Chapter 5 : Reunion

Astrid

My heart was racing, but I wasn’t sure if it was from anger or the pull. Either way, I didn’t like it.

I hurried out of the building and directly to the parking lot.

Victoria was waiting for me just like she promised. I got into the car and slammed the door behind me.

“I need to talk to my dad,” I said breathlessly.

“Are you alright?” she asked with concern. “Did something happen?”

I saw the worry in her eyes through the rearview mirror, and forced myself to look away.

“No, just get me to the packhouse, please,” I replied.

I wanted more than anything now to go home. It was a huge mistake to come back here.

I couldn’t deal with this. Just seeing Tristan again made me feel like I was losing control. If I stayed in Bridgewater, I ran the risk of losing everything that I worked so hard to achieve for myself. I wouldn’t do that.

“Sure,” Victoria answered, knowing better than to press. She pulled away from the curb and headed towards the packhouse.

It was going to be so strange to return to my childhood home. It felt wrong to be going there knowing that my mom wouldn’t be there.

I tried to focus on my breathing. All I had to do was explain to my dad that this wasn’t going to work for me. He would have to deal with the pack without a Luna for a little while. It wasn’t my responsibility to step up and take care of a pack that rejected me so thoroughly.

I didn’t owe my dad anything, either. He sent me away. I didn’t choose to leave. I didn’t want to leave!

My throat felt tight and I swallowed down my emotions before I could start to tear up. Why should I uproot my entire life for him?

The day they told me I was going to live with my grandparents, my dad didn’t even try to make me feel better. I had cried my eyes out and he just looked at me like he couldn’t understand why I was so upset. The rejection hurt so much. It still did.

What happened wasn’t even my fault. If anything, he should have been proud of the way I handled it.

I was walking home from school when a woman that I didn’t know approached me. I was wary of talking to strangers, but I was also taught to respect the pack elders.

I tried to keep walking and ignore her, but I stopped when she called out to me.

“Can I help you?” I asked nervously. She had slowly walked towards me, speaking in a low tone that I couldn’t hear. While I was focused on her, a man appeared behind me and put his hand over my mouth. He wrapped the other arm around my waist and lifted me off of the ground. I tried to scream, but couldn’t.

I started to panic. The woman rushed towards us and I thought she was going to help me. Instead, she grabbed my wildly kicking legs and tried to pin them. That’s when I realized what was happening.

I was being kidnapped.

I had been warned by my dad’s Beta that I had to be careful. As the Alpha’s daughter, I was vulnerable. The pack had enemies that would try to use me against them. I couldn’t let myself be taken. He told me to scream as loud as I could, to kick and punch wherever I could reach. He said that I shouldn’t worry about fighting dirty in a circumstance like this.

I bit down on the hand over my mouth until I tasted copper. The man holding me yanked his hand away. I spit blood in the woman’s face.

They were both so taken aback that they loosened their grip. I was able to wrench myself free. I ran as fast as I could, probably faster than I ever had before. When I finally got to the packhouse, I had collapsed at my mom’s feet and sobbed.

It took a long time before I was able to tell them what happened.

Solomon, my dad’s Beta, was enraged by the incident.

He had dragged my dad into another room to talk, but they were both shouting so loudly that I could easily hear them.

“I’ve told you a thousand times that she is a liability. If you won’t take measures to protect her from these kinds of attacks, then you have to send her away. It isn’t safe for her here! It isn’t safe for any of us to have her here!”

His words felt like a knife to my heart.

I did what he told me to do. I protected myself and made sure that they couldn’t use me to hurt the pack. Why wasn’t that enough?

I had thrown myself at my dad’s feet and begged him to let me stay. I didn’t want to go. I wanted to stay with my family. I wanted them to want me around. He just told me that it was for my own good and it wasn’t up for discussion.

I wiped a tear from my cheek and crossed my arms tightly across my chest.

Solomon never liked me. I was an annoyance to him. He must have been thrilled when my dad finally agreed with him. They would send me to the human world to live with my mother’s parents. For how long? They didn’t know. Until it was safe for me to come home.

I scoffed bitterly.

They eventually did ask me to come back. It was on my 18th birthday, when my wolf awakened. I knew that they just wanted me to come back to pack territory so they could find me a mate and marry me off to someone. I refused.

My grandparents supported my decision and even stood up to my dad on my behalf. He had thrown me away and they had gladly taken me in. He didn’t just get to come out of nowhere after eight years and demand that I return.

I was so grateful for them.

They loved me and they wanted me around. They showed me what it means to be part of a family. Without them, I never would have made anything of myself.

I had a good life with them. That didn’t lessen the sting that my dad’s rejection had caused me.

We pulled up in front of the packhouse and I glared at the large, oak front door. The house was as big and imposing as I remembered it being.

It was three stories high with a massive courtyard in the back. I hated it.

I swallowed thickly as I stepped out of the car. I muttered a thanks to Victoria, but didn’t look at her. I heard the car pull away as she went to park.

I was going to see my dad for the first time in almost twenty years.

I felt shaky as I walked up the stone path to the door. I hesitated before I pushed the door open. I felt like I should knock, but that wasn’t expected at the packhouse. The ground floor was open to the public.

I was going to tell my dad that I was going home in the morning. I was going to tell him that this was a mistake and that he could manage just fine without me. It was going to be difficult to tell him off, but I had to do it. I knew that this was the best thing for me.

The feeling that seeing Lilian flirt with Tristan had brought out of me was animal and barely restrained. I could not let myself become like that. I couldn’t let my shifter half take control. I would never be able to return to the human world if I did.

“Dad?” I called out. My voice sounded more confident than I really felt.

I could hear his heavy footsteps as he walked towards my voice.

When he appeared in the doorway, I was surprised by how big he seemed. In my memory, he was a giant, but I thought that was just because I was so small the last time I saw him.

He was over six feet tall and looked like a bodybuilder. I knew that shifters aged more slowly than humans, but it still felt like he should look older than he did. His blonde hair had paled a bit with age, but it was far from gray. He looked to be maybe 40.

His dark eyes landed on me and before I could get a word out, he was rushing forward.

I braced myself as he wrapped me into his arms and lifted me from the ground. The bear hug he crushed me in was strong, but not enough to be painful. I went rigid at the contact, but it didn't last long.

After a few seconds and despite my anger towards him, I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him back. I hadn’t hugged my dad in so long. I felt like a child again. He lifted me so easily.

It reminded me of the way he would toss me high into the air when I was little. My mom would scold him for playing too rough, but he would just laugh her off and throw me even higher while I giggled so hard that I lost my breath.

I hadn’t thought of a good memory of them in so long that it shocked me to think of it now.

“My baby girl,” he said as he rocked us slightly from side to side.

Tears sprung to my eyes as I tightened my grip on him.

Damn him.

All of the anger and bitterness that I felt towards him was still there, but the warmth of his hug and the absolute relief I could feel from him pushed all of that aside. I melted into his embrace the way a child always did when their parents held them.

I could feel the tears sliding down my cheeks as he lowered me back to the ground. He held onto my shoulders as he stood up straight and looked at me.

His eyes were watery too, but he wasn't crying. He was looking at me with open affection. I could hardly believe that I was seeing it. He reached out one big hand and stroked my hair gently.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said proudly.

Had my bitterness towards him tainted my memories of him? Was he always this affectionate with me?

I held back a sob that threatened to bubble up.

Damn him, damn him. I wanted so badly to be angry at him. It would be so much easier to just be angry.

“I missed you,” I replied weakly.

He smiled and scooped me into another hug. I clung to him tightly and let the tears fall freely onto his shoulder.

“I missed you, too,” he said. “Let’s talk, huh?”