Scum (Book 2)

131. Rage

Chey’s POV

I shouldn’t eavesdrop on this conversation, but I can’t help listening because it involves me.

“She doesn’t even care. Why not tell the truth?”

“Because he wants her… Porsha, I understand that you’re hurt, but if Liam catches you here, he’ll kick you out in a way much worse than what he did to his own mate.”

“He told me that she was nothing to him.”

“Do you seriously still believe that?” There’s a long pause in which I can only assume the conversation switched to mind-link. “Really think about it. There’s no way he didn’t know Chey was his. He was just embarrassed about her rank.” I’m trying hard to block the conversation out, but the room I’m in is so small that even if I lock myself in the bathroom, I’ll still hear everything.

“I just don’t understand why he’s doing this to me again. We were supposed to get married and…” Unable to take it, I climb into the tub and turn on the shower, hoping to drown the sound out before I shift and destroy more property, but my anger is boiling over, and I end up partially shifting anyway.

“Please calm down,” I whisper. “We’re going to get out of here soon, okay?” That statement works to retract my claws, and after taking a proper shower, I climb into the bed.

My skin is still irritated from all the scratches and cuts, but even that doesn’t distract me enough.

Porsha’s claim that she and Liam were just together keeps ringing in my mind over and over again, driving me to feel murderous.

I can’t tell if it’s instinct to feel possessive over a mate I don't want, or just my desire to not want him happy driving me, but without really thinking, I get up and start making my way to the pack’s kitchen.

It’s nearly dinner time, so the place is busy, but my presence completely disrupts the service, so what's typically a loud environment has gone deadly quiet.

“Cheyenne? Are you back?” I’m in no mood to speak, so I ignore the question and go straight to where the grilling supplies are. “Are you on kitchen duty today?” It must be confusing to see someone you know was exiled, but I don’t owe anyone an explanation. “Chey?” Armed with lighter fluid and matches, I leave the kitchen, ignoring the many stares I’m getting.

I need to do something or I’m going to go crazy, and right about now, burning down the tree Liam slammed me against seems like a good place to start.

The pack is less busy than usual, but the people around are looking at me like I have three heads, so I’m sure they’ll be even more shocked when they see what I plan to do.

Still enraged, I completely douse the tree in lighter fluid, but before I can strike a match, I hear a child's voice, and two small arms wrap around me.

“I knew it! I knew you would come back!”

“You need to leave this area,” I reply, kneeling to meet the child's eyes. “It’s not safe for you.” Instead of running, the little girl hides behind me, hugging me so tightly that I regret my choice of words.

She’s one of the children that I saved during Arlon’s attack, and it’s apparent that she’s still traumatized from that experience.

“Hey,” I whisper, pulling the child from behind me as gently as possible. “The person you should be afraid of is me. Do you understand that?” The girl looks so confused that it confuses me too. I don’t know how to proceed with an explanation, so I settle on being brutally honest. “I’m going to set this tree on fire, and I don’t want you to get hurt, okay?”

“What did it do to you?” I don’t remember seeing any children when Liam did what he did, so it makes sense that the girl is baffled, but her question did shake my resolve.

Alpine is not responsible for anything that happened to me, Liam is, so to punish them would be wrong.

I end up sitting in the grass as I stare at the tree, my brain too muddled to make sense of if I want revenge against everyone, or just my ‘mate.’

“I’ve got to go now,” the girl whispers, but I’m not even in a place where I can wave goodbye. “I’ll bring my sister to see you tomorrow.” I find myself nodding, already knowing that I’ll be here, I just don’t know if I’ll still be alive.

Liam’s POV

I ordered everyone to leave my mate alone, afraid that she may do something to hurt someone.

If all she wants to do is set a tree on fire, then she can, but mind-links don’t go out to children, and from where I’m standing, I can see a child running at a full sprint, trying to get to the woman she’s too young to register as a threat.

I don’t know what they’re saying, but eventually, my mate sits in the grass, unmoving as the little girl awkwardly sits next to her.

I know why Chey came to this place, and I don't blame her for wanting it destroyed, but something is holding her back.

Eventually, the child leaves, giving me the opening I need to approach my mate, despite the several warnings I’m getting.

We’ve already blocked off the area, so no other person should be able to get close to us.

“Stop right there…” Chey Whispers. “Now is not a good time.”

“I’m worried about you,” I reply. I can smell lighter fluid, and now that I’m closer, I can see that my mate is holding a match in her hand.

“Want to know something Liam?” I don’t say anything, afraid because I don’t know where my mate’s head is. “Not too long ago, I would have died for you,” she whispers, striking a match and watching the flame burn out.

“Chey, my love. Please don’t do that.” I feel sick because I can’t tell if my mate has lighter fluid on her skin, and I don’t know what she’s trying to do.

I’m moving as slowly as possible, not wanting her to go on the defensive, but Chey senses my movements and stands.

“Would you die for me, Liam?”

“You know that I would…” I literally freeze with the way Chey glares at me.

“Prove it,” she says, squirting lighter fluid on me before trying to strike another match.

I would absolutely die for my mate, but I’m not going to allow her to kill me, so I tackle the woman, knocking her to the ground in a way that I’m immediately apologizing for.

“Babe, I’m so sorry, but you have to stop this.” Cheyenne is fighting against me so furiously that I have to use my full strength against her, but she’s so strong that it’s impossible to restrain her without hurting her in the process.

“LET GO OF ME!” She screams, but I can’t just let go because I know that she will take advantage of the opening and kill me.

We’re both alphas, so it’s possible for us to struggle like this for hours if I don’t ask for help, but she keeps threatening anyone who gets too close to us, and they’re genuinely afraid.

Eventually, Dallas is called, and he’s successful at separating us, mostly because Cheyenne willingly allowed him to pull her away.

“You’re better than this,” the man says, prompting Chey to look around, then run, and like an i***t, I chase her.

I know that it’s dangerous, but I don’t know what else to do in this situation.

Luckily, Cheyenne wasn’t trying to escape. She ran back to the guest room and locked herself inside, leaving me feeling helpless on the other side of the door.

“Chey, my love. Please talk to me.” I can hear my mate crying, so I won’t call someone to unlock the door for me.

“Just let my sister go…” Dallas says over a link. “She’s going to kill herself if you keep her here. I knew that he followed us, but he kept a respectable distance, probably because he didn't want to make the situation worse. “None of us understand what she’s going through.” At the same time as my mouth opens, my father mind-links me, telling me that, for political reasons, he has to get the council involved again.

“Stay with her,” I say aloud, afraid that my mate may try to escape.

I already know what my father wants to talk about because, when he got the estimate to repair the damage Chey did to my room, his first response was that it could never happen again.

I made a promise that it wouldn’t, and if it did, I wouldn’t stop him from doing whatever he needed to do; clearly, I failed.

Still, I want to talk to him about what’s happening because I’m afraid my mate may hate me forever if he goes too far.

Oddly, the man’s door is locked when I arrive, so I have to knock, and I’m absolutely baffled when Mr. and Mrs. Lively exit.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Don’t do that to me… Not when it involves my life with my mate.”

“Trust me when I tell you that you don’t need to know what that conversation was about.”

“No matter what it is, Chey is never going to believe that I didn’t have a role in it. If it’s significant, I deserve to know.”

“What you deserve is to lose that girl forever; so, as your father, I’m doing what I have to do in order to make sure that at least one of you survives.”

“You're talking about a rejection, aren’t you?”

“I’m sorry, but it’s the only way, Liam.” I really want to argue about this, but I can’t fault my father because as an alpha, he's responsible for more than just the safety of his family.

“Is that why my mate's parents were here?”

“They’re just worried about their daughter’s safety. She isn’t thinking clearly, and they-

“Want to have her declared unfit?” I could guess as much, but I don’t agree with it. “Cheyenne will blame me.”

“She'll blame you anyway.” I feel like my soul is being torn into two, but I know what I need to do to make things right.

I told myself over and over again that, if Cheyenne couldn’t forgive me, I would let her go; it’s time to make good on that promise, but…

“Whatever you plan to do will have to wait until after our next council meeting. Luna or not, the law is the law, and Cheyenne has broken many.”