Chapter 117: Gold-Digger
Astrid's POV
"Astrid, are you alright?" Nova's soft voice entered my ears as soon as I stepped out of the therapist's office.
I shook my head softly in reply as I held on her arm tight.
Every time that I go for a session with a therapist, I always leave feeling raw and exposed afterward.
The carefully constructed walls I had built around my emotions were always methodically dismantled, one brick at a time, by the therapists's well-thought questions.
Nova wrapped a hand around me to comfort me. "Don't worry, you're done already. You can finally relax," Nova whispered soothingly as she helped me out of the room.
I could only nod my head and swallow hard at her words. I always feel weak and out of myself after my therapy sessions.
With the therapist's keen insights and probing questions, she always got into the buried feelings that I had desperately tried to bury and tuck away from the deepest corners of my mind.
It's her job to unearth those buried emotions, forcing me to confront the grief that I have been suppressing.
My miscarriage, my dark past, and then that incident. That has always been our topic.
As Nova and I walked, I could still hear the therapist's words echoing in my mind that true healing could only come through facing traumas head-on, through giving voice to the experiences that had threatened to consume me.
It is a long and painful process, draining me both physically and emotionally, but the therapist insisted it was the only way forward.
I know that the therapist is right, that I have to keep pushing through the pain if I ever want to find my way back to wholeness. But at this moment, all I ever craved was an escape, a chance to just retreat and gather the pieces of myself back together.
If Drystan had been here, maybe things would have been easier for me. I have only realized it just now, but I have become more comfortable and relaxed whenever Drystan is around. I didn't realize that my body had learned to rely more on Drystan's presence.
Maybe that is because he was always there for me during dangerous situations. He was always the one who protected me from the different dangers I was in in the past.
Nova suddenly stopped in her tracks, making me stop, too; when I raised my head to see what made her stop, I saw Asha standing in front of us with hatred in her eyes. "Where are you going?" Asha asked us with coldness in her voice.
"We are going to the Alpha's office," I replied.
"I've noticed that you've been visiting my father's office more frequently recently. I think I know what you're doing," Asha's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she spoke.
My brows furrowed in confusion. "Alpha Theron told me me to visit him in his office daily."
"Oh please," Asha scoffed. "We all know you only hang around my father just to get your hands on his money. You are nothing but a parasite, latching onto him for your own gain." "Excuse me!" I blurted out when she started calling me a parasite.
"I heard what happened to your Pack. The Nightsong Pack was practically bankrupt now ever since all the Alphas broke their alliances with you. That's the reason why you came here, isn't it? You are just using my father's power to keep your Pack afloat," Asha said, her voice dripping with malice.
"How dare you bring that up!" I exclaimed. "Drystan and I will never use anybody to save our Pack. You have no idea what Drystan had gone through to raise his Pack on his own with a clean conscience."
"Save it, Astrid. Ever since you came
back, my father has always been pre-occupied with you. Everyone could see how much you fawn over him to earn his favor. You are just like your mother, a gold-digger and a slut No wonder why people would easily believe the rumors about your affair with Drystan."
My eyes widened, taken aback by Asha's sudden shift to this more personal attack. "You don't bring my dead mother into this Asha," I hissed at her.
"Why shouldn't I? The apple doesn't
fall far from the tree. Why else would
my father, the great Alpha of the renowned Shadowfang Pack would have
an a
affair with a mere omega, unless if she had seduced him."
Asha leaned in, a cruel smile playing
on her lips.
I clenched my fists at my sides, my composure slipping. I need to control myself. I don't know how long I had to stay here in the Shadowfang Pack, but I know it would be better not to put myself on Asha's bad side. I know she's deliberately doing this to gain a reaction from me and to have a reason to ruin me.
"In fact, I don't believe that you are my half-sister. That's just impossible. You don't have an Alpha blood in you. I made tests when you arrived. You're a hundred percent omega. How could you be a child of a powerful Alpha? You're trying to fool us, are you? Your father must also be an omega, just like your ambitious mother. You and your mother have been using my father all along!"
Fueled by her words, anger shrouded my mind, and my vision turned red. The next thing that happened was that I heard Asha screaming in fear and Nova shouting for me to stop.