Beyond the Pack’s Law: My stepsister or nobody else

Hayley’s POV

I pulled myself off the floor, grabbed my phone, and took a cab to Mona’s house. I didn’t want to be by myself; I just wanted someone to hold me and tell me it would be okay.

I paid for the cab and walked to the front door. I rang the doorbell and waited, trying my best to keep the tears in.

The door opened, and I was greeted by her mom’s usually cheery face.

“Oh, Hayley. How are you?” She said

“I’m great. Is Mona home?” I asked

“Yes, come in,” she said, opening the door to let me in. “Mona, get down here; Hayley’s here to see you.” She called out to Mona and walked away.

Mona came downstairs in a sweatshirt and shorts with headphones on. One look at me, and her casual expression turned to worry. I guess she could see through me; that’s what best friends were for anyway.

“Do you want to go upstairs?” She asked me through our mind link.

“Yeah,” I answered back.

She grabbed me and ushered me to her room. I sat by her bed, and he locked the door before turning to me.

“Hey, are you okay?” She asked.

There’s something about asking a person who’s not okay if they’re okay that just sends them off a cliff. I was no different; I could feel the tears already forming in my eyes.

“She’s in the hospital.” I said and gulped, This was going to be hard.

“Who is in the hospital?” She hugged me and asked

“My mum.” I answered

“What happened?” She looked me in the eyes.

I told her what happened, how I had had a disagreement with her in my room, and then what I heard her say to my dad about Kayden. My voice got lower as I approached recounting the real accident, and when I was done, it was like my voice box was on lockdown.

I looked at her, searching for some form of judgment or horror, but all she did was hug me.

“Are you okay?” She asked.

She didn’t ask if my mom was okay; she asked if I was okay instead. The answer was simple: no. I wasn’t okay; how could I ever be okay? It felt like everything was crashing down on me.

She let me cry on her shoulder for a while before talking.

“It’s not your fault, Hayley.” She said

“I want to believe that.” I whispered; I really did, but it just seemed so hard.

She gave my shoulders a little shake.

“Snap out of it; it was a mistake, so no, it’s not your fault. She’s the one who did something as outrageous as hiring you a boyfriend, and while it might sound crazy to say this right now, none of this would have happened if she hadn’t.” Mona said it with a straight face.

I knew she was right, to an extent, but the fact remained that I had hurt her physically.

“How’s she doing?” She asked

“Aiden’s dad said she’s okay; she’s still unconscious though.” I explained what my dad said over the call and how he didn’t want me to drink yet.

“Well, we are just going to have to take the Alpha’s word for it, okay? If he says she’s okay, then she’s okay.” She said, and I nodded.

“Kayden came over.” I said, addressing the second issue at hand.

She rolled her eyes. For someone who used to tease me whenever I said his name, she looked really irritated by it now.

“Please tell me you told him to go screw himself.” She said

“I confronted him about it.” I said slowly. I knew she would have rather I broke a TV over his head and shoved him out of my house. She treated people who hurt me like they hurt her as well, and I loved her for it.

“And?…” She said that and made a go-on gesture with her hand.

“He explained what happened; mom met him after the first time we met, and all she did was tell him where to find me and give him some money.” I tried my best to explain the explanation the same way he told me.

“And you believe him?” Mona asked sarcastically.

“I don’t think he was lying.” I said, defending him, I just felt like he would lie to me.

“Why? Because he wouldn’t lie to you.” She said, reading my mind, “Wake up, Hayley; you can’t count on anything he says anymore. Just the mere fact that your mother had her paws in that relationship should be a warning sign.”

“Kayden’s not like that.” I said, trying to convince myself that maybe a part of me still cared about him.

“I don’t want to see you anywhere near that guy until we get all the facts straight. You can’t keep letting people mess with you.” She said

She was probably still referring to Holland, and now Kayden had joined the list.

We sat there in silence for a while, then I heard her chuckle a bit.

“What’s so funny?” I asked and turned to see her staring at the door and smiling. There was nothing at the door, though.

“I just thought of something a bit twisted.” She said there was a crooked smile on her face. Nothing good could come from a smile like that.

“What is it? Tell me.” I said curious.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

“Well, if your mom’s in the hospital, doesn’t that push the wedding a bit further? I’m not implying anything.” She said,

Normally I would have laughed at the thought, but it only made me feel worse, adding to the reasons why I thought a part of me actually intended on hurting her.

Mona noticed that I was laughing at her joke, and she quickly stopped smiling.

“I was just trying to cheer you up, sorry.” She apologized.

“It’s cool.” I said

“So, are you going to tell Aiden?” She asked.

“Tell him what?” I asked back.

“I dunno. I just figured you’d want to talk to him about it.” She said it softly.

“Mona, I need your help.” Her mom screamed from downstairs.

She looked at me apologetically,

“I’ll be right back; will you be okay by yourself?” She asked

“Yeah, sure.” I answered and watched as she left the room to go meet her mom.

I thought about what she said for a while, and I dialled Aiden. I didn’t know what I was going to tell him, but I just wanted comfort.

“Hey,” he said through the phone.

“Hi.” I said back, and my voice came out tired and drained.

“Where are you?” He asked, Was that a weird question? Did he think I was out with Kayden?

“I’m at Mona’s place. Aiden, my mom’s in.” I was still talking when he finished the sentence for me.

“She’s in the hospital, I know.” He said.

“How did you know?” I asked; it had only happened hours ago, so how did he know?

“My dad called a few hours ago and told me what happened. He also told me that it wasn’t your fault, so I don’t want you to think it is.” He explained.

“I hit her.” I said it softly, but it still felt forbidden to say it out loud.

“I know, you didn’t mean to, and you couldn’t control it. I wish I was at home; I would have stopped it from happening. I wish I was with you right now.” He said.

“What if she dies? It would be because of me. For my excuse for love.” I spoke a bit. I didn’t know where the words were coming from.

“What do you mean, Hayley, excuse for love? he asked.

“She said she paid Kayden to date me, and I flipped. I could have killed my own mom over a boy.” It felt crazy to think about.

“I can’t say I liked the guy.” He said it dryly.

“Really, you want to do that right now?” I asked; this wasn’t the time for petty remarks.

“Okay, I’m sorry. You know, I didn’t mean it like that. I love you; that’s why I’m jealous.” His tone was compassionate.

I felt bad-really bad-for what I was about to do next. It felt like a necessary evil but nevertheless evil.

“Aiden, we need to stop this.” I said blankly, no beating around the bush.

“Stop what? Talking about your mom? Or that Kayden guy?” He asked

“This relationship…” I said, “everyone is right. It can’t work out, and there’s too much at stake.”

“What! Wait, is this because of that Kayden guy you’re dating? Hayley, I’m not giving up on…”

“It’s not Kayden; I’m breaking up with him.” I caught him off guard.

“Then what is it? Who’s putting these thoughts in your head?” He sounded surprised, and I was too.

“No one. Mum is right, and look, what happens if we keep trying to resist? It will only get worse.” I tried to explain, but he didn’t sound like he was going to have it.

“Hayley, you made one mistake.” He said

“No!” My voice raised accidentally: “That mistake could have cost me my mother. I’m not willing to hurt her anymore. It ends here; I’ve made my decision.”

He didn’t say anything; I waited, but all I could hear was his breath through the phone.

I closed my eyes. I was scared. I had no idea what I was doing, but it felt like the right thing to do.

“Hayley, don’t do this.” He pleaded

“I’m sorry, Aiden.” I said that and ended the call. My heart was pounding against my chest.

Why was I doing this to myself? Was it because of my mom? Or was I just scared that she was right?

Mona stepped into the room the moment I put the phone down.

“I’ll support you no matter what decision you make; you know that, right?” She said

She had heard what I said to Aiden; I don’t know how much, but she obviously understood the main point.

I nodded teary-eyed.

“It’s for the better.” I told myself

My phone rang again, and I was too scared to pick it up.

Aiden was calling back; what was he going to say?

Mona took the phone instead and answered the call. She listened for a while before looking at me.

“It’s Mona, by the way.” She said, “I’ll tell her.”

“It’s your dad.” She ended the call by saying, “He sent you the address and said you should come over right now.”

“Is something wrong?” I asked

“I don’t know.” She said that and offered to follow me.

“It’s fine.” I said that and headed out by myself.

A million thoughts were flying through my mind as I made my way through the hospital hallway and looked for the ward the lady at the counter had told me about.

I finally spotted Aiden’s dad talking to a man in a lab coat, probably a doctor, and I rushed to him.

“Is something wrong? Where is she?” I asked the doctor.

“She’s here with me.” Aiden’s dad explained to the doctor

“Well, we were just talking about how she needs blood. We got all the shards that penetrated her skin out, but she lost a lot of blood in the process.” The doctor explained.

“So, there’s no problem; it’s just a blood transfusion, and she’ll be okay.” I asked, relieved.

“Yes, she’ll be on her way to recovery then. She’ll just need rest after that.” The doctor said,

I smiled; that was great.

“So, what is the problem? Why are you discussing it rather than doing it now?” I asked eagerly.

“Well, your father wanted to donate, but we found out he was not a match, so we’re waiting for the match to be delivered.”

“How long will that take?” I asked.

“About two hours to get here.” He answered

“Use mine; I’m her daughter, so give her my blood.” I said.

“Well, we’ll have to check if you’re a match first.” The doctor stated:

I was filled with hope again. She was going to be fine; all she needed was blood.