The Alpha Next Door ✓

Chapter 24- "I don't want to sound cheesy"

"Dest before you start protesting your sadness, just hear me out. We're both full of these scars and we need to let it all out sometimes. Just say his name and stop holding all of this inside of you. I'm here to listen to you, okay? I've seen you from your absolute worst to best-- Go on, I won't judge you," Alex added. 

So without any hesitation, I let his name roll off of my tongue as light as a feather,

"His name is Dominic Falbrook and there was a point where I loved him," I said. After that, it all just came rushing out of me.

"I met him when my mom left me at the Dawnlight Breakers pack. You see, my mom had been a wolf but my dad, he'd been a human. Hence why I have such a human last name and small wolf size. The thing is, I always thought that I'd been a normal girl up until I turned eight, and I had transformed painfully on the living room floor. My dad was downright terrified and had an abrupt heart attack from the shock, so when he was in the hospital, my mom packed up all of my things and told me she was going to 'take me to a place where I'd better fit in'. I was bewildered and upset and definitely confused, everything was happening too fast.  On the long drive to the pack, my mom told me not to ask questions and said that 'this was the best thing for my dad's health'. When we made it there, she didn't even bother to lead me inside, but left me outside the door and promised me she'd come back for me. Of course, that was just an empty promise to a scared eight year old," I muttered.

A lump in my throat formed and I clenched my fists tight, telling myself I wouldn't waste any more tears on her.

"Dominic was one of the first people to show me around the packhouse and teach me everything about being a wolf since he was the Beta's son and all. At the time, we were one of the few kids there and he was only a year older than me, so naturally we became good friends over time. I was still a kid though, and I waited at the window sometimes looking for my mom's car. On many nights, I'd have this recurring nightmare where I would transform and my dad would shriek and then just die. Dominic was the one who would come in the night to wake me up and distract me by telling me stories until dawn," I recalled, my voice becoming quieter. "Over time, I forgot how my mom's car looked like and those nightmares rarely came. As I grew up in that packhouse, I made more friends and two of my closest girl friends-- Amber and Arizona. That place became my home to me, and I was thankful for having Dominic as my best friend. . ."

I trailed off, taking a deep breath, preparing myself for bringing back the memories of when I was sixteen.

"Dest," Alex suddenly cut in. I realized his arm around me was tight and that the sky outside was dark, the snowflakes still drifting. "You can skip the whole rejection--"

"No. I want to tell you everything, I just want everything to be clear between us," I told him, caressing his cheek. He held onto that hand. "Anyways, on my birthday was when I discovered we were mates. That night I had filled myself with these hopeful possibilities of us only to get him to reject me the next day. . . Because he couldn't see himself with s-someone like me." A few tears helplessly rolled down my cheek and I wiped them away with the edge of my sleeve. It hurt to not be good enough for someone you cared about so much. 

"And that year, that year was hell. All but two of my friends abandoned me. Not only was there so much physical pain but I had become this loser because I got rejected by this popular Beta. It's scary to think about how I'd lost nearly everyone overnight, and that one year of feeling so alone can really change a person. No one stopped by to ask me how I might be feeling because it would, I don't know, damage their reputations. And that hurt. So a year of putting up with all of that bullshit, I got sick of seeing Dominic out there living his life while I was trapped. After the Alpha died, he became stronger as a Beta and became a whole other person while I was still that one loser,  damaged by what he'd done to me. I mean, the one person who promised he would never leave me like my mom just became a jerk. I spoke up to him and slapped him across the face, and the one time I finally let it all go, I got kicked out of my fucking pack by the Luna. And then I met you and you turned my life around," I sighed.