Dark Times

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Escape was impossible. Everywhere I went, there was someone looking at me. Each and every one of them respected me, especially after seeing me hold my own after such a strong Alpha today, but that didn't stop the rumours. It didn't stop the whispers, either. They'd shit themselves if they knew I could hear them.

In a bad mood, I slammed my door closed, tempted to ram a chair beneath the handle should the Ranger come looking for me. He probably had a key. The last thing I needed was for him to force me to talk. He had a way of getting the answers he wanted. A bribing mechanism that never failed.

As I'd predicted, it didn't take long for a knocking to start from the other side.

I ignored it, searching around for my stash of knives.

I should've known whoever was there wasn't likely to go away. In this world, no one seemed capable of taking a hint.

"Lorrie, open this door. If you don't open it, I'll kick it down."

If it were my Mother, I wouldn't have worried. She couldn't kick a football, near mind a door. But it was Trish. Trish wouldn't just kick the door down, she'd decimate it, taking whatever was left for her whittling.

When I tugged the door open, Trish stood on the other side, her foot lifted at the ready. Smirking, I crossed my arms. "What are you doing?"

Teetering, she lowered her leg and cleared her throat. "I was preparing to kick it down. I came... I came to check up on you."

"Why would you do that?"

"We're not friends, Lorrie—but someone needs to check up on you." She rocked back on the balls of her feet, her arms swinging uselessly at her side. "That woman- your Mother- she's been slathering the Alpha since your fight finished. Someone had to come see how you were doing too. You got hurt a lot."

I abandoned the door, caring not whether she decided to follow. When I heard it click, I simply assumed she had. I'd been busy before she knocked.

I still spared the time for a hum. "I'd like to think he got hurt more."

She plopped down on the end of my bed. "How do you... feel?"

"My stomach hurts a little, but the blood's all gone now. It was a bitch to scrub off in the shower. Alas, I managed."

"I meant like feelings. How do you feel emotionally?"

I turned, eyeing her cautiously. From her blonde bob to her green eyes. "Don't do this."

A moment ticked by before her shoulders sagged, a breath escaping her. "Oh thank God. I don't know what I'd have done if you started crying on me. I think I'd laugh."

"You don't have to deal with any of that sappy bullshit from me. I'm sure he's draining my Mother for information as we speak. She knows better than to give him anything decent."

"You must've been a little shit growing up. I get the feeling she's scared of you."

My Mother was an expressive woman. Whatever she felt had a habit of playing out across her face. "Maybe not scared, but cautious. She knows I'd leave her to die if it was between her or me. I'd leave her to die even if I could save us both."

I'd kill her myself if I had the time and energy to spare.

"Fucked up relationship then?"

"You have no idea."

My Mother and I had never seen eye to eye. I blamed her for too much and she didn't blame herself for enough.

"And that Ranger guy? He seems pretty intense."