step in and it was as if the walls were closing in on me, making it hard to breathe.
"Talia!"
My name was called across the shop. I turned my head and saw him. Maybe it would have been easier for me to control my temper if I saw only him, but planted right beside him was his mistress—his partner in betrayal—Shelly.
She was all but snuggling into his chest, and I watched her with spite. I had told Varian that I wanted to talk to only him. Speaking to the two of them at the same time would be too much for me. But I was in a situation right now where beggars could not be choosers.
I approached the table, watching Shelly’s smile becoming annoyingly larger by the second. When I was finally seated across from them, she had it plastered from one ear over to the next.
"Talia, I’m so glad you could make it here," she said.
A vein in my jaw tightened. This also used to be our hangout spot as best friends. Who could have imagined how much time would have changed us? Or perhaps this was who they always were, and I never saw it.
I focused on Varian. "Our son—"
He stopped me there, holding up his hand. "I already heard from the doctor," he said quickly. "And I don't think I’ll be able to afford his treatment."