The Beta's Daughter

21 | Welcome Home

A/N: I recently got a comment that said I didn't really tell you who Julie's dad was—like, dude. Does The Beta's Daughter ring a bell?
Anyway, I definitely wrote a bit about him and the other Masons (briefly, not in detail) in the first couple chapters.

I didn't sleep the whole drive.

I stayed awake, worrying and dreading the moment Lennox would make me face my lonely mother and the sister I'd left behind.

When he finally did, I wanted to break into tears.

It was childish, and something I'd always told Sam and Logan not to do, but... this time, I didn't think I'd be too upset.

Lennox opened up my door, and I put one foot on the ground, before pausing and looking up at him. His face was stoic, green eyes hard as stone. Was he seriously going to make me do this?

He sighed, stepping back from the door. "C'mon," he muttered, starting towards the trunk where Dhiren and my kids were unloading the luggage.

I took a deep breath. Of course he was. I slipped out of the car, squaring my shoulders and taking a look around.

There was hardly anybody near the pack house, which was weird—before, there was always someone nearby needing to talk to the Alpha. Now, there was only a couple of children play-wrestling on the grass.

"Can we go play?" Sam was asking Lennox, jumping up and down with a big grin on her face. "Please? Pretty please!"

My heart skipped a beat when he chuckled at her, taking Logan's big suitcase from him. The boy took one of the smaller bags, presumably filled with things from his room at Silver Tooth pack.

"Only if your mom says you can," he told her, lifting another suitcase out of the trunk.

Sam turned to me, a big smile lighting up her face and her hands clasped in front of her. She took a breath—

"JULIETTE MASON!"

My head whipped to the side, hair snapping against my cheeks—and my stomach dropped.

A beautiful woman—brown hair and blue eyes—was storming down the stairs, glowering at me and looking like she was ready to murder someone.

I knew exactly who she was.

"Dani," I breathed, before a a smile tugged at my mouth—though she didn't seem as excited. "Dani—"

There was a sharp pain to my jaw, and I stumbled back, eyes wide.

"Dani!" Dhiren yelled, just as she raised her fist for another hit. Her eyes were blazing with blue fire, and I could feel my heart pounding against my ribs.

She'd hit me.

My sister had hit me.

"Dhiren, let me go!" She snarled, squirming against the Beta's chest as he held her. "Let go!"

"Daniella Abigail Mason, what the hell are you doing?"

Mom. My eyes turned to her as gentle, calloused hands brushed against my jaw, turning my head to look at an already healing bruise. Sam and Logan had attached themselves to my legs, Sami almost crying and Logan shoving his face into my thigh.

"She hit me," I whispered, looking at Lennox's face, his green eyes—softer than before—meeting my brown.

"Yeah," he whispered as my beautiful, wonderfully stern mother told my beautiful, surprisingly aggressive sister to knock it off and go run it off, a term I was very familiar with from those first two years that I had my Wolf in Golden Blood.

Dhiren put an arm around Dani's shoulders, trying to lead her away from me; she wasn't fighting as much as before, but just as my eyes started stinging—because my sister had punched me—she turned to me with cold, crystal blue eyes.

"You're a sorry excuse for a human being."

And then she walked away.

I couldn't even describe the ache in my heart, worse than anything I'd ever felt before—the hurt that came when you knew your sister hated you, and you also knew you couldn't really do anything. Because she just walked away.

Dhiren shot me an apologetic glance, before jogging after her, calling, "Dani!"

My back hit Lennox's chest, and I barely heard the low rumble of a growl—just felt the vibration against my shoulder blades. I clamped my hand over my mouth, trying to muffle a sob, and tears flowed freely down my face.

Russia Mason, the maternal creature she was, held her arms out, engulfing me in a hug that I desperately needed. I buried my face in her shoulder, my body shaking with each pitiful sob.

"M-Mom," I choked out, gripping her like she was the only thing keeping my grounded.

I couldn't stop it, the crying. I'd cried so much lately, but... it's different with your mom, who had lost a lot, too.

It's different when they're crying with you.

"Welcome home, sweetheart."