Page 16 of Cruel Alpha

“Jack,” he said, barely audible, and Dad grinned.

“That’s a good, strong name. I think you’re gonna be a strong young man.”

Jack nodded, pulling slightly away from my body.

“Do you want to sit with Pappy?” I asked him, and Jack looked from me to Dad and back again before he nodded. I passed him over, mouthinghe likes you,to Dad as I did so.

“Is it true what they’re saying, Alys?” Dad said as he got Jack settled in his lap. “You’ve been on Arbor?”

“Yeah, but they liked me even less than Lapine does,” I joked, and Dad frowned. Before he could say anything, Emmy’s bright little voice said,

“Whatchu doing?” She made a grab for Dad’s work clothes piled on the couch, and Pauline snapped,

“Don’t touch those!”

Emmy flinched, and I called out to her.

“Come here, Emmy.” For once, Emmy came straight back to me, cuddling into my side. My stepmother and sister were glaring at the three of us all crowded around Dad in the corner, and I realized my mistake. As much as they ignored me, they would hold it against me if I excluded them from the conversation.

“You still living at home, Gracie?” I asked, just to break the silence. It seemed more and more likely that Gracie’s mate was from another Pack, otherwise she would have found him by now and moved to a new home. It was a bit of a sore spot, and as soon as the words left my mouth, I winced at my own stupidity.

“Yeah,” Gracie snapped. “Some of us without mates just live with it instead of spouting delusional shit and getting ourselves banished.” Before I could even react to that, she continued, “Who sired them?”

“Does it matter?” I said. There was no point telling her the same truth she’d just called medelusionalfor.

“Not really,” Gracie shrugged. “As long as he wasn’t some other woman’s mate.”

She said it so nonchalantly that I almost missed it, but I couldn’t miss the atmosphere that descended over the room; my father stiffened, looking at Pauline, whose mouth had disappeared into a furious white line.

I should let it go, I wassupposedto let it go, because that was how things worked here.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I said instead.

Gracie’s voice was ice when she replied,

“Well, you got everything else from your mother.”

Why had I even asked? I’d knownexactlywhat she meant, and hearing it spelled out only made me feel sicker than I already did. I looked at my father, still sitting in his chair with Jack on his knee, pleading for him to do something, anything. For the defense that I’d never gotten as a child and wouldn’t get now. The silence stretched out and out and out as I waited for him to take just an ounce of accountability, to stand up for me just once. He said nothing.

I got to my feet, snatching Jack up out of Dad’s lap.

“Alys, don’t—” he started, but I didn’t want to hear it.

“Well, this has been lovely,” I said, a big fake smile plastered to my face. “I’ll see you all around, I guess.”

With that, I took Emmy’s hand and marched all three of us out of the room. I let the door slam behind me on my way out, trying and failing to keep a single tear from rolling down my cheek. I had no free hand to wipe it away, and I didn’t trust myself to speak. I wanted to comfort my children, who both looked confused and upset, but if I opened my mouth, I would sob, and that would make everything worse. I had to get a handle on myself: this was only what I should have expected. My father might love me, but his love was not stronger than his shame. I had always known that.

I tried to keep my pace even, not to tug Emmy along as I fled from the cottage I had once called home. So concentrated was I on getting back to Julia’s as quickly as possible that I didn’t hear Caleb calling my name until Emmy tugged my hand.

“Will you hold up?” he said, coming alongside me. He must have jogged over because he was panting ever so slightly, a strand coming loose from his usually neat hair to fall over his forehead. God, he was beautiful.

“What?” I snapped. “What do you want?” I didn’t need to spend any more time today with people who’d rejected me, who were supposed to love me but didn’t.

“You looked upset,” he said, defensive. “I wanted to check you were okay.”

That was pretty rich, coming from him.

“I’m fine,” I said, beginning to walk again. “I just—I went to visit my family. They’re not exactly happy to see me.”

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