"Congrats, man." Blaine slapped Gabe on his back.
I giggled. "Well, I'm thrilled for you both."
"I was fully mated and marked before both of you." Ivy winked toward Nolan.
Riley leaned forward over the table. "Oh, that's right! To a man who wasn't your mate."
Mom gave out an exasperated sigh. "Riley, don't start."
"He treats me like his mate. Isn't that what matters? I mean, he rejected his true mate for me." Ivy placed a hand on Nolan's tense shoulder.
"Didn't he just try to mark my mate? The one he rejected for you?" Blaine's voice was dangerously low, and he straightened his posture.
I knew Blaine was tired of Ivy and Nolan. Beyond tired and to the point of shifting and killing one of them, not that I could blame him. I reached over and placed my hand on his thigh.
Ivy huffed and crossed her arms. "Nolan! Say something," she mumbled, elbowing him; but Nolan kept quiet and continued eating his food, staring at his plate. "I'm pregnant. Remember? You guys should be nice to me."
"Being pregnant doesn't give you the right to be a bitch." Riley scoffed.
"Riley! We don't need to use curse words," Mom scolded, and shook her head.
"Ivy, I'm no threat to you. You don't have to keep throwing the rejection in my face." I squeezed Blaine's thigh as he put his hand over mine.
"I hate you, Sophia." Tears started to well up in her eyes. "The only reason your precious Blaine is with you is because he feels sorry for you. Your first mate rejected you. Why would he want Nolan's sloppy leftovers?" She slammed her fists down on the table, knocking over Nolan's half-full wineglass.
Blaine went rigid, I could feel him fighting his wolf through the matebond. His instincts were telling him to take out the threat, and the threat was my pregnant bitch of a sister and her disgusting husband.
I stood up, growling at her. "Watch yourself."
"What're you going to do? Throw me in the cellars? I'm pregnant! You can't touch me because you'd be hurting an innocent baby." She placed a hand on her stomach.
"Girls. Please," Mom interjected, grabbing a cloth and walking over to clean up the wine spill.
"Hell, I kind of feel bad for you. You're just a little reject, after all," Ivy pressed on with a smug smile.
I felt Blaine's hand on the small of my back as he stood next to me. "I would watch what you say, she-wolf."
"Nolan's rejection may not mean much to you now, Sophia, but don't you remember that day? You were so excited to meet your mate and it turned out that my boyfriend was your mate." She laughed, running a hand through her hair. "Instead of breaking up with me and being with his true mate, he rejected you for your little sister. I mean, that must've been painful not to have been good enough. Too bad you were of Alpha blood. You wouldn't have had to suffer. 'Cause you'd be dead." Her eyes were dark as she glared at me.
"Too bad your baby has a heartless bitch for a mother." My canines broke through my gums, and my claws broke through the tips of my fingers. "You're putting that pup in danger by blatantly disrespecting your Alpha. If you keep this up, I won't be able to stop myself from ripping your fucking throat out."
Her expression went blank before she stomped over to me and swung her palm at my cheek. Her actions had me seeing red. I caught her wrist and squeezed, feeling her bones snap under the pressure. My claws cut into her wrist, blood oozing out of the wounds. Her scream pierced my ears, making me clench down harder. Her bones crumbled under my grip and I cut into her flesh deeper.
My half-transformed snout leaned closer to her, smelling her fear.
The table erupted in gasps. My claws retracted, along with my canines, and I took a deep breath, dropping her wrist. She shrieked, holding her arm and stared at me wide-eyed. Her hand hung disconnected and bloody from her forearm.
"Ivy!" Dad stood and walked over to her.
"What the hell did you do? Are you trying to kill our baby?" Nolan shook his head at her.
Mom grimaced at Ivy, looking away from the situation.
A deafening growl exploded from me as I pulled away from Blaine. "I am your Alpha. I have every right to banish you, sentence you to the cellars, or lock you up until you give birth and then kill you in front of the pack." Her small frame shook. "I won't do that, for the sake of our parents and that baby. You will learn your place in this pack. Don't make me beat it into you."
Nolan jumped out of his seat, knocking the chair over, and stormed out of the room.
"Nolan, come back!" Ivy turned from me before stumbling after him, cradling her wrist.
Blaine wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest. I inhaled his scent, thankful for his presence. The rage I had felt seconds before dissipated thanks to the matebond.
Dad cleared his throat. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault." I shook my head, focusing on Mom. "I'm not attending any family functions with her there."
She waved me off. "I know. I don't expect you to anymore. But did you have to break her wrist? She is carrying a baby."
"With the amount of disrespect she showed Sophia, I'm surprised she didn't do worse," Dad snapped at her.
Blaine nodded. "If Sophia hadn't addressed her when she did, I would've killed her."
The room went quiet. Blaine wasn't an Alpha to be messed with, everyone knew that. Ivy had no clue how close she had been to death.
"We're leaving," I said before grabbing Blaine's hand and walking out of the room.
We went back home. There wasn't much conversation in the car and when we pulled up to the cottage, Blaine didn't say anything. He just got out of
