Page 13 of Bound to the Wolf
Delainey was half finished with her food when Brenda broke. She set her fork down parallel to her knife on the edge of her plate with a judgmental little click and addressed Briana directly. “I just don’t see why you didn’t guide Elise away from this mistake. You are a coven—when one of your members acts foolishly, you correct them.”
“We trusted you to look after our daughter,” Tim added.
Assholes.
Delainey didn’t say it out loud, but she had to bite her tongue to keep the word from escaping. Serena knocked her foot against Delainey’s and shot her a warning look.
This wasn’t Delainey’s battle. Elise was the one who had to speak up. So why did she just sink further and further into her seat? She was shrinking down to nothingness, going quiet and pretending to be a good little girl who never fought back.
But that wasn’t Elise.
Delainey had known her for years now and gotten to know her tics and tricks. Elise wasn’t the type to argue. She would sit there and shrink and agree and look recalcitrant and pathetic, and then the second someone looked away she would slip off to do whatever the hell she wanted. Delainey appreciated the tactic and understood exactly why Elise had chosen it for her own personal brand of avoidance.
But clearly it wasn’t going to make her parents go away. They needed things spelled out for them, and Elise wasn’t the type to do that.
“Your room is waiting for you back home,” Tim reached for his daughter and placed his hand over hers.
Elise’s mouth fell open and her eyes got wide. Delainey thought maybe this would be the moment Elise finally stood up for herself, but then she just looked down. “This is my home now,” she mumbled as she pulled her hand out from under her father’s and tucked it into her lap.
Okay, that was something. It wasn’t the knockdown drag-out fight Delainey would have preferred, but at least Elise was making her desires known.
“A home keeps you safe,” Brenda said. “It doesn’t let you cavort with the enemy.”
“Nico’s not—” Elise snapped her mouth shut and slouched even further. If she went any lower, she might actually slide off the chair.
“Yes, tell me what Nicois,” Brenda said. She set her water glass down hard enough that liquid sloshed against the sides. “Elise, do you know where he’s from? Who his father is, and that pack of his?”
“You have no place?—”
“You have no place,” Delainey snapped. She dropped her fork onto her plate with a clatter that made Aya flinch.
Crap.
She wasn’t supposed to do this. She was just supposed to sit back and take the Elise strategy of taking the beating and letting it pass. But the Nevins didn’t look like they were going to give up anytime soon.
Brenda looked at her, eyes wide and mouth open in an expression that looked strangely the same as Elise’s had a moment ago. Delainey pushed any thoughts of resemblance aside.
“This isn’t your coven,” Delainey planted both hands on the edge of the table and leaned forward, her blue nails bright against the tablecloth. “You don’t make the rules, and you don’t get to tell us how to live. Elise is a grown woman, and she can love who she wants. If you have a problem with that, the door is right there.” She pointed down the hall toward the front entrance.
The table went silent. Delainey heard the clock on the wall ticking and felt blood rushing in her ears. Her hands shooka little, and she flexed them before they gave her away. Elise looked mortified, and Briana’s expression had gone blank. Serena knocked her knee against Delainey’s, as if to say ‘you got this’. Aya took a bite of her mashed potatoes like nothing had happened.
“How dare you speak to us this way, you little?—”
“Brenda.” Tim held up one hand, palm out, without raising his voice. He looked at his daughter. “You should come home with us now, child.”
Elise hung her head, then forced it up to meet her father’s eyes. “I’m staying here,” she said defiantly. “This is my home now. It’s where I belong. I think it’s time the two of you went back to Wallace Grove.” Her voice was small but strong.
Brenda opened her mouth to say something else, but Tim just shook his head.
“Clearly you donotneed our guidance,” Brenda said, pushing her chair back from the table and standing in one sharp motion. “We will remember that in the future.”
She and her husband stalked down the hallway toward the guest room, where Delainey could hear Brenda snap something about packing up their belongings. The guest room door shut with a firm click, and then came the muffled thud of a suitcase being pulled from the closet.
“Hell fucking yeah,” Serena said, reaching across the table to steal a piece of bread from the basket. “Someone needed to say it.”
“That might have consequences.” Briana rubbed her thumb along the handle of her fork without picking it up.
Delainey shrugged. “They were pissing me off.”
