Page 13 of Scapegoat

“A risk to yourself outside the home. You’ll need to stay with the family, working in a domestic capacity, to stay safe.”

Every child who was due to submit to the choosing had a parent speak to the alphas about their hopes and dreams for their child. That wasn’t a life sentence. The alphas used community knowledge, input from teachers and friends, as well as family, to find the best place for a new wolf shifter in the pack. But for Mum to use that opportunity to… what? Try and condemn me to life in this house, rushing after her, doing her bidding, for the rest of my life? A sharp feeling burned inside my chest.

A sharp knock on the door drew our attention away from the drama playing out, preventing me from screaming my outrage at my mother’s manipulations.

“And who the hell would that be?” Mum muttered, fixing me with a gimlet look before stalking off to the front door.

“Kai!”

A sharp hiss had me, Anna and Dad all turning around. The Campbell boys were sneaking in from the kitchen like they were on some special ops manoeuvre. Jayden had peeked around the door, Xavier and Atlas’ eyes were on the front door. I ducked sideways to see that the pack alphas were standing there on the front porch, and that they had Mum’s full attention.

“We’re getting you out,” Jay said. “Let’s go.”

“What?!” My feet were rooted to the spot, even as he offered me exactly what I wanted.

“You’re not staying here anymore, not another night.” Atlas was slow to anger, but when he did? His deep, rumbly voice, his stature, had people jumping. And he was angry. “Get your stuff and let’s go, Kai.”

“You can’t go.” Anna sprung to her feet, a frown on her face. She didn’t pay any attention to me, entirely focussed on the guys. “You can’t take her.” She swallowed hard. “You have to take me.”

“We’re not the ones for you, kiddo.” Xavier was trying to let her down easy, but my sister’s brows jerked lower. “We’ve told you that.”

“But Mum…” Anna stopped herself, because she was fourteen, not four and even she knew that saying what she knew wasn’t true was hopelessly babyish.

“Get Kaia out of here,” Dad said, looking wretched. “Take her and don’t let her come home. No matter what happens, you have to promise me that. Keep her safe, even if you have to get her out of Stanthorpe. Keep her safe.”

“We intend to,” Jayden said, grabbing my hand and starting to pull me toward the stairs. Then Anna opened her damn mouth.

“Muuum…!”

That imperious summons. The one Anna used all too often. I could’ve killed her. We were on the home straight, about to escape, and she alerted the one person we needed to keep this from.

“Fuck’s sake, kid,” Jayden growled and Anna flinched at the ferocity of his tone. I didn’t get to see how that played out, though, because he scooped me up into his arms and carried me down the hall.

“Kaia?” Mum’s call wasn’t as harsh as it usually was, because she was around the alphas. “Kaia!”

But the four of us had already spilled out the back door and into the garden, the boys cackling as they threw me over the fence and then followed themselves, before we all shoved into their father’s Hilux. The ute squealed its tyres as they took off at speed.

“You’re never going back there, Kai,” Xavier promised as he looked across at me. “We’re done waiting, done letting you go back to that place. Choose us or not, you’re safe now.”

I just stared at him, then his brothers, because the words falling from their lips were everything I wanted to hear. But I’d wanted it for so long, it was hard to accept I might finally have it. My fingers went to my bruised cheek, the sting there helping to ground me, even as the boys’ eyes narrowed at the mark my mother’s hand had left on me. I sucked in a breath, then another and finally got it out.

“Promise?”

Chapter 9

After being at my house, the alphas had come to the Campbell residence and let us know they’d made clear Mum was to keep away from me, or risk being expelled from the pack. That appeared to be enough to stop her from coming over to the boys’ house today. Jenny had fussed over me as soon as the guys brought me in through the door, wrapping me up in an ultra-soft blanket and setting me up on the couch with a mug of hot cocoa. I’d sipped at it absently, more to keep her happy than anything, that people pleaser instinct kicking in slowly, after this morning’s spike of rebellion.

“You’re safe here now.” Her words had reinforced those of her sons and everyone stood around me, nodding to show they were a united front.

And they’d probably have to be.

Mum never let anything go, let alone me. Her dreams for her two daughters—mine terrible, Anna’s fantastic—she’d put her heart and soul into them for far too long to just set them aside. But right as my mind started to churn on that, Atlas settled down beside me and pulled me close.

My leg was hooked over his in a way that was far more familiar than I’d ever dared consider, but he stroked my back, once, twice, and kept on going, until I let a long breath out. And when I softened against his brother, Xavier moved until he was pressed against my back, sandwiching me between them. He held me close and then pressed the softest kiss to the top of my head. Jayden stared down at us with a look of longing, but he smiled when he had my attention, then sat down on the floor in front of us, snagging the remote from the coffee table.

“What did you want to watch?” he asked me, flicking through channels, but I stiffened. The prospect of choosing something, anything, too much for me right now.

“Just put some old reruns on,” Atlas instructed and so Jayden did.

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