Disappointment again
1083 Words
SLOANE
The moment I step into the house, the exhaustion hits me hard.
Not physical exhaustion exactly.
More like the kind that settles behind your eyes after you've spent an entire afternoon getting emotionally ambushed by people.
The adrenaline from earlier is gone now and all that's left is confusion, guilt, annoyance, and whatever fresh psychological disease the mate bond is currently trying to infect me with.
Honestly?
I need a nap.
Or therapy.
Possibly both.
I drag my feet toward the staircase and begin making my way upstairs.
The house is quiet.
Dad is probably still at the pack house or on border patrol.
Mom is probably at the hospital or in her laboratory.
Anyhow, I'm just glad I didn't run into her.
And Alyssa—
Actually.
The second I push open my bedroom door, I find out exactly where Alyssa is.
In my room.
She practically springs off the floor the moment she sees me.
A pillow lies abandoned beside her while a gaming console is connected to my TV.
I stop in the doorway.
"What are you doing in my room?" I ask with a sneer.
Alyssa doesn't even bother looking guilty as she drops the gaming pad onto the table and immediately rushes toward me.
"You took forever!" she complains. "I've been waiting for you to come back and share the details."
I let out a long suffering sigh before stepping deeper into the room and making my way toward my bed.
The mattress practically welcomes me home and I collapse onto it dramatically with a groan.
"The Luna wants me to follow them to regionals."
Silence.
Alyssa blinks.
Then—
"What the hell?"
"Exactly."
"What the actual hell?"
"Again," I say, pointing at her. "Exactly."
Alyssa stares at me like I've just informed her I was joining a circus.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
I lean up from the bed. "Unfortunately."
Her jaw drops before she sighs, walking towards the bed too.
"Why though?"
I flop backward onto the bed.
"Apparently because I accidentally trapped three Alpha heirs in a… a painful supernatural situationship."
Alyssa stares.
Then she starts laughing loudly. "Oh my Goddess."
I throw a pillow at her and she catches it, still laughing.
"This isn't funny." I say with a groan, sitting up.
"It absolutely is, Sloane.”
I bury my face is my palms. "My life is falling apart and you are actually laughing."
And then, she stops laughing and a cloak of silence covers the room.
I shift one of my fingers, peeking at her through the hole to see her mouth slightly open, eyes wide.
“Wait,” Her voice comes out slower this time. “you are actually serious?” She asks in surprise.
I stare at her.
She stares back.
Then, realization slowly crawls across her face.
My eye twitches.
“Mother fucker.” I say flatly. “You thought I was joking?”
“Well yes!”
My hands drop to my side. “Why?”
She comes to sit beside me.
“Because that sounds ridiculous!” she says, throwing her hands up in the air.
I throw my hands into the air too.
“Exactly! Do you think I wanted it to sound ridiculous?”
“I thought you were being dramatic!”
“I was being dramatic!”
“Then how was I supposed to know?”
“Because I'm suffering, Alyssa!”
“You say that every time things don't go your way.”
Okay.
Fair.
“That’s not the point,” I mutter with a sigh.
“No, seriously,” she says, scooting closer. “You're telling me the reason those three psychos looked ready to commit homicide at the ceremony is because they physically can't reject you back?”
I point at her immediately.
“THANK YOU.”
Finally, someone understands why my life has become a disaster.
“So, you are to follow them to regionals?”
I shrug weakly. “Yes.”
Alyssa blinks. “Just yes?”
“I owe the Luna a favor.”
That earns me a look and it's not an impressed look but the kind of look people reserve for loved ones making objectively terrible decisions.
I never told her how nice the Luna is to me.
“Oh, this is deeper than I—”
A knock sounds against my door and both our heads turn.
Then the door opens before either of us can answer.
Mom steps inside, still dressed in her lab coat. She looks like she's been working since sunrise.
Her gaze immediately finds me.
“There you are.”
The words aren't harsh but something about the way she says them makes me sit up straighter anyway.
Alyssa notices it too.
Mom steps fully into the room before her eyes flick toward Alyssa.
A silent conversation seems to happen between them, one I am apparently not invited to.
Alyssa sighs dramatically.
“Wow.”
Mom raises a brow.
She stands up. “I'm leaving.”
“Thank you.” Mom says.
Alyssa spares me a fleeting glance before she pats my shoulder once, a look of pity in her eyes.
I swat her hand away angrily. She tries to stifle her laughter before turning. Then she makes her way toward the door.
As she passes Mom, she pauses briefly.
"Please don't traumatize her too much." I hear her whisper. “She's already going through a lot.
Mom gives her a look and Alyssa immediately leaves, the door shutting behind her.
And just like that, the room feels quieter and heavier.
Mom waits until Alyssa is gone before turning back toward me.
Then she exhales, long and tired.
“What did Luna Elise say?”
I know that's why she's here.
I didn't avert my gaze from her.
“That I should follow the triplets to regionals because closeness reduces the intensity of the half-broken mate bond.”
She nods in understanding.
“And what did you tell her?”
“That I will think about it.”
Her brows raise.
“You'll follow them to regionals, Sloane.”
I let out a humourless chuckle.
What was I expecting?
Well.
I learned a long time ago not to expect too much.
So I just sat there quietly, staring at a loose thread on my comforter while something small and familiar settled in my chest.
No, not hurt.
Just disappointment again.
The last time Mom ever took my side was before I awakened my wolf.
- Writer
