7: Debts

Lena.

I barely slept that night. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt Kieran’s lips on mine, heard his ragged admission that his wolf had recognized me. The remembrance sent heat spiraling through me, followed by an overwhelming wave of shame.

This was the man my mother was marrying. In two days.

My mother who, for all her faults, was still my mother. She had been selfish, manipulative and a compulsive liar – but did that excuse what had happened in the garden? What kind of daughter was I?

By the time murky daylight filtered through the filmy curtains of my spare room, I sloughed myself out of bed and into the shower and prayed the scalding water would remove the fog of confusion and shame. It didn't.

I chose simple jeans and a black sweater — the most basic outfit in my suitcase — and wound my wet hair into a compact bun. The uglier I appeared today, the more fucked-up it was.

I heard a faint knock at my door and I froze. What if it was Kieran? What would I say? How could I—

"Lena? It's Claire."

I exhaled slowly. "Come in."

My mother wafted in wearing a cloud of expensive perfume and a cream silk shirt and tailored trousers. Her hair was done, make-up perfect. She fit right in with these denizens of wealth and privilege—quite unlike me, who's always looking beat to fuck.

"There you are! I was starting to wonder if you were going to sleep all day.” She looked my clothes up and down with a small frown. “That what you’re gonna wear to brunch? The Coastal Range pack is coming this morning. I knew you’d want to make a good impression.”

“It’s not me who has to impress your future in-laws,” I answered, purposefully, taking a little umbrage.

She sighed dramatically. "Must you be difficult? This is very important, Lena. The most earnest and dutiful of men, Richard has the kind of family… Well, they are as traditional as they come. They expect certain things."

Richard. The name Kieran had made up. Another lie in a relationship of so many lies.

“And you have no problem with the fact that you’ve only known him for three months?” I inquired, studying her closely. "That you're becoming engaged to someone you hardly know?"

Something passed over her face — doubt, maybe — before she waved a hand at it. "When you know, you know. Richard, you are everything that I've ever wanted."

Wealthy. Powerful. Status. That's what she meant. My mother had stalked a rich husband since my father had abandoned us when I was 6, after accumulating a mountain of debt she’d carried around like a dead albatross all these years.

"What about love?" I asked quietly.

She twisted to check herself on the full-length mirror, smoothing the blouse. "Love is a luxury, Lena. Security is a necessity." She looked at me in the mirror. “You’ll know when you’re a bit older. plus he's got the largest dick I've ever seen.”

I opened my eyes wide surprised at her words. I'm not her friend, I'm her daughter." "Then she shouldn't say s*** like that infront of me. I found myself wondering sometimes if I was her actual child!

Nervous, I took a swig and swung back to my pathetic reality.

I bit back a retort. I was twenty-one, not twelve, and I’d been the one paying all the bills for years while she had the freedom to chase her dreams.

“Now,” she said cheerfully, “no high jinks today, please, baby. Richard’s cousin Dominic was not indifferent to you last night.”

Just then, she was giving ugly truths "I don't want to scare you but I have gambling debts. if I wouldn't have got married to him then u had to sleep with the owner of the casino. he said wanted your virginity to clearing my debt."

"What the hell?" I almost yelled.

My stomach dropped. "What do you mean?"

She translated the words, whatever words, back to Dominic.

"But he said you were very charming. Told you were 'refreshingly direct.' " She looked at me, her eyes alight with a shining intellect. "He's single, you know. And very well-connected."

Of course. My mother would think that Dominic would be a great match for me—a way to protect both our positions in Kieran’s world. She didn’t know about the animosity between the cousins, or the warning about Kieran that he’d given me.

“I’m not interested,” I stated without enthusiasm.

"Don't be ridiculous. You haven’t even tried him yet.” She took a bottle of perfume from my dresser and sprayed it in the air. “Just be open to that man having a personality that you can like.” For me."

"Mom—"

"Please, Lena." Her tone became more gentle, and pleading, one I was beginning to know only too well. "This marriage" (he smiled again) "is a new beginning for us both. No more struggling. No more scraping by."

No more double shifts and exhaustion. No more collection calls. No more bouncing around every six months when we couldn’t make rent. I got the allure — I just wasn’t sure it was worth the price.

Particularly now that I knew the truth about Kieran.

"All right," I agreed, knowing it was simpler than arguing. "I'll be civil."

She beamed. "Perfect! Now, get dressed into something appropriate. Brunch is in thirty minutes."

I fell back on to the bed, and my head was spinning. What had happened to my life? I was racking up too many jobs just a couple weeks ago, just a handful of shifts at the college kid’s bar, just trying to keep my head above water here. All of a sudden I was involved in some supernatural drama that revolved around werewolves, and political alliances, and forbidden attraction and stuff.

I switched into a plain blue dress — not fancy enough to satisfy my mother, but not the ostentatious plainness of my original one — and went downstairs.

Crammed into the main hall were staff getting ready for the day. Bouquets were being put into place, tables laid out in the grand dining room, champagne flutes scrubbed until they gleamed. I was watching expensive SUVs and prestigious cars arriving, discharging smartly dressed individuals who moved with as much magnetic grace as Kieran.Last 10 Frozen Tides 固定の潮騒 “I can’t say I know how you feel... aficionado of your mother for years... sort of... someone who should have been... a friend.

More werewolves.

I ducked into a side corridor, desperate for a moment to steady myself before I met this crowd. I was in a silent hallway with walls that were hung with paintings; portraits of stern-faced men and women with the same good looks as Kieran. The Volkov family, I assumed.

"Hiding already?" I heard a dulcet tone behind me.

I spun around to see Dominic propped against the wall, observing me with those eerie yellow irises. Unlike yesterday, when he’d been all business in an expensive suit, now he wore dark jeans and a charcoal henley that fit like a glove over his lean frame. He was younger looking, less threatening, but there was something in his smiling laziness that made me nervous.

"Not hiding," I replied. "Just exploring."

“Kieran’s forebears,” he said, gesturing at the paintings. "Intimidating-looking group, aren’t they? All that noble sacrifice and grim duty. His tone was mocking. “The Volkovs have always been very self-important.”

I watched him, curious about the hostility I felt from him and Kieran. "And your family doesn't?"

His smile widened. “The Coastal Range pack works differently. We think life is about enjoying all that is pleasurable." His eyes raked over me in such a manner that my skin crawled. "Oh, and by the way, I was hoping to pick up our conversation from last night before my cousin so rudely interrupted."

I took a step back. "I actually just have to go to brunch.

“Ages yet,” he said, coming closer. I want to know about you, Lena Adams. Kieran's soon-to-be bride's human daughter. You gotta be curious about our world."

I did have questions — scores of them — and Kieran’s warning rattled around in my skull. Stay away from Dominic. He's dangerous.

“My mother is most likely calling for me,” I said, trying to maneuver around him.

He didn't stand in my way, but he didn't get out of the way, either, which meant we had to brush past each other as I exited the room. The touch made me shiver with cold, nothing like the warmth when Kieran had touched me.

"Your mother is a little busy with the guests," Dominic laughed, stepping beside me. “Some social climber, huh? They must have been so excited to be noticed by the great Alpha King.”

The casual cruelty of his judgment of my mother stung, however accurate it may have been.

“You do not like the match,” said I.

He put the gap between us. his eyes on my boobs. And he added: “You know you look sexy. Right? I wonder if you're virgin?" he asked me out of nowhere.