The Omegas Second Chance

Chapter 13

Shayna

By the time I got home, I was dead on my feet. The door slammed shut behind me and I leaned my body weight against it. I had a headache that was starting to feel like an anvil pounding on it and my wolf was clawing at the boundaries of my mind. She wanted out. Needed out. I reached down and slid my heels off of my feet and threw them to the floor. There was a loud thumping coming from further in the house and I groaned both in annoyance and agony. I needed this migraine to go away.

"Miles!" I shouted over the music but got no response. "Miles!" I shouted again.

With no response again, I rolled my eyes and dragged myself towards the kitchen. The floorboards creaked and groaned as I walked. Me too buddy....Me too. I thought as I stared at the floor. I opened the fridge and pulled out the meat I had placed there for dinner tonight. The clock on the wall read 6:45 and, as if to punctuate the time, my stomach growled. I was supposed to get off work at five but, according to Levi, his secretary stays until he is ready to leave. I wanted to throttle him. I had so many choice words I wanted to shout at him, so many insults I desired to hurl his way.

I searched the cabinets for things that would be easy to throw together that I knew Miles would also eat. Who am I kidding? The kid is a garbage disposal. He'll eat anything you put in front of him. I started chopping and dicing up the food and threw it all into their collective pans. The sizzling of the heat and grease was like music to my own ears. I loved to cook. It was therapeutic for me. It gave me something to do and, for a while back home, it was one of the only ways I could express myself. A lot of the time, I found that keeping my hands busy kept my mind from wandering and held the anxious thoughts and the depression at bay. I remember when Miles was little, and he'd stand on a stool next to the stove, observing each and every move I made. He'd help me stir the food, he'd play in the flour when I baked, we would make messes together. I cherished those memories.

There was a loud thumping coming down the hallway and the obnoxiously loud bass from Miles's music quieted to a dull thud. Brought out of his den by the scent of food and his apparently ever-empty stomach, miles appeared in the kitchen. He had a furrowed brow and a frown on his face. He wore an oversized black hoodie with the hood pulled high over his head. He looked upset, maybe even a little distressed. My heart sank going over the possibilities of what happened.

Did he have a bad day at school? Did he get into a fight? Did he get picked on? Did he like his teachers? Did he hear from Derek? Miles had his own phone. I had convinced his dad that he needed it, and it helped Miles feel a bit of independence. Considering he used his phone to consistently blow mine up today, I was worried he wasn't feeling independent at all recently.

"What's wrong?" I asked. I set the spatula down on the counter, and he huffed before throwing his body weight into the rickety chair. I was honestly surprised it didn't buckle under the force of it.

"Nothing" he muttered under his breath. His tone was a bit harsh. I paused trying to read the room, his emotions. Noticing me watching him he rolled his eyes. "Nothing is wrong mom! Just drop it!"

"Okay..." I whispered. Attempting to change the subject, I asked, "How was school?"

He groaned and threw his head back, thumping it against the wall. Okay, off limits question then. I continued to cook, humming to myself while I thought of other ways I could break the silence or get him to open up. His phone beeped multiple times in a row and I heard him snarl. I watched him out of the corner of my eye. His grip on his phone was tight and his hand was shaking. His lip was curled as he hurled the phone across the room.

"Miles!" I shouted, and he looked at me sheepishly before hanging his head.

"I...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to I just..." he paused, searching for the right words. "I got so mad. I"

"What happened?" I probed. "What did you see that made you so angry?"

"Dad" One word. Three letters. Yet it was enough to have me pausing and reaching for his phone to see what he sent him. "Don't look, mom. It's...he's not worth it. I didn't mean to get so worked up. I just feel off today"

I reached for the phone anyway and what I saw made bile rise in my throat, my heart race, and anger boil my blood. Text after text of degrading texts and threats. Switching from pleading, to threatening every other message. Most of them were about me, those I didn't care about. Derek could say what he wanted about me. But what had me fuming, and ready to go completely and utterly feral was the messages about Miles. I scrolled and scrolled while Miles sat there with his head in his hands. I stormed to the living room and yanked my phone from my bag ignoring the message I had from Christina and an unknown number. I noticed there were no messages from Derek. Not yet, at least but I pushed that thought aside as I pulled up my camera app and snapped picture after picture of everything Derek sent.

Dad: You ungrateful bastard!

Dad: Just come home and I will make this all better.

Dad: Come home now or I swear to god you won't like the consequences

Dad: I never should have had you. You are the biggest mistake of my life

Dad: Son, we can talk this through. I love you and can provide a better life for you than she can

Dad: You're f*****g w***e of a mother had no right to take you from me.

Dad: I swear to god I will get you back one way or another

Dad: Miles, you matter to me I just want to take care of you and make sure you're safe. Please come home.

Dad: You are a disappointment. You are a f*****g failure if you can't even stand up to a stupid b***h of an omega. Worthless piece of crap. Nothing but a burden. Fine. Stay gone. See if I care.

Dad: I'm sorry. Please forgive me.

Dad: Miles I will find you and when I do you will be f*****g sorry.

There were so many messages and from the looks of it, they had been coming for days. Miles hadn't responded to a single one. After I was done documenting everything, something Christina had advised me to do while she looked into the programs that Saunders and Jones offered employees, I put his phone on the counter and knelt down in front of him.

"Look at me" I said as I grabbed his hand. When he did he had tears in his eyes and my heart broke a little more. Not for me but for him. No child should have to see the things his father has been sending him. No child should ever be spoken to the way his dad had. I remember the way my parents spoke to me growing up after I got my designation and it broke a part of me inside and I swore I would never speak to my own children that way. "None of this is your fault. Leaving was my decision, not yours. You are not at fault. You did nothing wrong. You are not a disappointment. You are not a burden. You are the greatest treasure of my life. I am sorry that you got put in the middle of this situation. I never wanted any of this for you. I...I am going to take care of this. I promise. I am so sorry"

"Why are you sorry? It's not your fault" he muttered through a clenched jaw. "I wanted to leave just as much as you. I just can't stand the way he spoke about you. About me. How did I come from him? What if I turn out to be just like him? I don't want to be an alpha. I don't want to be like him!" He cried his voice getting more frantic and louder with each word he spoke.

"Not all alphas are like your father. I promise you that. I actually met a nice alpha today. He was kind. You don't have to be afraid of being an alpha. No matter what designation you are I can promise you that you will not be like your father. You may have come from him but you are nothing like him. You are everything that is good in this world. Whatever happens we will handle it. Together. As far as your father goes, I'm working on a plan. I wish you would have told me he was messaging you sooner. I could have handled it. I may not be as physically strong as your father but a strong mind is just as important as physical strength. You are safe with me. But if you ever feel like you're not, or if you ever want to go back to your"

"Not a f*****g chance" he said and when I leveled him with a look at his language he shrugged. "I will never want to go back to him. You are my mother. You are my home. I would have left regardless but I would have dragged you with me."

I smiled and patted his hand.

"Alright then. I will fix this. Everything is going to be okay. I promise. Now, dinner is just about ready. Let's eat" I said and even as I promised safety and a better future a part of me worried that this was just beginning and I was about to have the fight of my life on my hands.