“Callan?” I turned to him when he responded to my question with silence. “What is this?” I asked again.
He ran his fingers through his hair, ruffling it even more. I watched his Adam's apple bobble as he swallowed before finally speaking. “I received this last night and I was going to tell you about it.”
I noticed the seal had been broken which meant he’d read the content of the letter and so I pulled it out, my pulse quickening.
“Sophia…”
But I unfolded it and emotions momentarily obscured my vision at what I held in my hand. My father had held this same paper and had written on it. I had no realization of how much I missed him until now, I would give the world if it meant I would have just a glimpse of him.
I searched my heart for the bitterness I’d felt at him for never loving me as much as I’d wanted but none of that remained, now I just wanted to curl into his arms and allow him to stroke my hair and tell me I would be fine. My eyes glanced through the letter, barely able to comprehend anything written.
I turned away from it to look up at Callan. “What does it say?”
Sweat beads trickled down my neck in anxiety and excitement somehow mixed into one. Was he requesting I come home to visit him? After so many years, would he like to see me now? Was he finally missing me?
But when I noticed the conflict in Callan’s eyes, I dreaded his next words.
“He wants you returned to the Dark Wood Pack.”
And just like that, my fantasies were shattered, breaking into indistinguishable pieces.
He didn't want me.
He never had.
The pain twisted my guts, tears pooling in my eyes.
“How… How could he…” My voice wavered, the rest of my words trailing off.
“He knows about the treaty with Amelia’s old pack and has insisted you are to be returned to Alexander to uphold your pack’s treaty and become the Luna of the Dark Wood Pack.”
But I could hear the words that remained unspoken.
“Or else what?”
He glanced at the letter in my hand. “You don't have to do it.”
“What are the repercussions?”
I needed to know but I couldn't bring myself to read the words myself. My heart couldn't stand the pain of reading the very words spoken by my father, to see how very little he regarded me. His first acknowledgment of me for the first time in the last fourteen years and he hadn't even bothered to write to me. No, he had written to Callan. I wasn't worth him talking to directly.
It was a slap in the face but it was also one of reality.
“You’d be disowned and permanently denied acknowledgment by the Mystic Hollow Pack.”
I would be rejected by my own family if I didn't return to Alexander, the very person who had abused me for years. My father was choosing to side with my abuser.
I shook my head disbelievingly, lifting the letter, and frantically my eyes went through the words, my brain immediately comprehending them. I didn't want to believe my father would do this to me but the proof lay in my hands, lay in the words I read. Those were the exact words he had said; Callan had softened them.
... She is meant to return to the Dark Wood Pack with the men we have sent to your pack, they will be arriving soon. Sophia has a duty and a treaty to complete and it would be best, Alpha Callan, that you do not insert yourself into a long-standing relationship the Mystic Hollow Pack holds with the Dark Wood Pack…
I was just a means to uphold a relationship. He didn't see me as a real person, even my own father simply saw me as a vessel he made use of however he wanted.
No pain could compare to this.
Suddenly, my legs could no longer hold me up and I would've crashed to the floor, cracking open my head if Callan hadn’t caught me but somehow, I wished he hadn't. I longed to hear the satisfying sound the crack would have made, to allow the smell of my blood seeping from my head to fill my nostrils, anything to distract me from the pain that gutted my insides.
I was too out of my mind to realize Callan had picked me up and I became aware only when he set me on the bed.
“I’m going to talk to him, okay?” His hands were on my face, cupping it and trying to get me to listen but I couldn't, everything in me refused to and the only thing that replayed in my head was my father’s words.
Despite everything that happened, and the years that had gone by, I still hoped that I would one day get to see my sisters, to have them bicker around me, to listen to the words they hauled at the other. I’d hoped that one day I could get to lie next to my mother again and feel the gentleness of her touch, to let the homely smell of her pervade my senses.
I missed her. I missed them and despite it all, I missed him.
“Listen to me,” Callan urged in a voice that was finally able to capture my attention.
“I won't let that happen, okay? I wasn't going to tell you this but…” He took a breath. “I’ve called for a meeting with the council members tonight, I’m going to break off the union with Amelia.”
I stared at him dumbly, unsure I’d heard right.
He couldn't possibly have said what I’d thought I heard.
But he had.
“I’m not doing this because of your father’s threats.” He leaned his forehead against mine, his hands still cupping my face. I could feel my heart rate pick up both at his nearness and words.
“I’m doing this because this is what I should have done a long time ago, I should have done this the moment I realized that I couldn't live without you and that's on me but not anymore. You will never have to be with Alexander again, I swear on my life.”
“The treaty…”
“It should never have to come before you,” and he pulled away to look at me in a way I’d never been looked at before. It wasn't hard to infer the emotions his gaze held. “Nothing should ever have.”
The air hitched at my throat, my heart was pounding so loudly I was almost certain he could hear it, His voice was a soft rumble, calming me, resonating through all of my senses. “Anyone who wants you would have me to contend with, Sophia, your father included.”
And when his lips met mine, a sigh of relief almost escaped me. It felt as though somehow, everything was going to be alright, I was where I’d finally belonged and everything that had been wrong would finally be right.
His lips were just as I remembered - soft, blissful. He started slowly, every inch of my skin burned with an inexplicable desire to be closer to him. My hands went around his neck, propelling me closer to him.
The kiss grew hotter, hungrily with more passion and I could feel my head swoon. I’d never felt anything like this before, my skin was inflamed with a craving that burned to be filled and I had no idea what to do.
Slowly, he laid me on the bed, his lips moving to a spot on my neck. A small gasp escaped me, black spots blurring my vision when I felt his tongue on my throat...
The door flung open and Amelia flew inside the room.
“Callan, you have no idea who—”
Her words died on her lips, a horrified look on her face.