My father was all about control and power. Heck, he referred to our herd as a “pack” often because he thought that made himsound like a badass. It didn’t. Stripping your identity to try to look bigger and cooler didn’t work.
I threw my clothes on the front porch and went around behind the cabin to where my outdoor shower was. I wasn’t even given hot water like everyone else. It wasn’t cold, not anymore, not since I attached a couple of solar panels and a small water heater, but it was never a real shower.
Challenge your dad.That was another thing my unicorn went on about. And the reality was, I probably could take him down, but then I’d be Alpha, and I didn’t want that. The herd would be scheming to take me down within minutes. No, thank you.
I stood under the water, letting it wash over me and working the shampoo through my hair, as my unicorn kept pushing for me to leave. One day it would get to be too much, and I would. I had some money squirreled away, little bits I found here and there from when I went shopping for herd needs. Money no one knew existed but me. But the timing had to be absolutely perfect for me to take the risk, and that time was not now.
“You’re needed at the Alpha house.”
I opened my eyes, forgetting that the shampoo was still being washed down my face, and immediately shut them as the stinging hit. Great. Freaking great.
“Yes, Nick. I’ll rinse quickly.” So much for a complete shower. When my father’s beta asked for me, I went. No questions asked. “Two minutes tops.”
I knew better than to make my father wait. He was probably going to be pissed that I took the two minutes. My head was still dripping as I jogged into his house, refusing to givehim the satisfaction of me being late, a crime that had many consequences, none of them pleasant.
“Father.” I tilted my neck, a sign of submission. “You needed to see me?”
“Don’t tell me you got into human drugs.” His words caught me off guard.
“Of all the things, Father, why would you think that? How would I even get them? I have no money,” which was a lie, “and I have no access.”
“Your eyes.”
Excellent. Shampoo strikes again.
He ignored the topic of my eyes, hating to be caught being wrong. “This is a reminder that you have two weeks until the ceremony.”
The ceremony being my official mating. He still hadn’t even told me who it was to, which told me that it was 1,000,000% someone I didn’t want anything to do with. You’d think my father would have learned his lesson: mating for anything other than love didn’t go well.
They say shifters mate for life, and they do. My father didn’t mate his true mate, he mated for his position, and the mating bond was weak at best with them, which was how I came to be. My omega dad cheated on him, and I was a consolation prize.
One of my first memories was hearing them fight and my omega father shouting that he wouldn’t have needed to cheat if my alpha father had managed to make them an heir. They fought a lot until the day he was banished.
He didn’t even pretend to fight for me, just left and never turned back. I think that hurt more than everything else in my life. My father remated, again for power. He craved it. My stepfather pretended I didn’t exist, which worked for me.
My father rambled on about the arrangements for my ceremony, and I nodded every few sentences, my mind not really focused on his words, knowing that if I did, I’d be angrier than I already was. And as it currently was, I was barely able to hold in my rage.
“You’re dismissed. You healed today.”
I nodded.
“Go recharge your unicorn.”
“Yes, Father.”
It had nothing to do with him wanting me to be healthier. He wanted me at the ready. But I didn’t care because it gave me a reason to leave his presence and get away from the herd.
Back at my cabin, I grabbed my backpack, the one I always brought with me when I “recharged,” and went hiking in the woods. Years ago I started carrying it, a very intentional move. If the day ever came that I could leave, this was the one I was bringing. I wanted the sight of me walking into the woods with it over my shoulder to be normal and not suspicious. I also shoved my small spray bottle of skunk musk with my own special addition, to help cover my tracks if I scented any predators along the way. It had only happened once, but it was better to be prepared than wishing I had it as I was being attacked.
I got the idea from a YouTube video about hurricane readiness back when I was a preteen, and it stuck with me. I kept the blasted thing at the ready with some candy bars, proteinbars, water, the money I’d squirreled away sewn inside one of the pockets, a couple of antibiotic pills Healer had left on the counter one day, a roll of gauze, a blanket, and a change of clothes. I didn’t need any of those today, but still, I brought it. And if they asked why I had all that with me, my excuses were ready.
I might get hungry.
I like to lie on the blanket in the sun.
If my unicorn takes over and shifts, I might ruin my clothes.
I had an excuse for everything in that bag but the money, which I hoped they never found.
