“I figured you turned eighteen today,” Cole says, as he takes the chair once more. “Happy birthday, Nora.”
I stare at the stupid cupcake, remembering the last time someone celebrated my birthday. It was my mom. She was the last person who wished me a happy birthday. My throat clogs up with emotions, and I have to blink some tears away.
“Thanks,” I murmur, before picking up the cupcake. I blow out the candle without making a wish, because I stopped believing in that a long time ago.
I peel the wrapper off the cupcake and take a big bite. Ittastes even better than it looks. Sweet vanilla buttercream melts on my tongue as I chew slowly, wanting to savor the flavor.
Ignoring how Cole watches my every move, I finish the cupcake before picking up the silverware to eat the pancakes. They taste almost as good as the frosting. Despite being full about halfway through, I empty my plate. Who knows when I’m going to get my next meal.
When I’m done, I place the silverware on the plate. Cole takes the tray from my lap and places it on the bedside table. He settles back into the chair, and his eyes remain glued to me.
“I need you to tell me who put those bruises on you,” Cole demands.
I shouldn’t be surprised by his question. I know mates are fiercely protective of each other. Still, it’s hard to accept that he actually cares all of a sudden. I think about lying or not telling him at all, but I’m pretty sure he won’t let this go. Plus, I have no reason to hide the truth from him.
“My brother… mostly,” I reveal, trying not to recall how I got every single bruise on me. “Sometimes, it’s my sister and my parents.”
Cole takes a deep breath, as if he is trying to calm himself before he speaks again. “Your whole family has been hurting you.”
Nodding, I confirm his statement. He shifts in his seat, his hands are balled up in fists so tightly his knuckles are white.
“Six years ago, why did you really run into the forest?”
“I didn’t run,” I explain. “My father took me there.”
Chapter 6
Cole
There I was,thinking she was running away from her family the night she went into the woods. I was already prepared to rip their heads from their necks and bathe in their blood because, goddammit, nobody hurts my mate and gets away with it. Not even her family.
But this? My wolf’s growl is almost louder than my racing thoughts as I try to process what she admitted. “Why would he do that?” It’s amazing—I almost sound rational.
I feel her hesitation. That’s something she’s going to have to figure out, and fast. The fact that she can’t lie to me when I already feel her emotions so clearly. Like being hooked up to a lie detector with no way to disconnect, ever.
She doesn’t want to tell me because she’s ashamed. She’s been hiding a lot of painful truths for a very long time.
Taking a hitching breath, staring down at her hands, she mumbles, “He wanted me to die. He told me I was a mistake that should have never happened. That was why he left me. Iwas supposed to die in the woods. I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t have any way to protect myself. I tried to walk, to find my way out, but I just kept getting more and more lost. I heard movement in the darkness, and there was nowhere to go before the bears started coming toward me. And then…”
Her face goes pale enough to make her freckles stand out like punctuation marks. “And then somebody came to protect me. I’m sorry.”
Somebody happened to be Dad, who died protecting her.
Before his mate, my mom, killed herself when the pain of being without him was too much to live with.
I can’t think about that now. Not while I’m trying to piece everything together. All I would get from thinking about Dad’s sacrifice is blinding rage. They told us she went into the woods to play. That she was warned but ignored them. I’ve lived with that piece of information plaguing me like an unquenchable thirst.
And it wasn’t her fault. All this time, and it was never her fault. “Why didn’t you tell anybody? Why let everyone think?—”
“Right, because everybody was going to believe the half-breed who got the alpha killed?” The defiance I witnessed across from the diner flares to life again. Her cheeks go dark red, and her eyes flash icy blue fire. “Nobody was ever going to listen. Besides…”
Her shoulders slump before she releases a deep sigh. “You’ve seen for yourself what happens when I do my best to follow the rules and keep everybody happy. How much worse do you think it would’ve been if I’d told the truth?”
I see her point, and it infuriates me. My wolf is begging, pleading to be set free and wreak bloody vengeance on the cruel, heartless shits who inadvertently destroyed so many lives.
“Where are you going?” she asks in a tiny voice when I almost jump out of the chair. I’ve held myself back long enough.
“Don’t worry about it,” I tell her, cutting a slashing motion through the air with one hand when she opens her mouth to argue. “I mean it. Stay there, rest up. I’ll be back soon.”
