The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs made me freeze. Ugh. They’d done the deal—so why couldn’t they leave me the hell alone?
“Rumor,” my mother said, coming in. I busied myself with packing up last-minute things like my hairbrush and toothpaste.
“Yes, Mother?”
“The deal has been made. I see you are almost all ready to go, but we need to go over some things before you leave.”
I stopped in my tracks and sat down to listen, but my eyes were darting around my room in case I missed anything. Like hell I would come back to get something even if I did.
“Tell me, please.”
“Fine. Just know this isn’t easy for any of us.”
She was so full of shit, but the faster I got out of here, the better, so I kept my lips zipped and nodded.
“You are going to the DarkShadow pack to be their omega. Their mate. Their…well, whatever they deem you to be. They have paid the money.”
“Okay.”
My mother sighed. “You have to be sure to make the best of it. Do whatever they say because at the end of the day, you belong to them. After you leave tonight, you are no longer welcome in this house and are banished from this pack. Your sister will have a hard enough time with being a new alpha without extra problems.”
“I understand.”
“Do you? Because you either make it work with this pack or…”
I knew theor. Was best friends with theor. There was no going rogue for an omega like me. I would be recognized because of the pack I came from, and no good would come from my discovery.
When I first presented as an omega, I tried to kill myself. That night. Swallowed a bunch of wolfsbane and sat in the bathtub and welcomed my fate. That was theormy mother was referring to. When Lily discovered me and saved my life, my mother looked disappointed, not because I was alive but because I hadn’t succeeded. Seemed I couldn’t even take my own life properly.
Even more of a rejection in her book.
I squared off my shoulders and invoked my emotionless tone. “I understand what you are saying. I will go with Penn and the DarkShadow pack and never return here. I am no longer your daughter and will not contact you from this point further.”
My mother got up and opened her arms. “One last hug?” she said.
“No.”
I grabbed my bags and headed down the stairs. No looking back. No touching the banister to brand the memories in my head one last time.
The memories I once held dear had morphed into trauma the moment I wasn’t what they wanted.
I was no longer their heir apparent. No longer their future alpha. No longer had my fated mates. I was nothing to them.
“Are you ready?” Penn asked, taking my bags from me.
“I am.”
My father stood for the first time since Penn walked in. “This is her without all the hairdos and fancy dress. She’s yours now. No refunds.”
Penn nodded. “I understand. Let’s go. Did you want to say goodbye to everyone?”
Then it dawned on me. I was going to be the omega of the DarkShadow pack. As the once future alpha of the Bronson pack, I knew their reputation. Ruthless bastards. Lawless rogues. Men without honor or a speck of kindness in their hearts.
“I…no. I don’t.”
“On the road, then. Follow me.”
Penn put my bags in the back seat of his truck. He opened the door for me and once I was in the seat, he shut the door behind me.