Divided Territory

Chapter Ten

Sitting down on the hard, wooden bench, Vicky stared at Henderson as he spoke to her alpha.

Compared to when he had been speaking to her, his face was sharp, closed off and almost unrecognisable as he and Alpha Campbell conversed. The years had caught up to him and although he was still all hard edges and fight, Vicky could see he was beginning to look haggard.

She was still finding her father's presence hard to comprehend, but at this point, most of her shock had worn off.

Now she just felt tired again.

Her brother sat next to her without saying a thing, looking in the same direction as she was. She knew him well enough to know that he wasn't going to say anything more until she was ready to ask some questions.

"Are you going to explain how this all happened?" Her words lacked the heat that she wished they'd had.

Sebastian let out a heavy breath before responding, "he found me." There was nothing in his voice that connoted anger or frustration.

Vicky scoffed quietly. "Yeah, I can see that." Leaning her elbows against her thighs, she hunched over to rest her chin against her hands. "He- dad left us, Seb. What is he really doing here after all this time?"

She suddenly felt very small and insignificant, like she was the butt of a particularly spiteful joke.

Sebastian shook his head. "You don't get it, Vicky. After you left, I went straight to Nicolas' place-" He took a second to gauge her reaction before continuing, seemingly relieved that the name of her ex-mate wasn't going to reduce her to tears. "-to let him know that you'd been shipped off to a pack. I was on my way home when I noticed that I was being followed by this shady car. It was only when I made it to our driveway that the car stopped and dad jumped out. He'd been looking for us."

"But why?" She interrupted his story. "Why now?"

Her brother frowned. "Does it matter? He came back and he wanted me to go with him. To help him."

"Do you think he's using you?" She murmured, glancing at her father with sad eyes. "He's been gone for eleven years."

Sebastian seemed to have it at that point, voice raising a notch. "He lost his mate." He practically hissed, hurt showing through his voice as he mentioned their mother. It was a sore topic for the both of them. "It wasn't like with you and Nicolas. Mum died. He went for revenge."

She winced at his harsh tone, feeling thoroughly chastised. "Revenge on who?"

"Revenge on the people who killed her." Henderson spoke loudly, interrupting their conversation.

He was looking at her again, eyes searching for something in her face. At the mention of his mate, his expression had turned frosty.

Alpha Campbell excused himself and meandered off.

Vicky squeezed her eyes shut, swallowing as her stomach dropped. "That's impossible," she shook her head from side to side. She couldn't help the bitterness in her voice as she protested. She thought that she had come to terms with her mother's death. She had tried so hard. "We all saw her, dad. She overdosed."

"No, you didn't see anything." Henderson seethed, walking close enough to Vicky so that his body cast a dark shadow over her. His voice was low, no louder than a hum. "Humans had been force drugging her for months, catching her at work and outside shops and stringing her along until she had no choice but to seek them out for their poison."

Mattheus made a disgusted noise and Vicky jumped, surprised that he was still there. She briefly glanced at him, taking note of the peeved expression on his face. His lips were down turned and arms folded.