Tabitha rolled her eyes as she hung up the phone with Marcus, then looked at Vita and said, “Your mate has crazy hearing abilities.”
Vita started to blush. “He’s not my mate!” she exclaimed.
Tabitha and Amanda both gave her an odd look. “Vita, did you reject Deak?” Amanda asked, her voice laced with concern.
Vita scrunched her brows in confusion. “No, I don’t even know what that means. I’ve never been with anyone outside the witch faction.”
“Okay, but you do think he’s handsome, don’t you?” Tabitha asked.
Vita blushed again. Of course, Deak was handsome and she was attracted to him. But she was also scared. She didn’t want to be told what to do or have someone who was possessive and jealous of anyone she talked to, slowly forcing her to disconnect from all her friends and family. She had already been with someone like that and hated it. She lost everyone she cared about, and when she finally got free she was left all alone.
“Well of course he’s handsome, it’s just…”
“Just what, Vita? You can talk to us,” Amanda told her.
Vita closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She hated talking about her past, especially when she had tried so hard to forget it.
“I’ve been with someone who was possessive. In the beginning, it was cute when he got all protective and territorial, but then he would get jealous. In the beginning, it was cute when he got all protective and territorial, but then he would get jealous if I spent time with anyone else. He pulled me away from my family and friends until I had no one to depend on except him. It took losing my family to get out of there and away from him.” Vita couldn’t hold back the tears any longer and just started to cry.
Amanda sat next to Vita and pulled her into a hug. She didn’t say anything, just held Vita as she cried.
After a few minutes passed, Vita started to calm down, she pulled away from Amanda and gave her a small smile. “Thank you.”
“I know you don’t want to talk about it, but do you know who took you and what they wanted?”
Vita wiped her face with her hands as she nodded her head. “It was Persephone, my ex’s mother.”
“Was your ex there too?”
Vita choked on her sobs as she tried to fight back the fear that was building up inside her with everything they put her through. She nodded.
Amanda covered her mouth.
Vita looked at Amanda with the tears burning her cheeks. “They wanted me to tell them everything about you,” she said softly.
Amanda’s eyes widened; she lowered her hand from her mouth and gently wrapped it around her own throat. “Me! Why do they want to know about me?”
Vita looked over at Tabitha, hoping to get some help with the explanation of all this. Tabitha met Vita’s stare and nodded. “Remember when we talked about how rare hybrids were between the factions?”
Amanda nodded.
Tabitha continued, “Now, it varies on the pack or the coven but some of them don’t like the mixing of fractions. They feel everyone should stick their kind.”
“And since I’m a mixture of the factions, I’m, what, a mutt?” Amanda exclaimed.
“No,” Vita said. She was going to have a really hard time explaining this. “Some of the covens see it as an abomination to the craft and…”
“And what?”
Vita looked down at her fingers as she twisted them in her lap. She couldn’t tell Amanda the things they could do to her. Just thinking about it made her sick to her stomach.
Tabitha grabbed Amanda by the shoulders and turned her to face her. “Nothing is going to happen to you, do you hear me? Because we’re not going to let anything happen to you. Hudson and the pack will fight to protect you. I’ll fight to protect you. Nothing is going to happen to you. Do you understand me?
Amanda nodded, but she still had this sick pain inside her and it wasn’t going away anytime soon.
“I’m sorry that I ruined our girls’ night,” Vita let out. “Maybe I should just go.”
Vita started to get up, but Amanda pulled her back down. “You’re not going anywhere. We asked you to open up and you did. You did nothing wrong.”
“But I freaked you out. I shouldn’t have told all that stuff. I should have kept that away from you.”
Amanda shook her head. “I’m not mad at you for saying something. This is all still new to me and I’m learning as I go. Does it scare me? Yes. But that doesn’t mean I’m just going to run and hide from it all. I’ve been through way too much to give up and let them win.”
Vita smiled. “You’re one tough girl, Amanda Stevens.”
“You are, too,” Tabitha chimed in. “It takes a strong woman to be able to survive what they put you through.”
Vita shook her head. She didn’t see herself as being brave; she just wasn’t going to give up her friend and it didn’t matter what they did to her, she was going to stay loyal to her friend because that’s what mattered most to her.
Amanda let out a chuckle. “Well, this has been an interesting night. “Just as she finished that sentence she felt herself shiver, which only meant one thing.
Hudson.
There was a knock at the door.
“And it’s about to get even more interesting,” Tabitha said under her breath.
Amanda started to step back away from the door; she wasn’t ready to see him. She knew that once she saw him then she would forgive him for not being there for her and pretend everything was okay. It wasn’t okay.
They knocked again only this time louder and with more force.
Vita looked at Tabitha, not knowing what to do. Should she answer the door or just let them stay outside?
Tabitha rolled her eyes and shook her head as she walked toward the door. Of course, it would have to be her to pay the mediator between them. Just once she wished she wasn’t in the middle of their drama. She opened the door and blocked the doorway with her body.
“What’s up, boys?” she asked them.
Marco purred when he saw his mate standing there. It took everything he had not to pull her into his arms and carry her away from all this. Tabitha looked over at her mate and narrowed her eyes at him.
“I want to talk to Amanda,” Hudson demanded.
Deak also commented, “I just wanted to check on my Vita. she’s been through so much, I don’t want her to get overwhelmed.”
“Deak, Vita is doing just fine. Hudson, Amanda will call you when she’s ready to talk. And you…” She pointed her finger in the direction of her mate. “You are in the doghouse.”
Then she slammed the door shut.
Fighting for my Mate
Mated to my Bully (Book 1)