I pretend I don’t hear that.
I nibble the muffin while she leans back and just hits me that hundred watt stare that scratches at the inside of my mind until I want to confesseverything, including who broke her favourite terracotta cat when I was breaking in to their house one night when I was slightly inebriated.
“I can’t talk about it,” I say tightly.
“Can’t or won’t.”
“Both. I don’t want anyone else to get in trouble.”
She leans forward slowly, the front two legs of her chair hit the ground with a thud. “Are you in trouble?”
I shake my head and let out a sob. “Yes. No. I don’t know for certain. They are really angry with me.”
I know that because I listened to two voicemails before I tossed my phone out the window on the drive here. They were furious with me.
“The pack that everyone thought you were with?”
I wince. “Yes.”
“Did they hurt you?”
I shift in my seat. “Not physically.”
“Did they threaten to hurt you?”
I think back to those voice calls. “Yes. They want me to go back and do what I agreed to do.”
“Which was?”
“Be their omega. Although they probably don’t want that now,” I whisper. “Now I just think they will want me to pay.”
Grandma snorts. “Did you believe their words about obligation? Did you fall for their lines that you owed them? That kindness begets obedience.”
“They were nice to me; they helped me.”
“That doesn’t mean you owe a person your life, Sofia!”
I stand up and move to where I can pace. The kitchen opens into a lounge area with two recliners, so I pace between the kitchen table and them.
“I know that. I just didn’t think I-” I cut the words off, unwilling to say them.
“What?”
“I didn’t think I could do better.”
Grandma stands up and walks to me slowly. She’s taller than me, but frail, though you would never guess it if you knew her. She grips my cheeks.
“You are a Sol, you are my granddaughter, a Sunshine Omega. Sofia, darling, you can have the oceans themselves if you want them. You don’t have to settle for anyone and anything.”
Tears fill my eyes. “Thanks, Grandma.”
“Now, tell me about this pack.”
She leads me to the grey-striped recliners parked in front of a wall-mounted TV. She ushers me to sit in one, while she perches on the coffee table.
“Pack Collins. There are four alphas and a beta. They were nice to start with. Kind but standoffish, their version of courting was…cold.”
“You’re home now. Everything is going to be okay.”
