Talons

Chapter 91: The Truth

Colton’s POV

When I got back to the pack grounds, Mandy was pacing in the Packhouse, while Carly slept with Holly. I feel bad for her because she is conflicted. On one end, she is loyal to me, but Rhea is her best friend and her blood relative.

“Please explain this to me Colt. Carter won’t tell me anything.” I look over to my beta, who looks just as confused as his mate, so I gesture for her to follow me up to my room, forgetting that Dolton is around until he steps into my path.

“I don’t know what kind of sh*t you have going on, but my mate is pissed. Someone needs to fill me in now.” I gesture for Dolton to follow me as well, and when we are back in my suite, I lay the situation out for them. 

“Rhea is my fated mate. It was proven by the council.” My brother makes a confused face, so I call my mate by her nickname. “Brain.”

“OH! I should have taken bets; I knew you two were fated.” It's my turn to look confused. “Don’t you remember? We were like six when you declared she was your mate, and when Raven protested, you went up to her and kissed her.” My eyes go wide with my brother's story. “She was a bold little one because I distinctly remember her kissing you back.”

“Why don’t I remember this story?” I ask, and my brother shrugs. 

“Mom and dad beat you badly after Raven told them what happened. You may have suppressed the memory. I only remember because it happened more than once. Dad had to lock you in the dungeons before you stopped asking for the girl.” My brother zones out into the memory, and I suddenly get the image of my mate sitting in a dungeon right now. “Why are you two looking at me like that?” Dolton asks, and I take in the open-mouthed expressions of Carter and Mandy.

“He tortured her growing up,” Mandy says, making my brother raise a brow at me.

“You mean you never got over that? I thought you were just acting out to keep dad happy. What the hell did you do?” I massage my forehead because I don’t even know where to begin. I have done so much to Rhea that even Orlin thinks we deserve the rejection that might be coming.

“Please, I don’t want to talk about this right now. Just help me get this place ready for her.” I don’t want to lose hope, and I know I won't be able to sleep, so I might as well do something productive with the time.

I’m shocked when not only Carter, but Dolton, Mandy and Miracle start helping me clean up my suite. It's not trashy, but the furniture reeks of old s*x, so much so that Carter doesn’t come over anymore. 

We get rid of the couch and replace it with a brand-new set that Mandy and Carter had in pack storage. They were saving it for when they moved into the beta suite, and I promised to pay them back.

The last place we entered was my bedroom, and Mandy was the first to walk around with wide eyes. She picked up a gift I received from one of the twins’ years ago and looked at me in confusion.

“You kept these things?” She asks, and I try to explain, but she isn’t listening. My room is decorated with things the twins have gotten me for my birthday from ten to eighteen.

“I know what it looks like, but Luna Mavis always picked out the best gifts and I couldn’t bring myself to throw them away. 

“My aunt didn’t buy anything,” Mandy says, taking a step back from my room as she looks at Dolton as if some puzzle piece had just been connected in her mind.

“What are you not saying?” Carter asks, and Mandy shakes her head free of whatever fog she was in.

“Raven and Robin were always too lazy to pick out anything or they would forget. B was the one who would take her father’s credit card and order gifts online.”

“Sh*t,” Dolton says, pulling his mate in as if he’s afraid to lose her.

“I don’t understand, why would my cousin buy gifts for someone who she thought was her sister's mate?” Miracle asks.

“She said that the gifts kept him away from her for a couple of weeks.” I plop on my bed and rub at my face. 

It's true that anytime I got something from the twins I would leave B alone and focus solely on what I could get them in return. I can’t believe that I didn’t put two and two together. The girls always seemed surprised when I would thank them for what I received, especially Robin, but I just assumed their mother picked everything.

Rhea’s POV

Each bucket of water that had been thrown onto me had been colder than the next, and there’s nothing for me to shelter behind to avoid it. I swear that the last one must have been put in a freezer, because shards of ice nipped at my skin, and I haven't been able to warm up since.

“That was the last bucket,” the guard whispers to me, clearly feeling sorry for what I’m being put through. “I’m just following orders.” I nod at the man, teeth still chattering as my body struggles to regulate.

“Has the temperature here been lowered?” I ask, and the man gives me a subtle nod. 

I close my eyes, steadying my breathing as Sylvia works from the inside to keep my body functioning normally. So far, she is doing an excellent job because only my nose and fingertips have gone numb.

At some point, I fall asleep with my head resting on my knees, and when I wake, Alpha Newt is standing outside of my cell eating a muffin. I can’t smell and haven’t tasted a pastry in years, so his attempts to tease me with food goes unrewarded.

“I’m actually looking forward to having you as a daughter-in-law. I want to see how long it will take my son to break you.”

The man throws me the last piece of his muffin and I scoff. I survived isolation; I'll be fine.

The time for my hearing arrives and I’m not even permitted to wipe my face, a move I’m sure Alpha Newt has done to humiliate me. I can feel that my makeup has run, and what I hope is mud is covering much of my body.

I step into the room where everyone has gathered, and my eyes first land on my mother, who clutches at my father’s forearm when she sees me. I can tell they are mind linking one another, and so can Alpha Newt because he orders them to stop.

I look at the man, who has been joined by two additional high alphas. None of the men look friendly, but that is part of their job, so I keep an open mind.

“Miss Talons, you have requested an emergency rejection hearing, care to explain why?”

“High alpha, if I’m forced to stay mated to Alpha Colton Stone, I will be killed.” The two men look at one another in confusion, and I glance back at my parents, who are also going to hear this part of my life for the first time.

“What do you mean you will be killed?”

“I have been hospitalized four times in my life. Two of those times were as a direct result of Alpha Colton’s actions.”

“Those are very serious allegations young lady.” I nod at the alpha who is speaking.

“I know, which is why, up until now, I have never said anything, not even to my parents.” I look back at my mother and father who are staring at me, and I take a deep breath as I go back to the beginning. “When I was seven, Alpha Colton challenged me to a tree climbing race. He said that if I won, we would be friends. I got about fifteen feet off the ground before the first branch broke. It was later discovered that they had been partially cut.”

“A prank that went too far,” Alpha Newt says, and I take another deep breath before continuing. 

“When I was ten, my wolf emerged. I was so excited that I went into the woods to show her around; Alpha Colton found me and proceeded to give me ten years’ worth of birthday punches. He dislocated my shoulder during that attack.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” My father shouts, and tears fall from my eyes.

“He was supposed to be fated to one of the girls. I didn’t want to spoil their bond.” My mother covers her mouth, and I know she is blaming herself.

“If you were ten, then he was thirteen, which put him in the middle of a hormone shift.” I nod at Alpha Newt, who has so far only made excuses for Colton.

“When I was eleven, he speared me into the ground, cracking a rib in the process. When I was twelve, I bumped into him in the hall at school, and he threw me so hard that I-” I don’t get to finish my words because my father jumps up to attack Colton, but he is restrained by guards in the room. 

“You will calm down or you will leave,” High Alpha Newt orders, and I can see my father struggling to rein in his wolf.

“That attack resulted in the permanent loss of my sense of smell.” The other two alphas stare at one another, clearly disturbed by my admission, but high alpha Newt is unbothered.

“Is that all?”

“No sir, I’m only telling you the most serious things he has done to me. There were countless threats, several small injuries, things that I don’t even want to bring up because compared to what I’m about to tell you, they are nothing.”

I suck in a breath and tell the high alphas what Colton did to me on the night of my sisters’ eighteenth birthday. I tell them that when he slid his hand under my clothing, it caused me to shift prematurely.

This time, my father nearly shifts, and he has to be given a tranquilizer to calm him down. He is shouting insults about Colton being a coward.

Only Alpha Newt seems unfazed by my words, and instead of focusing on the fact that I could have died, that I was made wolfless for two years and everything else that happened after that, he focuses on the fact that I injured an alpha.

“Is there anything else?” he asks.