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TW: mention of SA, grooming, miscarriage

Reign didn't speak two words to me as we made our way home. I informed the pack that I had found her and that they should grant us space so that we can sort this out, I don't want her running away again. My heart will crack in two and I'm sure my wolf will disown me. But things will be different this time.

She can have all the time in the world she needs. I'm not going to take her for granted.

Once we get home, Reign looks apprehensive. I ask if she needs me to help her shower, all her clothes will be freshly washed in our room in the wardrobe and drawers. Her throat clenches at the mention of our room, she mumbles that she can bathe herself. Then I tell her I'll make something so she can eat.

It's obvious she's lost some weight, the skin on her face is tighter than before and her bone structure is more prominent. Knowing that she's not been eating destroys me, anything could have happened to her and it would have been my fault.

Soon she comes back downstairs with damp hair, an oversized jumper and thick leggings. Her eyes are low but I know they're missing their usual spark and I will do everything in my power to get that back.

"Hey," I say as I admire her.

Even when she doesn't try, she's still fucking beautiful. My angel.

"Are you hungry?"

She doesn't look up at me as she approaches the counter. I hate that she's being reserved in her own house. This is her space, this is her forever home and there is nothing more to it. I pray that she gets comfortable again soon.

"I guess," she whispers.

"I made sandwiches," I say. "I'm not sure what you wanted but I thought you might want something light."

Reign's throat clenches and she nods, holding her hands together in front of her tightly. She doesn't respond and I find myself frowning, I hate seeing her like this. She's hiding from me, gone back into her shell that I worked so hard to get her out of.

"Let's go to the library," I suggest, picking up the plate of sandwiches that I made. "It'll be quiet down there. We can get the fire going and no one will disturb us."

She follows me silently as I show her down into the library. I'm unsure if she's even been down here but it's one of my favourite places despite that it's almost unknown territory.

Reign glances around and pulls the sleeves of her jumper over her knuckles, anxiety clear through her body language. She perches down on the caramel coloured leather sofa and sweeps herself up into a small ball, wrapping her arms around her legs.

I place the plate down on the table in front and perch beside her, giving her as much room as she needs. My affections might be the last thing she wants and I refuse to keep pushing her away.

"Eat, please," I say softly.

Finally her eyes find mine and they're glassed over with an unknown emotion. I want to kiss it away, cradle her in my arms and promise that I'll never hurt her again because I won't. I'll hurt myself before I ever hurt her again.

"Please," I whisper this time.

Reign purses her lips and glances at the sandwiches, after a few moments she leans over and takes one between her dainty fingers. Then she brings it up to her lips and takes a bite. I allow her to eat before slipping into a conversation that will stop her from eating.

I have no idea when her last substantial meal was, if she's even had one since she left.

Once she finishes half of a sandwich I feel somewhat better, she doesn't fight me or try to tell me she's not hungry. She knows she needs the strength, there is no point lying about it.

"Are you okay?" I ask gently.

Reign turns to look at me with those big blue eyes. Then she shrugs. "It's just a bit weird."

I frown instantly. "What is?"

"Being here."

My heart crushes inside my chest. "I don't want you to feel weird, I want you to be comfortable. This is your home, angel. As much as it's mine. This is your home forever, you belong here."

Her eyes lower and she sucks in a breath, I'm not sure if she's thinking of something to say or digesting my words instead. But I remain quiet, telling myself not to dominate the conversation too much.

"Do you wish I was Cleo?"

"No," I exhale quickly. "No, I never want you to be Cleo. Nor do I wish you were Cleo. I just want you to be Reign, no one else. I never want you to be anyone else but you."

Reign wraps her arms around her legs again and rests her head onto her knee. "You said those things."

"Which I didn't mean," I shake my head.

"But you said them."

I hold her stare and I want to punch myself over and over. Fuck. The look in her eyes. "What I said was wrong and I can admit that I was a fucking stupid idiot who was thinking of themselves instead of you and your feelings. What I said to Jesse was ignorant and completely wrong. I don't want you to be anyone else, I fell in love with you, Reign. Only you."

She blinks once and then twice. Then she looks away, her breath becoming uneven.

Deep down I pray that she believes me.

"Reign?"

Her nimble fingers begin to play with the hem of her jumper, tugging at fraying pieces of thread. "You asked me before how I started stealing, why I started stealing."

"Yeah," I nod. "You told me about going to that home for young girls."

She shakes her head. "Before that, with my family."

I slap my lips together and say nothing more. Then she peeks her eyes up at me and I wait for her to speak. I'm not going to interrupt her if she decides to bring this up herself.

"When I was in my old pack with my family, I was around fifteen when it started," her voice wobbles and I resist the urge to comfort her already. "He was the Alpha's very good friend, he wasn't the Beta but he was like the Alpha's sidekick."

Her lips part and it's like she can't get her words out. "He started grooming me. Despite the fact he had a mate and two children. He was twenty five years older than me."

My stomach twists in a blaze of fury, my wolf howling at the top of its lungs. It echoes in my mind and for a moment I can't focus, but I look down to Reign's lips. Not realising that my fingers have curled around the edge of the sofa's arm.

"I had troubles growing up with my insecurities. My brother always used to tease me that no one is going to want me, that my mate will reject me the second they see me. Neither of my parents even called me beautiful or attempted to help with my self-esteem." Tears are now gathering in her eyes and I shuffle closer, resting my knee against hers. Reminding her that she's not alone and I'm here to listen.

Reign glances at our knees and she pauses for a second. "Boys my age didn't look my way and I believed what my brother said. I was disgusting and I should give up because no one is going to want me."

My hand clutches her ankle gently and she sniffles. "That's when Hector came into the picture. At first it was just little compliments, no one has ever told me I was pretty. And then he'd call me beautiful. He made me feel like I mattered. Compliments turned into gifts, then it turned into nights where he'd come into my room and we'd stay up and talk."

I can feel my stomach twist and churn at where this story is going but I keep myself composed for the sake of her opening up. Now isn't the time to make this about my anger, my emotions. I have to listen. Keep control.

"I really liked him. He made me feel important but I was young, naive. I didn't know what I wanted and now I realise that I couldn't have consented because I was too young. He coerced me into having sex, doing things that I knew we shouldn't be doing because he had a wife, a mate and kids. But he told me that he would leave his mate for me, that we would be together. I believed him, stupidly." Her hand raises to wipe her tears away and I have to keep my emotions at bay before I start throwing a search party with fucking pitch forks right this second.

I lean forward and take her hand in mine. She can't look at me currently but I understand her pain telling this story. "Time went on and slowly I realised he was abusing his power, taking advantage of me. He never left his mate, of course he didn't. Everything he told me was a lie because he wanted to get into my pants. One time we didn't use protection an–" she cuts herself off with a soft cry.

When she doesn't finish her sentence, I wrap my arm around her narrow shoulders and pull her into my chest protectively. "Hey," I whisper, stroking back her golden hair. "It's okay. Breathe, angel."

She swallows harshly and buries her head into my chest, the room falling silent for a few moments. "I ended up pregnant with his child." She finishes and I squeeze my eyes shut. Despite the pain and the anger, I'm furious she ever found herself in that situation. Taking advantage of a young girl who knew no different. I grit my teeth and hold her tight.

I can't sit here and watch her cry without trying to comfort her, it brings me distress and I want to push her tears away. Along with murdering Hector painfully and slowly, then bring him back to life so I can do it over and over again.

"I told my family but they didn't believe me." She murmurs into my shoulder. "They said that I was attention seeking and that I should be ashamed of myself for trying to ruin his family because I was jealous and living some stupid fairytale in my head. He denied everything and I didn't understand why he was lying. He allowed everyone to gang up on me after everything he said about liking me and wanting to be with me. I was only sixteen. I had nothing else."

I smooth my hand across her head and listen patiently. Bubbles roaring in my stomach in anger, pure, hot anger. "I managed to prove that I was pregnant but instead of believing that it was Hector's, they pushed me out of the pack because they were embarrassed and mortified thinking that I had got knocked up by someone outside of the pack, someone that wasn't my mate."

"I remember we were arguing about it and my brother pushed me down a flight of stairs when I was begging for them to listen to me," she releases a loud cry, it shatters my heart into pieces. "I hit my stomach and I had a miscarriage on the stairs. It was the most painful thing I've ever experienced, blood was everywhere and no one tried to help me. They just left me there like I didn't exist to them."

Reign raises her head, cheeks stained with tears. Then she licks her lips and tries to catch her breath. "That's when I was by myself, I started stealing to survive but I found myself stealing things I didn't even need or want because it made me feel better, it distracted me from my anxieties of having nothing."

When she doesn't say anything after a few moments I find myself shaking my head, over and over. Pressure building in the back of my eyes out of frustration. These people she should have been able to call family disowned her, didn't help during a miscarriage and pushed her away like she was nothing.

Fury burns through me quickly. But when I take one glance at Reign's broken face, I cradle her cheeks between my palms. "Reign, I-I," the words don't form because I'm in so much frustration with myself. I shouldn't have judged her when I didn't know what her past was truly like. I thought it was bad, but not this bad. "Fuck," I lower my head. "I am so sorry."

"No point in apologising," she sniffles. "What's done is done."

"I'm sorry for not trying to understand you more. I pushed you away. I should have deeply considered the reasons for why you started stealing and why you were a rogue," I admit.

She shrugs simply but her eyes are still deeply sad. "It was me who didn't want to open up about my past."

"This changes nothing, you know that right?" My chest is heavy with my confession.

I remember when she said that she might lose me when she tells me what happened in her past but that couldn't be further from the truth. It brings me rage for those who did this to her. Hector who abused her.

"I was worried it might," her voice goes quiet. "I'm like used goods."

"No," my voice is harsher than intended. "No, you are not. And I am going to fucking kill that guy who took advantage of you, Reign. I promise you that you will get your justice. Your brother is also next on my hit list."

I mean every word of what I say. I won't hesitate to kill these people for what they did to my mate. For allowing her to think that she's not worthy of happiness, that she doesn't deserve anything good in this world. She deserves everything and more. I want to give her that. It's my only wish.

"No," her voice croaks, she shakes her head.

"He took away your life, Reign," I say with a gravelly tone. "For years because he was grooming you. You were a child."

She shakes her head and glances away. "I should have known better."

"No, you were a child. You couldn't have known better. He's sick, he deserves everything that's coming to him. I'll rip his fingers from his hands, chop off his tiny dick and shove it so far down his throat until he's choking on his own fucking blood." The anger builds up inside my body. I'd do much worse but I'll spare Reign the details. I can feel the adrenaline in the tips of my fingers. I want to do it now. I want to take away his life just as easily as he did to Reign.

She clears her throat softly. "He's not even worth it anymore. I'd rather move on and forget it ever happened."

I frown but then kiss her forehead again and again until her eyes flutter shut. "Thank you for trusting me, angel," I whisper. "But this won't change our relationship, it won't change the way I think about you. I love you, no matter what has happened in your past."

Reign shuffles in my lap and sighs softly. "I really don't want to talk about it anymore," she sniffles and wipes her eyes. "It hurts too much."

I don't want to brush this moment under the carpet, like I don't care what she has to say because I do, I care so deeply. But I don't want to pressure her into opening up further if she's had enough emotional stress. I'd like to think she could talk to me about it if she needed to, now that I know what happened. I pray she can anyway.

"But if you ever want to talk about it," I whisper, catching her attention. "You know that I'm here, right? Ready to listen to whatever you have to say. I'll always be here for you, every second of every day."

She turns to look at me and I cup her face again, she nods at my words. So I bring the conversation back to our argument, my need to apologise for everything. "I am so sorry for the things I said, I don't expect you to forgive me but I want to prove to you that you are everything I want."

Her face pushes into my palm gently as she stares back into my eyes. "These last few months have been hell without you," I admit roughly and quite frankly I don't want to remember it. "I don't want to live another second without you by my side. I love you. I am in love with every inch of you, Reign and I am never going to stop loving you."

Reign's eyes begin to water again, the edges of her lips curling into a subtly heartfelt smile. "I thought about you every night, every moment we had together. When we'd laugh, when we'd sit together and talk through your emotions. When we'd go for runs just us two, when you'd sass me and give me attitude. When you'd care for me when I was angry or upset. When we'd sit in bed and talk and talk for hours about things that didn't even matter."

"I got upset that day because I heard you and Cleo in your office," her voice is quiet.

"I shouldn't have left you in bed that morning alone," I admit. "That was shitty of me to do considering what we had done the night before. And if I could take it back I would."

She stares back at me and twists her mouth into an unsure look.

"What?" I whisper.

"I got jealous over Cleo," she admits. "You laughed for her like nothing I've ever heard before, not even for me."

I push back her blonde hair and share a look with her. "You have nothing to be jealous of. And trust me, angel, you make me laugh like that too. Cleo is a good friend but I don't want her, nor do I want someone like her. I want you. I want you because everyday I wake up and I know that being there next to you gives me so much joy, so much excitement.

"You are everything I've ever wanted. Loyalty, kindness, a fighter. You have all the qualities I have ever wanted in a mate," I tilt her chin to meet my gaze. "But I also want the jagged edges and the days that are tough. Now I realise that not every relationship is perfect and sometimes arguments and misunderstandings are going to happen but as long as we work together to make sure they don't happen again, then I am content."

"Me too," she whispers. "This relationship definitely isn't going to be perfect with me in it."

My mouth slants. "You're perfect for me, angel," I tell her sincerely. "You are perfect."

Her cheeks begin to rise with a pink tink and I lean forward to peck those soft lips. Oh how I have missed the way they feel against mine, she's beyond perfect at this point. Works can't even describe the way that she makes me feel inside.

I'd be stupid to ever let her go again.

"Thank you for looking for me," she pulls back gently, her eyelashes bashing her cheekbone.

"I wasn't going to give up, no matter how much I thought you hated me."

Reign's eyes flutter shut for a second. "I think I hated myself more because I couldn't give you what you wanted."

"Angel, you are everything I want," I whisper against those pink lips that will haunt me forever. "But you can't deal with your emotions like that. I'm still angry that you left without talking to me, without shouting at me, telling me how you really felt. Oh, I wished that you fucking shouted at me instead of running away because I would have deserved it and I would have dropped down on my knees and apologised for what I said."

She sucks in a breath, flicking her eyes between mine slowly. "Did it piss you off?"

"It infuriated me," I admit.

"I see," she leans forward and rests her forehead against the edge of my jaw. I wrap my arm around her back and pull her body into me.

"But we don't have to focus on that right now," I shake my head. "I want to make sure that you are okay. That is my first priority. You are my first priority. Always."

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Author's Note

Oh goodness, who is ready to kill Hector for what he's done?😡

I'm so glad Reign opened up to Everett because she trusts him. It hurts me so much that she thought he'd walk away from her if he knew what went down but he'd never walk away from our Reign. He loves her so much😭

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