[[OLD]] A Handful of Daffodils (Forgotten Series, #7)

Chapter Six

I felt numb.

I had known father hadn't cared for me, had treated me like his unwanted burden, proof of his willing mistake. But I hadn't expected him to toss me towards a male and pass ownership of me over. A sour and bitter part of me hissed that I should have expected it, that he had made it clear how much of a burden I was, that he told me time and time again how worthless I was. It shouldn't have come as a surprise.

It did.

I didn't have a home anymore, a place to go. It was the second time in my life I had my security ripped away from me. Not truly liking my home didn't mean I wasn't cracked down the middle at the loss of it. I knew it hadn't been the best and I hadn't been exactly happy with it but it had been my home for twenty years. I knew each and every tile and floorboard in it and now I knew I couldn't return. It was no longer home for me.

My breath caught in my chest but my eyes remained dry. I didn't know if I had tears to spare for the horror I knew was inside me at what father had done. The sky was darkening, I had been standing outside for hours. The large and rather terrifying male had not come back out since he had left me with the heated hiss of his words and the booming slam of the door.

I couldn't feel my hands from where I had them tightly wrapped in my skirt and my shirt collar. I knew that when they did move they would creak and ache with pain. I couldn't bring myself to mov them though. I was numb. I couldn't feel anything, not event he slight breeze that I knew brought a bitter chill with it.

I was unwanted.

Worthless.

The realization of what my father had done sunk like a strong in my stomach. I had always felt like I had value, not a lot but some, when I cleaned the house and did the chores asked of me. I had made myself useful and it should have given me a tiny bit of value but father had given me away. There was no value to me, it was a harsh slap to the face to learn just how little I was valued. The Delta had been right, father did just simply give me away to the first person who asked. There was a tiny part of me that was thankful it hadn't been that Delta who had. Being unwanted was better than being forced under a male who disliked me. Even I knew that.

I gave a shaky exhale, a faint shiver starting up inside me as I stared nearly sightlessly into the darkening sky. Worthless. Father and the Alpha would not care how I was treated, they had said as much. I could be abused, beaten, broken, defiled, and neither would care.

It hurt.

I didn't want it too but it did.

"Menza!" Simon's voice was a low hiss and I turned on a stiff neck to where he was jogging across the dark lawn towards the porch. "Goddess, you are still standing there!" He came up onto the steps, his footsteps heavy and his chest heaving with his deep breaths that let me know he had run over to see me. "It's been hours. Why are you still standing here?" He grabbed my face before gently grabbing my hands, untangling them from my clothing. The fingers ached and creaked in protects from the movement.

I looked at him, seeing the bruise that ringed his yes and the dried blood that seemed to come from his nose and the faint split in his bottom lip. He had gotten into a rather nasty fight. I made a sound low in my throat, everything forgotten but my brother and his beaten face. He grabbed my hand before I could touch the bruise.

"It looks worse than it is. I'll heal." His voice was sharp and hurried as he looked around. "Why are you still standing here?" His eyes gleamed with a faint animalistic rage and I winced, stretching out my sore and stiff fingers.

"I am unwanted, Simon. He doesn't want me and I do not blame him." The words were slightly hoarse, my voice cracking slightly from disuse. "I'm nothing but an unwanted burden but I cannot leave so I stay." I gave a helpless sort of shrug before I gave a small cough, doing my best to clear out my throat as I gave a dry swallow.