Running from Fate

Chapter 42 - Released from the Confines of a Snake

Daemon POV

Matias held my hand tightly as we stood in front of the cell, bars separating me and him from the woman on the other side. She stared at us, at me, with fake care in her eyes. What in the world was she up to?

"My boy," She cried, and I flinched back. No way was this happening. Absolutely not.

"What...What are you doing? Why are you here?" I asked, my face still scrunched up in a grimace. Her eyes flashed with something darker, but it was gone in a second. Probably to keep her facade up.

"I was worried about you, can a mother not be worried about her son?" Her voice was dripping in fake concern, and it was honestly kind of embarrassing.

"You suddenly ran away from home, and then the news spreads that you're back and you don't come to see us?" She stood up, walking to the bars and wrapping her tied hands around them. Matias and I both took a step back, Matias positioning himself slightly in front of me.

"What do you really want? We both know you don't care about me," I sighed, sick of this act she was putting up already. I rubbed the bridge of my nose with my forefinger and thumb, sighing. She gasped, though, still faking love and concern.

"How could you say such a thing! You're my son, of course, I care for you!" She shouted, and I rolled my eyes.

"Most people who care for their children don't spend years abusing them, mother." I hissed, clenching Matias's hand. He squeezed back, glancing down at me. She gasped again, her hands flying to her chest like she had been wounded.

Oh, my Goddess when was this going to stop?

"How could you make that accusation? I would never lay a hand on a child of mine!" She cried, wiping away a tear that wasn't even there.

"Just cut the crap, what do you want! I don't want you here, I don't ever even want to see you again! Just let me be!" I yelled, throwing my hands up in the air in frustration.

And then her mask broke.

She scowled, hatred burning in her eyes as she growled at us. Matias growled back, but I just rolled my eyes.

"The mask breaks," I mumbled, and Matias gives my hand another squeeze.

"You ungrateful brat," She snarled, banging her tied hands against the bars. I flinched back slightly, and Matias growled. She growled back, her eyes cutting to my mate and back to me.

"I raised you, fed you, bathed you, and you run away and don't even bother to come home!" She yelled, her voice rising. Her eyes were burning blue, her wolf showing through.

"You don't belong here," She snarled, canines elongating, "You don't deserve this. You never did! You're an ungrateful brat that I should have put down when we released you'd never be anything but useless!" She screamed, hands banging against the bars that divided us. I looked at her wide-eyed, and I couldn't help the tears that built as she assaulted me with her words.

I knew she hated me, but I never knew that she had thought about killing me.

Matias roared, his power as Alpha seeping through the noise. My mother was not affected at all though, her fury was still directed at me.

"That is enough!" He snarled, now standing completely in front of me, blocking me from my mother's view. I was shaking slightly as her words ran through my head, and trying not to let them get to me.

"You don't deserve your mate," She snarled, her voice low, and I knew she was still talking to me.

"Enough!" Matias roared angrily, and she growled at him. She growled at an Alpha. I flinched, tightly gripping into the back of Matias's shirt as a tear slipped down my cheek.

"You don't deserve to have a mate. You don't deserve to be alive." She spat, and I flinched again.

Matias snapped though, rushing towards the bars, and she didn't have time to escape far enough back that he couldn't reach her. His hands just fit through the bars, and he grabbed her by the neck, strangling her. She gasped, bringing her own tied hands up to grip one of his wrists, sputtering as she tried to breathe.

I watched, stunned, as my mate growled in her face, posture tense and anger seeping from him.

"You do not talk to my mate like that. He is more of a person than you will ever be. He deserves everything I have given him, and more. What he did not deserve, is to have grown up with your shitty parenting." He released her from his grip, shoving her back and she stumbled, falling onto her butt.

I watched, shocked, as my mate stood fuming next to the bars. My mother coughed and wheezed, but kept the glare on her face, aiming it at my mate. My eyes watered for a different reason this time, as I stepped forward and placed a hand on Matias's bicep. He glanced down at me, his gaze softening and posture losing some of its tension.

I gave him a small smile as I ran my hand down his arm and slipped my hand into his. He squeezed my hand, pulling me into his side.

I looked back down at the woman on the floor, and my resolve strengthened.

I stood up straight, and for the first time in almost 22 years, I spoke back to the woman who "raised" me.

"I deserve everything he has given me, and I regret not being able to have it sooner. I could have, if you hadn't down the things you had, and ruined me. But I'm not that same boy you beat into the floor in a fit of rage anymore. I'm not the boy you belittled and hurt.

I'm not going to let myself listen to you and believe your words anymore. I'm not going to let myself believe anything you ever say anymore, and I'm going to live my life happily like I've been doing." I said, adrenaline coursing through me as I stood up to the woman. She did not own me, she did not control me, and I was going to live my life free, not in the grasp of her harmful words and ideas.

She sneered, rubbing her throat one last time as she shuffled back to the corner of the cell. Rolling her eyes, she muttered under her breath,

"I wish those experiments had failed. You'd be better off dead."

Matias and I both froze. I stared at her with wide eyes while Matias immediately tensed up, a glare back on his face as my mother slowly smirked at both of us. Matias was the first to speak.

"What?"

Guys, guys, you have to spare me.

Cliff hangers keep people reading, and I enjoy doing them.

I'm sorry, I'm sorrrryyyyyy.

Please forgive me

Maybe I'll give you two chapters this week. ;)