The Alpha's Daughter: Whispers in the Wind [on hold]

Whispers in the Wind - Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Gordon:

It would have been a happy occasion. It could have been a happy occasion. Everyone wanted it to be a happy occasion. But we were suddenly faced with the very real predicament that Dante had completely broken Annie. How else would one explain the complete breakdown that we had been witness to? Or the panic in her face when she held her wee girl for the first time in months?

Cal was like a ghost; Annie had been home for two weeks, and she still didn’t want to speak to him. And Rosie…She couldn’t even look at Rosie without wincing. What had they done to her? What had they done to make her change so much?

Silence filled the kitchen, much like it did every night, the clunking of cutlery on plates the only noise that could be heard. I suppose Sierra could have taken it as a compliment; all of us were far too focused on our food to bother talking to each other.

To be honest though, I missed the arguments. I missed Radleigh and Jase arguing over who got the salt first, or Cal and Ade heatedly debating who was faster. Hell, I even missed Zane passing comment every time someone bent over.

But there was none of that now.

It was as though, with the death of Annie’s fire, had come the death of the pack.

“I’m going out,” Jase muttered gruffly, drawing back his chair. Sierra glanced up at him, her eyes wide and her face pale. Poor girl; everyone knew where he was going. Everyone knew how much it hurt Sierra to feel her mate with another woman.

Didn’t stop Jase though.

Sometimes it felt as like he had completely lost his way, while at others he oozed with such direction, that I wanted to ask if he had any to spare for the rest of us. I just wished he’d make up his bloody mind about staying faithful; he had a family.

“Are you going to come back?” Sierra asked quietly, her voice blank. Jase considered her for a moment, before whispering something in her ear and straightening up, nodding at us all and disappearing through the door.

“And you’re just going to let him go?” Zane demanded furiously, looking directly at me. Did he think that I had the power to stop Jase from doing this?

“He’s a grown-up,” I muttered darkly. “He can make his own mistakes.” Zane shook his head in disbelief, as though the thought of ever cheating on his mate sounded awful to him. He was a fine one to talk; everyone had seen the way he looked at Radleigh when the poor kid wasn’t looking…

I was surprised that Ade didn’t mind more than he did.

Rollo sat in the corner, taking us all in, his food barely touched. I wasn’t sure why – other than the obvious – Cal and Radleigh objected so much to having him in the house; he hardly made a sound, and when he did it was something along the lines of him needing a cigarette.

And he was the only one who Annie would let into her room.

How is she? I asked discretely as everyone started to rise from the table.

I think she’s getting there, Rollo sighed vaguely, staring out of the window, but she still won’t come out.

“You’d think,” Cal growled, “that after being locked in a room for so long, that she would want the freedom.”

You can still be trapped, even if you aren’t locked in, Rollo mumbled, feeling in his pocket and getting to his feet. Locks aren’t the only thing that can keep a person from freedom.