Breed Me, Daddy Alpha-Chapter 320

"You didn’t come," she continued, her chin lifting, her eyes narrowing like blades being sharpened. "Your brother’s and daughter’s funeral was held, and you were not there. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"They buried him without you. Do you know what that did to me? To stand over the coffin of one son while the other stayed away as though the dead meant nothing?"

Did she expect me to mourn Darren? Did she expect me to stand over a grave and pretend he had been my brother when he had buried me alive with his own hands? When he had laughed as my mate bled out? When he had told her that my unborn children deserved to die? I felt my claws itch to come out just at the thought.

"Do you know what it did to me, Mother, to stand in the dirt with his knife buried in my chest? Do you know what it did to me to claw my way out of the grave he put me in, while he laughed and spat on the woman who carried my soul in her body?

"Do you know what it did to me to tear his heart out of his ribs with my own claws because he left me no choice? Do not speak to me of coffins. Do not speak to me of mourning. You did not see what I saw. You did not bleed as I bled. You did not crawl out of the dirt with worms in your throat. You did not hear your mate scream while your brother smiled."

Her lips tightened.

"You should have forgiven him but you killed him.she said at last.

"And I’ll do it again mother. I killed the man who stopped being my brother the moment he chose betrayal over blood.

"Do not call him that to me. Do not put that word in your mouth when it does not belong. He lost the right to be my brother the night he put me in the ground. He lost it the second he touched what was mine."

"Damon." She screamed.

I turned my head slowly, my jaw locked, my chest heaving, and I let my eyes burn into hers. "Look at me, Mother," I said, my voice low but rolling like thunder. "I know you are grieving for your son. Everyone is. Let them. They can weep, they can tear their hair, they can drown themselves in sorrow if they choose. That is their right." I stepped closer, my shadow stretching over her, my wolf pressing against my skin.

"But you see me. I am not grieving. I do not carry sorrow for Darren. I do not even carry sorrow for Tasha. I buried those emotions with their bodies. They are not my burden to drag. I killed the traitor who wore my brother’s face. I watched the madness tear through the daughter who carried my blood. And I feel nothing. Do you understand me? Nothing."

"I am not grieving, Mother. I do not have tears left for Darren. I do not have pity left for Tasha. I am not the boy you raised, clinging to family because you told me blood was everything. No. Blood betrayed me. Blood buried me.

"Blood tried to rip my heart out through the woman I love. And if blood thinks it can chain me, then I will break it. I will burn it. I will stand above it. So it is best you live, Mother. Live with whatever grief you want to carry. Live with the memory of the son you think you lost.

"But know this.."I leaned closer, my growl enough to make the windows shake. "I will not kneel to grief. I will not mourn betrayal. I will not let blood define me. I am Alpha because I survived, because I killed, because I rose. And I will keep rising whether you stand beside me or not."

I was ready to keep tearing her apart with words, but the sound of my phone broke through the air before I could speak again. I pulled it from where it was kept and when I saw the name on the screen, every part of me went still. Lyra’s parents.

I let them speak until they were finished, and then I gave them only one answer. "I am on my way."

I lowered the phone, sliding it into my pocket, and for a long moment I stood there in the silence that followed. My mother’s eyes were still on me.

"I have to go, Mother," I said. I did not offer her an explanation before leaving.