CHAPTER THREE

    "Tell me the truth, you owe me that at least." I shouted at my big brother as he mopped himself up with tissues.

    "Okay, look. It is not such a big deal, but I kind of got involved with a girl. She had a mate and he found out. Now he wants my guts as revenge. She is also pregnant and her father says if it is mine then he is expecting me to mark and be mated to her."

    "There is nothing to be frightened of, we will be fine, so will you just please stop stressing out at me?" He sighed and gave me a look.

    "Are you serious right now?" I threw my hands up in the air, feeling so fed up. My brother was such a douchebag.

    How could he be so damn stupid?

    Throwing the discarded tissues onto the back of the car, he turned to me with eyes blazing and said, "Well, if you had never run away, then we would not be here right now."

    Three whole years of being away from my family and now, I am being blamed for stuff that is not even my fault.

    "I think you forgot the part where this is my fault." I scowled, grabbing my bag and reaching to open the door. Alex immediately bolted out of the car and met me at the other side. I was angry and very disappointed in my brother.

    How could he do this to me?

    To our family?

    "Our parents must be so proud of you, you complete and utter idiot." I scolded him with a slap across the cheeks. Covering his face in surprise but not retaliating, he stood there and took it.

    "Aurora, they do not know about her. Mum called me and said she was ill and wanted us all together as a family. So, come on please, we should get outta here." He kept glancing over his shoulders like he was afraid someone was following us.

    I was not going to stick around and become a part of his problem.

    "I am going back to the place where I am happy, my life is there now and not in some messed-up dysfunctional drama land." I told him firmly, I meant every word of it too.

    It was true.

    Alex looked really hurt by my words, but I did not let that get to me since that was all his own doing, I had always looked up to him and now, he went and mated with another mate's girl, got her pregnant and now, has some crazy trouble after his throat.

    Did he really believe that I wanted to be on the run half way across someone else's territory with him?

    He was very mistaken to think that I would be so stupid.

    I was about to call Layla to come pick me up because I was so done with my brother and his bullshit, I was so disappointed in him for messing up his own life like this and dragging me into it. He had really lost the plot.

    "No, you are not calling anybody, now get back in the damn car so we can get out of here and go and be with our mother before she leaves this world." He shouted harshly in my face, causing me to burst into floods of tears.

    He had never spoken to me like that or made me cry, but here I was, blubbering like a baby while he practically threw me back into the car and slammed the door behind him.

    I hated him now, just like everyone else.

    My vision was now blurred by my tears. I ignored him as he got back into the driver's seat and drove off down the road. I remained silent and must have fallen asleep because next, we stopped. Opening my eyes, I sat up properly in my seat and looked out the window.

    It was just as I remember.

    We were back at the silver moon pack.

    It was weird as hell to be back here after so many years. I had never forgotten that horrible day that Alpha Tyler rejected me in front of everyone.

    But I was not that nerdy little freak anymore, I was stronger, confident and, above all, I knew how to handle myself better. Never again would I allow idiots like Tyler and Debbie to break me down again. Not ever.

    Nothing prepared me for the sight of Tyler and Debbie just a few feet away from me.

    "You lied to me and you think it's okay to do that, you chose me as your Luna and I deserve much more respect than what you are giving me." I heard Debbie scream at Tyler, her long brown curls tied back into a ponytail.

    She looked pretty much the same as she always had, only a little more weight on her. I was curious about the little bump she seemed to be carrying. Tyler had never mentioned anything about her possibly being pregnant, but then again, I supposed he probably assumed that I would already have known about that.

    "She was nothing, nothing compares to you, my baby girl. It is you that I want and you who I come to be with every night. You know that you are my number one." Tyler reached out to her but she slapped him away.

    I wondered if I could sneak away without being seen. I really did not want to be stuck in the middle of their domestic life.

    Quietly opening the door, I climbed out and smiled to myself at how easily I had managed that. Taking a few more steps around the car, I snuck down and ran towards the woods.

    "Aurora, where are you going?"

    Oh damn!

    I heard my brother shout out after me as he was coming out of the packhouse, probably to check if I was around or not.

    "Aurora, what? Where?" I heard Debbie exclaim in a confused state as she turned around to see what or who my brother was shouting at.

    As I turned, my eyes immediately locked with his.

    Alpha Tyler.

    I could see the shock on his face as he looked me up and down.

    My heart was thumping like crazy in my chest, but in my head, all I felt was disgust and hatred towards the one that I had mistakenly been paired with by the moon goddess.

    What the hell had she been thinking?

    "You!" Debbie marched up to me like a crazy psycho. Tyler ran after her, shouting for her to calm down and to stop.

    Of course, she was not about to listen to his commands.

    "Aurora?" Alex was running as well.

    "Get away from my sister." Alex yelled as Debbie yanked my hair, pulling me right back towards her. She was angry at me.

    And for what? Because I was back home?

    Since I was supposed to be in her shoes, Luna and mated to her Alpha. She was the one who wore his mark and was about to bear him a child. An heir to the pack.

    So, why would she possibly be so mad at me?

    I had disappeared years ago and allowed them to get on with it. He rejected me. I accepted it and moved on with my life. This was just some crazy shit that I honestly did not want to deal with.

    "Debbie. Let her go." Alpha Tyler scooped her up into his arms, kicking and screaming as she cussed at me.

    I would have easily kicked her, but if she were not pregnant.

    She deserved to feel the same hurt that they had subjected me to, so many times.

    "I want her dead. Alex, what the hell is your stupid sister doing here?" Debbie growled at my brother furiously.

    Alex stood in front of me, protectively like he had done a lot when we were kids.

    "My sister has done nothing wrong." Alex tried to reason with her but she refused to back down at all. This bitch sure did hold some grudges.

    "That bitch of a sister of yours, well she has been sleeping with my mate." Debbie spat, glaring at me with fire in her eyes.

    "Do what?" I exclaimed, bursting into a fit of laughter.

    "My sister has done no such thing. We only got back here." Alex rolled his eyes at Debbie's childish hissy fit and she threw a dagger look my way.

    "As if I were going near him. You are more than welcome to him." I was disgusted by such an accusation. Tyler had not once taken his eyes off of me and I felt repulsed at the way he was staring so longingly at me. He placed his pregnant mate down, causing her to huff and scowl across at me.

    I could see how it bugged him that I should not be falling at his feet, begging for a chance to be his true mate.

    That was never going to happen. He made me feel sick, so sick that I could not look at him a second longer.

    "No, I was not with Aurora." Tyler finally spoke up, but she glared at him as if not believing the words that he was saying to her.

    It was not my problem if she wanted to think such nonsense.

    "Then, why are you looking at her like that? You rejected her all those years ago and now you are regretting it?" Layla growled.

    Oh wow, she really was paranoid. I stifled a giggle and lowered my eyes to the floor like it was more interesting.

    I was not about to waste another minute listening to her…or him.

    They were both so pathetic and it was a wonder to me how they could lead a pack, when he was obviously cheating on her and she loved nothing more than having all the attention.

    "So, if you do not mind. My sister and I have some personal issues to deal with since our mother is extremely unwell." Alex said rather rudely, which made me look up at the alpha, unsure if he would beat my brother for sounding so disrespectful to the luna.

    He did not look fussed, he was far too busy eyeing me up like a lovesick puppy.

    Ugh.

    "Aurora?"

    My sister gasped, rushing towards us and hugging me so tightly, like she had really missed me.

    Okay, I was starting to feel weird now.

    This was the sister that had practically hated me being in the same room as her, she had acted like we were not even related and barely bothered me since I had left.

    However, she was still my sister and I knew that it would make my mother happy to see us all getting along.

    "I cannot believe that you are back, I have missed you so much and you look so, so different." She held me at arms length and grinned at me happily.

    Yea, she was right, I had changed.

    Alot. And I liked it.

    Debbie grunted as my sister made such a fuss over me, gushing about how she could not wait to go shopping and have our hair done together, just normal fun things.

    I smiled back at my sister, thoroughly enjoying the jealous looks of Debbie and the pained vibes from my ex-mate.

    "Have you got a mate yet? We have so much to catch up on." She giggled with excitement and linked my arm as she led me away to the main packhouse.

    "Did you know that she was coming back?" I heard Debbie scream at Tyler and the corners of my lips formed into a smirk as he tried to reason with her.

    Good luck to him having to put up with her all the time.

    She was a crazy pregnant bitch.

    I was glad that I would not have to be sticking around here forever.

    "She is such a drama queen." My sister whispered to me when we were out of earshot.

    "You know, it is quite obvious that Alpha Tyler regrets ever rejecting you as his luna. You look so great, sis."

    I could not help but smile at that statement. Alpha Tyler regretted rejecting me?

    Well, he was going to have to live with that mistake for the rest of his life, because I for one, could not give a fuck what he thought or did anymore.

    I was only here for my mother.

    She needed me and she was all that mattered right now.

    Or was it?