What Claire saw first when she stepped into her father’s room was her parents sitting in the living room, with Clem, their backs hunched, the air filled with pregnant silence, waiting. They were waiting for her. She knew it from the moment she had dropped a note in Clem’s mind that she was on her way home. That he hadn’t bothered with a response, should have been enough to let her know that her twin was still angry with her. But she had held out hope, until she had reached the borders of the pack and he hadn’t been waiting for her. This was very different from the times they had quarrels. She knew, however, that this quarrel was different. She had denied her mate, because of the throne; had gone ahead to push Emma away from the pack; and when Derek still hadn’t chosen her, she had returned to Curtis because he was an Alpha. Would she have returned to him if he wasn’t that? She didn’t know. That was the truth. She didn’t know. She might have gone back to Curtis, even if he wasn’t a
At this point, Clem didn’t know what to think about his sister, Claire. He had thought that their parents had been her motivator to reject Curtis, to follow Curtis up and down, to join the meetings that prince Nathan held with the others, but from the thick astounded silence that dwelled in the room, it could be safe to say that his sister had been acting on her own, without any external influence. He didn’t know what to think of that. He looked at his mother; she looked more shocked out of her shoes and mind than his father, quite expected since the mother and daughter duo were quite close, since his sister had no mind of hers, except put into place by his mother. As much as he was not happy with his twin, he was happy that for once his mother had no part to play in her recent escapades. “What do you mean…Claire?” Caden asked, pushing himself ahead, his elbow resting on his knees. “What do you mean when you say that Curtis is your mate? When did that happen? When did you find out?
Chyra didn’t know what Clem was talking about—the end of the world, and all that—but she knew that she was to blame for Claire rejecting her mate considering what she had soaked into her daughter’s mind about the alpha’s family, about how the Luna seat was her birthright. She also knew that she shouldn’t be working with Arnold. But she was too proud to concede to that, to concede to anyone, and so she shrugged her shoulders to Clem’s question. In the next second, she saw why that had been a wrong play on her part. When she saw Clem fume in anger, when she saw Claire glare at her stinkingly, when she saw her mate watch her like she was foolish, she knew that she had made a mistake. It would have been best if she had kept quiet, than giving off that nonchalant attitude. But her pride held her back from apologizing. Why should she apologize for being a mother caring to give her daughter the best? “Mother, are you so daft that…” Clem was saying when his father shouted him down. Caden
Caden sighed in relief at his mate’s words, wanting to believe at all costs that the years he had spent with her, that the love they had shared, hadn’t been in vain. He didn’t know what he would have done otherwise. Cry, brood? Neither was acceptable in these times. And so, he wasn’t moved when his son piqued an eyebrow at his mate’s words, or when his daughter’s lips turned up—in disgust or curiosity, he wasn’t sure. But he didn’t care. He just hung on to the thread that his mate was spinning with. “I didn’t cheat on my mate, I’m sure he would have found out if I had done so, considering the mate bond and all that…” There was a pause, where relief sunk its foothold the more in Caden and his children. “So, if that’s what you are thinking, Caden… if that’s what you all are thinking, cut it out. I was surprised too when Claire had met me with the news at first, and I didn’t tell you, Caden, because I wasn’t sure how to explain the phenomena to you. I knew you held the lineage of you
"Bloodugering Hell!" Emma screamed, moving back ten steps away from the dusty cupboard she had tried to clean, while staring apprehensively at the lone cockroach that had made its way out of the cupboard in response to her simulative clean up process. The cockroach negligent of her scaredy face, scurried back into the dusty cupboard, leaving no trace behind. Skimming her slender fingers through her deep red hair, while staring at the little opening where the cockroach had passed through, Emma heaved a sign of relief. She tossed the now dusty brown rag on the floor which she had used earlier to clean out the kitchen table that stood near the morphy sink, and trudged tiredly to the window which stood at the far end of the kitchen, overlooking the thick dark forest. Emma watched keenly from the slightly broken window, at a rab
Sharp knocks, in quick succession, bustling against the wooden front door woke Emma up. And for a tiny second, she thought she was still in Florida getting cozy on her queen size bed, until her eyes caught two cockroaches playing around on the floor and her back protested in pain at her for lying it against the kitchen table. She winced, and rubbed her head dejectedly, noting that she had fallen asleep,while thinking about her life, and how she would go about the arrangements that would make sure she gets to the county's university next week. The thoughts now rushing back like a river overflowing its bank still assailed her. Now thinking on it again, Emma knew that she had to get a work or something that she could do to support herself financially. But for the life of her, She couldn't think of any work sh
Emma was appalled, and for a minute she couldn't move or say anything. The words which Derek had spoken hung heavily on her, it numbed her actually for a minute. Of all the things the stupid jerk could attribute to her; a mistress? And the way he looked at her, like she was some piece of trash. "Hey, are you dumb too??" He asked with a gibe, unfolding his hands from each other. Then removing an imaginary tint from his hair, he looked at her in disgust, from her hair which she knew was cripsy with dust, to her feet which were not faring better either in those tight white tennis shoe. He hissed after the eye travel, and put his hands into the front pockets of his denim jeans, still staring d
"Where's Derek?" Emma asked Clem. She had turned back to see Clem and the other two guys walk into the house after her, but not Derek. She refused to think on why she was searching him out. 'What's there, if not to trouble him the more'She thought, smiling to herself as she remembered the look on his face when she double tripped him. "He might be outside" Clem replied, staring at the ceilings of the living room. 'Outside?'Emma thought. She could feel herself boiling up again. She concluded that Derek was a real piece of work. "What's he doing outside?, can't you see we need more hands her