With Hearts to Hear| ✔

|18|

Once their food had been delivered to their table and Rachel still hadn't returned, Killian insisted on going to get her. It was only after a few minutes of convincing Killian that it would look strange for him to be prowling about outside the women's toilets, and even stranger had he tried to go inside. He was forced to relent, though he made sure to give his mother a stern face, and even sterner warning that she wasn't allowed to meddle; she was only going in there to fetch his missing mate.

"You know your food will go cold at the table if you spend any longer in here." Adelia stepped into the bathroom, observing the girl staring intently at her reflexion in the gold, pastiche framed mirror.

Adelia couldn't help but note how insecure and small she looked, dimmed by the quiet lighting in the room; she had been wrong to approach her in the way that she had– she was still very much a girl, and the more time she spent around Rachel the more her remorse grew over the way she had treated her.

"Oh save the friendly act, Killian isn't here you don't have to pretend." Rachel tried to hide her sudden alarm with a quick quip and a roll of her eyes. She didn't exactly believe or trust the woman before her, and she hated that Adelia had caught her when she felt vulnerable.

"Look, I'll tell you exactly what I told Killian." Adelia sighed, not wanting to start a confrontation especially when she was trying to convince the girl that her apology was genuine. However, Adelia was also an honest woman, some would say that it was more of a fault of hers than a strength. "I meant every word of that apology, my behaviour was uncalled for. But I also will do whatever it takes to protect my son."

"Save him from anyone who might interrupt him from your emotional incest?" Rachel twisted her face into a scowl, her bitterness at full throttle. She managed to glare for a full minute before she relaxed, realising her outburst was a low blow.

There was a part of her that knew it was unreasonable— whether Adelia had meant her apology or not should not dictate her own behaviour to the woman; but if there was anything that could be said about Rachel it was that her self control was questionable. It was starting to feel more of a regular occurrence that her emotions were far more in control of her than she was of them.

"You are way out of line. How dare you speak about my family, about me like that! You don't even know me. I don't want my son to replace my husband, but I do understand the responsibility he carries. Something you clearly have no respect or understanding for at all."

All bets were off; like a cornered beast Adelia was not afraid to strike back. She knew her initial assessment of this girl was correct, she was not the kind of person that could be a Luna. She saw nothing but her own wounded pride; she knew nothing of what it meant to have to be a leader and a mother all while dealing with great loss. She knew nothing of the way she had to self-sacrifice, of the hard choices she had to make, and her own guilt at her reluctant pride.

Even in the two weeks she had spent in their pack, she still knew nothing. Adelia hoped that she never knew— the cards that she had been dealt were not ones she would wish on anyone. They were hard, and as a result they had made her into the hard woman she had to become just to keep her head above the waves.

Adelia, like a waterfall hurtling over a cliff, didn't hold back; her words spilled from her mouth in an uncontrolled rant. "Then again, you never have had much respect or understanding for anything have you? I've seen your mile long criminal record of indecent exposure, disorderly conduct, assault. You're selfish, lack respect and you have no sense of responsibility. There is no place for someone like that beside Killian."

"You did a background check on me? and then you have the guts to tell me I'm out of line?" Rachel felt her face warm with embarrassment, and found herself feeling utterly grateful for her melanated skin that would not give her away.