Inez had been listening to the same words over and over again, to the point that she was about to go crazy. And this was all because Dominic and the rest turned their backs on her.
Over and over again, she had questioned herself a million times. Why? Why did they hate her? What happened that made them hate her?
She bit her lip and turned to face her mother before saying to her, "Do you really think that? Do you really think that it’s my fault? Then I will go and tell them the truth; let’s see if they will still blame me once they realise where I was and what I was doing."
No sooner did she say those words than Maria’s expression changed. She rushed over to where Inez was standing and yelled, "No, you can’t!"
Of course, she couldn’t because the fact that her daughter was a half-siren was the biggest regret and shame for Maria Sinclair.
She looked at her and said sternly, "You will not do such a thing. I have had enough of all the trouble you are bringing to our house, and I will not have you ruin your father’s and my reputation as well."
Inez scoffed. "Of course, who cares that I must pay for your well-maintained reputation to stay clean by being the pack’s punching bag, right? Are you really this blind mom? Or do you simply not take me as your daughter?
She spread her hands in front of her and showed the muck and grime sticking to her clothes and hair to her mother. "Can’t you see this? All you care about is your reputation, your love life with your mate and how your son is doing but what about me? You know that I was not in the wrong but you won’t let me tell the pack the truth because you fear your reputation getting damaged."
"I am not going to let you ruin Ricky," she said, pretending as if she could not hear a thing that Inez had said. "You could have simply avoided all the trouble if you had just apologised instead of maintaining that you did nothing wrong and made our alpha angry at you."
Inez clenched her fists so hard that her nails cut through the skin of her palms.
It didn’t even matter to her mother whether she was at fault or not. As far as her mother was concerned, Dominic and the rest were at the top of the food chain of this pack where they lived. And because their family was at the bottom of the pyramid, her mother wanted to kiss Dominic’s feet until everything went back to how things were.
However, Inez refused to shatter the one last thing that she was proud of.
Her pride.
As a part siren, she would rather die than lower her head and admit that she did something that she didn’t. Sirens were prideful creatures; in fact, if Inez was to say that pride flowed in her veins instead of blood, she wouldn’t be wrong.
The only reason she stayed in the pack was because, as a part-shifter, she craved the connection and trust of her pack mates. More importantly, with the radicles running— the ’We hate shifters and all creatures that were not humans deserve to die,’ movement— was quite terrified of the notion of running away.
If she escaped the pack, there were only two options left in front of her. Either die in the hands of a rogue or in the hands of those shifters-hating organisations.
That’s why she stayed in the pack. But —
There was no way she was going to bow her head in front of Dominic when it was clear that it was him who gave up on her.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Rejected Luna: Untamed Desire Of The Lycan Alpha