Alpha, Beta, Omega

Chapter Ten

It had been two weeks since her mating and Kali hadn't managed to find the courage to tell her parents that she was mated. Every time she thought she was ready something in her froze and the words turned to ash in her mouth. It was ridiculous. This was supposed to be a joyous thing and she felt wretched because she didn't think her family would care. They'd shown little concern over her comings and goings over the last few weeks, all the times she'd snuck off so she could visit her mates, so why would they show anything more if she told them she was mated?

Was she really that afraid of their reaction?

Or was she just afraid of the change it would mean?

She'd have to leave the only home she'd ever known. Leave her only friend. Leave everything to start over again with Thornton and Kay.

Drawing a deep breath she paused along the path leading from the forest to Thornton's house. She knew her mates were waiting, were getting frustrated more and more every day that she didn't tell her family about their mating. Kay did a better job of hiding it than Thornton did but she still saw it, saw the sadness starting to fill his eyes whenever she told them she hadn't told her family. She hated that she was putting that look in his eyes. Hated that she was causing her mate any sort of pain.

But it was Thornton that had her truly worried.

The last few times she'd been to the house she'd seen the anger in his eyes. He was growing impatient with her. Growing tired of her excuses. She knew it would only be a matter of time before he finally had enough. She just had no idea what she was going to do when that happened.

With another deep breath she headed for the house, letting herself in the back door which led to the kitchen. She was just about to call out to announce her presence when Thornton and Kay both came in from the hallway. "Hey," she said with a smile until she noticed the rather icy look on Kay's face and the infuriated one on Thornton's. "Umm..."

"Did you tell your parents about us yet," Thornton demanded, crossing his arms and giving her a look that could have frozen water.

"Umm..." She shuffled her feet nervously, tugging at the strap of her shoulder bag. "Well..."

She saw the disappointment in Kay's eyes and Thornton growled.

"Why? What's more important than announcing our mating?"

"Nothing!" Kali shook her head. "Nothing is! I just...I'm not...I..."

"You're just stringing us along is what you're doing!"

Kali flinched at the harshness of Thornton's words, her instincts screaming that she had to submit, had to pacify the Alpha, but the mating instinct refused to let her. Thornton wasn't her Alpha, he was her mate and she didn't have to submit. Not now and not every. That didn't mean she wasn't afraid of what he might do given how angry he was right now.

"I'm not stringing you along! I'm not!"

"Then you can fucking explain this," Thornton sneered and tossed a bunch of photos onto the table. Kali flinched at his words, and the venom in his tone, as if he’d hit her. She picked up a few of the photos, looking through them before looking back up at him. She felt a shock of surprise shoot through her followed by confusion, disbelief and a hint of anger.

"Is this...have you been following me?"

"One of my Gammas happened to be at the market and saw you. She was going to stop and speak to you but stopped when she saw that."

Kali's hands began shaking as she looked down at the photos again. It was a few days ago at the Barrington Market. She'd gone with Amy and Roy and while Amy had been off getting some organic carrots Roy had told her that he and Amy were expecting their first baby. She'd been so excited, so happy for them, that she'd practically jumped him, hugging him and laughing as she congratulated them. The photos she held showed all of it but looked more like she was being unfaithful to her mates. Like she was throwing herself into the arms of another man.

"Thornton..."

"We're your mates," Thornton snapped, cutting her off and causing her gaze to immediately shoot to his face. "How could you lie to us like this?"

"Lie?" Kali shook her head, throwing the photos back on the table. "How did I lie?"

"You said you weren't ready to tell your family about our mating when instead you were running around with another man!" Thornton roared and took a menacing step forward, hands balled into fists at his side, and Kali felt herself start to shake. As quickly as she could she moved, putting the table between them which made Thornton sneer at her. "You cower in fear because you know you deserve our anger!"

"I should never be afraid of you no matter what I’ve done,” Kali whispered in a shaky voice. "Those photos aren't proof of anything..."

"Our Gamma said she saw him drag you off behind a building where the two of you fucked."

Kali looked at Kay with wide eyes. It was the first time he'd spoken since this had started but his words cut deeper than any knife. “Is that what you think?”

"She said you seemed to enjoy yourself quite a bit," Thornton snarled with complete contempt.

"And you believed her, just like that," Kali whispered as sorrow filled her, all her dreams of being with her mates in any sort of happy, loving relationship shattered like glass. "You didn't think to ask if there's another explanation or want to hear my side of it, you just believed her."

"Is there another explanation," Kay asked quickly, hopefully, ignoring the sharp glare Thornton sent his way.

"Yes, but if you think I'm going to give it to you, you can go screw yourselves."

The hope that had been in Kay's eyes quickly diminished and he made a low sound, looking like he wanted to move, to reach for her, but he stayed where he was. Thornton huffed angrily and drew her attention back to her Alpha mate.

“You’re not going to deny you fucked that guy? Not going to deny you betrayed us?” Thornton asked, and Kali could tell he would never believe there was any other explanation if she begged and pleaded with them until she was blue in the face.

“You don’t deserve for me to waste my time when we both know you won’t believe me,” she replied as tears filled her eyes but she blinked them away, refusing to cry in front of them. Not now. Not ever. 

"Why should we believe you," Thornton growled, completely missing the tears and hurt in her eyes. "We've got proof right there and our Gamma's testimony. You've probably never wanted to really be our mate. Too happy playing the field and screwing God knows how many of the men in your pack."

He looked like he thought he'd won something with that comment, thought he'd gotten everything right. If he only knew the damage he'd done with it instead.

"Go to hell," Kali whispered and went out the back door. The tears fell freely the second she was outside and she had to choke back a sob. She walked a short distant from the house, until her emotions started to threaten to overtake her and then she broke into a run, heading straight for the forest.

She ran blindly, barely noticing her surroundings, her instincts guiding her through Lawton land until she'd crossed the pack boundary. Even when she was back in Henson Pack territory she kept running. She ran until nature seemed to decide she needed to stop. Her foot caught a tree root and she went crashing to the ground, crying out when she landed on her right arm the wrong way and her cheek scraped against the tree.

She sobbed as she lay there, unable to find the strength to get up. Unable to ignore the sorrow and the pain that was tearing her heart apart. She felt like she was drowning and there was nothing she could do about it. So she just lay there and let it drag her down into a darkness she wasn't sure she wanted to find a way out of.