The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 50: Chapter 50

Olivia refused to leave, and I wasn’t going to open the door with her here. Maddie didn’t need the extra provocation. Or did she?
Maybe that would light a fire under her ass.
“No,” Onyx said firmly.
“I make the calls.”
“Fine. Fuck her head again. Go ahead.” It felt like a bitch slap from the inside. I pinched the bridge of my nose. Olivia cocked her head, one brow raised, and stepped around me, reaching for the door. I blocked her path and met her scowl.
“What are you protecting her from?”
She tried to sound snide, but the pain in her voice was obvious. Maybe she didn’t think I’d notice.
I wanted to say: you. But I couldn’t. That would feed her ego and put power in her hands.
While I stood blocking the door, a thought hit me:
Maddie was inside. The door was unlocked, which meant she could hear everything.
And knowing her, which I did, she would’ve busted out and run off by now.
I released Onyx’s chains and let him move freely to the front.
He pushed through the mental barrier I’d raised to keep him at bay. The mutt had worse anger issues than Logan. Olivia stumbled a step back, trying to maintain her stance, but her eyes gave her away. She felt him. And she wanted to cower.
“LEAVE!” The growl tore from my throat, dark and raw, cutting through the air like a blade.
Birds scattered from the trees, and bushes shivered as leaves tore free from their stems.
Olivia scoffed and shook her head, but she was backing away.
With every retreating step, her scowl deepened and her eyes sharpened into a venomous glare.
Fuck, this was going to come back and bite me in the ass. Or maybe she’d move on and live a good life, away from me. Though I doubted she’d stay away from Maddie. How many problems did we have now? I was trying to categorize them, structure everything, prioritize which fuck-ups to deal with first. Ah, fuck it. The headache, working its way up, would have to wait.
First on the list: the tantrum-throwing girl held up in the gym. I opened the door and braced myself for the storm, cusswords slapping me in the face, maybe even a featherlight jab on the cheek.
All of it was possible. And I’d let her live it out. The gym was dark.
Fuck. I forgot, the lights turn off automatically when the shed’s locked from the outside.
“Maddie?” My voice was calm, quiet. But the smell of sweat clung to the air, and I could hear her rapid breaths.
“I know you’re here.” I stepped in, closed the door behind me, and flipped the lever to turn the lights back on. The fluorescents buzzed to life, and then I saw her. Curled in the corner. Knees pulled tight to her chest, head buried deep. What the hell?
“Maddie?” No response. I walked over and sat beside her, gently reaching for her hand,
She yanked it back, kept rocking, silent and trembling.
MADELINE
FLASHBACK…
“Come here!” I ran as fast as I could up the stairs, my mom right behind me. I tripped on the steps when she reached for me, heart pounding, hands shaking as I tried to get to the door. Her growls bounced off the walls behind me. I didn’t dare look into her eyes, I knew what I’d see there.
Rage. Pure, black rage.
Like the feathers on a raven. No humanity left in them. Daddy was still on the couch in the living room. He covered his face and choked out a whisper for her to stop.
But she didn’t. My pink floral dress snagged on the molding around the hallway corner and tore. A piece fluttered like a flag behind me.
She stopped to look at it. Her chest heaved. Her face turned as red as the roses in her garden. I reached the door. Turned the knob. Prayed I could lock it in time.
“Madeline Torrance, GET BACK HERE!” Yes! I opened the door and stepped in, then searing pain lit my scalp on fire. My head snapped back as she grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked me down the hall. The rug scraped my skin. My legs flailed. Panic rushed through me like a flood, and it wrapped around my heart, squeezing until nothing else existed but the ache.
“Stop! Mommy, stop!!” The door opened, and I started crying. My heels dragged over the threshold, skin prickling on the wood. The last thing I saw before she slammed it shut was my dad, standing at the top of the stairs, eyes full of water. Mouth shut. She threw me into the closet.
Pressed her finger to my forehead and hissed,
“If you can’t behave when we’re outside, you don’t need to go out. You will never embarrass me again.” The door slammed. The lock turned. All the light disappeared. She always left the key in. Said it sealed the cracks. Said I needed to learn. I hated the dark. But I never told anyone. A werewolf afraid of the dark was pathetic. Weak. Embarrassing. Just like she said. My dad once told me it was okay to be afraid when you’re seven. That fear was part of life. But she heard him. And he took it back. She hears everything. Sees everything. And nothing is ever good, unless it’s perfect. Tears cooled the fire on my cheeks. I tucked my head between my legs.
Her footsteps outside kept my heartbeat racing. She was waiting. Waiting for me to cry. She’d “rectify” my weakness, she always said. But if I pressed my head down hard enough… I could cry quietly. And that way, she wouldn’t win. I never knew what really embarrassed her.
That day, all I did was run around the backyard with Logan and Tilly. We played in the mud.
My dress got dirty. When we came back inside, she didn’t say a word, just looked at me.
Then at my dress. And when her eyes came back up…I knew I’d fucked up. She loved going to the pack house. But Dad never came with us. He always stayed home. Watching TV. I wasn’t allowed to stay with him. The door slammed again. I flinched and hit my chin on my knees.
“Your father and I are leaving. The crying had better be gone by the time we get back.” I pressed my palms against the door. But her footsteps faded. Then vanished. And I was alone. In the dark.
I hugged my knees. And the sobs poured out.
END FLASHBACK