The Alpha’s Rejected And Broken Mate
Chapter 73

Amber POV

"You're afraid that father is going to come looking for you? I mean, did you tell him where you were going?" I asked as my mother fidgeted nervously, wringing both her hands together and looking wretched. "No," she said in a low tone of voice, "but here's the only place I would go, besides the pack house and I'm too embarrassed for our friends to know the truth."

I sighed. Great. Rowan was not going to be pleased, but I hardly cared what that bastard thought. Instead, I got up from the bed and grabbed hold of mother's hand, tugging her downstairs, towards the kitchen where I made us both a cup of tea, after sniffing the contents. This time I went for a plain black tea, far too wary of the herbal concoctions on offer. Could you blame me though? It made sense to take precautions.

I sat a plate of biscuits in front of us both as well, dunking the biscuits into the tea and eating them quite happily. A girl's got to eat and at that moment I was eating for two.

Rowan chose that momentous moment to come walking in, his eyes wary as he sized up my mother, who gulped nervously.

"Alpha Rowan, you remember my mother," I said politely and a bit pointedly.

"Of course I do," he said gruffly, a look of reluctance on his face. At least he was too polite to bring up the fact that my mother had failed to disclose my pregnancy to him. Not that he would have dared to, of course, not after his own bloody actions of late. "To what do we owe the pleasure?" asked Rowan calmly.

My mother hesitated, but I reached over and touched her hand. "Mother is here for a long visit. She's missed me and I've missed her" I said evenly, daring him to say anything to incite my anger.

Wisely he said nothing, nodding and then ducking back out of the corridor. I gave a big sigh of relief. We had been civil to each other and cold, but otherwise uncommunicative. I blamed him, still blamed him for marking me and, evidently, he was still angry about my pregnancy. Not exactly the mate either of us wanted, and yet, he still would not reject me.

"What was that all about", mother commented, and I shrugged. I could hardly tell her the reason for us both being so cold towards each other.

"We're just going through some things," I said instead.

She gave a tentative smile. "So tell me about your wolf," she said, leaning forward eagerly "what is she like?"

I thought about it for a moment, trying to think of the right words to describe Lilac. "She's unique and very sarcastic sometimes. Her name is Lilac and we're supposedly a rare wolf, but I'm not sure about that" I said a bit gloomily. I mean, my powers seemed cool but they didn't make me as powerful or not as I imagined, but maybe I was being too harsh.

"I think that your wolf must be something special for it to have come to you so late. What brought it on? Your transformation."

Instantly my mind flashed back to that night. Wrestling in Rowan's arms, his wolf having taken control, begging and pleading with him not to do it and him not listening to a single word I said. The bite and the most excruciating pain I've ever felt and the agonizing transformation. Images flooded my mind and a single tear came to my eye. I shuddered at the memory and faced my mother with a tight smile, my fingernails digging into the countertop.

"Rowan marked me," I said tightly, not hiding the fact I wasn't overjoyed about it.

My mother's eyes were alight with curiosity as they strayed to the nape of my neck, where the mark stood out like a beacon. I said nothing more, concentrating on my breathing and making it more even instead of shallow and anxiety-ridden.

Then we heard a commotion at the door and Rowan came waltzing past, muttering under his breath. "What on earth," I cried as the banging on the door grew more insistent until it was a heavy pounding. My mother cringed, cowering in her chair as I pushed past the kitchen, watching Rowan answer the door.

My father stood on the other side of it, a drunken look on his face as he staggered past a stunned Rowan, who looked very displeased to see him.

"Beta Mathew" Alpha Rowan greeted him with a raised eyebrow and a look of concern on his face "to, what do we owe the pleasure of your visit."

My mother was now standing behind me and I could sense her body trembling from where I stood. I moved directly in front of her, but it was far too late, for my father had seen her, even in his drunken stupor.

"I came to get my wife" he slurred, stumbling slightly.

Alpha Rowan glanced at me. I mouthed the words 'no chance' at him and watched the man give me a small nod, his eyes fixating on my father who was glaring down the corridor toward myself and my mother.

"Slut thought she would leave me, but I knew she would have come here" he continued to slur, "She doesn't have anyone else to take her in. She needs to come home with me" he added.

Alpha Rowan frowned. "I believe that your wife is here for a visit and so I must respectfully tell you that she is not going anywhere with you, especially in that state. Good god man" he said, a little incredulous "did you drive here while you were this drunk?"

My father blinked at him, clearly astonished that Alpha Rowan was interfering with what he was after. "Course I drove" he snapped, coming to himself a little bit "how else would I have gotten here?"

I rolled my eyes.

My mother let out a low groan from behind me, her shoulders shaking as she kept herself ducked down behind me, using me as a human shield. I guess I couldn't blame her after seeing those bruises and the way father was staring at us, but still, it would have been nice to see a little courage from her.

"Clarissa" snarled my father, moving forward a few steps even as Rowan moved to intercept him. "get your a*s moving, it's time to go home."

"I'm not going" my mother piped up from behind me, looking over my shoulder at her husband with contempt in her eyes, "I won't take your abuse anymore Matthew. The last time was the last straw. Never again" she declared, as I silently cheered her on. It made me so angry to think that she had been hiding this for so long and now it was all out in the open.

Alpha Rowan digested her words, his eyes narrowing. His hand shot out, preventing father from moving and he unceremoniously pushed my father backward against the wall.

"Listen here you bastard" he hissed as my father wriggled against his grasp "I can't stand wife beaters or abusive men at all and you're nothing but a piece of s**t, that's going to leave quietly and never come back."

My father sneered at him. "What if I want more money for Amber?" he demanded. "I'm willing to bet the little slut has already opened her legs for you. I bet you want to keep her. I've heard she's excellent in the bedroom" he continued, as I went pale and stiffened. This was not the way a father should talk about his daughter. I felt hurt, but most of all, I felt degraded and humiliated.

"I gave you plenty of money" Alpha Rowan growled, grabbing my father by the neck and watching him kick and squirm, with something akin to satisfaction. He literally threw my father through the open front door, which had been opened by a very silent Laurence, who had been about to come in. Laurence dodged my father's body just in time, his mouth agape.

"You son of a b***h" hissed my father, getting up from the ground and dusting himself off, his eyes turning pitch black in his anger. "Why don't you come and fight me like a real man" he demanded.

I wanted to move forward. If anyone was going to fight my father, it was going to be me, but Rowan held out a hand to stop me in my tracks. "I don't want him to know you have your wolf" he whispered and I understood, even if I felt a bit annoyed. It was best to keep a secret from my father, for he would just replace some way to use me if I didn't keep it a secret.

My mother gasped, placing a hand to her mouth. Laurence, God bless the man, quickly went over to her and grasped her by the hand. "Let's go back into the kitchen," he said quickly. "You don't need to see this."

I was damned if I had to go back in the kitchen. I wanted to see my father get his comeuppance.

Alpha Rowan went outside. "I'm giving you one last chance to go away," he said icily to my father.

My father was beyond rational now and glowered at Alpha Rowan. He shifted and leaped for the Alpha, but Rowan was quicker, shifting in mid-air to meet him. They fell to the ground, clawing and biting towards each other, before Rowan kicked him off and my father went flying through the air, stopping at a complete skid, before running and tackling Rowan head-on.

I watched the two wolves, one completely black and the other one silver, feeling somewhat detached. The black wolf was Rowan's and it was fast, faster than the silver which was my father's. It wasn't really a fair fight, considering father was somewhat drunk but he had issued the challenge and Rowan was meeting it.

A growl sounded as Rowan got hold of my father's neck and flung him into a tree trunk, his body hitting it with a large thud. The silver wolf's body slumped to the floor and then got back up, eyes blazing. I had enough of this and stole back into the kitchen, retrieved a weapon, and went back outside. As my father tackled Rowan once more, on top of him, I reached back and threw the large kitchen knife, hitting my father in the side, as the knife lodged itself inside of him. He let out a low yelp and Rowan bucked him off, grabbed him by the neck, and quickly swiped downwards, cutting my father enough that a large pool of blood began to form beneath his body. Rowan let go and my father slumped to the floor, the knife still in him. I darted forward and pulled the knife out, eliciting a whimper from my father, who remained in his wolf form, unable to continue to fight.

Rowan shifted and stormed over to me. "Are you crazy?" he demanded, shaking my shoulders "you could have been hurt". He almost roared.

"I think you mean to say thank you," I said testily, "because my throwing that knife just shortened the fight."

He gaped and then turned back to the silver wolf, which was now lying unconscious. My mother came to the doorway and let out a huge groan, going towards the silver wolf. I went to stop her in her tracks but she managed to surprise me.

She touched my father's body and then shouted into the air "I, Clarissa Henderson, reject you, Mathew Henderson of the Silver Wolves pack as my mate."

I watched her sink to the ground in pain as the mate bond severed and sprinted to her side, helping her back up as she looked at me gratefully.

"I've wanted to do that for a very long time," she said to me quietly. "Do you think it was cowardly to do it while he was out?"

I shook my head. "I think it was brave", I told her honestly.

Alpha Rowan's eyes were glazed over as he mind-linked what I assumed were warriors, as several came to retrieve father and take him away to the hospital.

"He'll be taken care of and then sent on his way," Alpha Rowan told me and my mother as we hugged. "He'll be under guard in the hospital, don't worry. Clarissa" he said gently, "you are welcome to stay as long as you like or even make this your new home. As long as you are here, you are under my protection", he added, and I watched the relief come onto my mother's face. Part of me hoped that it would stay that way.