Tears welled in my eyes, but I forced them back, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing me break further. But it was too much. My chest ached, a tightness that had been growing for weeks, months, years now. I was drowning in it.
“Remi!” Eros’s voice cut through the thick tension, sharp and accusatory. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. The room had fallen silent, the eyes of the pack members all trained on me, but their judgment was nothing compared to the burning fury in Eros’s gaze.
“Enough,” came my father’s voice, booming across the room. Alpha Donovan. “Remi, you are ruining the mood. Today is supposed to be a celebration. We have our beloved real daughter back, and here you are, crying and sobbing.”
His words hit like a physical blow. Real daughter. The phrase stung, a reminder that I had never truly belonged here, that I had only ever been a placeholder, a mistake—a mistake they were now eager to correct.
“You’re such a bummer,” my mother, Luna Kierra, chimed in with disgust. “You ruin the atmosphere every time you’re here. Go cry somewhere else. This is a celebration for Daisy, not you.”