Reviving Bloom (30 page)

“I was going to take you, but Billy wou
ldn’t let me
,
” Rose finally says
trying to defend herself.

“No
,
you don’t get to use that excuse. You could have at least visited me, let me get to know you.
Get to know my brothers! But
you decided it would be easier on you and your new life if you just left me without any knowledge of
who I really am!” She
’
s standing now and I
’m
keeping a hold of one of her hands to keep her from leaping across the coffee table to get into her mother’s face.

Grady st
an
d
s
to step in front of his mate. “No
w
calm down, you don’t know what she’s been through.”

It was the worst thing he could’ve done.
Bloom
push
es
the tray of drinks off the coffee ta
ble and hop
s
up onto it
so she c
an
be eye to eye with the six foot seven wolf. She jam
s
her fisted hands onto her hips and stare
s
the man down. It
’
s the sexiest, most reckless thing I think I’
ve
seen her do yet.

She ke
eps
connected with his glare as she narrow
s
her eyes. Her next words c
o
me
out closer to a growl, “You
will not
protect her from this. It has been 20 years in the making. So your best bet is to back down now before I rip out your throat for getting in my way. I didn’t come here to hurt either of you but if I’m not allowed to speak my
peace
I won’t hesitate in taking out my anger in more violent forms o
n both of you. S
it
.
D
own
.
N
ow!”

There
i
s no way around it, my mate mean
s
what she sa
ys
and I d
o
n’t doubt my spitfire w
ill
follow through. Thankfully
Grady
ha
s
the good sense to sit back down and shut up.
I’
ll
say he even
looks
a little frightened of his
step-daughter
.

She turn
s
back to her mother. “You owe me a lot of answers and you will give them all to me. We will be spending time together and do not mistake it for me forgiving you at all. You are a means to an end for me and that is it. I will not call you mother, mom, mama or any other form of that word. I will be living in this town and I know we will be forced to interact at pack events but unless I approach you first you will not attempt to speak with me. Do you understand so far?”

Rose nod
s
. Tears
a
re streaming down her cheeks now and she
’
s visibly shaking.
Bloom however
i
s completely still as she
’
s able to release the anger she
’s
pent up the last 20 years.

“Last, I plan on getting to know my brothers. They are the only family I have left
, since my
Dad
died,
and you will be staying her
e
to face their questions about me. You will not lie about abandoning me to make yourself look better
.”

At this news Rose look
s
up at Bloom, “M-Michael died? H-how
did it happen
?”

At the mention of her
Dad
I watch Bloom soften up a little, “Yes, a year ago. He fell asleep behind the wheel coming home from work.”

Rose’s left hand fl
ies
to her mouth while her right hand reache
s
for her daughter, “Oh Bloom, I’m so sorry.”

Bloom pull
s
back. “Thank you, but no. You don’t get to comfort me through this. You lost that privilege when you left me alone
in
a
hospital at birth.”

Rose pull
s
her hand back to her stomach as if Bloom
’
s wor
ds ha
ve
punched her in the gut. Bloom
ignore
s her mother
’
s reaction as she step
s
down from the coffee table and look
s
at me, “I’m sorry I made a mess, Tennessee. If you’ll show me where the cleaning supplies and towels are I’ll clean it up before the others get here.”

“This is your home too, darlin’, so you can mess it up as often as you want.” I caress her cheek then sa
y
, “I’ll go get the supplies. Have a seat.”

Chapter 30 – Bloom

~
Looks like we’ll really be family now
~

Pike goes
and g
e
t
s
the supplies to clean up my mess
.
T
his ha
s
gotten out of hand fast, but I c
a
n’t regret it. She need
s
to know how badly she hurt me. I could’ve probably let her know a little calmer, but once I got started I couldn’t calm down. Even now I
’m
still seeing red.

Pike walk
s
back into the room, a bucket of water and towels in his hand. I reach for the supplies
but he w
o
n’t hand them over, so I ben
d
down and pick up the pitcher and glasses. Thankfully, they hit the rug instead of the hardwood floors so they
did
n’t shatter. Pike use
s
one towel to soak up the lemonade and the other he dip
s
into the water
to
wipe down the spot down. The whole time we
a
re doing this Rose s
i
t
s
sobbing and Grady s
i
t
s
beside her not moving. I tr
y
to worry about the mess in front of me and ignore them, but once the mess
i
s gone and I
’m
forced to sit back on the couch in front of them
,
I c
an
no longer hold my tongue.

“Good lord, Grady, comfort your mate so she’ll stop the crying. The boys should be here anytime and she needs to calm down so she’ll be able to answer any questions they have.” My words
si
nk into the older man because he finally t
a
k
es
in the condition of his mate; pulling her into his arms he whisper
s
words of comfort to her.

Pike c
o
me
s
back into the room from disposing of the cleaning supplies and s
i
t
s
down beside me.
He t
a
k
es
my hand into his and we s
i
t in silence. At that moment I ha
ve
no more to say to the couple across from us and apparently neither d
oes
Pike.

After several more minutes Rose stop
s
crying and reache
s
for a tissue and compact out of her purse to clean up her face. She close
s
the compact then tosse
s
it and the tissue back into her purse and turn
s
to me.

“Bloom, I wish I had handled it all differently. I never meant to push my daughter so far away.”

“That may be the case, but you can’t go back and change it now
,
” I sigh then continue,
“I don’t want to hate you Rose. M
y
Dad
wouldn’t be happy with me if I did, but I’m not ready to forgive you
.
I may never be able too. I do need you though, because like I said you may be the only one who can answer
the
questions about who I am.”

“Pike has already told you that you’re a shifter, so I’m not sure what else I can help you to understand.”

“I never shifted and from what he
’
s told me it’s very odd and now there’s this
…
gut thing.”

“Gut thing?”
She looks
truly confused.

“It seems that I can
…” There
’
s a knock on the door before I c
an
finish.
Pike move
s
to answer it and I listen as he greet
s
the three boys.

“So, where is the girl who
’s stolen our alpha
’
s heart?”
The
voice that ask
s i
s warm and friendly. I st
an
d up from the couch and look
towards the hall they’
re coming from. Pike enter
s
first and crosse
s
to stand beside me. The other three stop right inside the door side by side and stare at me.

“This is my mate, Bloom Daniels.” Pike put
s
his arm around my
waist
and g
i
ve
s
me a squeeze. The boys sa
y
nothing;
just continue to stare at me.
I kn
o
w they catch my resemblance to Rose, it
’
s pretty hard to miss if you’
ve
ever seen her. All three of them look me over from head to toe then turn their attention to their mother. Their eyes
a
re a mixture of confusion and I kn
o
w one of them
i
s seconds from demanding an explanation.

Finally Rose sp
eaks
up, “Boys stop being rude and c
ome
greet your sister.”

Two of them shout “Sister!” and the other turn
s
his eyes back to glare at me.
Rose proceed
s
to explain about her marriage to my father ending with how she abandoned me at birth. Pike pick
s
up the story to tell them how we found each other and how until the other day I didn’t know shifters even existed. When they finish talking the tallest one on the end crosse
s
to me pulling me into a hug.

“D
amn, I have a sister.” He pulls
back to look down at me and says
, “Bloom, I’m Tucker. Most people around here call me Tuck.” Tucker look a lot like his father
;
they ha
ve
the same light brown hair except Tuckers
i
s to his shoulders in loose layers and the same bright amber eyes. Tucker
i
s taller than
Grady
by a couple inches, putting him close to seven f
e
et. Having just been hugged by him I c
an
tell he
’
s pure muscle. I underst
and
why he
’
s Pike
’
s beta, my brother is deadly if he
need
s
to
be, though my gut
i
s telling me he
’
s extremely laid back and completely loyal to my mate.