Scum (Book 2)

126. Returned

Dallas’s POV

It's clear that my sister thinks we've abandoned her, and the conversation I'm having with Liam must be a lot to process, so I stop talking, hoping that her mate would be smart enough to do the same, but he isn’t.

“All you had to do was call her and tell her to come home.”

“Don't twist the facts. You're the reason Chey had to leave ‘home’ in the first place.”

“That was only because I was lied to…”

“STOP IT!” My sister shouts, her irritation mirrored in a man I don’t recognize. “You will not use me anymore.”

“We’re your family-”

“No. My family are the people I was taken from.” Chey cut our mother off so harshly that I physically felt it, and so did my pale-faced father.

“And… where is your ‘family’ now?” Our dad asks, offended on behalf of himself and his mate.

Everyone knows that our mother and Cheyenne only reconciled because of what happened with Liam, so it's not a far stretch for her to think that we’ve chosen to remain loyal, which must irritate him.

“All you need to know is that forcibly taking an alpha across state lines goes against the council's rules of warfare.”

“Why are you talking to us like that, sweetheart?”

“You should be happy that I'm talking to any of you at all. If you don't like what I'm saying, kill me or release me.”

Liam's POV

Chey’s family is desperately trying to get through to her, but she’s shutting them out, and after a while, she mentions being killed out of nowhere.

“Chey love, no one is going to-”

“Alpha Lucas,” the woman interjects, turning her back on me as though I’m nothing. So far, my father has been silently observing the situation, probably wanting to remain neutral. “If you don't want a bigger issue on your hands, someone needs to contact the council. I'm fully prepared to reject your son, but I will not jeopardize my safety by doing it on enemy territory.” My eyes meet with my father’s, confused because Cheyenne just gave us a command as though she’s the alpha, and not the woman we abducted.

“Clearly there are things that need to be spoken about first,” my father replies. “Yes, what my son did is a crime, but given the circumstances…” Chey rolls her eyes as my father speaks, telling us that she doesn't even care to listen to him.

“Whatever. Just remember that your issue is with me, so I expect my pack members to be well taken care of while I’m in the dungeons.” There it is again, another command and another misconception.

“You aren’t going to the dungeons, Chey.” I don’t need to mind-link Royce because we already made plans for this, so instead of continuing to stare at each other in the dead of night, he’ll take our hostages to a guest room while I deal with my mate.

Cautiously and gently, I take hold of my mate's arm, trying hard to ignore the sensation of being close to her, because emotionally, I know that we're still eons away.

“Release me, or you will lose that hand.” Yet another command; one that I forced myself to ignore, but I want to show my mate that I respect her, so I let go anyway.

“Fine then. Let's go to my room.”

“What?” Chey asks, looking like I just said something horrible. “Why there?”

“Because you are my mate and…-” Cheyenne must have drawn an illicit conclusion because the woman takes on a defensive posture, and because her brother feels the need to protect her, he blocks my path, nearly jump-starting a fight in which one of us could die.

“Get out of my way, Dallas…”

“Can't you see that my sister doesn’t want to be around you?”

“Your sister is ‘my’ mate.” I raise a brow at the man, cryptically reminding him that his family won’t be released to him unless he’s cooperative.

It was a low blow, but the Lively family hates me, so I convinced my father to take a drastic measure Dallas must have forgotten about.

“Chey, I know that you don't have any reason to help us, but Liam has Nora and the baby.” I expected my mate to have a violent reaction, but she simply shakes her head while chuckling.

“I won't go anywhere with that man until my hands are freed.” Immediately, I gesture for someone to toss me the keys, but I’m not foolish enough to unlock the cuffs myself, so I hand them to Dallas.

“I just want to talk,” I say aloud, wanting to reassure not just my mate, but the entire Lively family of my intentions because, the last time I was trusted to be alone with Cheyenne, I tricked her into having s*x with me.

“Good, and trust me when I say that you'll lose anything that ‘slips.’”

Chey’s POV

Liam didn’t personally escort me, which was for the best because I probably would have attacked him.

However, his mother and Nora were in his room waiting for me.

“Why did you come back?” I go rigid with Nora’s question, and before I know it, she’s embracing me so tightly that pushing her away could hurt her. “I missed you, but I never wanted to see you again.” I know what the woman means, and for the first time since I came back, I'm happy to see someone. “Since you’re already here, do you want to meet your nephew?” Nora still hasn’t let me go, but she must feel that I’m nodding.

I missed my friend almost as much as I missed my brother, not just because we were close, but because she was someone I could lean on without words.

The woman tugs my arm toward where the baby is sleeping, and because Liam’s mother is standing just a few feet away, I accidentally make eye contact, and she begins to speak.

“You probably don’t want to hear from me, but as your former Luna, I’m begging you to give Liam a chance to explain.” I'm not surprised to hear that from the man's mother because she raised him to be the selfish person that he is today.

“He can explain, but I'm still going to reject him.”

“And he would deserve it.” Now that was surprising, but the conversation ends when Nora interrupts us, probably because she knows how serious a situation must be for me to lean toward a rejection as the only solution. “I’ll give you privacy,” Luna Nancy says while leaving, allowing me to relax.

“What's his name?

“It’s Kaleb.” I remember when that name was picked because, also around that time, I was foolishly dreaming about my future children with Liam.

“He looks like my dad.”

“That's what your mother says.”

“How have ‘they’ been,” I ask, unwilling to ask my family myself.

“The real question is… how have ‘you’ been?”

“I have my own pack.” Nora's expression is comical, making me smile.

“When this is all over, can we join you?” I hadn't even considered the fact that anyone may want to leave Alpine with me, and since we're on the subject…

“Did Liam really forbid anyone from communicating with me?”

“A few of us, yes. Others simply fell in line to avoid trouble.” I've heard some of what happened from Dallas and Liam's argument; I don't want or need details.

“So, you didn't forget about me?”

“How could we forget about you?” Nora hugs me again, likely sensing that I was about to break down. “We believed that you were okay because we saw when you deposited money.” I deposited my check at a bank only seven miles away from my apartment building, which means…

“So, you kept it a secret?”

“We didn't want that man to find you. We were going to leave and join you, but-” I hold up my finger, placing it over my lips because I can smell Liam standing outside the door, and I don't want him using Nora's confession against her.

“Can I hold Kaleb?” Nora jumps as though she hadn't even considered it, which makes sense because when I left, I was still terrified of infants.

“You've changed so much.”

“Good or bad?”

“I'm not sure yet,” she whispers.

Liam's POV

I'm a lot of things, but I'm far from a seer, so when my father mind-linked me that he needed to see me immediately, I took it as a sign that he had something important to say.

He knows how long I've waited for this moment, so it must also be urgent.

“What is it? Cheyenne is waiting on me.”

“Yeah, probably so that she can tear your neck out.” Damn… My father didn't have to be so blunt, but the truth is that Cheyenne really can't be trusted right now. “Anyway, I called you away because I wanted to warn you.”

“About?” My legs literally wobble as my father speaks, forcing me to sit. “Cheyenne is an alpha?”

“Based on what her mentor said, yes.” This can't be the only thing my father wanted to tell me, so I remain silent until he makes his point.

“She doesn't need this pack, so you have to be prepared to let her go.” I've told myself that I would respect whatever Chey decides, but now that I have her back, I don't know if I can.

“Is there no chance that it's a mistake?”

“All alpha's come from somewhere. In Cheyenne's case, she's the first in her family.” Now I understand why my mate was so dead set on calling the council; she knows that legally; I can't keep her away from her pack.

“I'm going to lose her, aren't I?”

“I’ll do what I can, but once her mentor comes here, there's no-”

“She's coming? For what? When?” I can't sit still anymore because… “How much time do I have?”

“She'll be here with other council representatives in the afternoon.” I cannot lose my mate mere hours after finding her, but I know that force won't win Chey over.

“Anything else?” I whisper, afraid to leave my father's office because I don't trust myself not to forcibly mark my mate.

“All I ask is that you don't turn this into a political issue we can't survive. You were lucky to have returned before people began to wake, but rumors will still spread.” Immediately I think about Porsha, and how she'll react to the news.

“Where's Kelvin?” I question, realizing too late that I haven't seen him since we got home.

“Where do you think?” My father asks.

“If Porsha tries anything, Chey will kill her.”

“Which is why you shouldn't get involved. Just let that foul woman facilitate her own ending.”