Maybe she realized we all thought she was full of shit, so she rushed to continue. “I’ve been through a lot, too, Josephine. You’re not the only one who’s been hurt here.”
Her tone had regained some of the coldness I was familiar with. I wasn’t even phased by her words—they were exactly what I expected of her—but my alphas tensed. My mother’s nose flared as she took in their bitter scents, and it filled me with rage that she got to scent my alphas. I kept a possessive hold on Cam and Ben, frustrated that Theo was too far for me to touch him.
“And now that Jericho and Richard are in prison, I have nowhere to go. The government seized our home and all our belongings and locked me out of our bank accounts.”
“Theirbank accounts,” I corrected. “Omegas don’t get to have bank accounts, right? We simply can’t be trusted with something as complicated as finances.”
My mother blinked, and I could tell she was holding herself back from reprimanding my rudeness. “What am I supposed to do? I have nothing,” she said, injecting a whine into her tone. A fuckingwhine, as if that was supposed to make me soften to her plight.
“So you came here to ask for money,” Cam growled.
My mother said nothing, and that was all the confirmation I needed. My emotions threatened to overwhelm me, tightening my chest until I was seconds from gasping for breath. I stood up.
“I’ll be right back,” I blurted out.
I retreated from the room, forcing myself to take measured steps, but the second I was out of her sight, I took off running to the kitchen. I curled up on the floor next to the kitchen fireplace, trying to get rid of the icy chill seizing my body.
Moments later, I heard footsteps.
“Sweetheart?” Cam crouched down in front of me, running a careful hand down my arm. “Do you want her to leave?”
Before I had the chance to answer, Theo stormed into the kitchen. He sat down next to me with a huff and tugged me onto his lap, enveloping me in his arms and pressing his face to my hair.
“I had to get out of there before I lost my fucking shit,” he muttered.
I bit my lip. “Is Ben going to be okay alone with her?”
“He’ll be fine,” Cam reassured me. “Or he’ll spill that pot of tea on her. Either way,” he muttered under his breath.
“What do you want to do? Just say the word and I’ll get rid of her,” Theo growled.
I appreciated that as much as they hated this, they were letting me make the decision.
“Do you think we should help her?” I whispered.
“No,” both of them said at the same time. Theo’s chest rumbled with a growl.
I nodded slowly, picking at my sweater thread.
Theo took a deep breath. “But it’s your choice.”
I met his gaze, my mouth open slightly with surprise.
“Am I bad for wanting to help her?” I asked.
“No part of you could ever be bad,” Cam said, cupping my face.
“But you don’t think I should.”
Both of them grew quiet and I knew they were being careful with their words.
“I don’t think she deserves your kindness,” Theo finally said. “But I won’t judge you if you choose to give it.”
I turned over his words in my mind. Part of me craved being vindictive. I could imagine returning to the living room and unleashing the years of my pent-up rage for all the times she stood back and watched Richard and Jericho abuse me… and had taken part herself with her cruel words. She was the one who had taught me to hate myself.
But then my mind flashed to how small she looked in the living room… and the fact that she had allowed me to escape. She had suffered a lot, and I wished that I could have known her in a different life, one without abusive alphas. What would happen to her now? The world was still a bleak place for an omega alone. I leaned into Theo and closed my eyes.
We sat in calm silence, Cam and Theo’s scents blending with the smoky burning logs.
