Gregg was shouting and gesturing wildly, and his face was now so red that Lisa wondered if he was going to explode. “...betray us? Is that how you got Bryson to let you go? Are you a fucking traitor, Lisa?”
Lisa’s eyes widened. She hadn’t been paying attention to Gregg’s incoherent tirade. What the fuck had he been going on about?
Fighting to control her surging anger, Lisa managed to ask calmly, “What are you really trying to say, Beta?”
To Lisa’s amusement, Gregg’s face grew even redder. “I said you’re a fucking traitor, Lisa!”
Lisa didn’t respond. In fact she remained silent for so long that some of the pack members nudged her awkwardly.
She ignored them. She would no longer be goaded and intimidated into giving an answer they wanted to hear.
Instead, she turned and looked Philip in the eye. “Do you truly believe that, Alpha?” Lisa said deliberately and clearly. “Do you think that I’m a fucking traitor?”
She saw a flash of surprise and anger in her father’s eyes and a victorious smile curved her lips. She wasn’t playing their game anymore, and she wasn’t going to be stuffed into a role and position she never wanted. She would no longer be their scapegoat and whipping boy.
She had always meekly answered every question that her Alpha and Beta threw at her. She had been too eager to please, too naive, open and trusting.
But now she was the one asking the questions and turning the spotlight and scrutiny back on Philip.
Her father scowled and shifted in his chair. “You’re a thief, Lisa. You should be in jail. Why are you back here instead?”
Lisa kept her gaze steadily on Philip. She wondered why she had never recognized his shrewd ability to dodge questions and flip the blame.
Lifting her head, Lisa laughed suddenly.
It was the most horrible, wrenching sound she had ever heard.
The scales dropped completely from her eyes, and the truth that she had denied for so long was now stark and bare before her.
No one realized that she was being targeted because on the surface, she seemed to be living a comfortable life in the mansion. She was the Alpha’s daughter, but she was treated worse than the lowest ranking member of the pack. She lived in the mansion but she was ignored and denigrated constantly.
At almost every pack meeting, Gregg would crack jokes at her expense to ridicule and humiliate her. His sly and subtle put-downs were cunningly disguised as jokes so that he could throw the blame and shame back on her if he was ever confronted and called out. Whenever Lisa stood up for herself and pointed out his cruelty and callousness, Gregg would feign ignorance and say that he was only joking. He made her look petty, inadequate and crazy.
Too sensitive, petty, paranoid, useless, stupid, crazy, clumsy, good for nothing…
Lisa had heard them all. When she got upset, Gregg would turn around and accuse her of being too sensitive and stupid to take a harmless joke.
But his words weren’t harmless. His words were like knives, cutting away bits and pieces of her confidence and self-esteem. He made her look useless and petty in front of the whole pack, and no one stopped him. Their father, Philip, was the Alpha, and he could easily have put a stop to the bullying and the abuse. But he didn’t.
Instead, Philip encouraged it. The prolonged bullying and psychological abuse from Gregg was only possible if...he had the approval and support of the Alpha.
The Alpha, her own father, had made her the outcast, the villain of the pack so that everyone would subconsciously pin all the failures and shortcomings of the Ayers family on her. She was part of the Ayers family, and the Arrow pack was led by the Ayers family for generations. Philip’s inadequacies and ineptitude as Alpha would be overlooked since all attention was diverted to her.
She was the designated scapegoat, the laughing stock, the pack’s Aunt Sally.
Everyone wanted to be part of the in-crowd. But for there to be an in-crowd, there had to be at least one person on the outside of the circle. That person was her.
“Why did I come back to the pack?” Lisa repeated the question back to Philip. “Why indeed?”
The entire room was silent.
Everyone watched her face off against her father and brother with morbid curiosity and fascination. Lisa knew that no one was on her side. They were just watching the show, glad that she was the one who was being led to the slaughter. If someone else’s head was on the chopping block, it meant that their own heads were safe, for now.
When Philip glowered at her, Lisa laughed again.
“Since you’ve never given a straight answer to any question before, I guess I’ll just have to supply the answer to my own question, Alpha,” she said.
With a slow smile, she went on in a clear, even voice, “I came back because I thought that this was where I belonged. But the truth is, I don’t belong here.” She paused and looked around the room. “I have never belonged in the Arrow pack. There’s no reason for me to come back. I know that now. I should never have come back. So...”
She turned around and walked towards the door.
“I’ll just get with the program,” she said with forced cheerfulness. “I know, I know. I strayed from the program, the grand scheme. My bad. Silly me. I should be sitting in jail right now, taking the blame for everything. Why didn’t I play my designated role properly? I’m the scapegoat, the fall guy! What was I thinking? Why did I come back?”
Lisa tut-tutted loudly and wagged her finger at herself. “I’ll make everyone happy and leave now.”
She heard Gregg scrape his chair back but she didn’t turn around.
“Don’t worry,” Lisa called out as she flung the doors wide open. “I won’t come back this time.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Lisa hiccuped a sob as she ran to her car and started the engine. Turning the car around, she sped away from the mansion and drove out of Moonvale.
Pressing a trembling hand to her mouth to stopper another wrenching sob, Lisa blinked quickly to clear her vision. Why wouldn’t her tears stop gushing from her eyes?
She was crying, and she was crying so hard.
Her entire body was shaking and she had difficulty catching her breath.
It had taken everything she had to speak those words out loud to the entire pack. She had bolted out of the mansion as fast as she could, and thankfully no one had come after her.
She was sure that Philip had ordered the pack to stay put. And he would say something that would make her look like the unstable, unhinged, untrustworthy one.
Lisa had no doubt that her father and brother would smear her and drag her name through the mud behind her back, but she no longer cared.
She was never going back to Moonvale.
As Lisa turned out into the long, deserted highway, she realized that she hadn’t grabbed any of her belongings that were left in her small bedroom.
Thank goodness she had her duffel bag in the trunk of her car which held some clothes, money and cards. She’d had to pack a small bag for her disastrous, doomed mission, and now she was glad for that.
It was strange how things turned out.
She was finally...free.
She wasn’t going to be the pack scapegoat any more. It was a role she hadn’t even realized she had been playing all her life.
“Why? Why me?” Lisa whispered, swiping at her eyes.
The answer presented itself almost immediately. It was amazing how clear and obvious things were when she could finally separate herself from the toxic mess.
“Because I’m not like them,” Lisa said to her reflection.
She didn’t subscribe to the pack mentality and even though she was meek and self-sacrificing, she wasn’t brainwashed by her Alpha and Beta.
The bullying and verbal abuse wasn’t just reserved for her. She saw that now. Every pack member, even the lieutenants, was insulted and humiliated at one time or another. They would learn quickly that to deflect the insults and abuse, they had to pick on so
meone else. The abused became the abuser. And on and on it went.
But Lisa never perpetuated this cycle of abuse. She swallowed the insults and put-downs, and never did the same to anyone else.
Philip saw that.
And he realized that Lisa wasn’t ever going to behave like them. She would take the abuse and not retaliate in kind. That meant that she knew deep in her heart, that what was being done to her was wrong.
And the one who knew the truth, even subconsciously, would be scapegoated and destroyed.
Her grief and pain turned to anger, and Lisa growled as she drove down the dark highway.
Her wolf nudged her gently.
“I should have listened to you,” Lisa told her wolf. “I should have listened!”
Her wolf had been warning her about Philip and Gregg. Whenever she was in the presence of her father and brother, her wolf would be on high alert. Her wolf didn’t trust them.
But Lisa ignored her animal instincts, and convinced herself that her family loved her.
“Where should I go now?” Lisa swallowed as she peered into the darkness.
Her wolf knew exactly where to go.
“All right, I’ll listen to you,” Lisa said with a soft, sad laugh.
Her old car made a rattling sound but Lisa was confident that her car would get her to her destination. While Philip and Gregg drove new, swanky, luxurious cars, Lisa had this old car that was passed down from Gregg to two lieutenants and by the time the car was given to Lisa, it looked like it was about to fall apart.
Still, she was inordinately grateful for this set of wheels. This rattling, rusty little car would get her back to Shadow Point.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Lisa drove through the quiet streets of Shadow Point but she didn’t drive to Bryson’s house. She really wanted to, but she made herself drive in circles round the small town.
“No, I won’t go to him,” she repeated for the umpteenth time. “I won’t!”
She couldn’t bring herself to face Bryson. She was too ashamed and embarrassed. Bryson had caught her in his bedroom trying to steal from him but he had let her go. He knew who she was. Not only was she a member of the corrupt and criminal Arrow pack, she was the daughter of Philip Ayers, the Alpha of the pack.
Her wolf wanted to run to Bryson, but her overthinking human brain and stubborn pride wouldn’t let her go near him.
Feeling exhausted, miserable and hopeless, Lisa stopped her car by the side of the road and put her head down on the steering wheel.
“What should I do now?” she whispered.
She didn’t know anyone in Shadow Point. It was her own fault. She had consciously avoided befriending any of the townsfolk and now, she was all alone.
A soft knock on her window made Lisa jerk her head up. She gasped when she saw two worried faces peering at her through the window.
She recognized the two petite silver-haired ladies at once. They were the owners of Broomstick Inn and everyone in Shadow Point seemed to know the two vivacious grandmothers. She had heard all the townsfolk affectionately call them “Gramma and Ne-ma”, and they were like everyone’s favorite grandmothers.
“Gramma and Ne-ma,” Lisa breathed as she wound down the window.
“Hello,” Ne-ma said, pushing her glasses up her nose. “We were just walking by and we saw you sitting all by yourself in your car. Are you all right? Do you need any help?”
Lisa shook her head. “No, I’m fine,” she lied.
“You’ve been in town for the past few weeks,” Ne-ma went on with a smile. “We noticed you wandering around town, but we didn’t come up to you to introduce ourselves because...” Ne-ma trailed off and her intelligent blue eyes looked at Lisa with kindness and understanding.
“You noticed me,” Lisa said quietly.
Gramma nodded. “Yes. But we also noticed that you didn’t want to be noticed.”
“So even though we wanted to welcome you to Shadow Point and talk to you, we held back,” Ne-ma said.
“We’re always the first to welcome newcomers and visitors to Shadow Point,” Gramma continued enthusiastically. “We know everyone in town, and we love getting to know new people!”
Lisa realized that she was being rude by sitting in her car while Gramma and Ne-ma stood at the edge of the curb in the chilly night wind, so she shut off the engine and fumbled out of her car.
“I...” She winced when she realized how stand-offish and surly she must have seemed to Gramma, Ne-ma and the rest of the townsfolk.
Gramma and Ne-ma had seen her around Shadow Point but they had kept their distance because they saw that she wanted to be left alone. The two bubbly grandmothers were active and well-loved in Shadow Point. They were very observant and alert and seemed to know all the latest news and events, so it was no surprise that they had noticed her skulking around town.
“I’m Lisa,” she said sheepishly.
The two affable grandmothers beamed and shook her hand warmly. “Call us Gramma and Ne-ma. Everyone does!”
Ne-ma didn’t let go of Lisa’s clammy hand. Instead, she wrapped both her hands around Lisa’s and asked gently, “Do you need a place to stay for the night, Lisa?”
“I...” She glanced at her car. She could sleep in her car.
As though reading her thoughts, Gramma tsked and said, “You can’t spend the night in your car. Come to Broomstick Inn. We have extra rooms.”
“And lots of food,” Ne-ma quipped.
“Come,” Gramma urged. “Our inn is just down the street. Neveah and I were just taking a leisurely stroll after supper when we spotted your car.”
Before Lisa could protest, Gramma and Ne-ma were tugging her towards Broomstick Inn and ushering her through the door of their cozy little inn.
Lisa found herself admiring the warm, tasteful furnishings of Broomstick Inn. The ambiance was warm and soothing and she felt relaxed and at ease with Gramma and Ne-ma.
It was a really nice, warm and fuzzy feeling.
It felt as if she was with...family.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Lisa took a sharp breath.
She realized that she had never, ever felt safe and relaxed around Philip, Gregg or any of her pack members.
On the contrary, she was always tense, nervous and apprehensive in their presence.
Her emotions and instincts had been warning her that she shouldn’t let her guard down and that she was in fact surrounded by danger, but she had stubbornly told herself that those people were her friends and family.
But...true friends and family would never treat her with such harsh, sadistic, targeted cruelty. Their words and actions were intentional and calculated. Philip and Gregg had definitely known what they were doing.
They had demeaned and degraded her while giving everyone the impression that they cared for her. They let her live in the mansion with them but she was given only a small room at the back of the house near the kitchen.
Her father and brother constantly told the rest of the pack how weak and incapable she was while at the same time loudly proclaiming how worried they were for her because she would never be able to survive without them.
She should have trusted her wolf and her feelings. She had felt uneasy and stressed around them because her wolf and her instincts had known all along that Philip and Gregg were really out to hurt and harm her.
Lisa choked out a painful, sorrowful laugh. “They betrayed my trust, and exploited my love and loyalty,” she whispered.
Gramma and Ne-ma turned around when they heard her anguished whisper. But they didn’t say anything.
Instead, they came up to her and put their arms around her. They just held her and gave her a long, loving hug.
“Let’s get you something to eat,” Ne-ma said at last. “Food for the tummy...and food for the heart.”
Gramma and Ne-ma led her into the cozy dining room of the inn.
They sat her down at a corner table and disappeared into the kitchen.
In a moment,
they reappeared with three large bowls of hot soup and a roll of soft, warm bread.
“Eat, dear,” Gramma urged Lisa. “You’ll feel better after eating.”
Lisa dipped the fluffy, fresh bread into the soup and ate hungrily. “This is really good,” she said with her mouth full.
She didn’t realize how hungry she was. She hadn’t eaten the whole day.
When she returned to her pack, no one even cared enough to ask if she wanted something to eat and drink after her long journey. Nobody was the least bit concerned about her welfare.
Philip and Gregg weren’t too happy to see her, that was for sure. Why would they care if she was hungry, tired and scared? In fact, the more scared and confused she was, the easier it would be for them to control and manipulate her.
Determinedly, Lisa pushed all the jarring, tormenting thoughts to the back of her mind.
She would just focus on eating for now.
While she ate, Lisa gradually opened up to Gramma and Ne-ma. She told them that she was from Moonvale, and that she had left her wolf pack for good. But she didn’t reveal the real reason she was in Shadow Point.
She liked Gramma and Ne-ma, but she wasn’t ready to reveal her whole ugly past. The two grandmothers listened intently and interjected with a few comments but they didn’t try to probe and dig for more information.
Instead, they told her about Shadow Point and proudly shared amusing stories and anecdotes about their four grandsons who were bear shifters.
“Tristan, Aidan, Mason and Jackson are all happily mated now and have families of their own,” Gramma said with a broad smile. “And we love our beautiful great-grandkids!”
Ne-ma nodded and said emphatically, “Family is everything.”
Lisa looked down and bit her lip hard. “That was what I thought too. But I was wrong,” she mumbled. “So wrong.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Lisa looked up when Ne-ma reached out and took her hand.
“Lisa,” Ne-ma said quietly. “Family isn’t about blood. You may be related to someone through blood, but that alone doesn’t make you family. Blood means nothing if there is no love and loyalty.”
BEARly Bitten (Bear Bites Book 2) Page 4
