Page 7 of Claiming Xan
Pike must’ve been the short, stout guy with a head of blond curls sitting opposite Kace. He peered at me with curiosity written all over his face, like I was a puzzle he was trying to figure out. I lifted my lip at him in warning.
He smirked in return. “We got a badass over here,” he joked, but Gracie shot him a look that shut him right up. He cleared his throat and dropped his gaze.
“We aren’t here to play games,” she said sharply. “We’re here to discuss the very harsh reality of this situation.”
“Harsh?” I barked out.
She didn’t back down. “Unfortunately for you, yes.”
My stomach churned. Shit. Beside me, Sky whined and reached over to grab my hand. I squeezed his gently beneath the table, keeping it pinned to my outer thigh, offering him the only comfort I could.
Gracie cleared her throat and continued. “Alpha-Omega twins are an occurrence that happens very rarely in nature, and for good reason. In the past, before research and studies played a part, Alpha-Omega twins were often put down at birth. A mercy kill, they called it, because as they grew up, their energies would become so skewed, that it would cause their pack nothing but chaos.”
I swallowed around the lump in my throat, but kept my silence. Would our mother have rather snuffed us out as infants, if that had been an option? Did she even know what she was getting into when we were born?
“These days, Alpha-Omega twins rarely make it into adulthood. They can’t function in society. They are twisted, their magic blackened. They often turn to hard drugs for an escape, but drugs only fuel their rages. If they don’t end up dying of an overdose, they submit to their violent tendencies and end up either shot down by police, or locked away in prison for life.”
She looked at me. “I hate to say this, but that’s likely what will happen to you. You have no job history, no work experience. No one will hire you. You’ll live on the streets, eating out of dumpsters. If left to run free, your rage will keep building until you eventually snap and kill someone. You’ll spend the rest of your life behind bars, while your brother sells his body on the street corner just to survive.”
Sky whimpered.
“So that’s it?” I asked, bitterness coating my tongue. “You’re writing us off as fuck-ups, end of story.”
Gracie frowned. “I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to,” I replied with a sneer, standing from the table. “It’s written all over your face. C’mon, Sky. Let’s get out of here.”
She sighed. “River, sit down. This discussion isn’t over.”
“The hell it isn’t!”
“Sit down!” she snapped, and I felt the crack of her words against my skin like a physical bite. Growling loudly, I sat back down with a thump of ass-on-chair and crossed my arms over my chest. “Thank you.”
“Fuck you,” I replied.
Beside me, Sky began to softly weep into his hands.
“Shifters aren’t meant to live alone, especially not wolves. We need pack to thrive. Rubydawn is a sanctuary, a place for shifters in need to seek help getting back on their feet. Knowing what I know about Alpha-Omega twins has me very…hesitant to risk my pack’s safety for the sake of yours. The way I see it, you two are ticking time bombs that could go off at any second.”
“Mom.” Kace’s voice was quiet but calm as he stared at the Alpha. “I think you’ve spelled it out, clear as day. Yes, they could be dangerous, but right now, River and Sky need your sympathy, not doomsday prophecies.”
Gracie took a deep breath and let it seep back out between her lips. “You’re right. I just worry. I only want what’s best for the pack.”
“I know,” Kace said. “But you also have a duty, as Alpha, to serve and protect shifters in need. Isn’t that what Rubydawn stands for?”
“Careful, Kace,” the older sister, Tasha, said around a smile. “You’re starting to sound more and more like a responsible leader.”
“Aww, shove it,” he replied, and his mate giggled.
I rolled my eyes. “So, what?” I stared right at Gracie as I spoke the words, my chest tight as my brother cried beside me. “You’re either willing to let us stay or you aren’t. It’s obvious you don’t trust us. I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t trust us either, but you haven’t even looked at it from our perspective.”
“Whatisyour perspective, River?” Kace asked gently, his attention turning to me.
I ground my teeth together and fought not to snarl at him. “Let’s see. Our mother sold us off to a facility when we were fourteen. They claimed they were a rehabilitation center who could help us, but it was all a lie. Instead, we were turned into test subjects, pumped full of drugs and hormones and forced to breed with one another to try and create god-knows-what.”
I growled. “We were robbed of everything. We never finished school. Neither of us have any form of identification or know how to drive a car. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dr. Thompson wrote us off as deceased, just to cover his tracks. If you send us away, we’d be sitting ducks. He’ll come back for us, and I would rather die at my own hand than go back to that hellhole.”
Sky gripped my arm and sobbed a little harder. “D-Don’t. Please.”
