Dark Shadow (Book 1 in the Original DARKNESS Duology) ✔

Ten: Bittersweet Moments

I honestly didn't think I had any tears left in me. I thought I'd cried them all out last night. I feared that bitterness was going to take over soon because of having to live a life on my own. Without someone to love me back. Romantically, anyway.

The twigs snapped as I went further through the forest. They made a small enough distraction from what lied ahead of me from now on.

It wasn't until I reached the clearing that I looked up to watch my fellow pack members interacting with one another and going on about their day. Then there was me... silently fading away emotionally because I was now incapable of being someone's everything.

Shaking my head, I walked up the road to my house. My nerves getting the better of me as I got closer.

It was quiet when I opened the back door and slipped inside. Shutting the door shut and making my way out into the hall, I froze when the biting tone of my dad called my name from the dining area.

I closed my eyes, turning around and forced myself towards where he was waiting at the table. My siblings and mom were seated there too with their plates of food in front of them. They didn't seem to have eaten though. I couldn't blame them with my dad's Warrior demeanor suffocating the room.

Dad raised a brow as he was using a fork to move around his scrambled eggs. His eyes were on me.

I glanced at the others at the table. They were holding their heads down with small glances back at me. 

"I thought I made it very... clear..." my dad's tone was low, and calm, which was always a tell his temper was just over the boiling point. "---That you were to be inside this house by your curfew."

His brown eyes narrowed on me, his entire face now hard.

Sucking in my cheek, I shrugged a shoulder. I didn't know how to reply. I knew the rule but had broken it for the second time.

My dad's teeth grind together as he growled out, "Where were you all night?"

I swallowed, brows furrowing and quietly answered, "The fore---"

The loud bang of my dad's fists pounding on the table startled not only me but everyone else. He scooted back and out of his chair, blazing eyes still on me. His broad chest heaving.

"What part of you being in danger do you not fucking comprehend, Gianna?!"

I winced, looking down. My face felt hot and I shifted uncomfortably.

"I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

Shaking my head, I whispered out an apology but my dad wasn't listening. He pointed at me and said that I was grounded. That I was not going to be allowed anywhere out of this house until further notice.

My heart dropped, panic ensuing as I widened my eyes. "That's not fair! I have a job, dad!" 

"Well then you're quitting!" Dad shot back. He glowered at me, leaning forward with his hands on the table. "I will not stand for your defiance while you still live here, Gianna Gomez!"

I clamped my mouth shut, jaw tight now.

Unfortunately, this was a rule for every offspring in a pack who were still unmated. Those werewolf offspring still lived at home until they found their mates. Which was why my older brother and sister still lived with us at twenty-five and twenty-three.

And technically, with my being nineteen, I was still a teenager in the laws of Werewolves. I was still under guardianship of my parents until next year.