Chapter 4

Valeria POV

By the time I finally arrived at the packhouse, it was too late.

My feet ached as I trudged up the driveway, the sun was setting, casting long shadows across the manicured lawn and my heart was heavy with fear and sadness. I had gotten lost several while trying to track my way to the pack house, all I wanted right now was a warm bath and maybe food.

But as I neared the packhouse, it was anything but welcoming. It felt like a prison.

As the front door opened, I saw my mother pacing in the foyer, worry etched across her face. As soon as she saw me, she ran up to me.

“Valeria! Where have you been? I’ve been calling you for hours. Lysander said he didn’t see you after school and came home thinking you had come ahead. What happened dear?”

My eyes darted past my mom to where Lysander was lounging on the stairs, his pupils glinting with amusement. He was watching me intently, a slow smug smile curving his lips.

He knew.

He knew exactly what he had done, leaving me stranded at school and now he was silently daring me to say something about it. The look in his eyes was challenging, like a predator toying with his prey.

My throat tightened and my stomach twisted with dread.

“What happened dear?” my mother plodded me gently looking between me and Lysander. I wondered if she noticed the tension hanging between us.

I tried to look for a reply that sounded like the truth. I knew Lysander was waiting for my answer, his gaze was fixed on my face. I couldn’t tell my mother the truth – about how he had deliberately left me behind, forcing me to walk the entire five miles home. Especially not with him sitting right there, smirking at me as if daring me to tattle.

“I, uh… I lost track of time,” I finally mumbled, hating that I was lying to my mom. I brought my gaze back to my mother, hoping my excuse would suffice. “My phone battery died too.”

“Lost track of time?” Lysander’s voice carried across the foyer, filled with false concern. “Were you at the library already? On the first day of school? Because I looked for you everywhere. You should be more careful dearest sister, all sorts of dangerous things happen after the dark.”

A shiver ran down my spine at his words. The image of Alerion’s blood-soaked shirt flashed through my mind, followed by the memory of his hand around my throat and Lysander looking at us from the stairs.

My mother sighed softly, shaking her head and giving me a light affectionate smile. “You’re home now and that’s all that matters. Just be more careful next time, dear. Come on, Dinner’s ready, you must be starving. You can eat now and bathe later.”

I nodded trying to force a smile as I followed her to the dining room. At the dining room, Caius sat reading a table, barely acknowledging my arrival. Zane, the one who had given me and my mother flowers the other day and had seemed welcoming had a scowl on his face. Alerion’s chair was empty – small mercies, I thought.

But as I sat down, I could feel Lysander’s gaze burning into me but I refused to look at him. My hands trembled slightly as I picked up my fork. As I picked at my food, I studied my mother’s face. She was smiling, chatting with Alpha Cassian about his day. She looked happy, genuinely happy for the first time in years. The sight made my chest ache.

“Just a little longer,” I told myself, pushing my food around my plate. “I turn eighteen in eight months as soon as I’m done with high school, I’ll apply to colleges far away from here. Far from them. I would move away and never look back. Ever!”

But for now, I just have to survive this.

Keep my head down, stay quiet, avoid wandering at night and endure my stepbrothers.

After dinner, just as I tried to make a quiet escape to my room, my mother caught me just before I reached the stairs.

“Val! Can you help me with something in the kitchen?” her voice was gentle, but I saw the urgency in her eyes.

I nodded and she gestured for me to follow her into the kitchen, away from the ears of the Windsor’s.

Once we were alone, my mother's smile faded. She leaned against the counter, studying my face.

“How was your first day?” she asked, softly as if she was afraid of my answer.

I bit my lips, trying to push down the emotions that threatened to overwhelm me as I remembered how Lysander had abandoned me as soon as we arrived at the school compound. I wanted to tell my other everything, but after one look at her tired and hopeful face, I mustered a smile instead.

“It was fine,” I lied, forcing myself to meet her eyes. “Everyone was nice to me.”

She nodded, still studying me, her eyes narrowing slightly as if she could see through the façade. My heart raced, but I kept my expression calm.

“You know,” she said after a long pause, her tone dropping to a near whisper. “I know why you were late today.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Mom, I told you…”

“Lysander mentioned that he searched for you after school but you were nowhere to be found and then when you showed up, you said the car was full and that you chose to walk home,” she interrupted softly.

Of course, he had. My hands clenched into fists. He’d made me walk home, then twisted the story to make it seem like my choice.

“But I know that cannot be the truth,” she said quietly reaching for my hands and squeezing them gently. “I know things haven’t been…easy,” she continued, “But we need this Val, we need them. I need Alpha Cassian…” She glanced toward the dining room. “He provides security, protection. Something we’ve never had before.”

“Mom…” I tried to protest.

“Please, just listen,” her grip tightened on my hand. “I know the boys can be… difficult. But they’re your brothers now. You just need to try harder to get along with them. No more of this…tension. Can you do that? For me?”

My heart clenched at my mother’s word. It was a harsh truth I’d tried to avoid, but it was staring me in the face now. My mother had thrown us into this situation out of necessity and now she was asking me to go along with it – no matter how miserable it made me.

I looked away from my mom, trying to fight the tears that sprang to the corners of my eyes.

“I know I’m asking for a lot,” she sighed. “But we’ll live in luxury and not like the hand-to-mouth life we were used to. If you keep your head down and don’t provoke them, you’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”

I wanted to protest but then I looked at my mother’s face – the slight lines of worry, the desperate hope in her eyes. I saw years of struggle as a single mother, the constant moving from one cheap house to another, the late nights working multiple jobs and shifts. My mother had sacrificed everything for me. And now, finally, I’d found something that made her happy.

So, I swallowed the lump in my throat, fighting the urge to scream, to tell her that I didn’t want to be fine. I didn’t want to live in fear of Lysander, of Alerion of all of them. But I nodded, my lips trembling.

“Okay,” I heard myself say. “I’ll try harder.”

Relief flooded my mother’s face.

“Thank you, sweetheart. I know it’s an adjustment, but you’ll see. Everything will work out.”

Eight months. My hands dug into my palms as we left the kitchen and I started up the stairs to my room.

Only Eight months from today and I’ll be free.