Page 84 of Laurels and Liquor

The air in the room shifts, the already tense atmosphere almost quivering. Rhett turns toward Diane, his fighter’s instincts detecting the real threat in the room. I keep my attention on Samuel, watching how his expression changes as his wife descends into furious madness. Lucas sits up and edges toward the floor, and Caleb nods to the other guards in the room. Jason is still seated, deep in thought, and not looking at anyone. No one moves, waiting for whatever is about to happen. Lydia’s rage sweeps through her bonds, and I flinch involuntarily, recovering quickly. She walks around Lex until she’s only a few yards from her mother, staring her down.

A showdown, one a long time coming.

Chapter forty-three

Rhett

IstareatDianeAnderson, her spray-tanned face nearly purple in her rage. Lydia and her mother are face to face, only a few feet between them, and I’m right there at my omega’s elbow. If Diane makes one move to hurt my mate, I’m ready to pull her out of harm’s way and show Diane the consequences of her actions.

“After everything you’ve done for me? You didn’t do shit to help me,” Lydia snarls.

“Watch your language,” Samuel Sr. warns, but I snap a glare at him.

My omega has held her tongue long enough; she can speak her mind however she wishes at this point. Mateo is just over his shoulder, standing between him and Lucas, and edging closer. Putting himself in range if he should try to make a move to escalate the situation.

Diane snarls, mouth twisting into an ugly sneer. “Your life was perfect. You were going to be the perfect omega for the perfect alpha—”

Lydia throws her head back and laughs manically, but there’s no humor in the sound. “Perfect? I didn’t have any of the skills a real omega needs to survive in a relationship with an alpha. I didn’t know how to purr, or actually form bonds. You didn’t teach me anything other than how to duck my head and take my abuse without complaint or question.”

“You weren’t abused, Lydia. It’s disrespectful to real victims to say such things,” Diane sniffs, crossing her arms over her chest and throwing her nose in the air.

I can’t stay still any longer, not with Lydia’s heartbreak along our bond. No. We’ve worked too hard for this. I won’t let Lydia go back to that darkness. Never again. I step forward and take my omega in my arms, holding her against my chest. She’s stiff and a little cold to the touch, her face pale. Mateo is around the table, behind Diane’s back, and I hear Lex come up beside me, one of her hands touching Lydia’s shoulder before she steps forward, putting herself in front of me.

“That’s completely out of order, Mom. You’re going to try to sit there and say that Lydi wasn’t abused?” Jason snaps, aghast, finally getting to his feet.

“I never saw anything. Darren has always been the most respectful boy, perfectly courteous to me. If you were so abused, where were the marks? I never once saw you with anything,” Diane counters, making my blood boil. She rocks back onto her heel and crosses her arms over her chest like the petulant child she is.

Lydia’s tether to my soul shakes like a spider’s silk in a storm, hurt and anger radiating from it. Her eyes swim with tears, and I can see the ghosts of her past creeping closer. I kiss her forehead and hold her as close as she’ll allow, trying to get her to shift so she doesn’t have to look at this complete monster.

“Not all abuse has physical signs, Diane,” Lex says in a low, serious monotone.

I growl as that disgusting trash heap masquerading as my omega’s mother rolls her eyes. The insults don’t seem to be stopping, and I’ve just about had enough of her and her lies. I look to Samuel Sr., and the older alpha is also staring at his wife. But not in anger, but in shock, like he’s never seen her before in his life. And maybe he hasn’t; I doubt she shows how ugly her soul is very often.

“Even if you had a few… altercations with Darren, it still doesn’t change the facts. We’re entitled to compensation for you,” Diane says haughtily.

“You’re not getting my trust fund. You’ve taken enough from me,” Lydia says, voice weaker than before.

“Nothing I wasn’t owed, and it’s not like you deserve that money anyway,” Diane huffs, jerking her chin in the air.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!”

“Bullshit.”

Mateo and Lucas snap at the same time, but Diane jumps as she suddenly realizes how close Mateo has gotten without her noticing. She takes a step back before she remembers that Lex and I are behind her, leaving her paralyzed in the middle.

“You don’t get to decide what I do and don’t deserve. Not anymore,” Lydia says, pulling away a little as she finds her strength again.

I can feel my pack through her, showing their support without words, filling her with love and kindness to counter the hate being thrown at her. I take her hand and lace our fingers together, pushing my pride and belief her way. If this is what she wants, then she can do this, even if it’s hard.

“You’ll always be my daughter, so I’ll always have a say in your life. Not that you ever take anything I say seriously. I warned you what giving in to your… unnatural urges would do. Perhaps God was punishing you for—”

“My urges aren’t unnatural, and are frankly none of your business. I had to fight to figure out who I am, and I won’t be shamed for loving the people I do. They’ve shown me more support and love and care in the last twenty minutes than you’ve shown me in my entire lifetime. And maybe instead of judging me, you should take a long, hard look in the mirror, Diane. Unless you’re too afraid of the disgusting bigot who’ll be looking back at you,” Lydia says, starting as a low snarl and building to nearly a shout.

I don’t bother to contain my smug smile as I watch Diane’s face turn from red to nearly plum purple with rage, her mouth opening and closing as she struggles to speak.

“You—you jezebel, abomination of a—I can’t believe—I am not a—”

Mateo takes a step forward, hands clenching and unclenching, like he’s struggling not to put them around the woman’s throat. I growl in my throat, ready to jump to my omega’s defense, but Lydia just lifts her chin and sets her shoulders.

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