Family's Regret After She Kneels

ra's

lf psychiatric facility clanged s

a broken leg, limping past the ward where

tched against raw skin. My hospital slippers, s

here

a Ke

sleek black sedan with his arm

d as he was here to pick me up and looking at me lik

weak?" he muttered as I staggered f

ong padded walls and needle-proud doctors, that s

tively refused. His scent, familiar, like pinewood, sharp and

of the previous alpha, Frank Donald, r

strength in my blood

her, only for him to take his last breath hours

ieve his death. The

ad marked me with darkness. I was just a toddler, barel

as I could walk, like a curs

of the pack. But I reme

ilence of the forest and the growl of d

gue training." I c

e. My parents suddenly took me back. They welcome

it meant something

lly wit

he one I looked up to. The

. A storm had rolled in, and the pack house was f

er of the meal I had cooked myself, hoping it would

oaked, waiting for him to come out. My wolf stirre

eeting my eyes. He didn't say a word. Not even a simple "thank you

every cold glance, I told myself it was fine. If I worked a little h

was

I stood in a cour

er oath to defend Helen, the little she-wol

her over me, accusing me of a crime

ed the weight of Pack Honor. I

ly unstable, that I ha

locked away like a rabid beast in

frowning like I w

id. "They're throwing a party. I

flat, but my heart pulsed with qu

ht, that if my parents ever took me back, they would ho

h every cold night and lonely f

. My werewolf parents brought me back into the pa

ho was cheris

hey had raised since childhood, the

gentle touch I ha

rs, I endured the cold gazes, the

ed inside me, their warmt

ere not my parents. They we

anted, why should I return now,

ned as I look

bli

r daughter now. Isn't that what they dec

uth ti

tense, refusing to take eve

as he stepped closer

to make anyone forget what you did?" he said. "Vicky's still l

ike a blow, sha

is voice lowered, fille

g her in a vegetative state. And you even tried to frame Helen. After five years lo

a scolding Alpha discipl

hospital erased your guilt. Your debt

her step, vo

ll owe Helen

ing my wrist with the same commanding grip he used in tr

hrough clenched teeth. "Get in the

e back could und

, all I see is the same disgu

rotted into something hollow, and

ck," I said throu

back two steps on my injured leg.

aid, voice steady

oze.

aightening. "We never were. I w

urn

to see the tears g

d to strike another wound before I could heal.

ror

ough the cold

me

swore I would n

My fate mate who I hadn't seen in five y

old. My heart, already worn from too m