Chapter 6

The party extended way into the night, and I nursed a bottle throughout, refusing to get drunk before I dragged my weary self back home.

My eyes scanned the clearing for any sighting of my family, but the spot they had occupied was empty, and I released a little breath. I prayed they had gone to sleep so I could avoid seeing them altogether.

But the goddess had another plan for me.

The door creaked as I opened it, disrupting the fragile silence and announcing my presence to the entire world. The hairs on my body stood on end as several pairs of murderous eyes turned to me.

“Hello.” I gave a nervous smile, trying to diffuse the situation. Mother's eyes twitched, her lips trembling even as her breath came out in an angry puff.

“Ryan!” She yelled, and I shrank under her glare; my legs threatened to buckle under me. I stared at my feet, earlier bravado fading away, and I couldn’t even find it in me to correct my name.

“Mother, I can explain.” I tried, my voice smaller than I intended.

“Why didn’t you inform us of this new development?” She spat out the word 'development' like I had come home with a bastard child and not found my mate.

“Mother, it isn’t like you think; he is my mate, and we only met the day before.” I tried to explain, but their hearts were as hardened as their eyes.

“Did you force him?” Raina asked, marching towards me, and a forced breath sprang from my throat, my eyes widening to a point that I was sure they would bulge out of my head.

“Raina!” I growled, my eyes flashing gold. There was a rumbling in my stomach, my gums already aching as my canines threatened to show.

“What!” She shrugged, pushing past everyone until she was face-to-face with me, hot steam of air blowing from her nose. I had always been blinded to their hatred, the bond of our kinship the only one I could see. However, it was so glaring now, the hatred boldly written in both eyes, that I was stumbling from the realization. “I wouldn’t put it past you to do that, to spread your legs and take him in. To entice him until he is forced to do your will—”

My hand flew before I could stop it, connecting sharply with her cheeks. Raina’s head whipped to the side, the loud echo filling the silence, making everyone flinch.

“Ryan!” She yelled, her voice now a venomous timbre, but it could hold no ground to the anger bubbling in me. Her cheeks were fast turning the shade of a tomato, yet I found no guilt in me.

“Don’t you ever say such things about me or my mate, or else you will get more than a slap to your face.” I hissed, baring my teeth.

Rebecca grabbed Raina and pulled her back, positioning herself between us, her hands akimbo. “Does he know that you are ruined?”

“Rebecca, that is enough. You can’t go ganging up against your sister.” Mother dearest finally decided that it was time to speak up, yet the glare was still directed to me.

“No, Mother, tell her.” Rebecca pressed on. “Have you heard? His pack is notoriously famous for their barbaric beliefs, and they hold virginity in high esteem. They even have a ceremony to celebrate a virgin first joining.”

“You are lying; you are just trying to get me to fear.” I said, but the fear had already begun to creep into my heart.

“Why would I lie?” She shrugged, slowly tucking her arms into each other. “I don’t care much about you to consider your feelings. The pack has zero tolerance for non-virgins, and trust me, they are bloodthirsty. When they find out that their alpha’s mate has been a whore, they are going to pounce on you and tear you apart.”

“Fuck you!” I spat out, tears already prickling in my eyes. “Fuck all of you!”

“Oh. I think you got it all wrong. You are the one who is fucked.” And they all burst into laughter, the combination sounding like a pack of hyenas.

I stared at my parents, waiting for them to call them out, to reprimand them, but they only stared at me, their eyes glistening as they saw the failure they had produced, and I had had enough.

“You know what? I am leaving.” I finally threw it out in the air. I should have done this a long time ago, fought for my freedom.

“No one cares, Ryan; you are free to go. We will see if he wants a used tissue like you.” Their words stung like a scorpion's sting, but I had already grown a shell like that of a tortoise.

I only lifted my chin, my eyes connecting to each of them, and I shrugged them off.

There was no need to stay in this place anymore. I was better off without them. I had been skeptical about it before, but now my stand was more than cemented, and it was time to cut ties with them.

I couldn’t even call them family just because we came from the same vagina or because they produced the sperm and eggs that formed me.

My life with them was over, and they would never see me anymore.

“Goodbye.” I whispered to the home in which I had spent all of my life. The one that had molded me and shaped me, and I took another deep breath, inhaling all of their scent.

My eyes flitted around the room, taking in everything—the old television that rarely got turned on, the burnt hole in the sofa where Raina was experimenting with fire, and the countless traces of a life I both knew and wanted to forget.

I blinked again, as if trying to lock them up in my mental memory, and I turned my back against everything I had known.

My feet dragged to the door, my fingers slowly closing in on the cold knob, and I twisted it, the door opening to my freedom.

I stepped out of the room, and with a final glance, the door shut, creating the last ridge in our relationship.