Rightfully Hers

XXX

JADA WARREN

Julian was sleeping deeply beside me when I woke up to the sounds of footsteps in the hall. My eyes shot sideways to the clock on the nightstand, glaring 4:12am at me.

Isabelle was getting ready to leave.

I muffled an unexpected sob as I listened to the movement outside the room I was currently in. I heard Arabelle's tired, grumbling voice after a few minutes, and Isabelle's sniffle after that.

"I'm gonna go wake up mom," I heard Arabelle mumble outside the door. She was obviously speaking of me, and when I realized this, I slammed my palm over my mouth to silence the wailing cries I was about to unleash.

"Jada isn't coming with us, my love," Isabelle whispered gently back. I wanted to get up so badly, to announce that I was, in fact, going with them. Because I loved them - because they were my family.

"What?" Arabelle replied, sounding more awake and, more clearly, appalled. "Why not?"

"Well, uh, Jada and I aren't together anymore."

This time, I did let a cry escape. It was silent enough, but it wracked my body, and blurred my vision. God, how I wanted that statement to be false...

"Did mom break up with you?" Arabelle demanded to know, and I could practically see the scowl on her cute little face. "That woman is as dumb as a brick, I swear to god..."

Isabelle laughed gently, and said back, "No, baby, it's not Jada's fault. You'll understand when you're older, I'm sure. Jada and I... we're not mates anymore, Ari."

"Okay so?" Yes! Exactly! Why did that matter? Did I need to be her mate by some sort of wolf standard for her to want to be with me? I loved her. I was in love with her. Shouldn't that be all that mattered? Unless... unless she didn't love me back.

"Go get your suitcase," was all Isabelle replied.

For another twenty minutes, I listened to them hustle around the otherwise quiet house, and then I heard the front door open, and a minute later, I heard it shut.

And then everything was quiet.

I began to almost heave, the thought of being without them almost knocking me breathless. Isabelle, that beautiful, intelligent Alpha, was now farther away from me than I ever wanted her to be. With her, those two breathtaking little girls.

Julian was still sleeping deeply when I scrambled out of bed. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do - I just needed to do something. I couldn't sit in bed knowing that with each passing second, they were getting farther and farther away from me.

I threw on whatever clothes I could find. A pair of leggings and a deep blue coloured t-shirt was what it ended up being, not that I was paying much attention to my attire in the first place. I threw my hair up in a ponytail and swung open the door, closing it behind me, and practically sliding down the hall and down the stairs.

My mother was in the kitchen as I tossed myself down the stairs, a mug in her left hand, and a smirk on her face. "Come here, will you?"

"Mom," I said breathlessly, passing the opening into the kitchen, "I don't have any time."

"You have a second to spare," she replied back sternly, and I slipped into my shoes and nearly ran into the kitchen, staring at my mother expectingly.

She slid a velvet box across the counter, and then looked at me with a perfectly perked eyebrow.

I blinked at her.

She motioned for me to take it with her free hand, and then lifted her mug to her lips and sipped her coffee, looking smug. "It belonged to my mother's mother, your great-grandmother. I saved it for you."