Unattainable Fruit

Chapter 28: Realization & Boundaries

Autumn Commander Timari

James' POV

I'm frozen in place watching in slow motion as my father tears Cody from my arms by his hair, Cody's gasp of pain a fierce dagger to the heart. The silence is screaming in my ears as my heart stops and kicks into overdrive all at once, brain refusing to process the image in front of me.

"You sick, disgusting excuse of an Alpha. Who the fuck do you think you are?" His words are chilling, sharpened nails scraping against my skull, goosebumps rising on my arms.

'Fuck, fuck, fuck.' I hear Sloan whisper to himself, his presence stringing more and more as he tries to calm down.

My eyes are stuck to Cody's and I hate it, wanting to look away, but unable to, my father hands siphoning the life from my precious light. My body is shaking, though the earth is still, and it feels like I can't quite catch my breath.

"Don't fucking ignore me, boy!" My father roars, and I see a few Omegas in a crowd cower, baring their necks in submission against their will, fear and resentment etched into their faces. The stronger wolves are able to resist, but a few still grit their teeth with the effort. "I thought I told you to stay with Jessica until you found your Mate. Did you let that faggot weak fucking wolf of yours convince you to let this Omega shove his dick up your ass? How can you lead our pack if you can't even tame your own beast?! You're a goddamn embarrassment. A fucking disgrace. It's time I come back home for good and get you back in line. I've given you too much fucking freedom. And that ends now." His voice is feral, though low and controlled, his anger a burning arrow aimed straight for my head.

'No, no, no, no.' Sloan continues to mutter to himself, his worst nightmares coming to fruition the fragile dreams we dared create crumbling before our eyes like nothing.

Devastation shoots through me, despair quickly settling in my chest as I stare at my father in horror.

He always told me he was my creator. That he held the strings of my destiny in his hand, with me attached to the other. And for all my life that's been the case.

Just when I think it can't get any worse, I see Jessica at the edge of the crowd, tears rolling down her cheeks as she shakes her head at me, anger rolling off of her in waves. The reminder using being busy as an excuse to end things rather than being honest and the promise that I someone continue to break. And now I don't have the chance to clear things up or apologize. I can only stand there and stare as she runs off, the muffled sound of her cries crystal clear to my accursed wolf ears.

I turn back to my father, my mind hazy and slow as I'm faced with the image of Cody hanging in the air. His hands are clawing and I see his face getting red, fear pulsing through me as my brain starts to finally process what's happening.

Panic settles through me, and I realize he's waiting for an answer, I go to give him one, not wanting to irritate him further, still trying to clear my head. "Exactly. Cody's birthday isn't for another two weeks, but Sloan and I are pretty sure he's my Ma-." In a blink of an eye, Cody is thrown on the ground, gasping harshly, and my face is stinking from the slap my father plants on me. There's a collective gasp of the pack, the first time my father has ever laid his hands on me in public.

"You're wolf doesn't get an opinion. And like you said, it's not the runts birthday so you don't know. But if that's really the case, maybe if I get rid of him, Celeste will see fit to grace you with someone worthy of the title Luna. Not this sad half-human excuse of a wolf." He spits, a vein popping out in his forehead.

I feel like I'm drowning, my body shaking so bad, I feel like I can almost hear it rattle.

I'm frozen, unsure what to do. What to say, my mind at war with itself my body stuck in the face of my own indecisiveness.