Faith’s Pov
The room smelled of dust and old sadness. I sat on the edge of the motel bed, the thin mattress dipping under my weight. This was my hiding place. A room with yellow walls and a window that didn’t close all the way, I thought I
was safe here, but I was wrong.
My phone rang, a sharp sound in the quiet room.
I didn’t want to answer. I don’t even understand how my dad noticed that I took it with me. But a deep, terrible feeling in my gut told me I had to.
I pressed the phone to my ear and answered because it could be an
emergency.
“Hello?”
Hearing the voice of the man that I was not expecting to be the one on the
phone was alarming.
But before I could say anything, he surprised me.
Tears already pricked my eyes. Because he cannot be capable of what he
just told me.
“No.”
He laughed, a short, cruel sound. “No? You humiliated me. You embarrassed me in front of every single pack member at our mating ceremony. You didn’t
show up. You ran.”
I know what I did had repercussions, and it was terrible, but I didn’t expect
him to feel like this.
“I… I had my reasons-” I tried to explain, my voice breaking. “You cannot do something like that. Please, it’s not you.
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Chapter Pl
**25 Points
“Do you think I would still have mercy for you after what you did?” He said, his tone so cold, and I felt the hurt and betrayal deep in my bones.
I honestly didn’t know what to say. This was the first time we’ve talked since I ran away. And some things cannot be explained over the phone.
“Astor, I…”
“In case you think I’m joking,” he interrupted, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “I think you’d better hear it from your father’s mouth
himself.”
There was a rustling sound. Then, I heard him. My dad.
“Faith?” His voice was choked, thick with emotion. He sounded broken. He
sounded like he had been crying.
“Dad?” I whispered, my blood turning cold. “Dad, are you okay?”
“No, Faith,” he cried, and the sound shattered my soul. “You need to come back. He will hurt me. He will… he will kill me.”
A sob ripped out of my throat. I put him in this position. This was all my fault. I never should have involved him. I thought I was protecting everyone by leaving, but I had made everything worse.
“Please!” I begged Astor, my words tumbling out between sobs. “Please, just let him go! You and I both know that he has nothing to do with this! Please!” My dad is the most important person in my life. The only family I have left. “Unfortunately,” Astor’s voice came back on the line, cold and unmoved by my tears. “That’s not how it works. So, I’m going to give you a few seconds to make a decision. If I drop this call, then I will make that decision for you. And you won’t like it.”
This wasn’t the man I knew. The Astor I knew was strong and proud,
sometimes stern, but he was never evil. He could never be cruel like this. But
Chapter 14
I heard the truth in his voice. There was no lie there. Only cold, hard anger.
How did I not recognize this man when lived with him for 3 years, because i could have sworn that I trusted Him with my life, even though I didn’t trust him with my heart, because he stomped on it time and again.
“Why?” I cried into the phone. “Why do you want me back? So you can be happy? We were both forced into this! I’m giving you a chance to be with somebody you really love! I know you care about your parents and you want to make them happy, which is why I made the decision for us!”
I was hoping and praying that he would understand. This was the best for
both of us.
“I don’t want to listen to your stories!” He snarled, his voice devoid of all warmth. “I just want you to come back and save your father’s life. I hope you’ve thought things through, because I’m not going to be waiting for long.”
The line was silent, waiting. I wiped the tears from my face, even though he couldn’t see them. I took a deep, shaky breath.
There was no choice.
There had never really been.
“I’ll do it,” I whispered, the words tasting like ash. “I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Just… please let my father go.”
There wasn’t anything in the world I wouldn’t do for him.
“Now that’s a good girl,” Astor said, and could hear the dark smile in his voice. “Where are you right now?”
I looked around the dirty motel room. The peeling wallpaper, the dripping faucet. This was supposed to be my freedom. I had been running through the woods for an hour after I left my dad’s cabin, my wolf form pushing through the undergrowth in a blind panic. I’d stumbled into this small, human
Chapter 14
town, thinking I could blend in and disappear. I was wrong.
I told him the name of the motel. I told him the room number.
“Don’t move,” he ordered. “I’m close.”
The call ended.
Silence.
+25 Ports
I sat there in the quiet, dusty room, listening to the sound of my own heart pounding. I didn’t know what Aster had become. I didn’t know what he would do when he got here.
Minutes ticked by, each one feeling like an hour. Then, I heard it.
The low, powerful growl of an engine pulling into the motel parking lot. Tires crunched on the gravel outside my door.
A car door slammed shut.
Then another.
Heavy footsteps approached my room. One step. Two steps.
They stopped right outside my door.
The doorknob began to turn.
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