My Parents Spoiled Adopted Daughter While Neglected Me, I Sneaked To Hometown Pack Chapter 03
Maybe he’d tossed and turned all night coming up with this “perfect” solution.
And now that I hadn’t fallen all over myself thanking him, he couldn’t control his temper.
That’s the look he had on his face now.
“What’s your problem? Like we’re all bullying you or something.”
“Aren’t you?” I shot back.
He wasn’t expecting me to be so blunt. He froze.
“All you ever do is worry about Amy and give in to Amy. No matter what I say, you never consider me for a second.”
The truth hit him like a slap. His face went red with shame. It took him a long moment to mutter,
“Amy throws tantrums. What are we supposed to do?”
I said coldly, “You know she’d never actually jump. She’s been pulling that stunt for ten years. And every single time, you let her get away with it. So she just keeps pushing.”
Shock and embarrassment flickered across his face. He scrambled to defend himself.
“You can’t compare yourself to Amy. She grew up with us. We can’t stand seeing her upset.”
“But you’re different. You grew up out there on Frostveil Island, some remote territory. Life’s brutal there. You’re already used to that, right?”
I could handle all the unfair treatment. I’d been handling it for ten years.
But the way he turned my suffering into something I should just accept because I was “used to it”?
That cut so deep I couldn’t breathe.
They never knew, never bothered to find out, that life on Frostveil Island, poor as it was, had been full of love.
My adoptive parents didn’t have an Alpha’s power or a Luna’s status.
But they gave me every ounce of love they had. They never once let me feel like I didn’t belong.
And right now, I missed them so much it hurt.
The ache spread through my chest until it swallowed me whole.
One thing my brother Lawrence said was true: the werewolf family that took me in didn’t have much.
Every time we went somewhere, my sister would ride her little bicycle while my parents carried me on their motorcycle in between them.
Even though my father drove slow on purpose, my sister would still be completely out of breath by the time we got there, her shirt soaked through with sweat.
She was barely older than me, but she always looked out for me.
Even knowing I wasn’t her real sister.
But then one trip changed everything. And I lost them forever.
A big truck came barreling down the road. My father shoved me out of the way, toward the shoulder, just in time. But he couldn’t get out of the truck’s path.
They hit him.
My parents wrapped themselves around my sister in the crash, using their own bodies as her airbag.
When our pack members finally pulled my sister out from between them, their four arms were locked so tight around each other, around her, that no one could pry them apart.
That’s what real love looks like. It never leaves one child behind to suffer for another.
Love goes both ways.
My birth parents didn’t truly love me. And I didn’t love them, either.
That’s why, for ten years, no matter how unfair things got, I never blamed them.
But thinking about my adoptive parents made my eyes sting, something that almost never happened.
Lawrence saw my face and panicked, thinking he’d made me cry.
“Hannah, don’t cry. I’m sorry. That came out wrong.”
“I just meant Amy isn’t as strong as you are…”
“Stop,” I cut him off. I shoved the tears back down. “Just do whatever you want. I’ll follow your plan.”
He looked so relieved when I agreed.
“Tomorrow at nine. I’ll have Dad’s Beta pick you up at five.”
I frowned.
It was only an hour from the pack house to the airport.
“Isn’t that a little early?”
Lawrence’s eyes darted around. He stammered, “We’re… leaving at nine too. First we drop you off, then the Beta comes back… then we go.”
I almost laughed.
They couldn’t stand to delay their trip with Amy by even an hour.
“Forget it. I’ll get a cab myself.”
After all, I was never going to Silvermoon Fen in the first place.
