I triple check the door is closed before I fucking scream at him. “Look at her, Reid! Look whatyourmother did to my daughter!”
Hayes shuffles into the path between Reid and me, while Talon goes closer to Colt who’s still looking at the reason we’re here. Completely ignoring his brother.
“You think all these years I’ve been giving you shit is because I was a cunt? Grow the fuck up! I’ve been pushing you to be the man you need to be. And maybe it would have been plain fucking sailing with your pack if this hadn’t happened. But it did! And yeah, I’ve always fucking pushed you hard. Because life is fucking hard, Reid. You think me giving you shit about getting jobs or an education has been for you? Nah, bud, everything is for her!” I swing an arm in her direction.
Taking a long, loud exhale I close my eyes again and calm down. Me losing my shit at these kids is completely fucking warranted but without purpose. Once I have myself under control, I start again. “You got nothing. I’m not saying that’s the way it will always be, but right this second, the only money you got behind you isn’t yours. You haven’t worked a day in your fucking life. And let’s be fucking real, you really think your family’s going to give you their money now? Colt’s working with the police at every chance he can. He’s going against your family. And for some reason you keep pretending this is not your issue.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Talon tries desperately, not wanting what they have to end. I get it, I do, but my patience is fucking done.
“Talon, it does. You still don’t get it, Reid,” Colt says, interrupting all of us, his eyes closed as he talks. “King’s right. The first thing they’re going to do is say it was Raney’s fault.”
“Maybe it was,” Reid taunts.
But it’s like Colt doesn’t hear a word his brother says. “I know they’re out there doing that already. Telling me to do the same or my trust is gone.” He shakes his head. “By the time it goes to trial they would have twisted everything like they always do. And then what? I haven’t finished school; you’ve got years ahead of you too! We’ve got nothing for Raney. Nothing to give her.”
“Perhaps she shouldn’t get anything. Have you thought of that? And let’s not forget our pack was looking for an omega. Raney was fun for a bit, but even if we continue the fun now, it’s not like she’ll be anything but a bit on the side. We all knew her being a beta would be an issue, let’s not lie about that.”
“Her designation was never an issue, Reid. You said it yourself,” Hayes hisses.
Reid’s arrogance turns my stomach, and the stuff he keeps saying about Raney, I want to murder the prick. He looks at me fucking smiling. “And now it’s not just her designation that doesn’t sit well. She’s not exactly going to be model material by the looks.”
My eyes jump to Colt. I know he’s heard what his brother’s said. But I’m not sure the words have registered yet. And Reid uses that to his advantage, the gutless prick.
“Dad was right, we should have finished this bullshit years ago. King, your daughter is a ruined tramp and you’re a fucking asswipe.” Reid smiles at me before he moves like his ass is on fire.
He slows once he’s out of the room, walking towards her with his fucking head held high like he’s not the cunt he is. He stops at the foot of her bed, checking over to make sure we’re all watching.
Me in particular. I want to gut him on the spot, but the sooner he gets out of my sight, the sooner I can get my daughter away from him and his fucking parents. And keep her secret safe.
Reid’s mask falls away when he looks at Raney. “Since King thinks you can hear me, Raney Grady, we don’t want you. You have no future with our pack, and honestly, you never did. None whatsoever. You were a fun fling that went on way too long. The forms we filled out were because, well, how do I put it? It made it easy, Raney. As the head of my pack, I speak for Talon, Hayes, and Colt too,” he waves his hand around dismissively, “we want nothing to do with you. There is no you in our pack, or our future.”
He turns to face me, “I think that covers all the bases? Or do I actually have to say we reject her? Either way, you can explain it to her if she wakes up. And let her know if she tries to make contact, she will be hearing from our lawyers.”
Colt snaps out of his stupor and hears what his brother says. “No!” he bellows, punching a hole through the wall at the same time. I catch the back of his shirt and make him stay in here with me, not trusting his brother now more than ever.
Reid laughs before he speaks, not even bothering turning around. “I finished whatever this shit is, boys. All of you get changed then back to my place by dinner, Sharlene has graciously arranged for us to start meeting more suitable pack mates. Do not keep her, or me, waiting,” Reid barks back, before walking out of the hospital room and answering the phone that keeps ringing in his hand.
Every part of me is vibrating in fury. The other two take a visible step back, but Colt doesn’t move. As soon as Reid’s presence disappears, I feel better. But not by much.
“Say your goodbyes,” I bark out, wiping the need for violence off my face. Focussing on my girl lying there, hoping she missed what the little turd just said and did.
“For how long?” Talon says quietly. Like Colt, he’s completely and utterly broken, and entirely focused on Raney. Hayes is more frenetic in his panic, his trembling but not in fury, the tears rolling freely down his face are those of sadness.
“I’m not the judge of that. You are. But Reid just made his thoughts on the matter pretty clear, in his actions before he got here and his fucking words.”
“If you love someone, set them free…” Colt says, his head whacking against the glass of the window. He stops mid-sentence; his eyes flick open and straight back on her, and it’s like something in him changes. He rolls his shoulders, and if I didn’t know these kids the way I do, I’d probably think he was going to challenge me.
He kind of does. When he turns to face me, it’s clear by the look on his face that he’s straddling that line between being a boy and becoming a man. He holds my stare. “I claimed her.”
“Yeah. I saw that. And then by the looks of it, Reid made his thoughts obvious on the matter.” I grit my jaw, nearly snapping my fucking molars. The little shit did claim her, and Reid being the eldest in the pack just made his feelings known by rejecting her.
Colt spits on the floor in disgust. For the first time since this started, I think he might have a chance if he decided to challenge me. I don’t know what pushes me to ask, well that’s complete bullshit, I know. It’s her.
“Did you ask her, Colt?” I growl. I have to know. I want to believe he did, but Reid just did a fucking swifty on my daughter, so I’m not exactly full of faith.
His eyes drop, and his emotions scent sourly before he raises his eyes to mine and says in both acceptance and defeat, “Fuck you for being so disrespectful to her.” He opens the door quietly and walks straight to her, making me feel like a right cunt.
Colt drops the guard rails and climbs up next to Raney. I want to rip him off her. I want to flay him alive. Instead, I keep my feet glued to the fucking spot and watch. His hand shakes as he strokes over the thick bandages wrapped around her face. I can hear him talking, but he’s purposely keeping himself quiet so what he says stays between him and her.
