The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 17: Chapter 17

The ribbon red blush she’s worn for as long as I could remember became the shade of her entire face. Now that Jack wasn’t in the vicinity, she could let her claws come out and if she fumes a little longer, I’m sure a tail would grow from her back.
“I warned you, Maddie,”
Sigh, I wanted to shove it in her face how there was a sex tape floating around with her daughter as a freshly born porn star but now wasn’t the time. I had to calm down.
“Mom, I’m sorry-“
“You do not get to speak!” she snapped.
“The only thing I asked of you was that you don’t screw this up for me. You’ve had it out for Jack and his boys ever since you found out about us, is that what this is? Hmm? You can’t stand me being happy, so you have to ruin it like everything else you touch,”
The bells rang in my head: Psycho, psycho, psycho.
“Mom-“ I was cut off by the palm of her hand slashing through the air and cutting against my cheek.
My head whipped to the side, I stared at the wall and the pain throbbed through my face, but it wasn’t much compared to the rest of my mutilated body.
“I said don’t speak. Hopefully, those wounds on your body will have taught you a thing or two,” her words turned into hissing whispers. “You can learn from Jack’s boys, they are well-mannered young men and I will not have you stain them with your inadequacies,” she pointed a finger in my face. “Do not make me look bad in front of him again, and do not ever make the Reed boys look bad either. They are his sons, our family, and we will continue as one. Do you understand me, Maddie?” she seethed.
“They aren’t your sons,” I said through clenched teeth.
“One day they will be, once they see me as the permanent mate of their father.”
So delusional it almost made me sad for her. Emphasis on almost.
Mom looked across my face and down my wounded chest.
“Go get cleaned up, we’re having tea on the terrace and the boys will join us soon,”
Her kitten heels clicked against the floor, and she walked through the hallway but the words bubbled inside of me and I couldn’t not ask.
“Don’t you want to know?” she stopped around the corner and turned to face me. Her brow shot up to her hair line and she cupped her hands in her front.
“Know what?”
I scoffed and felt the sting from her rings grow on my cheek. The pain was shooting out across my cheek, and I looked at her fingers, yup, a chunky ass golden ring with diamond studs. That one was new.
“About what happened,” I said and limped closer.
Mom sighed like it was a nuisance just thinking about it.
The smell of her lavender perfume wafted toward me when someone opened the doors and a breeze pulled in through the house.
“I already know what happened. You managed to coerce the boys into going with you on a childish endeavor, what for I don’t know, and frankly I don’t care. Noah is the rising Alpha, he can’t afford you tarnishing his name. And as far as this goes,” she waved her hand in front of me. “Maybe it’s what you needed to learn the importance of discipline and hopefully you won’t do it again.”
She raised a fucking shoulder and her pearl earrings dangled down her ears when she turned around in a huff.
When I turned my head and saw my reflection in the oven, I touched the small puncture marks on my cheek where my mother’s handprint covered my skin.
I closed my eyes, deep breaths, there’s nothing I can do about this yet. But soon, I’ll have my wolf in two weeks.
Mom has known the Reed boys their entire life, in what universe could another person ever coerce them into doing anything?
My chest was cramping, and my core was tightened, I didn’t want to stand anymore but if I didn’t join them on the terrace within thirty minutes, she would come looking for me and I didn’t need the headache. Or another piece of my skin burning.
Okay, let’s just go.
When I turned around about to leave the kitchen, I was blocked by a wall and a gust of wind circled me.
I leaned my head back to look into his dark eyes, Noah’s shoulders were raised, and his fingers coiled into fists by his sides but why was he so rigid? He wasn’t the one who took a beating.
He was silent for far too long and his eyes kept scanning the redness on my cheek.
Noah raised his hand, about to touch my jaw but I jerked away and stepped back with a wince. My leg was still broken and standing on it wasn’t aiding the healing, but hey, who the fuck cares right?
“Stand still.” His voice was soft and low.
“I have to shower,” I said and stepped past him, but Noah circled his fingers around my arm, locking me in place. I gritted my teeth from the pain and pulled back, but he tightened his hold.
He was about to get an ear full when I turned to face him, but his eyes hardened, and he pulled me in.
“Don’t speak, just stand still. That’s an order,”
A rush of warmth spread through me, seeping up my arm where his fingers dug into my skin and it filled my chest, somehow easing the pain I felt in my bones.
Noah’s eyes flickered over mine and then back to the mark on my cheek, he touched the throbbing patch where her rings had branded me, and his hold on my arm tightened with each glance.
The more he looked at it the tighter he grabbed onto me and I couldn't bite the pain down anymore.
“You’re hurting me,” I whispered and pulled to get my arm free but he didn’t let go.