Authors: Kimberly Hunter
Everyone gasped at that bomb, Jenna most of all.
Boy, Roan sure could drop ‘em
, Sasha thought.
“You can’t do that! I earned the right to be Alpha in fair combat. You can’t take that away from me!”
That was when Sasha sensed the power flowing from Roan. Saw his eyes starting to glow like a silver-blue flame. Jenna had pushed him too far.
“I can and have,” he growled low. “You gave up your right as Alpha when you issued Challenge with full knowledge of a True Mate and non-transformed Lupus. And to exacerbate matters, you did it not in defense of your position, but because of it. You are not fit to be Alpha and are therefore stripped of the title and position. When Sasha wins, she can accept the title, or it can be up for grabs for the next in line. The trials will begin upon this decision. You are not allowed to compete for the title again. Ever.”
Jenna’s eyes stated to glow with hatred, and it was directed right at Sasha. “This is all your doing!”
“Don’t pin this on me. This is your fault, not mine.” Sasha couldn’t help but grin a little at the other woman’s misfortune. She brought it all on herself but wasn’t woman enough to own up to it.
“You think you have won? Well, not yet. You still have to face me, and I will show no mercy, you useless bitch.”
“I do hope that’s not the best you can come up with. I mean, I’ve been called worse and by a lot better than you.” Sasha laughed.
Jenna snarled at her but was too smart to make a move. Sasha wasn’t the only one in the room who would stop her. And the others, Flynn in particular, seemed more than willing should that happen. In fact, they seemed to be hoping she would.
“I will give you the place and the day of the Challenge. But before that happens, you are confined to your home,” Roan told her.
“But…” Jenna started to say.
“No, Jenna. I want no early attempts or misunderstandings. You will follow all the rules of the Challenge and the terms to the letter. If you make any attempts to do otherwise, the Challenge will be null.” Roan strode toward Jenna, stopped in front of her. “Then you will deal with me. Do you understand?”
Jenna’s face drained of color as she nodded tersely.
“Say the words,” he commanded with a menacing growl.
She shot a hate-filled look at Sasha and then looked at Roan. “I understand,” she bit out.
“Good.” He went back to his chair at the table. “I’ll be sending two of my personal guards by later to make sure you follow my orders. Now leave.” Sitting down, he took his napkin and placed it in his lap.
Jenna glared at Sasha one last time, then stormed out the swinging door. When they heard the front door slam and a car tear out the drive, they knew she was gone. Too bad they would have to meet again.
“Wow. I’m not part of your Pack one day, and already trouble has found me. Must be a record.” Sasha chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. She got a lukewarm response.
“Not your fault, Sasha. She’s been trouble since her First Transformation.” Charlie sighed as they all took their seats at the table again. “Just like her mother, too. Always wanting what she couldn’t have.”
Sasha nodded with understanding. “Kind of a bad family trait. Though I guess there are worse ones.”
“True.” She smiled. “Now come on, then. The dinner isn’t a total loss. Most everything is still warm, and if it isn’t, it can be heated up.” She gestured for them all to start eating.
“Mom! Can I come out now? It’s boring in here,” Dillon shouted through the kitchen door. “And I’m hungry.”
“Well, that about says it all, doesn’t it?” Charlie laughed.
“Come on out, scamp, before you starve,” Flynn said as a bit of red hair poked out the door.
“Cool!” He smiled, making a break for his chair, then looking around in confusion. “Where’s Jenna? You beat her up? Was it gross?” he asked Sasha with boyish glee. He may have been in the kitchen, but he was a Lupus, and they had great hearing.
“All right, that’s enough,” Charlie intervened. “That’s none of your concern, young man, so eat.” She gave him a gimlet eye, brooking no argument.
“Okay,” he said dejectedly.
“Don’t worry, champ.” Gabe leaned over to whisper, “I’ll fill you in later.” “Yes!” Dillon exclaimed.
“Gabriel,” Charlie warned.
“Condensed, of course,” he promised.
Everyone laughed, bringing the mood around the table on a lighter side. And the food was still good. Which was why Sasha was glad Roan waited till she was almost done before he brought up a topic better left alone.
“I talked to your mother today,” he said casually, taking a sip of his drink.
“That was thoughtful, Roan. The poor woman has probably been worried sick,” Charlie replied.
“Well, yes and no.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Surely you didn’t have any trouble smoothing things over, did you?” Flynn asked, clearly curious as he looked at Sasha for an answer.
“Actually, she was very decent about the whole thing.” Roan frowned.
“Then what’s the problem?” Flynn glanced at Roan, seeing his obvious displeasure, then looked at Sasha. She kept her face as blank as she could, no doubt making Flynn wonder what was so upsetting that she would have this reaction at the mention of her family.
“It was her utter lack of concern for Sasha’s welfare that bothered me,” Roan answered, his glower deepening.
“Surely you must have heard her wrong, Roan.” Charlie frowned, her tone saying clearly that she was unable to believe otherwise. Too bad Sasha had to disabuse her of that notion.
She took a deep breath. “He didn’t hear wrong, Charlie,” she said, seeing shock register on her face. Then she turned to Roan. “Let me guess, when you told her I had been injured, or whatever, her concern lasted just long enough to hear I was okay. And then she tried everything in the book to get off the line with you.”
“Exactly, but with a variation.”
“What was that?” Although she somehow knew.
“She wanted to know when you would be coming home, because her prescriptions had almost run out.”
“Ah yes, my monthly donation to the Goddess of Pharmacology is due. Can’t be late with that.” Her reply was heavy with sarcasm.
She leaned back in her chair, rubbing her temples. She so did not want to tell these nice people about her family. It was like reopening a bad wound. But she knew she had to. Otherwise, her mother would be calling here every day, demanding she come home so Sasha could pay for her drugs. Sasha’s health was unimportant compared to her mother getting her next fix.
“You all right, sweetheart?” Flynn wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders at seeing her distress.
“Well, I was, but this can’t be helped, and you need to know about my family.” She placed her hand over Flynn’s.
“You don’t have to tell us anything, Sasha. We can all see you’re upset about this,” Charlie said with concern.
Sasha smiled wanly in thanks. “Not upset, Charlie. Just resigned. And used to it.”
She pushed her plate away, what was left of her appetite fleeing on swift wings due to hearing about her mother. Too bad. The grilled chicken was great.
“It wasn’t always like this,” she began, thinking of happier days when her father was still alive. “We were poor but well enough above the poverty line to get by. And with four kids to feed and clothe, well, there were a lot of rough times. But we made do. Mom went to work after we all got school age, so that helped out. And we were close, all of us, even though my brother was outnumbered. There are three of us girls. Alexandria is the oldest, then me, my brother Bobby, and then Elaine, the baby.” She smiled in recollection and then frowned. “But times change, and you get older, have greater responsibility. You see, my father was a workaholic and didn’t take very good care of himself. His health only got worse as the years passed until finally, one day, he went to the emergency room for an asthma attack only to have it end in a coma.” She heard Charlie tsking in sympathy. “I won’t go into details about the whole thing, only tell you it was hospital negligence and leave it at that.”
“Was this during a breathing treatment?” Flynn asked, the doctor kicking in.
“Yes.”
“His air passages must have closed up,” he told everyone. “Where was the RN during all this?”
“She had stepped out of the room for something.”
“Ah. I take it she found him nonresponsive when she returned?”
Sasha nodded woodenly. “He was clinically dead for almost seven minutes before they could bring him back. Then he slipped into a coma for almost four months. When he came out of it, he wasn’t the same.”
“There was some damage to the brain, wasn’t there?” he asked with sympathy. His knowledge no doubt painted a grim picture of what her father had suffered. Sasha and her family as well. He would be right. It was grim indeed.
She took a deep breath, seeing it all again. “Yes. His long-term memory was damaged, so he had to learn everything over. Remembering his family, walking, talking, eating, and even going to the bathroom.” She swallowed hard, trying not to cry. “It’s hard seeing a man you thought could do anything brought to that state.”
“His rehabilitation must have been long and hard. For all of you.” Flynn rubbed her shoulder in comfort.
She touched his hand. “Yes. Fortunately, we were all grown. Alex and I dropped out of school to help Mom. Bobby took off because he couldn’t stand to see Dad like that. But all of us agreed Elaine would graduate and go to college. She started classes the week after we brought Dad home.”
“That had to have been a job. He probably needed round-the-clock care after the ordeal he went through,” Roan surmised.
She nodded. “Mom had to quit work to care for him. We all did the best we could to help, and Social Security paid for most of his meds, but a few months later, Alex had found a man. She wanted a life of her own, and I didn’t blame her. So after she got married, that left just me to help my mom. Elaine was in college, and my brother was still MIA.”
“How old were you?” Gabe asked.
She thought about it for a minute. “Twenty-one, almost twenty-two, I think.”
“So young to have such responsibility,” Roan commented.
“Someone had to do it.” She shrugged. “Anyway, a couple years later, my dad’s health started getting worse. The coma, brain damage, and constant meds had taken their toll, and his body was just wearing out. He wanted to be with his family before he died.”
“He knew he didn’t have long, didn’t he?” Gabe asked with sympathy.
“Yes, he knew. And he wanted all his family around when the time came. So, we called my uncle, my mom’s brother-in-law, and we all moved to North Carolina where both my mom and dad’s family lived. Elaine had flunked out of college by this time, and my brother had started to show up occasionally. He thought the job scene would be better there, so they both came along. My uncle helped get us a place and everything.” Her mind went back to those rough days. “He only stayed in our new place two days before he was rushed to the hospital. He died that night under sedation. It was peaceful and like he wanted.”
“Oh Sasha, I’m so sorry,” Charlie said, tears in her voice.
Sasha smiled wanly at her. “Don’t be, Charlie, because I was a lot happier for him after he died than before. No one deserves to live like that.”
“Well said, my dear.” Roan nodded.
She cleared her throat, continuing on. “Anyway, after my dad died, the family sort of went to hell in a handbasket. Elaine and I were working, Mom was going out, and my brother was into the drug scene—all this a couple months after my dad’s death. Things got worse after my mom came home with some man. I mean, I didn’t begrudge her her happiness, but the least she could have done was wait a while, ya know?” Sasha remembered how pissed she was at the time. “My dad wasn’t even gone three months when she brought the guy to our house.”
“That must have gone well,” Flynn’s tone conveying that he understood how Sasha felt must have felt.
Sasha snorted at that. “She wound up marrying the scumbag a few years later.”
“I take it you don’t like your mother’s husband?” Roan surmised.
She laughed at that. “Hate would be a better word. And I’m the only one who feels that way. Everyone else enjoys having him around.”
“What happened, baby?” Flynn asked her softly.
“A year before they got married, he propositioned me, saying he and my mom had an open relationship and he had been fantasizing about having us together in a threesome.” Sasha shuddered at the memory. “I was disgusted, of course, and told him. I also told my mom.” She paused, taking a deep breath. Even after all this time, the betrayal still hurt. “She blamed his lapse on me. Said it was my fault, that I was teasing him and just trying to take him away from her. I was devastated, to say the least.”
“Jeez,” Gabe softly exclaimed.
“I cannot believe a mother would do that to her own child,” Charlie said with shock.
“Humans.” Roan just shook his head.
Flynn brought her hand to his lips and gently kissed her knuckles, his light eyes saying he understood her pain. She gave him a small smile, accepting his sympathy. Dillon, poor kid, just listened; he really didn’t know or probably understand much, but he smiled at Sasha, seeing that she was a little sad. It helped.
She took another deep breath and continued. “Like I said, everyone else likes having him around. But then, he sort of bought their attention. Helping Elaine get a car, getting my brother countless jobs, finding Alex and her family a larger house near my mom because Alex’s husband got transferred to a new job. The list goes on, but I never wanted to have anything to do with the man. And none of them could understand why I won’t forgive and forget. But it’s hard for them to really get it when my mom or my sisters and brother invite the man to family gatherings. I’m reminded every time I see him.”
“Must be hard to forgive when the others take it so lightly,” Roan commented, hitting on her feelings exactly.
“Yes.” Then she laughed sarcastically. “But everything is civil and normal. Like we’re all one big happy family. Only we’re not. Haven’t been since before my dad died. Hell.” She laughed again. “The only time I see my family is at holidays or the occasional birthday party for my nieces and nephews. Other than that, they keep the calls geared toward wanting something. My mom—her prescriptions or a few dollars here and there. My brother is the same. And my sisters always want a free babysitter, at the last minute, of course. Not that I don’t love being with my nieces and nephews, but I do have my own life, such as it is. But it’s mine, and I’ve done pretty well without any help at all.”
“And now, to add to all that, you’re part of a Lupus Pack, with a True Mate and an upcoming Challenge with the ex-female Alpha,” Roan stated. “I think a lesser person would have just given up and rolled over. Yet you haven’t.”
She smiled ruefully. “I’ve never been a quitter, and I never wanted to give up on my family even after they gave up long ago.” She shrugged. “But I have my memories of the good times. They should be enough.”
“That doesn’t have to be enough, Sasha. You can make new memories. With us. We’re your family now.” Flynn squeezed her shoulder, still holding her close through her tale of family woe.
“He’s right, my dear. You’re not just a part of my Pack, but a part of my family. A part of this family and all that entails.” Roan smiled.
“I don’t understand.” Nor did she dare to believe.
“We’re True Mates, Sasha, which is more binding than any marriage. It also means you’re a member of this family. Another daughter to my mother and another sister to Roan, Dillon, and Angel. My older sister,” he explained when he saw her confused look at the girl’s name.
“Flynn’s right. We’re family now, and you belong here, with us, my daughter,” Charlie said as her eyes started to tear up.
“I…I don’t know what to say.” She was starting to get a little choked up herself.
“You don’t have to say anything. Just accept it as fact. You’re a LeGuer now.” Roan smiled at her with joy.