“You lied to me!” Dawson roars as he snaps back, his eyes malevolent pools of anger and disdain as he glares at me. I’ve never been frightened of the alpha before, but I am now.
“I—” I begin, but Dawson ruthlessly cuts me off.
“No! Do you understand the depth of what you’ve done?! You kept my child away from me! You ran away so I wouldn’t know!” he snarls, and his face contorts with something murderous.
I can’t let him spit venom at me like this, so I lift my chin defensively and speak. “Why do you think I ran away, Dawson?! Yourejectedme the day after you took my virginity! What was I supposed to do, huh?! Wait around for you to reject your own son?! Was I not heartbroken enough for one person?! I couldn’t bear it for two!”
Panting now that I’ve voiced the things I’ve been keeping in, Dawson’s nostrils flare as if he’s taking a breath on my behalf.
There’s a moment of heavy silence that stretches while Dawson glares at me, appearing to climb down from the height of his anger with every breath until he gulps.
“I came looking for you,” he admits, his voice hoarse. “I came looking for you, but you were gone already.”
“You’d already rejected me. The damage was already done.”
Dawson spins on his heel, facing his heaving back to me as he breathes heavily. “I didn’t reject you by choice, Yvonne,” he grates. “I was forced to reject you that very next day. I came back after a week when the heat was off me, but you were gone by then.”
Frowning, I hesitate when I ask, “F-forced…? What do you mean?”
Dawson sighs, leaning one shoulder against the doorframe as he explains, “Elder Garrett was blackmailing me with my parents’ treatment. As you know, they were both sick at the time, and he found out about us. He threatened to stop their treatment and strip me of my alpha title if I didn’t do what he said. He was against you because you’re an omega and because you’re a Lang. He lost someone when your father and brother—” Dawson chokes, unable to say the rest.
I stare blankly at Dawson, realizing that this runs much deeper than I thought. He only rejected me to save his parents?
But nothing could ever change the fact that I’m an omega, and that I’m a Lang.
“You would have rejected me anyway,” I remind him. “I’m just a worthless omega, and I’m the shamed Lang girl. You would—”
Dawson suddenly snaps around and glares into my eyes with a hint of ferocity. “I said I came back when the heat subsided. What did you think I came back for?”
His low tone sends shivers down my spine, and I keep my lips pursed together, not wanting to make any foolish assumptions right now. Dawson continues staring at me as if he’s trying to send the answer to me telepathically, but both of us have closed off our receptors in the face of our fight.
Angrily huffing, Dawson grunts and pushes past me, knocking into my shoulder and simultaneously letting the floodgates open when my knees hit the ground. The door bangs shut with a loud thud, signaling that it’s safe for me to weep helplessly into my hands as I cover my face.
He knows the truth, and it must feel like the biggest punch to his gut. Hanging my shoulders shamefully, I weep for the regret of running away in the first place.
***
“Are you sure you’re gonna be fine?” I ask Gio, fluffing his hair with my free hand as I carry him into the daycare center.
I’ve been pretending that everything is fine; that’s why I’m wearing a broad smile as he wiggles out of my arms and stands as tall as he can on his feet, flashing me his perfect set of baby teeth that haven’t started falling out yet to make way for his permanent canines.
“Yes, Mama!” he says proudly, planting his hands on his hips and boastfully lifting his chin. “I always fine!”
“I know,” I concede with a sigh as I lean down and press a kiss on his head. I guess I’m just paranoid now that Dawson knows that Gio is his son.
He hasn’t come around to the cabin behind his main house since that night. I can’t blame him. I saw the petrified look of betrayal on his face. I can only imagine that he’s too angry.
I kiss Gio goodbye and see him off with a wave as he enters the daycare, then I stroll through the village with my arms folded underneath my poncho. Sighing heavily, I watch the way my feet trek through the snow, not feeling any urge to look up at the village sites as I make my way to the north side of Girdwood.
That’s where I’ve been practicing these supposed witch powers that are meant to help defeat the demon alongside Aurora and her son.
When I knock on the door, Aurora immediately opens up as if she’d been waiting for me. She probably was, since we’ve been practicing for three days straight.
“Hey, Yvonne, come on in,” she says as she steps aside and gestures me in.
Every movement of mine is robotic as I go through this as if it’s a rehearsed routine. Following Aurora down to the private room built under the living room on the ground floor, then peeling off layers until I’m able to roll my sleeves over my arms. By the time I set my eyes on the crystal amethyst ball in the middle of the room, perched on an obsidian pedestal, my mind is a void of thoughts where I’m supposed to be able to wield some magic powers.
I feel nothing in my palms where I should be feeling tiny bursts of electric sparks that are meant to build and shoot out toward the crystal. I’m meant to charge the crystal with those magic powers, but there’s nothing right now. I’ve only been able to send tiny flickers of sparks out before, but today, not even those come.
