Chapter 89

Grace

The shock of the slap seemed to stun him into silence. My hand stung with the force of my action, and Jackson's expression shifted from anger to bewilderment. His face started to turn red with the bruise. He was lucky I didn't punch him.

"How fucking dare you," I said, my voice shaking with fury. "How dare you come into my house with this bullshit? How dare you talk to me like that? About my children? About my choices when you know nothing?"

His hand went to his reddening cheek. For a moment, I thought he might apologize, might recognize the depth of his accusations and the pain he had caused. But instead, his eyes hardened once more.

"Before you even think of speaking," I hissed. "You say another word about my children, and you'll be picking yourself off the floor. I love Cecil and Richard more than anything in this world, and I will defend them with everything I have against you and whoever else."

He sneered and turned to walk out. I didn't let him escape. I cut him off at the door, growling at him.

"You don't get to fucking walk into my house with that shit and walk out. You think that slap was enough? Think again!" I growled at him. "Seems like I should have come back more often to smack some sense into you over the years. Forgive me for thinking you could ever grow up!"

"I--"

"I'm not done, you son of a bitch."

"You can't talk about my mother--"

"That bitch who raised you and put all this bullshit in your head about lycan men? Let's talk about how your father would have been a lycan if she'd proven herself worth the time."

He looked like I'd slapped him again. "Ask her about it. I damn sure have heard enough about it from your aunt to know the whole score. But I don't give a damn about her or your father and his issues. I've always considered you family, Jackson. I've never even looked at you in a romantic light--"

"Because I--"

"Am a terrible person!" I shrieked. "I watched you treat your girlfriends like trash. You think I wanted that? At least Devin had the decency to hide what a piece of shit he was until we were already married."

He hissed.

"You say you've been here all this time? But where were you when I needed you most?" My eyes stung. "When my father died, where were you? You didn't even come to the funeral."

"I was at school--"

"You were drunk!" I shrieked. "I know. You told me when I called you after it was over! When I was married to Devin, and no one was around? Where were you?"

"You couldn't have expected me to stick around and watch you with that lycan! I have pride, too. You're not that fucking special, and it was better you learned the hard wary. Why should I have tried to chase after you, knowing you'd learn better."

I glared at him. "You didn't even call, you asshole!"

He flushed.

"You never showed up to check on me, and I know you came back to Mooncrest for holidays. You never stopped by. You never called. That's not chasing, that's a fucking lie. I fought with Eason. He moved all the way to a witch's territory, and he still called me regularly! When I got divorced, you weren't there. You've never been there in all the years. I could have used a friend, someone to lean on. And now you want to come here and insult my choices and my children as if you have a right? As if you've done anything to help me?"

"I--"

"Have no right to judge me, Jackson. You have no idea what it's been like for me, the sacrifices I've made, the challenges I've faced. You can't begin to understand the personal hell I've put myself in and am currently pulling myself out. If you were a real friend, if you really cared, you'd be trying to support me, not off-loading your bullshit sense of entitlement, insecurity, and racism on me!"

"I'm not fucking insecure."

"You are," I said. My voice trembled with a mixture of anger and hurt. "You always have been."

I took a deep breath. "I've tried to be tolerant and patient. I've tried to be nice. I've tried to turn you down as gently as possible because I thought, maybe, just maybe, you were a friend, but I can see that I was wrong and that allowing you to be here has put my children in danger."

He scoffed. "I'm not a monster. They're fucking kids."

"There are more dangers in this world than physical ones! They don't deserve to be belittled or hated because you have a complex about being a terrible catch!"

I sighed, rubbing my head as a headache started to build. Jackson's words hung in the air, heavy and acrid. My heart pounded with a mixture of anger, hurt, and disbelief. How could someone I had considered family for so long say such hurtful and regressive things?

I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself, but the turmoil inside me was too great.

"I don't care what you think of my relationship with Gabriel or anyone else, but shut your fucking mouth about my kids."

"I'll leave," he said, glaring at me. "I'll leave the team if you don't break it off with him and start acting like a proper werewolf woman. Given Devin his mixed breed children and get ready to have real werewolf children the way it should have been since we were in high school."

"Are you insane?" I asked, staring at him. "No, you are insane. There's no doubt about it. Did you not hear a thing I just said?"

"You were supposed to be with me!"

"Never," I said, shaking my head. He jolted like I'd slapped him again. "Never in a million years would I have ever thought about dating you, Jackson."

"You're just saying that because--"

"You're insane," I said. "You are threatening to leave the team, halt development on a drug that could help so many werewolves, and demanding that I break off a friendship and alliance that could benefit my pack because you feel like you have a right to me? Some outdated, prejudiced view of what a 'real werewolf woman' should be?"

I shuddered. His words stung like salt in an open wound. I thought of Devin, of his possessiveness and expectations. Jackson's demands were eerily reminiscent of him. It cut deeper because they came from someone I had considered my closest friend.

"And you're forgetting something, Jackson," I shook my head. "You're so delusional that you're not even thinking. I'm not even a real werewolf woman by your standards." I shook my head. Insulted and furious. "If you felt so strongly about it, why even be friends with me? Maybe you should have just joined Blood Moon."

I shook my head and looked at him. "I thought--no, I hoped that you had changed, but I can see that you haven't, and I can't be around you."

"What?"

"I can't have you around my children. I can't let you insult my children or belittle me for who I am. It's clear that you can't see past your own prejudices and evolve beyond these outdated ideals. You should leave. "

Tears welled up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I couldn't let Jackson see how deeply he had wounded me.

"Hold on a second, you're not like other half-breeds, you can learn to control it, and--"

"Get out!" I screeched at him.

"Grace--"

"I said get out and don't bother coming back. Don't bother trying to quit. You're fired. You'll be paid for whatever time you've clocked at the lab."

"You can't just fire me," he yelled. "I'm the only one with formulation experience, and--"

"I'll figure it out and hire someone else," I said. "I don't want you around me, Jackson."

I turned and grabbed my phone to call the police. Within a few minutes, they were here to escort Jackson out as he protested. The Lycan Enforcers packed up his things and hauled it all out to the Mooncrest Police car to send to his parent's house. With the door closed, tears streamed down my cheeks.

His words echoed through me, rattling me. Jackson was one of the last ties I had to my life before Devin. To have to rip apart a part of my past like this felt like I was just being punished even more for my mistakes.

But maybe some connections were better left broken, even if they hurt.

I dabbed at my eyes, trying to pull myself together and hoping that I hadn't woken up Eason.

Then, my phone rang, startling me. I wiped away the tears from my cheeks and answered the call, my voice still trembling.

"Hello?"