Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
“When did you move here?”
“When I was fifteen.” She licked her lips. “Me and my dad got into a fight, which wasn’t unusual. He said some pretty shitty stuff, and then he grabbed me by the throat. My mink rose just enough to take a hard swipe at his face, her claws out. Ira freaked. And for the first time, he looked truly scared of me.”
A growl rattled in Eli’s chest. “He should never have fucking touched you that way.”
“No, he shouldn’t have. He told me to get out and never come back, but I’d already decided I was leaving. While my mother was busy trying to calm him down, I packed my shit with my brother’s help. Miles then gave me a ride to pack territory. I’ve been living here ever since.”
“Do you still see your parents?”
“No. Miles told me that Ira forbid him, Mom, and my sister from contacting me. Miles was the only one who disobeyed that order. To be truthful, Dad never liked me anyway. I was a disappointment from the start. Both my siblings were child prodigies, you know. Emily’s a walking calculator. She has all kinds of degrees in mathematics, and she got the first of them when she was six. Miles is a violinist. He started playing when he was two, and he mastered it after only five months of training. That’s no exaggeration.
“Me? I’m not academic. Or musical. Or ‘gifted’ in any area other than sports, which he doesn’t consider relevant. I’m not bitter that I’m not a genius, so please don’t think I am.”
“I know you’re not, I’d sense it through the bond if you were bitter.”
“I never minded that I wasn’t a prodigy. I just minded that my father minded. He and Mom put all their time and attention into my siblings, supporting and encouraging them. And I’m not saying they shouldn’t have. Child prodigies can be a handful.”
“But you needed that time and attention, too.”
Her nose wrinkled. “Not really. I just needed my father to not make me feel ‘less’ simply because I wasn’t a genius. His disappointment in me bloomed into full-blown disgust when he realized I could shift.
“Really, Emily’s the only child that Ira feels any pride in now. Not just because she’s super smart. She’s always fallen in line with what he wanted, always met his expectations. In short, she reflects well on Ira. Makes him look good to the outside world, which is important to him.”
Another growl built in Eli’s throat. Her sense of isolation fluttered down their mating bond. Ira had succeeded in making her feel like an outsider in her own family, the bastard, long before he’d tossed her away. Well, now she had Eli. She’d never be or feel alone again. “Does your sister share his view of shifters, even though she’s part shifter herself?”
“I don’t know. Emily is somewhat haughty and self-involved. She wasn’t nice or mean when we were growing up. I was sort of inconsequential to her. But when my mink surfaced, she changed. Became distant. I could never tell if she was just adopting my father’s views or if she was jealous that my animal had surfaced when hers hadn’t.”
“Was Miles jealous?”
“No, though he’s disappointed that he’s latent. He’s different from Emily. Cocky, sure, but also fun and quick to laugh. A sensitive soul. He spoke up for me if Ira went too far. He snuck me treats whenever I was confined to my room. Helped me with my schoolwork.”
Her brow furrowed as she added, “But he retreated into himself after his girlfriend—who’d also been one of my teammates—Sherryl, ended the relationship. See, the stirrings of an imprint bond had been there. It meant that the separation wasn’t easy on him. It gave him bad headaches and mood swings. It also made him slightly depressed.
“He withdrew from everyone. Disappeared for days at a time. I heard he was hanging out at shifter bars, but I didn’t think much of it. I don’t know at what point he started taking drugs—he was never specific about it. I only know that Ignacio gave him drugs for free at first.”
“He got Miles hooked on them.”
Casey nodded. “My father has disowned him, just as he did me, so my parents won’t help him. I’m really all Miles has. He never contacts me, though. You hear of addicts lying to and stealing from their relatives, but Miles … it’s like he just wanted to cut everything out of his life that reminded him of Sherryl—even me. Or maybe it’s that he just can’t face me, ashamed of how low he sank. Maybe it’s both, I don’t know.”
Eli smoothed his hand up and down her back. He now understood the reason for her unwavering loyalty to her brother. Miles was the only member of her family who’d never made her feel like she wasn’t good enough for said family. He’d stood up for her, he’d brought her to a place where she was safe, he hadn’t tainted the surfacing of her mink, and he’d kept in contact with her up until his own life fell apart. The rest of her family? They were fucking useless, as far as Eli was concerned.