Chapter 30


    Theughter fell from my lips in waves, and I realized I hadn’t trulyughed in so long.


    Garrett sat in his seat, a perplexed look forming on his face as he watched me. It wasforting to


    know the mental decline ran in the family, but didn’t give me much hope for the future.


    My erraticughter died down, and I was left taking a few deep breaths.


    “Look, Garrett.” I snickered, cing my hand against my mouth to stifle another wave ofughter. “I


    think you need to get some help, which means I definitely need to get some help.”


    “Aurora–” Confusion formed on Garrett’s face. Did he really think I was going to believe that?


    Werewolves?


    He rips me from my life and confesses there’s a world of magical creatures? This isn’t a book; Life isn’t


    full of fantasy. You work, get fucked over by people, try to survive and then d*e.


    “Don’t–” I shook my head, “I shouldn’t even have to entertain this.”


    I turned on my heel and stormed up to my bedroom. I got halfway down the hall when I realized I had


    no idea where my bedroom was. I remember Garrett telling me I could pick, but I simply didn’t care


    enough to try.


    “Um, excuse me?” I frowned, walking down the hall to one of the cleaningdies.


    She looked fairly young, and smiled up at me softly.


    “Yes miss?” The woman smiled as she folded a pile of towels onto a thick metal cart.


    “Do you know where my bedroom is?” I pursed my lips, feeling antsy being so out in the open. It would


    be too easy for Veronica or Kady to find me.


    “Yes miss.” The woman nodded, gesturing for me to follow. “Mr. Garrett chose a room for you. He


    hopes it is up to par.”


    She turned down the hall and opened the second door on the left, revealing what looked like a hotel


    suite. I scoffed as I looked at the size of the bedroom. This wasn’t a bedroom–it was a d**n apartment.


    All I needed was a kitchen and I’d nevere outside.


    I locked the door behind me, checking a couple times to make sure it stayed put. My legs were


    groaning from the long shift I just worked through, but my paycheck would be well worth it.


    I refused to even entertain the idea of what Garrett told me. Thalia was grumbling angrilly in my head,


    but I tuned her out. I made a long ylist of music in my mind, and went through each song one by


    one. By the time I was finished, I had taken a long shower and got ready for bed.


    I slept well into the morning, not even bothering to answer as a knock sounded on my bedroom door.


    The phone Tori had gotten me was set on my bedside table, her picture shing on my screen.


    That was how I spent the next few days. I read books I’ve read a thousand times, talked to Tori, and


    kept to myself.


    Of course Garrett tried to talk to me, to ask why I wasn’t going to school but I ignored his knocks and


    question’s each time.


    Every few hours Lucy would bring me up a tray off food, but I wouldn’t open the door until she left. I felt


    guilty, ignoring Lucy but I knew Garrett would use her to get to me. A couple times she tried to convince


    me to leave the bedroom, toe and talk to her. While I was tempted, there was nothing to talk


    about. Garrett was clearly gued with Mental Illness, and was trying to force his crazy thoughts on


    me. It must’ve been working to some extent, as Thalia continued to mutter snidements at me.


    I mmed down one of the books I’d been reading. The words were floating around my head


    annoyingly, and I could practically recite each Mated to the Alpha twins novel by Jane Doe Chapter


    from heart. I was getting tired of reading the same books over and over, ncing at my phone


    whenever Tori texted.


    She texted a lot; which didn’t surprise me. She wanted to know when I wasing back to school,


    something I’m sure the twins were wondering as well. I tried to cate her as much as I could, telling


    her I’d be back Monday.


    She reminded me very clearly that I promised to exin what happened to my face this Friday.


    I looked down at my phone, the calendar read Thursday 6:32p.m.


    I could avoid Tori long enough, keeping what happened to myself. Or if I was feeling particrly rueful,


    I could tell her the truth. It wouldn’t matter what happened, I’d be gone shortly after. It’d be nice


    imagining all sorts of things happening to Grace once Tori found out the truth. I’m sure Grace would


    look beautiful in a j**l cell.


    Lucy knocked on my door fifteen minutester, letting me know a tray of food was ced outside my


    door. She tried to reason with me for the next ten minutes, but eventually I could hear her soft foot falls


    retreat down the hallway.


    I sighed and opened my bedroom door, ready to pull the tray inside when I was met with an angry face.


    I hadn’t run into Veronica or Kady all week, refusing to leave my bedroom for anything. It was pleasant,


    not having to deal with their res and sneers.


    Kady behind my food tray, leaning against the wall. She was gorgeous, with her golden hair and dark


    eyes but the sneer on her face ruined her features. She was well dressed, but her Mother was the


    same. The two of them dressed like they were about to step on the runway at any minute.


    “Do you know what it’s like, living in the shadow of someone you’ve never met.” Kady snapped, her


    brown eyes narrowing at she red at me.


    My lips parted in confusion. I knew she wasn’t talking about me. Garrett ignored me for seventeen


    years, I didn’t have a shadow for her to live in.


    “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I stared at her, deadpan. It wasn’t my fault she had daddy


    issues, nor was it my problem. I sympathized with her because her life shifted as well, but that didn’t


    mean I’d let her walk all over me.


    “You’re the first born.” Kady snapped, and I visibly rolled my eyes.


    “What is with you people?” I grunted, “First born? It doesn’t even matter! Who gives a f**k!”


    My chest was heaving by the time I finished, but Kady looked angrier than ever. Her brown eyes were


    now ck with rage, and her lip was pulled back in a feral sneer.


    “He tried to tell you and you wouldn’t even listen.” Kady scoffed, “Some s**t Luna you’d make. You


    shouldn’t even exist. Pathetic f*****g half-breed.”


    Kady’s words were confusing, and yet also felt like a p in the face. Thalia was enraged, spewing


    obsinities in my mind. I could feel her pushing at the edges of my mind, almost like she was in a cage.


    “You’re all insane.” I snapped, “You, your Dad and your stuck-up Mother. You’re not dragging me into


    this s**t, I never wanted to be here in the first ce.”


    This material belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    I mmed the door in her face, the food a forgotten thought in my mind. My stomach rumbled in


    protest, but I could hardly feel it. My mind was spinning with what Garrett had said. I spent thest few


    days pretending it never happened, but he even pulled his daughter into this mess.


    A few hours passed, and the sun finally set behind the forest line. The moon was quick to rise, casting


    it’s white light on everything. A knock sounded at my door, but I’d be attuned to ignoring it at this


    point. I didn’t even look up as the knocking continued.


    I sat on a wide window seat, a forgotten book in myp. My cheek pressed against the cool ss


    window as I looked out into the forest. I tried to imagine what Garrett had told me, imagine wolf people


    running around in the woods. I’d only seen a werewolf once in a movie, a grotesque and human-like


    creature who had ws and way too much body hair.


    ‘That’s not what we look like.’ Thalia grumbled, rolling her eyes.


    ‘It worries me that were already calling ourselves one of them.’ I sighed, rubbing my temples.


    ‘I get it, you’ve been through some s**t.’ Thalia huffed, ‘But you can’t keep locking people out.’


    ‘Sure, I can.’ I frowned, ‘Last time I even thought about letting someone in, I was assaulted and nearly


    raped.’


    Thalia went quiet as the sound of a door opening filled my bedroom. My head whipped over to the


    source. Garrett stood behind my open door, a silver key in his hand.


    “Seriously?” I grimaced, my eyes narrowing into a re.


    Garrett stepped into my bedroom, that same regal air around him. The swirling aura that surrounded


    him gave him this feeling of authority, while his suits gave him the apperance.


    “You’ve locked yourself away all week.” Garrett cocked his eyebrow at me, “What did you expect me to


    do?”


    “Take a d**n hint.” I scoffed, “Leave me alone, let me go back to Melissa, disappear from my life again.


    Take your pick.”


    Garrett seemed unphased by my miniature temper tantrum. I was well aware that locking myself away


    all week was childish, but I didn’t care. I had been an adult for so long, taking care of myself for so long.


    I deserved a moment of immature selfishness.


    “Aurora, whether you choose to believe me or not is your decision.” Garrett closed the door behind him


    and paused. “But sooner orter, you’ll be forced to face the truth.”


    “Sure, totally.” I nodded, “I’ll turn into some hairy creature and howl at the moon.”


    “We don’t howl at the moon.” Garrett rolled his eyes, the expression making him look a decade


    younger.


    I could see what Melissa saw in him all those years ago. Garrett was relitively handsome, with a thick


    head of hair and a sharp jaw line.


    “I don’t need details.” I shook my head, “It’s bad enough you’re spouting this s**t, but you have your


    daughter doing it too.”


    “Kady?” Garrett paused, his lips turning down in a frown.


    “Unless you have yet another daughter.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, “Then that would be the one.”


    “She’s unhappy–“


    “Understatement.” I rolled my eyes at him.


    I could feel his temper re as the aura of power around him became much more hostile. I could feel


    the hairs on my arms stand, but I didn’t feel afraid. I should’ve, Garrett looked frightening. And yet I


    didn’t. Thalia sat uninterested as Garrett stood threateningly over us.


    Garrett didn’t seem surprised that we weren’t cowering back in fear. His eyes were burning with


    eptance, even if his posture radiated anger.


    “She will deal with it.” Garrett snapped, his deep voice booming throughout the room. “And you will deal


    with it. You are returning to school tomorrow, Aurora. I allowed you some time to yourself, but you will


    leave this bedroom.”


    I felt my lips pop open. Grandma had never been forced to yell at me before, as I wasn’t a bad child.


    Melissa never tried to parent me, sparing me from that catastrophe. Garrett was clearly ying the part


    of the concerned Father, the thought made me cringe.


    “I’ll leave the bedroom.” I shook my head, “But I don’t want to go back to that school.”


    “You can either go to school, or I will drag you and the rest of my family back to my pack.” Garrett


    growled, his thick arms crossing over his chest.


    Pack. I ignored that word, knowing it definitely had to do with wolves. Did he call his home-town a


    pack?


    “You can’t do that.” I scoffed, “Melissa has custody and I’ll be eighteen next year.”


    “Melissa no longer has custody.” Garrett shook his head, his face remained hard. “I’ve been busy this


    week, while you hid away from the world.”


    “It doesn’t matter.” I shook my head, “I’d leave the day I turned eighteen.”


    “A year in my pack, you wouldn’t want to leave.” Garrett scoffed, “You’d be the next Luna.”


    “Luna?” I pursed my lips, “Kady mentioned something about a Luna.”


    Garrett stiffened and muttered something about Kady.


    “A Luna is the female leader of a pack.” Garrett nodded, and I pretended not to be interested.


    “She said I should’nt have existed.” I nced at him before returning my gaze to the window. “Care to


    exin that?”


    Garrett was silent for a moment, the aura of anger that swirled around him diminished.


    “Melissa wasn’t my mate.” Garrett’s voice sounded hard, yet truthful. “I had gotten her pregnant right


    before I met Veronica.”


    “Mate.” I repeated, the word sounding strange on my tongue. “And Veronica is your mate?”


    “She is.” His voice was one tone, but I could hear the love and adoration in his words. I thought


    Veronica was bitchy, but Garrett’s words held such love for the woman.


    “She’s right then.” I shrugged. The fact pained me a little, but this was all pain I had felt before. It made


    sense, why I never truly fit anywhere. Why Melissa never wanted me and Garrett stayed far away.


    “Fate has a way of changing things.” Garrett paused, “Fate isn’t kind, nor does it give us what we


    want.”


    One day, I could handle one day. I’d survive school, grab my paycheck from the restaurant and n my


    escape that night.


    “I’ll go to school.” I nodded, my eyes glued on the forest outside the window. “I want nothing to do with


    your pack, or your life.”