Filed To Story: Claimed by the Alpha I Hate Book Read Free
As the placards above the doors increased in number, I slowed my pace. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember which room Breyona said to go to, but it didn’t matter in the end.
There were windows along the walls that allowed you to see inside, and that was how I found my dad.
No one noticed when the door creaked open, and I stepped inside. Only Flora and the
Pathologist on duty registered my presence, but not my dad.
No, his head was bowed, and his shoulders quaked with the weight of his grief as he cried over the lifeless body of his son.
Sean. 20
My annoying big brother, reduced to nothing more than a fleshy cadaver.
The agony that encased me in it’s shroud of darkness was unlike anything I’d ever felt.
Even mom’s death hadn’t hit this hard, hadn’t tore a hole through my chest so large that already I could feel it festering.
I didn’t want to look at him, at his pale skin. or at the massive gashes covering his body, but I couldn’t look away.
A voice in my head screeched, ‘This is your fault. This is your fucking fault. Yours, nobody else’s.’
I’m screaming so loudly I think my ears might burst, but no one seems to register the sound. It’s then I realize the screaming is in my head, but that doesn’t make it stop. If anything, it makes it grow louder.
Only when I reached the table did my dad’s head snap up. The sight of him, it made the hole in my chest wider-deeper, than ever before.
The man I’d always seen as a beacon of strength, a warrior even though his prime had long passed, was torn to absolute shreds. There was no strength in his glossy eyes, no ferocity on his tear-stained face. Only age lines, grief, and a longing for vengeance remained.
“Dad…” I tried to speak, tried so hard but it came out as a meek whisper.
The vicious voice in my head snarled, ‘He knows it’s your fault. He knows. You’re not even his daughter. You killed his son, his only child. Killed him!’
“Daisy…your brother. He-” Dad croaked, but the words faded as he let out a gut- wrenching sob, slamming his hand on the surface of the metal table hard enough to make Flora jump.
Flora, the slender woman who preferred flowery sundresses and dancing to whimsical music, wrapped her dainty arms around my father and held him-held the man who had slaughtered enemies, won wars, and lived to tell the tale. She held the man five times her size as he broke, doing all she could to piece him back together before watching him break again, and again.
My fingers trembled as I reached out, aching to touch my big brother’s skin and see for myself. The truth was right in front of my face, but I couldn’t accept it-not until I grazed his cheek and recoiled at the touch.
He was so cold, his skin stiff.
This was real. Sean was actually dead.
“I know, dad. I’m so so sorry.” I whispered, clenching my fists so hard that my muscles cramped and spasmed, but it kept the tears at bay.
Just like Dad, if I started crying, I’d never stop.
Suddenly, his head snapped up and his eyes found mine.
“You have to find the witch that did this. Promise me-promise me you will, Daisy.” He said hoarsely.
“Promise me you’ll make them pay.
Hearing my dad beg for justice shattered the last tendrils of restraint keeping me together. The darkness-the grim determination mixed with heady magic flooding my body was a response to his plea.
It was as though all this time I’d only been waiting for his permission.
“I will.” I promised him, unable to say anything else.
As I left, the same thought played in my head on repeat, slashing and carving away at the bleeding hole in my chest.
Dad doesn’t know.
He doesn’t know that it was Nolan.
Nolan killed Sean. 11
I went back to visit my grandma one last time before hunting down the witch that attacked them. There was no plan forming in my head, but one way or another I would find her and make her pay. The entire walk, Breyona’s words back at the clearing replayed in my head.
“Daisy, your grandma, and Sean…they were attacked. I’m-I’m so sorry, Daisy. Sean didn’t make it.”
“What do you mean Sean didn’t make it? Who-Who attacked them?”
“You have to understand, Daisy. II was the one that found them. I was looking for you, and when I stopped by your house and you weren’t there, I figured I’d check Nolan’s parents. Claire and Killian weren’t home, and neither was your dad, but your grandma’s car was still in the driveway.
When-When I got there, the front door was wide open. Sean was already…and your grandma, she was on the floor. Before she lost consciousness she told me who killed Sean.”
“Who was it, Breyona?”
“Nolan…it was Nolan.”
Even now, after seeing his lifeless body for myself, I wished she’d been lying.
When I entered the hospital room, nothing had changed. Well, except for one thing.
Grandma was awake, her eyes open and scanning the room before finding me hovering in the doorway, pale as a ghost.
Clara extracted herself from Mason and spoke softly. It took a great deal of my attention to understand the words she was saying.
“I don’t think you heard me before…which is understandable, but I told you I was going to try a little magic to wake her up. I-I have some distant relatives that are decent with
Natural magic, so I figured I’d give it a try. I think I healed her a little bit…”
“Thank you, Clara.” My throat was dry and with every word I fought tears, but I hoped she could pick up my sincerity.
Now awake, I could see that the woman in the hospital bed was my grandma. She had the same long, flowing hair tinged with silver streaks and a face full of a lifetime of joy. That joy had been dimmed immensely, but this was still the woman I knew and loved.
“We’re going to step outside and let you talk.” Mason murmured; his eyes downcast. “If you need anything, just let us know, Daisy.”
I didn’t fight him when he pulled me into his arms. His scent had always been calming, like a gentle wave cresting, crashing along the sandy shore of a beach. I breathed him in, all the while steadying myself and fighting back the tears that begged to be set free.
‘Not now,’ I told them. There would be time to cry, but only after I found the witch responsible.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?