Amia
What the hell does he even know?!
“If I’d done my part what?” Calum asked.
“Just answer the questions,” I said.
“I was told that you had a happy life here, your mom’s… partner was good to you, held a stable job and you had a lot of friends. I didn’t leave you… I gave you the space to grow up in a normal home. I did come back for you. I did come check on you. I came to get you years ago, but was told it wouldn’t be in your best interest to go back with me. She said she didn’t want you to feel less than enough with my mate. Your mother worried you would be looked down upon, she feared my mate would.. attack you. Even though I told her that wouldn’t happen, she was insistent. I left because she promised I could meet you when you came of age,” he explained.
“Is that supposed to make everything better? That reason, that one reason is what kept you away all these years? Was I not worth fight for? Was I not worth checking on? Was I not even on your mind that you didn’t think to come back for me until I was of age? I’m not even of age yet!” I said.
“I know.. I know I’ve made some mistakes… I know I’ve taken too long… but I can’t… I want you to be apart of my life and I want to be apart of yours,” he said.
“It’s a little too late for that!” I said.
“It isn’t!” He yelled back.
The coffee shop went deadly quiet and he looked around at the other people. The look in his eyes daring anyone to say anything, begging them to keep staring. They averted their gaze and he turned back to me.
“It’s gotten out that… my heir is not the child I have on my lands. There are some.. who wouldn’t consider you the rightful heir to my pack, but my first born is my heir and that’s you. I can’t leave you unprotected here. I can’t leave you to fend for yourself,” he whispered.
“Why not? That’s all I’ve ever done all of my life,” I said.
Tears blurred my vision and made him a messy blob of color. I hated this. My father was the Alpha of the Bluestone pack and I was the next heir? This whole thing seemed ridiculous. I was just supposed to believe that there were people after my life now because they thought that my sister needed to be the next heir?
“Amia…” He sighed.
“Why don’t you just give it to my brother. Why does it have to be me?” I asked.
“You have twin siblings. One girl, one boy,” Calum said.
“I thought only males can lead? Isn’t that the laws of our kind? Why not select the boy as your heir?” I asked.
“No, this isn’t the stone age,” he said.
“Most packs still do things this way,” I said.
“Some packs still do, but mine is not one of them. You are my heir, the only way anyone can sit on that throne is if they challenge you and win, or….” He trailed off.
“Or if I’m dead,” I finished.
“Yes,” Calum said. “But… let’s put that aside for now. That’s not the number one reason I’m here,” he said.
“Then what? What’s the reason you’re here, Calum?” I asked.
“I want to keep you safe and your siblings want to meet you. They always have,” he said.
“Do they?” I asked.
“Yes,” he answered.
“Why would they? I’m taking away what they’ve always thought was there birthright. Why would they welcome me, a stranger, with open arms?” I asked.
“They aren’t like that. They’ve known about you—”
“I’m glad they at least knew about me. I was left alone in the dark on all of this. I didn’t even know your name! I didn’t know anything about you other than the fact that you abandoned us. The one thing I’ve always known was that you threw us aside. As soon as you found your mate, you left us. Why start seeing mom if you knew she wasn’t your mate? Why take the chance of having me if you were just going to throw us aside?” I asked.
“I already explained what happened! There’s nothing more that I can say,” Calum said.
The door swings open but that person in front of me has my full attention. For the first time since I’ve sat down in this booth I ignore whoever it is. Calum has my full focus. I swipe angrily at the tears that run down my cheeks.
“You’ve given me a shitty explanation for a shitty thing you’ve done and you expect me to just accept it! You expect me to smile and we can be father and daughter and the world is rights itself. Whoopie! My father wants me again. Everything can finally be normal now!” I screamed.
“Where is this coming from? This is not how I envisioned this meeting or this conversation to go,” Calum said.
I don’t know what was wrong with me. I didn’t look over my shoulder as footsteps approached and it didn’t register in my mind when the footsteps stopped just outside of my peripheral vision. I don’t know what was going on. All I knew was that I was so angry, so sad, so upset, and so fucking done. It was a combination of a lot of things happening in the last couple of days. I had been a ticking time bomb and I was finally exploding.
“Welcome to my fucking world!” I said.
“Watch your tongue,” Calum said.
“Surprise surprise! Am I everything you’ve ever wanted? I think you forget yourself. You are not my father and you are no one to me. You don’t get to try and act like a parent now,” I laughed.
“What the fuck is going on here?” A familiar voice hissed.