Chapter 18 - Leah

Based on everything I had heard about having sex for the first time, my experience with Killian had been anything but ordinary. As expected, there had been some pain, but the pleasure had far surpassed any discomfort.

My usual self-consciousness was gone as our bodies lay entwined. One leg was draped across Killian’s as he held me in a tight embrace. His heartbeat was audible through his chest as I lay with my head resting on him.

“Are you feeling alright?” he asked.

“I feel amazing,” I replied, squeezing his chest tighter.

I knew he was worried that he might have hurt me, but I wanted him to know he had no cause for concern.

“I’m glad,” he said, squeezing me back.

I rolled onto my back to stretch and felt Killian do the same. I turned my head to look at him, admiring his powerful form in all its glory.

“You ready for round two?” I asked seductively.

Killian chuckled. “Actually, can we get dressed for a minute? I wanted to talk to you about something, and it’s going to be difficult for me to concentrate with you looking so tempting.”

I giggled, rolled out of bed, and grabbed an oversized t-shirt from the dresser before returning to sit cross-legged next to him. He had wrapped the blanket around his waist and was looking at me intently.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, noticing his serious expression.

“Nothing,” he assured me. “But you told me about your past earlier, and I was hoping you’d give me a chance to do the same.”

He was hesitant with his words, and I sensed that what he was about to tell me had rarely been spoken of before today.

“Of course,” I said. “I want to know everything about you.”

Killian swallowed hard before beginning.

“My mother was a human who got pregnant by a shifter rogue, who made her life a living hell. Luckily for her, he died shortly after I was born. Unluckily for her, she soon got caught up with another shifter who was even worse,” he winced. “My younger brother, Franco, was born shortly after. She stayed with Franco’s father for almost a decade in the vain hope that her love could change him. When it became clear that wasn’t going to happen, she decided to leave. She took me but left Franco behind. She knew that his father would never allow his firstborn son to be taken away from him, and she didn’t have the strength to fight him. Franco had always been his father’s golden child, and she was sure he would be safe—if not morally, at least physically.”

Listening to Killian’s story brought tears of horror to my eyes. I had thought my life had been difficult, but his mother had been through far more pain than I could imagine.

“Don’t feel too bad for her,” he clarified, seeing the pain in my eyes. “She found work in a brothel run by Jasper’s mother. The women there—including my mother—were cruel and vicious. Especially to Jasper.”

“Why?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine a group of women who had been forced into such circumstances wanting to cause pain to their own children.

“Because they had been hurt by men, and we were going to grow up to be men,” he said with a shrug. “After being neglected and beaten for a few years, Jasper and I decided to run away. We joined Aiden’s Moonstone Pack, and soon after that, I met you.”

My heart began to beat faster as I realized he was going to explain what had happened between us from his point of view. I was glad he had asked me to put a shirt on, and I wrapped my arms around myself like armor.

“The secret relationship I had with you was the brightest spot in my life,” Killian continued. “But it was shortly after that when I crossed paths with Franco for the first time since my mother had abandoned him. He asked me to come with him to start a new pack, one even more ruthless and conniving than the Moonstones. He said that I owed him for abandoning him so many years ago, and since the tensions between Sparkle Hollow and the Moonstones had gotten so far out of hand, I felt like I needed to let you go before our alphas caught wind and punished us.”

“Would they have?” I asked, not realizing that could have been a possibility at the time.

“Jasper was Aiden’s beta, and he had told me that any fraternization between our packs would end in death.”

“I had no idea,” I whispered.

Of course, I had known that our packs were at war with one another, but I had never been in a position of being made privy to the details of the turmoil.

“When I rejected you, it broke my heart in two,” he said. “I’m so sorry for hurting you. It was, without a doubt, the biggest mistake of my life.”

Tears spilled silently down my cheeks as his remorseful apology hung in the air. “I forgive you,” I assured him.

He took a moment to compose himself before continuing.

“I spent a few weeks with my brother, but his behavior was out of control. There was no mercy or self-control, only destruction and hate. I went back to the Moonstones, a man with no purpose. I was a shell of myself. After rejecting you, I knew there was no way you would take me back, so I stuck with Jasper—the only person aside from you who has never turned their back on me.”

“He’s been a good friend to you,” I agreed.

I didn’t know Jasper well, but from what I could tell, he had always supported Killian and had been able to turn his life around better than most men ever had the opportunity to do.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without him,” Killian acknowledged. “He was the one who made me alpha and gave me the opportunity to marry you.”

I reached out to grab his hand, holding it tightly in mine. “I’m glad he did.”

“Leah,” he said. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

We fell asleep in each other’s arms that night with no barriers left between us. But as the dawn rose, I felt in my heart that our peaceful bubble was about to burst.

Sure enough, only moments after getting up for the day, a loud rap came from the front door. Killian and I looked at each other, nodding in understanding that whatever came next, we were in it together.

He opened the front door, and Alpha Lex strode into the room, flanked by four of his warriors. In the front yard, I spotted a few more scouting the perimeter of the house.

“Leah?” he called loudly.

“I’m right here,” I said from the kitchen.

“We weren’t expecting you,” Killian said. His tone was moderated, but I could see his hand shaking imperceptibly.

“I’m here to investigate a very concerning complaint from Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” Lex said to Killian. “They arrived in Sparkle Hollow late last night, saying that you had physically attacked them when they tried to protect their daughter.”

“I assure you, that is not what happened,” Killian replied through gritted teeth.

“Really?” Lex said doubtfully. “Because, according to them, you have been keeping Leah hostage ever since your marriage. They stated that they were concerned for her physical safety due to your cruel and aggressive abuse against her.”

Killian growled, and the alpha’s guards began to close in ranks.

“Stop,” I said, walking toward them and waving the guards away. “Everything they said to you is utter bullshit.”

Both Killian and Lex looked shocked by my language, but I had lived with my parents’ lies long enough. It was time to expose them for what they truly were and stop enabling them and their bids for power and popularity.

“My parents are not good people,” I told Lex. “They never have been. I have waited for my entire life to get away from the constant terror of being their daughter.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“All they have ever wanted is power. But since they didn’t have any in the pack, they chose to exercise what little they did have over me—by any means necessary. I have been starved, beaten, and ostracized from the pack. They have been spreading rumors about me since I was a child to ensure I never made any friends, and they forced me to marry against my wishes. I am happy for that, now,” I added, turning to Killian.

“But what were they doing here, then, if not trying to bring you home?” Lex asked.

“They wanted me to force Killian to give them money, property, and a spot on his alpha council,” I explained. “My father said they wanted to leave Sparkle Hollow and join our pack. We rejected their requests.”

Lex placed a hand to his forehead and began massaging his temples as he processed my explanation.

“Leah,” he began. “I swear to you, your parents will be punished for the lies they have told and for how they treated their daughter.”

I nodded at him, thankful that he had accepted the truth of my words and not been blinded by prejudice against me.

“They have been warned not to set foot in Pinedale,” I added.

“But that decree doesn’t extend to anyone else from Sparkle Hollow,” Killian clarified. “Only them. I will not allow anyone who has hurt Leah before to do so again.”

“I understand,” Lex said. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t aware of this situation years ago, Leah. I wish I had been, so I could have prevented you from suffering as much as you did. I failed you as your alpha. I should have been more observant.”

“I forgive you,” I said.

And I meant it sincerely. As much as I’d dreamed of having someone save me from my maltreatment as a child, I realized now that we can’t always escape from the bad things that happen to us.

A strange mixture of sadness and relief washed over me as Alpha Lex and the other members of the Sparkle Hollow Pack headed home to enact Lex’s punishment on my parents. I would always hold a love in my heart for my parents. Their behavior was misguided and harmful, but I wanted to believe that deep down, they cared for me as their daughter. Our relationship now was permanently broken, but I was whole.

I looked at Killian and saw our future spread out in front of us, bright and inviting. He mattered to me more than my parents ever had. He was my family. We would move forward, together.