Jordan: The Rogue Alpha

Chapter 2 - Family drama

#musicvibe - Limitless, Amaranthe

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The ride back home was silent, and I saw Carly starting to rub her index fingers against her thumbs. I had researched it when I saw Carly do it more and more often. Apparently it was called stimming and it was common for people with Autism to do this a lot when they felt overstimulated or needed to regulate their stress.

It was a sign that Carly was getting nervous about our arrival home, and I couldn’t blame her. I was starting to feel on edge too. I could sense the tension in the car and from his rigid stance, I could tell that my father was furious.

When we reached the packhouse, Avery slipped her hand in mine and I squeezed it gently as we got out of the car. My father walked into the packhouse without sparing us a glance and I looked at my mother with a worried expression on my face. She just smiled apologetically back to me and followed him inside.

I didn’t know what to expect from her. She wasn’t my father’s fated mate, and she was usually unsuccessful in calming his raging Alpha temper, even when it came to her own children.

I sighed.

“Come on.” I said to Carly and Avery. “Let’s get this over with so that we can go to sleep.”

Avery nodded while Carly let out a small whimper while shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She hated this kind of confrontations and she could probably tell that our father was angry about something, but I suspected that she didn’t entirely understood why.

I held out my hand to Carly, but let her decide if she wanted to take it. She could easily get overstimulated by her senses and wasn’t all that fond of anyone touching her without her permission.

But she took my hand and looked down on the ground while we walked inside.

Our parents were waiting for us when we walked into the living room in the Alpha wing of the packhouse. I started to feel Carly letting go of my hand and I looked down to see her rubbing her index finger against her thumb again.

“Care to explain what you three were doing?” My father asked coldly.

I didn’t hesitate.

“It was my fault.” I said quickly. “I suggested that we’d take a break from the party since it was such a beautiful night. I didn’t think that someone would notice that we had left.”

My father narrowed his eyes at me and a growl rumbled through his chest.

“Do you take me for a fool, boy?” He snarled. “I asked you to go find Carly and you never came back!”

He turned to Carly, who was trembling.

“Where the f*ck were you?” He growled and pointed at her.

Carly let out a small groan, but she didn’t answer him. Instead she just kept shifting her weight and looking down at her feet while rubbing her fingers.

“You are a pathetic waste of space.” My father growled. “You are supposed to become Alpha in two weeks and you don’t even have the guts to look me in the eye.”

Carly’s breathing started to get heavy, but she didn’t look at him.

“LOOK AT ME WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU!”

Carly flinched as my father slammed his fist into the wall beside her, creating a hole in the wallpaper. She let out a scream of anguish and placed her hands on either side of her head.

“Shut up!” My father growled, but it was too late.

Carly rocked back and forth, still clutching her head and screaming at the top of her lungs.

I let go of Avery that was clinging to my arm and tried to get Carly to calm down, but before I could even take another step in her direction, my father’s fist connected with Carly’s face and she fell to the ground unconscious. I froze in my tracks and stared at him in disbelief while my mother gasped and I heard Avery starting to cry behind me.

“Unbelievable.” My father muttered. “The only way to shut her up is to knock her out. Pathetic.”

“What the hell.” I snarled. “You can’t just hit her like that! You might not understand her, but there’s still a human being in there.”

Before I knew it, my head started spinning and pain shot through my cheek as my father hit me across the face with the back of his hand.

“Don’t think that you can talk back to me, boy.” He growled.

“Sean, please stop.” My mother whimpered and he turned around to glare at her before letting out a breath.

“Get out of my sight, all three of you.” He grumbled.

I wasted no time running over to Carly, who was still unconscious on the floor. There was a huge bruise on her cheek and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. I picked her up in my arms and headed for her bedroom with Avery following closely behind me.

When I had put Carly on the bed, I turned to Avery.

“There is a first aid kit in the bathroom.” I whispered. “Could you sneak off to get it? I need to clean her up.”

Avery nodded and snuck out into the hallway, making sure to make as little noise as possible. She came back with the box and handed it to me and I started to examine Carly’s head.

It didn’t seem to be all that much bleeding, even though there was a nasty bruise on her cheek, so I cleaned her off and put some ice on her cheek to help with the swelling.

“She’s not going to like sleeping on top of the covers.” Avery whispered.

My eyes widened when I realized that she was right. Maybe it was easier to calm her down if things were sorted the way she liked it.

“Okay, I’ll lift her up and you pull the covers away.” I instructed.

When we had removed the covers from the bed, Avery pulled out Carly’s favorite pajamas and we helped change her out of the dress.

When Carly was safely tucked underneath the covers, I turned back to Avery.

“It’s late.” I whispered. “Time for you to go to bed too.”

Avery nodded and bit her lip.

“It’s getting worse.” She whimpered. “He’s so angry all the time.”

Tears started trickling down her cheeks, so I sat down in an armchair and pulled her into my lap. I patted her light blonde hair while she shook with every sob.

Anger filled me when I looked around the room and saw the broken eight-year-old in my arms and Carly unconscious on the bed with a large bruise on her face. Avery was very mature for her age, and I knew that it was because of my father. She should never have had to witness this kind of violence, especially against people that she loved.

I felt Avery’s small hand cup my cheek and I looked down.

“Does it still hurt?” She asked. “Do you need an ice pack too?”

I glanced over at my reflection in Carly’s mirror and realized that I had a small bruise on my cheek too. It wasn’t as big as Carly’s, and I wasn’t bleeding, so I shook my head.

“No, it’s fine.” I replied. “But thank you for looking out for me, kiddo.”

“I don’t want to be alone tonight.” Avery whispered. “Can I sleep with you?”

I glanced over at Carly.

“I was planning on staying here tonight, to make sure that Carly is okay.” I whispered back. “You are welcome to stay with us if you want.”

Avery smiled and nodded, so I got up and led her to the bathroom where I helped her brush her teeth and change into pajamas.

Carly was still unconscious when we came back to the room. I pulled out a blanket that I wrapped around Avery before placing her on my lap in the armchair. I reclined it slightly to make us more comfortable and soon she was sleeping soundly with her head on my chest.

I couldn’t sleep. My mind was reeling after everything that happened and I started to imagine what would happen if I took my sisters and left the pack.

I quickly shook it off. Being a Rogue was no place for a kid like Avery or someone with special needs like Carly. No matter how awful pack life was, it was still the better option.

But when I thought about the events that had unfolded earlier, I wasn’t really sure anymore.