SWNOVELS Chapter 292
Chapter 292
EMILY
“You can’t make me!” I scream, hurling the glass of water I was holding across the kitchen.
It smashes into the wall right next to Axel’s shoulder, but he doesn’t so much as flinch.
Even when he gets rained on by water and shards of glass.
He just stares at me in bored contemplation, like he would literally rather be anywhere else than stuck in this kitchen with
me right now.
Aaron flicks his hand and then the chef and other wolves who
were assisting him in the huge, luxuriously appointed, modern kitchen all scramble to flee the room, leaving me alone with
Aaron.
Well, apart from Axel.
Who doesn’t do anything other than to idly flick a shard of glass off his shoulder.
“Emily,” Aaron says in that overly patient voice I’m starting to
hate. “This party is for you. To officially welcome you back into the pack. There are people who haven’t seen you yet, who
will want to catch up with you. You’re the daughter of the last Alpha, the sister of the current Alpha. You’re important to the
morale of the pack, and you will act accordingly.”
I want to pull my hair until it starts coming out in clumps.
What is there to even celebrate?
I’m not the same girl who walked out of this house ten years ago, the last morning before I was abducted.
I’m a freak now.
A monster.
I’m not fit to be part of this pack.
“Who even thought this was a good idea?” I demand angrily.
Aaron’s expression hardens and then I know.
That bi ch.
“This was Leah’s idea?” I demand, furious. “Wasn’t it!?”
Of course it was.
She wants to humiliate me.
I bet when she put the idea to Aaron, she made it sound like she cared about me and my standing within the pack.
She just wants to use me to make herself look better.
I can’t believe Aaron doesn’t see how manipulative she is.
“It doesn’t matter who came up with the idea,” Aaron says through a tight jaw. “The point is that the pack needs this after all the
loss we’ve suffered-recently and right back to our own parents. We need to let go of the past and embrace a new future, one that
can be brighter now that you’ve returned
to us.”
“Fine,” I say stubbornly, crossing my arms. “Have your party.
But leave me out of it.”
“You know all you’re doing is acting like a stubborn brat right
now,” Axel puts in from where he’s still leaning against the wall, sounding perpetually bored.
Aaron shoots him a narrow-eyed look as if he doesn’t
necessarily want the input, but at the same time, doesn’t disagree.
And anyway, what right does Axel have, putting in his opinion?
He gets no say in what I do.
No matter if Aaron appointed him my glorified babysitter. I glare at him. “This doesn’t concern you, rogue. So stop speaking. I
don’t have to accept my enemies any more than I have to accept you trailing my every move like some unwanted stray.”
Axel’s eyes flash and his body tenses. But he doesn’t reply.
Aaron takes a deep breath like he’s mustering as much
patience as he can.
Well whatever. I won’t apologize. And that sharp pang of hurt because my brother sees me as some burden? I’m ignoring.
“Emily, the party is in your honor and you will attend,” Aaron growls, injecting a powerful note of Alpha power into his voice that
makes me flinch back. “I love you. And I’m trying. We are all trying. But kindly remember I am your Alpha. Don’t test me.
You won’t like the results.”
With that, Aaron spins on his heel and marches out of the room, while I sag against the nearby counter, feeling like I’ve been run
ragged.
“He’s not kidding,” Axel drawls. “People around these parts
talk. Word is, he used to punish Leah real bad when she used to defy him. Even locked her up and starved her for days at a
time.”
This news makes me feel a little better.
I’m glad Aaron treated Leah like that.
She deserved it and more.
Axel frowns. “It was f cked up, Emily. And Aaron regretted it afterwards. He did it because he thought she was conspiring with
her pack against yours.”
He shoves a hand through his hair and then rolls his eyes when another piece of glass shakes free. “I didn’t mention it to suggest
it was okay or to make you happy. I’m just reminding you that your brother can be cold and calculating when he has to be. Don’t
push him to that, Emily. It’ll hurt him more than it hurts you.”
His tone makes me think that Axel sees me as selfish. Some childish, selfish woman who’s just acting out on spite.
He doesn’t know what I’ve endured.
The nights being constrained. Not knowing if I’d be trapped and left to starve to death. The days left alone with nothing to do
except wait, wondering if my life would be the total sum of
wasting away inside those walls.
The loneliness.
The terror.
Then... the pain.
Sometimes, I think it might be better if I died.
It’d be easier for these people, I think. They could all move on with their new, happy ‘normal’ where everyone gets along and
celebrates peacefully.
A thought surfaces and it’s like acid in a wound, cutting me so deep I want to cave into myself and scream: I don’t belong
here.
I don’t fit into this world. This pack. This family.
I’m consumed with hate and rage and I’m an abomination to
my species.
Really, it’s just a matter of time before they find out and try to
kill me. Or worse, cage me.
And I’ll never be a prisoner again. Never.
Axel’s eyes narrow. He takes a step toward me.
I growl.
His brow furrows with ...concern?
But I can’t trust him-I can’t trust anyone.
Not even my brother.
He is a stranger to me.
“I need to run,” I mutter, turning toward the service door that leads out to the back of the mansion.
“Not alone, sweetheart,” Axel drawls, pushing across the kitchen to follow me.
“Why can’t you just leave me alone for five minutes!” I yell at him, even though I know it’s pointless.
“That’s on you. When you can prove to your brother that you’re stable and trustworthy, then maybe you’ll get left alone,” Axel tells
me without a hint of remorse. “Until then, you’re stuck with me. And I have to tell you, Emily. The way you acted with Aaron just
now? All you’re doing is proving him right. You’re a f cking liability...”