The Selected

Recognition

Present Day

They didn't recognize me. As we all settle into the dining table that I've sat at a thousand times before I almost laugh, if only because I don't know what else to do. My big fear upon arriving, that they wouldn't even recognize me, came true. Why would anything in my life go well, huh? 

Alan spoke first, going around the table for introductions, albeit stiffly, "This is my mate, Mary Anne, our son Jordan, and his mate Samaria." 

Mate? I guess that was the only reason that made sense for Sami to be here, but it still took everything in me not to react and to keep any reaction clear off my face. 

Conrad nodded, his hard ass expression still on, "This is my Pack Warrior." 

He left it at that, no names, nothing. I could feel their questions; they wanted my name, wanted to know who I was, but Conrad spoke again, pulling their attention back to him, "So, why don't you tell me everything about your situation?" 

Alan looked uncomfortable at the prospect of sharing pack details with us, but after an encouraging smile from Mary Anne, he began to talk, "We've been dealing with hunters for a few months now. In the past we've always been able to manage hunters, but these ones lately have been... unusual." 

"How so?" Conrad pressed. 

My foster father began to describe things we already knew about this cult of hunters, and my attention wandered as I glanced down at the table,  looking at the initials carved into the wood. A.S.

Adelaide Simmons. 

I had carved that there when I was nine with a butter knife of all things when a visiting Alpha would not shut up about something that was super uninteresting and unimportant, at least to me. At first, Mary Anne had been pissed, but once Alan started laughing and saying how impressive it was with a butter knife and at my age, she began to laugh too. 

"Addie." 

My name being spoke pulled me out of my little reverie and I looked up to the source, to Jordan staring at me from across the table. 

He sucked in a breath as our eyes met before he whispered, "It is you." 

The table was silent and I swear everyone was holding their breath. 

"Adelaide?" This time it's Alan, who's looking at me with what looks like wonder in his eyes. 

I nodded once to confirm it. 

"Oh my gosh!" A new and old voice cried out and suddenly I was being crashed into by a small, bony brunette. Samaria squeezed me tightly and I stiffened at first, until loosely hugging her back, dying for the moment that she finally lets go. She pulled back and I could see the tears in her eyes, "I don't understand, we thought you were dead!" 

She glanced to Conrad, then back to me, but her meaning was clear. I was supposed to be sacrificed at an altar in the name of the Moon Goddess when I was taken for The Selection. All eyes shifted towards him in wait of an explanation. 

He gave one of his infamous casual, cool smiles that was definitely not friendly, "Adelaide attacked my former Pack Warrior upon arriving to Ravage Pack territory. I wanted him gone and decided she was worth more to me as a part of my pack than as a sacrifice." 

And there's the bullshit explanation he said he would give, and yet I found that it wasn't so far from the truth that I felt bad about it. 

Jordan stood and pulled Samaria back to him as silent tears fell down her face. But the way he held her, protectively, ready to yank her away from me, the corners of my lips upturned ever so slightly. He had always been the smartest, the most perceptive, and clearly he could tell that I was now a predator, a villain who is a part of the system that is the reason I was taken from them in the first place. I can see the judgment in his eyes, and so I let him see every horrible truth in mine. 

"How did we not realize immediately?" Mary Anne whispered, and she looks horrified, horrified at the fact that she hadn't recognized her only 'daughter'. That she had failed as a mother, which was absolutely not true. She gave me everything when I was younger, it just wasn't enough to save me from what I had been through. 

But as she asked that question, I couldn't help but wonder if it was because I now had all of my scars that blemished my skin, and the eyes of a killer than blemished my soul. 

All I could say back, in my detached voice, was, "I won't take it personally." 

A tear fell from her eye, but Mary Anne just whisked it away before announcing, "I'm going to whip up some tea and some sandwiches. Why don't we take a break to collect ourselves and then we can discuss the horrible things, yes?" 

Everyone tersely nodded. Mary Anne dashed into the kitchen while Jordan dragged a reluctant Samaria upstairs. 

Alan looked at me, his eyes soft, but they hardened once more when they turned on Conrad, "Alpha Rhodes, if you would, I'd like to speak with you privately in my office." 

Conrad nodded, but looked to me before he went with him, and only did so after I gave him a confirming nod. Alone in the dining room, I didn't know what else to do, didn't know how else to numb to sting of not being recognized at first, to my brother not trusting me to the point he would drag my best friend, his mate now, away from me. I didn't know what to do so I went into the kitchen, where Mary Anne was rushing around gracefully, however it was possible. 

When she spotted me she paused, before flipping the switch on the wall to turn on the garbage disposal and pulling me towards her with my hands in hers, "My sweet girl, what happened to you?" 

And there was no judgment in her voice or expression, no condescension for what and who I had become. No, all that was there was concern and grief. And it was that right there, the fact that she still cared about me and didn't see me as just the monster that I'd become that cracked my exterior. 

"Mary Anne," I whispered as tears began to form in my eyes, though they didn't fall, "I've done some horrible things. I've been through even worse. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." 

She pulled me in for a hug and this time I didn't resist, didn't clam up like I did when Sami wrapped her arms around me. 

"You did what you had to do to survive, sweetheart," She reassured me as she always has, as the mother she's always been to me. She never replaced the mother that Michael murdered in front of me, but she made sure that I never lost out on motherly love. I wonder what she would think of the fact that I killed my parents' killer, but it's too soon for that, and so I just let her hold me as my throat feels tight and I fight to keep it all bottle up, refusing to let a single tear fall.