As with most things concerning my parents, they reacted with surprising swiftness, much to my dismay, and two days after my kidnapping, they arrived at the mansion, armed with the sum Jethro had asked, as well as a heaped serving of arrogance to go with it.
Called from the forest, where I'd been making friends with Arrow, I was greeted by two very unhappy and angry faces. Still barefoot from my walk, I doubtless presented a rather ragged figure. But the last two days had been the happiest of my life, and I wasn't able to hide my unhappiness at seeing my parents again. "You didn't waste time," I said. 188Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpEm0KT7LvR
Father sighed, while Mother stalked forward and seized me by the arm. "That's enough," she said coldly, and I gasped when the impact of her gesture sank in; she'd just taken hold of me by force, which meant she and Father had found a way to get around the geas preventing them from harming me. I yanked my arm free and took a step back, and Jethro stepped between us when Mother made to grab me again.
"Hold it," he ordered. "You know the terms, Leesa. Give me the ransom and I'll release your daughter to you."
Mother spat on the floor, earning a dark frown from Jethro. "We had to beggar ourselves to raise your exorbitant fee," she snapped. "You've no right to dictate terms, you misbegotten monkey."
I gasped, and Jethro's frown took on a murderous aspect. "I'd watch my mouth, if I were you," he warned. "You're on my turf now, and if it weren't for our shared ancestry, I'd have you executed for your rude manners alone. Small wonder your younger daughter ran away."
"Don't you dare drag Faith into this," Father said angrily. "Chance put that notion in her head."
"Faith was getting sick of your high-handedness concerning her fate," Jethro said coldly. "But you're right. This isn't the time or place to be talking about how she finally got sick of your abuse. Have you the ransom?"
Mother pulled a cheque from her purse. "Here," she said, almost taking Jethro's eye out as she thrust it at him. "Now let Chance go."
Jethro took the cheque, eyed it, and nodded, though he was distinctly unhappy as he turned to me. "You've got your freedom back," he said, reaching out to take my hand. Or at least he tried to; Mother interposed herself between us, and I took a step back as she made to grab me again.
"Stop that," she told me. "You heard the freak; you're free now. Come home and put all this nonsense behind you. You can't have enjoyed your time here; the Misfits are freaks, and you're better off with your own pack. Your father and I were worried sick about you, and you'll feel much better when you return to your rightful home."
"You were worried only because your last cash cow got witch-napped," I said angrily. "You don't care one whit for my wellbeing, just as you didn't care about Faith's."
Father took a deep breath. "Stop arguing," he said. "You need to come home, Chance. Your place is with your pack, and you have to do the duty your sister discarded the day she ran away from home with her freak husband."
"And what duty is that?" I said. "Marry and give you half-breeds to torment and abuse like you tormented and abused me my whole life? Or should I let you turn them into brood mares and studs, to breed more children so you can raise an army to take the lands you were denied through your monumental stupidity the day you tried going against Alpha Adam's direct command? No thank you. I'd rather be sterile the rest of my life rather than hand you the keys to my offspring."
Father swore, while Mother's face darkened. Her full-armed slap caught me by surprise, and I gasped, tears of shock and pain filling my eyes as I put a hand to my reddened cheek. "That is enough," Mother said, her eyes blazing. "You are coming home if we have to tie you up and lock you in the boot of the car!"
"Stop it!" Jethro put himself between us. "Leesa, you know better than that! How dare you strike my guest!"
"She is not your guest," Mother said angrily. "And I've a right to treat my daughter how I see fit! For far too long she's used the shield of that geas to be rude and disrespectful! But now that shield is gone!"188Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2vSJoXKeT
"You treated me like a slave, let my cousins and sister run roughshod over me, and allowed them free reign to mess with my possessions," I said, still smarting from the very first slap I'd ever gotten from my mother. "You withdrew me from school, blamed me because my sister couldn't overlook the fact her first husband had been involved with another woman before he met her, and you made me apologise for an indiscretion I never committed in the first place! I've done my best to try and be as respectful as I could, but it's really hard when my own mother tells me every day she wishes she'd aborted me when she found out I was going to be born a witch! You never even taught me how to fit in better; you just let me muddle my way through, and when I complained about not fitting in, despite all my best efforts, you told me to grow up and deal with the fact that I was likely never going to fit in! In short, you threw me to the wolves with nothing but my wits, and you never cared one bit that I was suffering insults and abuse about my person day in and day out! You never once apologised and tried to make things right, because you knew I wasn't going to fit in."
I took a deep breath. "So is it any wonder I finally snap and start biting back?" I demanded. "Is it any wonder I no longer cared to treat you and Father with respect, when you'd barely given me the same in return, despite my birthright?"188Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3RWaIkjK8T
Dead silence reigned, and I prayed I'd shocked some sense into my parents, like I'd shocked sense into Faith the day I'd finally stood up to her. Father actually looked troubled, but Mother just folded her arms. "Are you done?" she said.
I sighed. Mother was never going to get it. Father would, in time. I wasn't going to be around to see it, though. "I'm staying here," I said firmly. "I'm not returning to the packhouse to suffer more abuse. I'm not returning to be ground under your heel and told to shut up and take it, because I'm a misbegotten freak of nature. And I am sure as hell not returning to be your unpaid slave labour. Sorry, Mother. But I am through being your emotional chew-toy all because I had the misfortune to be born a witch."
Father looked even more taken aback, but he nodded. It was a shamefaced nod, but it did enough to let me know he bitterly regretted standing aside and letting Mother take out her frustrations on me. It was, of course, too little too late, but I was grateful to him for at least making some small reparation. Mother wasn't having it. "I reject your choice," she said coldly, putting all the force of her office as Luna into the words. "You are returning home whether you like it or not."
But what she hadn't bargained for was the fact I was making my choice freely, having been influenced by no one and nothing other than her continued blatant refusal to see me as a valid being. Thus, I was easily able to negate her command, and her eyes widened when she realised she'd lost her hold on me. "Sorry, Mother," I said, and I meant it, just not in the way she thought. "I'm not returning."
Mother took a deep breath. "Then you have forced us to declare war on your new friends." She gave Jethro a withering glare, before swinging that selfsame hot gaze to me. "But be warned. Should we win, you will come home, and you will do as you're told. Or I'll personally beat you black and blue every day until you submit."
I shivered, but refused to be cowed. "Give it your best shot," I snapped.
Jethro stepped in. "We'll meet you with all the fire and fury you could wish for," he told Mother, his eyes glittering with cold rage. "But you'd best be warned; you're treading on very thin ice. Put your affairs in order and write your wills; today is another black mark added against your pack. Now go, before I forget myself and strike a woman in anger."
Mother looked like she wanted to say more, but Father took her arm and shook his head. "We meet at Stonehenge in one month's time," he told Jethro, who nodded. "No quarter given or taken, and whichever side loses their leader is to submit to the will of the victors."
Jethro nodded. "Agreed," he said. "Now take your wife and leave."188Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kRsnLI9cu
Father, to his credit, was quick to obey, and as the front door closed behind them, I shivered again. Jethro gave my hand a squeeze. "Go get some rest," he told me, firmly but compassionately. "I'll make sure you're undisturbed."
"Thanks," I said gratefully. In truth, I was more tired emotionally than physically, but as I made my way to the much prettier room I'd been assigned on the first floor, I figured a good nap would do me a world of good. I had no fear Jethro would lose; I'd learned a lot about the forest and its inhabitants, and I knew my parents were in for a world of hurt.
And I wasn't sorry at all. Their comeuppance was way overdue, and I was looking forward to seeing the smugness knocked clean out of them.
ns 15.158.61.55da2
