Hayes continued grinding his jaw, but Julian finally cleared his throat to speak.
“You may as well be honest with them,” he said, looking at his packmate before looking back at me, his expression softening slightly. He found nothing but anger in mine.
Hayes waved a hand as if to tell him to go on.
“As we know, this estate has been in the family for generations.” Julian turned to Aspen and North specifically. “The Hawthorne line. That comes with a few stipulations in the deed.”
When no one said a word, he continued.
“When this house is passed down from parents to children, it’s not your typical first born heir. There’s something in the estate’s deed called the Omega Clause. A child may not inherit the estate unless they have found their omega.”
“So, if something happened to all of you, we would have been homeless until we found an omega?” It sounded so fucking ridiculous and archaic.
He shrugged. “As old-fashioned as that is, yes. The clause specifically states that the estate will go to designated caretakers and be uninhabited, until a Hawthorne bloodline can take it over again. A strong Hawthorne pack that consists of at least one alpha and one omega, specifically.”
“That’s ridiculous. Are you even a pack or was it all for the clause?” Cole asked, looking at my mom. There was accusation in his eyes.
“Yes,” she said with a sigh. “I love them, Cole. I’m sorry everything turned out the way it did and affected you so much.”
“We should have done better,” Ellis agreed in a weak tone. Hayes said nothing as usual and Julian just offered a gentle smile that felt forced.
“This is so fucked up,” Aspen said. There was disgust in her tone that she did not bother to hide. That had Hayes’s eyes narrowing.
I let out a soft growl, just daring him to say something negative to my omega. He could fucking try it.
“Watch what you say to her,” I warned him, knowing this man too well despite him knowing nothing about me.
Karina let out a shuddering breath as if this physically pained her.
I had no sympathy left. She was our mother and could have done something to fix it over the years, but she failed to protect us.
The tension rose by the second, a silent standoff as the alphas glared at each other.
Ellis wasn’t sure what to say now. He was flustered, and I could feel my mother biting back her words. They thought what they were doing was right, and I wanted to scream.
“So, that’s it? You’re handing over the estate to us now that we have our omega and leaving?”
“There’s a bonding rule,” Hayes pointed out but his eyes flickered to the fresh marks. “Though, that seems to be covered. But yes, we’ll move out of our wing and establish one of the guest wings as our home base. Karina will finally be able to travel with us.”
Finally. As if we were the cause of her staying behind all this time.
My gaze snapped to her. “Really, Mom? After all this time, you’re just going to leave with them? What happened to being so happy Cole was home? To spending time getting to know Aspen? Don’t think I haven't heard you crying at night after hanging up the phone. I’ve been here all this time,” I said, jabbing a finger at my chest to prove it. “I stayed in this town, tried to take care of you the best I could because they couldn’t fucking be bothered to. And you’re just going to leave with them?”
For the first time in her life, my mother was speechless.
Julian’s eyes were now locked on her. “Karina, is this true?”
She looked almost angry that we’d given her secrets away. “Some nights were difficult. But I knew what I was signing up for.”
I huffed out a bitter laugh, seeing right through what she was doing, but I didn’t bother to argue any further.
This was pointless.
“You chose to have not one, but two children, ignored them all this time, and now you want to leave, too?”
“We are going to travel for a bit while your pack settles in here. We’ve had our turn and now it’s time for you to take over,” she said, a watery smile on her face. “I hate the idea of leaving, but it’s only temporary. This is what we all need.”
It was silent as she finished, only her sniffles filling the quiet.
