Depleted and Defeated
Depleted and Defeated
GINGER
Alpha Rafael fixed Giselle with a sorrowful gaze, his eyes filled with a devastation that I was more than certain had nothing to do with what may or may not have been done to me and everything to do with what truth he was about to tell her.
“I…I’m sorry, Giselle,” Rafael started, shaking his head sadly, “but taking you with me—as you are, unmarked and unmated—without your family’s consent, could be considered an act of rebellion against the Common Law Order and I simply cannot place our pack in any new danger. Not now. Not when we’re so recently rebuilt.” He shook his head sadly. “No matter how much I want you back home.”
“Home?!” Zelda snapped harshly, her eyes glinting with heat. ”This is her home! Or have you forgotten sir?”
Rafael ignored her, keeping his focus on Giselle and the fresh tears now trailing silently through the sludge of her make-up. He said in a rush, “But once you turn twenty years old, you are free to go wherever you wish and if you still want to return home, I will make it so.”
“Please!” Giselle cried out. “The only reason I ever left in the first place was because everyone that mattered to me was gone! Mom and Dad were…were-” she cut off with a shuddering sigh and I tried to subdue the acid that burned behind my chest when she referred to my parents as ’Mom and Dad.’ Her mom and dad.
I mean…how dare she?!
How DARE she think that she can refer to MY parents as her own when she’s done nothing but torture me since she got here?!
Rationally, I understood the why of it, I did. She spent fifteen years as they’re daughter just as I had as Zelda’s. And honestly, if Zelda hadn’t turned into a monster after finding out I wasn’t her daughter…if she had still…loved me…I’m not sure how I would be feeling about Giselle and my parents. Maybe then, I would be more understanding of her attachment to them.
If I still loved Zelda as a mother, I might even resent Giselle for being her actual child.
But…I’m not feeling very rational right now and the truth of it is that Giselle showed up thinking she had no one left at Thunder Wolf, lied about my parents being Omegas, clearly lied about the way they treated her to gain Zelda’s sympathy, she joined the old hag in every instance of abuse that was laid upon me since her arrival, and now my uncle shows up and she wants to simply forget every little evil thing that she has done and run back to her old life?
My life?
No.
Fuck that!
Anger burst through me and before I could stop myself, I snapped, “They were not your parents! They were my parents!” I hissed, gaining the attention of everyone at the table as the entire room fell silent with the lift of my voice. ”That creature over there-” I snarled, my arm whipping up to point at Zelda “-is your mother! Remember?”
“I beg your pardon? Creature?!” I heard Zelda growl out.
“But-” Giselle whimpered “-they were my parents! And they loved me!”
“No!” I shouted, leaping up from my seat.
Giselle’s face crumpled as she stared up at me. “I lied about the way they treated me,” she admitted and Rafael’s face hardened. “They were wonderful parents and I…I loved them very much.”
Despite that Giselle was obviously hurting, despite that my new found family was front row to the show and watching my every move, all I could think about was how absolutely selfish one must be to pull this kind of a switch on people. To go from victim to abuser to crybaby puppy fucking whiner…she was undoubtedly a sociopath.
Well fuck her, this bitch!
An ugly chuckle left my lips as I glared down at her. “Well, they weren’t yours and-” I snorted, slamming my hands down on either side of my plate “-you can’t have them!” I spat cruelly, wanting to giggle when I saw the way Giselle flinched with sadness. “After everything you’ve done to me-” I pointed toward Zelda once more “-after everything she’s done? How fucking dare you! I slept in a goddessdamned basement on the cold hard ground for three years while you kept warm in my old bed! I bathed in the freezing, filthy water of an old copper tub every single day! Water your actual mother refused to let me change but once a month! I couldn't even get you to spare me a bar of soap! I had to start stealing it from the packhouse laundry room just to keep myself from smelling like fried worms!"
Zelda hissed, "You stole from-"
Lincoln snarled, "Shut up, mother!"
I went on, "You went out of your way to rub everything you took from me in my face and any time I saw you in the house, any time I so much as crossed your path...you made absolutely certain that I displeased you in some way, so that you could scream in my face and then join your mother in whipping my bare back. So I don't care how much you think you loved them, they were mine! Not yours.”
“Good Goddess,” Rafael’s Beta cursed, turning his damning eyes on Zelda.
“Is this true?” Rafael snapped at Giselle, releasing her bicep and backing up ever so slightly, moving out of her orbit as if touching her suddenly offended him.
Giselle trembled beneath his stare so I answered for her, “Yes it’s true! Of course it is. Your precious niece Giselle has been nothing but cruel to me from the moment we met. Even refusing to tell me anything about where she came from. I didn't even have a name!" My chin wobbled, my bravado fading quickly, and I swallowed a sob, gasping for breath as I fell back into my seat. Depleted and defeated.
I would not cry. I would not cry. I. Would. Not.