4.Downgrade

Chloe

I don’t know how I made it home. I wasn’t even aware that I was putting one foot in front of the other, let alone heading in the right direction. There was nothing left for me to do besides go home, although the space didn’t feel like home anymore.

It only vaguely registered that the car was back in the driveway, meaning Leah was home. Was she still living here? Was I going to be forced to live with her? The thought made me sick.

When I opened the door, I ignored Leah, who was sprawled across the couch and went directly to the kitchen to wash the mud and blood off my hands. I heard her get up and saunter into the kitchen, leaning against the doorway.

“What do you want, Leah?” I finally sighed, turning to her as I dried my hands.

“Oh, nothing,” she chirped.

Something broke inside me at her nonchalance and I hissed, “Why the fuck did you do it, Leah? Why are you so hateful?”

She raised an eyebrow at me but didn’t reply

I turned away from her, disgusted. I turned back to her a moment later, anger lacing the words I hurled at her. “Who the fuck has been hurting you, Leah? I know it was Conson or Mom, so who was it?” When she didn’t immediately answer, I threw my hands up in the arm in frustration. “What does it matter at this point? They’re both dead. Dead, dead, dead.” My heart broke a little more with each repetition of the word. “No one in the pack would dare lay a hand on you – you were Conson’s daughter. The beta’s daughter. So, who hurt you, Leah? Because it sure as hell wasn’t anyone in this household.”

Leah tossed her hair over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. The desire to pounce on her was almost overwhelming. How could she be acting like this when people were dead?

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it, Chloe. It doesn’t concern you.”

I rounded on her, spitting mad. “My mother is dead because of your accusations. You may not have held the knife, but you are more responsible than anyone else.”

Leah tutted at me. “So melodramatic, Chloe. Really, get a grip.”

I saw red and it took every ounce of willpower I possessed not to throttle Leah senseless.

“All I’m saying is that it doesn’t matter who gave me the wounds. All that matters is who the pack thinks gave me them. Your mom.”

I stared across the kitchen at her, my hands clenched in tight fists. It was hard to keep the anger I felt coursing through my veins in check, but I knew attacking Leak wouldn’t help my case with the pack. Mom had been thrown out – it was only a matter of time until they lumped me into the same category unless something changed.

“Poor Susanna – a single mom, a rogue, wandering the country with her bastard child. Poor, pitiful Susanna. How she ensnared my father, I don’t know. They weren’t mates – there was no reason for them to end up together.” She sniffed as if offended by the match. “Everyone knows what kind of woman she was now, though, don’t they? How many pack members showed up to her funeral today, Chloe?” She gave me a knowing look. “Or was it just you? I don’t know how you can hold your head up high after everything she did.”

“But she didn’t touch you! Not even once! She treated you just as she treated me – as a daughter!” I erupted, the words vomiting from my mouth before I could stop them.

Leah’s look hardened. “I had a mother, and she died before Susanna ever came into my life. No one could ever replace her. Ever since you arrived at the house, Dad decided to try to win you over. He doted on you and completely forgot about me. I was his own daughter! And it was all yours and your mother’s fault!”

I took a step back from her, stunned. I’d had no idea she felt this way, and I knew Conson hadn’t either. He never would have let her believe he loved her less because I was here.

Before I could think of anything to say, Leah continued. “And you stole Caden from me. That’s unforgivable. I was supposed to be his mate. It was supposed to be me! And instead, it’s you? A no one? A bastard’s child? How was that fair?”

“Well, he’s all yours now,” I hissed. “He rejected the mate bond. Go ahead, Leah, see if Caden wants you now that I’m out of the way. I can guarantee he won’t.” I wanted to believe that Caden would see through Leah’s mask, but I wasn’t sure he would. I hadn’t, and I’d lived with her. I’d thought she had a mean streak, but I’d had no idea that it’d run this far into hatred toward my mother and myself.

“Trust me, I will,” Leah hissed before turning and stomping out of the room, slamming the front door behind her.

I stared after her for a long moment before letting out a sigh I hadn’t known I’d been holding. I needed a shower, both to wash off the memory of burying my mother and to get the dirt that still covered me off.

While under the burning hot shower spray, I contemplated my options. I had to show the rest of the pack who Leah really was. It’d been a niggling of thought since Conson died, but now I was sure that Leah was the wolf behind everything. She’d plotted and planned for who knew how long because she hated my mother. She’d orchestrated her death as surely as if she’d held the knife.

It wasn’t fair, and I was determined to figure out how to show everyone her true colors. It was going to be difficult, but I still held out some hope. The Alpha and pack leaders were logical. Even Caden might be on my side if I explained it to him correctly.

My heart didn’t really believe that, though. I remembered the way Caden had looked at me – there had been no hints of affection, and I seriously doubted if we’d ever return to where we were before.

I was bright red from the hot water by the time I stepped out of the shower. I quickly dried off and slipped into clean clothes. I was still brushing my hair when there was a knock on the front door. I half expected Leah to be standing there when I swung open the door, having forgotten her key for the millionth time, but instead, I found Sarah, the Alpha’s messenger, waiting for me on the front stoop.

“May I come in?” Sarah asked.

I nodded and stepped aside, knowing that it wasn’t really a question. She was going to come inside and share whatever news she’d been directed to share, whether I wanted her to or not.

I sat on the couch and stared at my bare feet, unable to meet her gaze. I had the sinking feeling that, just like Mom, I was being cast out of the pack. I prayed my body took it better than Mom’s had – there was no one left to bury me if I died.

“Chloe,” Sarah started, her voice cold and brisk. “You are being demoted to the status of Omega. You must either work for the pack or leave and live as a rogue. Those are your two options. Which do you choose?”

Her words shocked me, prompting a physical jerk that I was powerless to ignore. While she was not the Alpha, she was repeating his words verbatim, and that meant they carried the same weight. It’s what being a messenger meant.

“Omega?” I gasped, still trying to get enough air into my lungs.

“Yes.”

I was silent for so long she was prompted to speak. To my surprise, she kneeled before me and took my hand, a kindness I hadn’t foreseen. “You are still part of the pack, Chloe. It could be worse.”

No words formed, and eventually, Sarah left, closing the door softly behind her. I flinched as if she’d slammed it.

I sat there, lost to the world, until Leah came home, all bright smiles and cheer.

“I heard the most delicious rumor!” she crooned, stopping in front of me. “A little birdy told me that you were demoted to Omega!” When I didn’t react, she tapped me lightly on the forehead. “But don’t worry, Chloe, if you don’t want to work for the pack, you can always go back to being a rogue. You have practice with that, don’t you?”

I stared blankly up at her. I wanted to react – she was expecting me to – but I was too numb to do anything more than blink dumbly.

Seeing that I was lost, Leah laughed and went to her room, leaving me in the living room alone with my thoughts.