Lady of the Night (Downworlder Series, #3)

Chapter Eleven: Hard Words

I watched as the kids looked with wide eyes before Quinta gave a heavy snarl. "I said pack your shit!" Azuka was the first to move as he quickly stood up, ushering the kids into the rooms to gather the clothing I had bought them.

I ran my hand through my hair. "Quinta-"

A heavy growl was my answer as she whirled around her eyes hard and dark with her anger. "How dare you!" The words were heavy with accusation as her body was stiff with tension and the anger she was no doubt feeling. "You think you can just do shit like this? I spent hours looking for them! Wondering what type of fucking psycho had them and if they were okay!" She thumped her chest and a heavy wave of guilt rushed over me. I didn't want her to worry.

"I understand-"

"Obviously you don't! Because if you did, you never would have taken them!" She gestured at me angrily with her hand as the kids quickly exited their rooms, their various bags stuffed full.

"Can I take my book?" Colette looked towards the bookshelf where she had left the book she was reading on the floor and I gave a small nod. I didn't want to have her miss the book.

"No! We are leaving! Right now." A heavy snarl escaped with the words and Colette shrunk underneath it.

I clicked my teeth together and looked at Colette. "Go get it. Quickly." I kept my tone firm and she immediately bolted, scooping it off the floor and hugging it to her chest as she tucked herself into the rag tag group. "Quinta." At her name she whirled around at me, her teeth bared in a way that made my beast want to dominate her and put her in her place. "Listen. I just want to tell you why I did it." I didn't want her to be mad at me, to hate me for taking the kids.

She crossed her arms over her chest, glowering at me darkly. "I don't care why you did it. It was fucking wrong. You can't just do that sort of thing and think I would be okay with it." Her eyes glinted hard with her anger and I let out a small sigh.

I knew I would face the consequences but I refused to allow her to judge me for something she didn't know. "I had a sister, you know. Her name was Isabella and she was the best thing in my world." My heart ached for her, no matter how long ago I left, no matter how long it had been since she died, i still missed her. I leaned my head against the window, staring at the ceiling. "My parents were druggies in IronTown. I was raised by my abuela but there were times when my parents sobered up enough to remember they had a kid and they would come and take me away from her." I hated those days, the ones where my abuela would rail against her daughter, shouting about her lifestyle and how it was no place to raise a child. I would cry too, begging to stay but they never listened.

"From a very young age I knew I didn't want them to bring another kid into their fucked up world. So I made sure to sneak birth control to my mother every single day." I closed my eyes, rubbing at my face. "Except one." I swallowed hard. "I shifted, learned I was beast, and I missed one fucking day and she got pregnant." I could still remember how my heart sunk, how much I hated myself, my beast for that. "I thought she would lose it, that the sheer amount of drugs she took in would kill anything inside of her but it didn't..." Learning that fact, watching her grow bigger even as she clutched a crack pipe between her fingers burned me deep inside.

"Isabella was born three pounds and five ounces at the twenty eighth week. She had issues with her lungs, her heart, her brain, everything inside of her really. The doctors thought she was going to die when I brought her to them but she fought hard." She had such a fighting spirit, she had struggled so hard to survive and she had. "My parents didn't care, they didn't even name her. Just let me walk away with her as they started looking for their next high." They hadn't cared for even a moment. They had simply went back to doing what they did best. It sickened me. "I was the one who named her. Isabella, my beautiful little girl." I pinched my lips together as my beast rumbled his feelings at that. She had been his pup, his child. Her death had hit him hard, almost harder than it hit me.