Chapter Eighty

I stared up at Lynn, and once the realization sunk in, I broke out into a smile. “You beautiful woman.” I jumped up and grabbed her arms. “You’re right.”

She nodded and smiled. “You can dish out every bruise and put-lip your mother suffered through and give it back tenfold. And the Alpha won’t be able to step in because of his own rules. Otherwise you can call the king.”

I turned to Ronnie, and he nodded. “I would call the King ahead of time and give him a warning.” He winked. “Just be proactive.”

I nodded and settled back into my seat. “Brandon has been making my mother’s life a little difficult. He has been doing his best to weasel his way into my space as well, but my mother has barred him from the room.”

Ronnie chuckled. “She could always get her way with alphas.”

I cut my eyes to him, and I could see bitterness there. “Do you know why my mother married Morgan?”

“Because she loved him.” Ronnie shook his head like it was obvious. “Your dad betrayed her, and she moved on without breaking their bond.” Ronnie’s face morphed into something I had never seen before. Betrayal didn’t sit properly on his face. It was too alien. He was always such a cheerful man, but this, this was his line.

“No,” I whispered.

Ronnie shot me a look like he didn’t believe it. “When we moved to the Oakenfang pack, my mother was a betrayed wolf. Do you know what that means?”

“She wasn’t, though.” I lifted a shoulder.

“No one knows the truth. She was a betrayed wolf with a pup. I was a child, but when I got older, I used to scream at my mother, until I picked the wrong day to throw a tantrum.” I remembered the day vividly.

“What do you mean?”

“My mother drinks.”

“No, she doesn’t. Her father was an alcoholic, and she swore to never touch the stuff,” Ronnie shot back, but my look cut him off.

“You are right. But there are certain days where she drinks so much she is falling-down drunk. And a few years ago, I attacked her on one of these days. I called her all sorts of names for sleeping with Morgan, for making us live in this fucking disaster of a pack, and after yet another screaming tantrum from me, she broke.”

“She broke?” Lynn leaned over the seat, focused on the story. I nodded.

“She screamed at me. She asked me if I really thought that she wanted to be here, that she would want to be betrayed by her goddess-given mate and have to settle for this pack.

“What? That’s bull.” I held up my hand, stopping Ronnie from continuing.

“She screamed. She wanted to be alone with me for the rest of her life, but Alpha Vince didn’t leave her any options.”

Lynn gasped. “You can’t be serious.”

I looked up at her and nodded, but Ronnie was still so clueless. “Serious about what?”

“Beta, you have to know the old laws.” Lynn sat down heavily in her seat.

“I know the laws, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“The fact that you haven’t clued in shows that you’re a great man, and that you are privileged.” I sighed.

“What does that even mean?” Ronnie tossed his hands in the air.

“It means that because you are a man, you are able to not worry about old laws that can be invoked to take away your rights, all because of your sex.” Lynn’s voice was cold and angry.

Ronnie’s face was obviously confused, and I blew out a breath. “When we first moved to the Oakenfang pack, Alpha Vince invoked the betrayed wolf law.”

“What is that?” Ronnie closed his eyes, trying to remember the law.

“A betrayed female wolf is open property if she is unclaimed by the new moon. If her goddess-given mate didn’t want her, then it was expected that no one would. She could be claimed by any wolf strong enough to claim her.” Ronnie’s eyes snapped open.

“She would be treated as property from that moment onwards,” Lynn finished.

“Excuse me?” Ronnie jumped to his feet.

“So my mother had weeks from his invoking the law to find a wolf that would marry her, because she couldn’t mate again. Morgan had just lost his mate, and he had a pup to raise. They came to an agreement, one my mother wanted to stick to, but as time went on, Morgan wanted to renegotiate.” I could feel the bitterness on my tongue.

“Why would she renegotiate it?”

“Because Alpha Vince has made it obvious that if a divorce was ever completed, then he would invoke the law again. And until I came of age, I was a package deal.”