Page 82 of Scapegoat

Did we? That question was about to be answered when we walked in the door of the milk bar.

It looked smaller than I remembered it, the worn track in the print on the lino tiles, the old faded advertisements pinned up on the wall making it feel like some kind of museum piece. And Elsie looked older when she came out from the kitchen, frowning slightly before recognition kicked in.

“You’re back!” Her whole face brightened as she bustled around the counter and when she grabbed my arm, I just stared. We were a pest or a necessary burden the last time we came in here, not prodigal children. “Oh, it’s so good to see you! Naughty boys.” She tapped Atlas’ shoulder, which had him watching her in confusion. “Leaving your fated mate behind like that. I know she’s a young girl still, but—”

“What?”

Kai’s voice was flat and even, but packed with authority.

“Your sister—” Elsie started to say, her smile fading.

“Is their sister,” Kai finished for her, stepping up to the older woman. I saw then what kind of omega she would make. One that was caring, loving, but also not afraid to step up to a challenge, any challenge.

“Their sister?” Elsie looked confused and I watched the gears turn inside her head, whirring, whirring until she frowned. “Oh, that can’t be—”

“It is.” Xavier was always going to be the best alpha, because he had that even, ‘be reasonable’ tone I’d heard the alphas use so many times. “Greg is Anna’s father.”

“But that…? No, that can’t…” It was as if the older woman was a robot and her brain was glitching, because she kept staring, starting to say something before stopping, until finally she fell back into her old routines. “So… what can I get the lot of you?”

I checked with Kai and then put in our orders, the four of us going and sitting at the table we always used to eat at. As I looked at the old comics littered across the tabletop, and a local newspaper that was a few days old, thin and barely filled with pack news, I wondered what the fuck I’d been thinking suggesting coming here. None of us spoke as we sat down at the same seats we’d always claimed, because this felt like trying to squeeze into clothes you’d long since grown out of. We were home, so we were supposed to feel relaxed, comfortable, weren’t we? As if to answer that question, the bells jingled noisily on the front door of the milk bar and three teenage girls walked in.

“God, Ms Masters is such a fucking bitch,” one girl said. That was Teresa, I think, the sister of a guy I’d played footy with. She and her besties all had their eyes trained on their phones, making me wonder how the hell they hadn’t walked into one of the aisles of food.

“Ugh, that new English assignment,” another girl said, but both of them lifted their gazes to focus on the girl in the middle.

Anna.

Fuck, the last time I’d seen her, she was wide-eyed and stinking of fear.

And her sister’s slick.

I jerked my eyes down, knowing then we needed to get the fuck out of here. Of the milk bar, of this town. What the fucking hell had I been thinking? I’d been focussed on safety and the alphas and…

Kai looked up at that moment and that’s when my heart broke. That mix of pain and need on my mate’s face. It seemed to light up for just a second, seeing her sister, but of course Kai couldn’t just experience that. Anytime she saw her family, it hurt, like right now.

“Anna…?”

The girl turned around, brows creasing, then she looked down her nose at our table, as if unable to believe we’d be so terrible as to try and get her attention. But when she saw who called out her name, her response was complex. Her eyes flared bright silver, meaning her wolf was getting closer and closer to showing itself, and her nostrils flared. Her mouth was slack with surprise, but only for a second, as she quickly quirked it into a smile. But she didn’t pay attention to her own fucking sister. No, instead she glided towards us.

“Wow, I didn’t know you were back.” She was sixteen years old, but this kid was standing there, playing with long blonde hair that was the same colour as mine, on the side of her neck we’d all bitten down into. She had ugly scars there now, red and raised, not like Kai’s much more subtle ones, but she seemed to want us to pay attention to them as she came closer. She fluttered her eyelids as she used a low, throaty tone. “I thought you were away for work.”

“What’re you doing?” Kai got to her feet, stepping between us and her sister with a growl and that’s when Anna’s features transformed. She was a beautiful girl, but in that moment she became ugly. Her brows jerked down as a sneer spread across her face and she shot Kai a scathing look. We all moved forward then, wanting to get between this girl, this threat and our mate, but Kai wasn’t having it. “No, don’t look at them, look at me.”

Jesus fucking Christ, my fuckups just kept on coming, as the two women came to stand almost nose to nose.

“What’re you doing back?” Anna shot back. She looked her sister up and down like she was dog shit on the road. “You were exiled.”

“What the fuck?” Kai’s question was echoed by each of us guys.

“You were always jealous of me,” Anna said with a swish of her hair. “So freaking jealous you tried to steal my mates.” When she gazed up at us, you’d have thought butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, all that sweetness back. “I’ve been waiting—”

“For some stupid reason.” Atlas shouldered forward and for once my brother’s blunt manner was a blessing. “You’re our half-sister.”

“No, that’s a lie that Jenny told because she was jealous,” Teresa said in a heated voice. “She just couldn’t accept that her ‘fated mates’ are actually Abby’s.”

“Is that the bullshit story Mum told you?” Kai crossed her arms and stared down her sister and I nearly fucking cheered when the little bitch was forced to look away. My mate was more dominant than Anna. “The lies she fed you?”

“The only liar is you!”

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