Chapter 283

Judy’s POV

Janet’s house wasn’t far from the packhouse. It was about 15 minutes on foot. I walked. The walk gave me a bit of clarity; the fresh air was nice. Though it was hard to see some of the damage from the rogues, and even the charred buildings and trees from the explosion.

I shuddered when I passed the part of the forest that was completely destroyed by the explosion. Tears pricked my eyes at the memory, and I had to quickly blink them away. Weakness was not something I was about to show my new packmates, especially when I’m supposed to be a strong Gamma warrior.

I said hello to some of the packmates who were cleaning up their own yards from the damage and debris. They greeted me right back as I continued on.

Janet’s house had the most damage from what I could see. She had trees that were tipped over, ripping through what used to be green and plush grass, but now looked burned to a crisp and torn out of the ground. The windows were boarded from being broken, and the door was practically hanging off its hinges. If I hadn’t known any better, I would say nobody had lived in this house for years.

There was a car in the driveway that I knew didn’t belong to Janet. I walked up to the door and knocked. I waited for a few minutes before the door opened. I stood in front of a blotchy-faced, red-rimmed eye, Stacy, Janet’s sister, who lives a few packs away.

“Oh, hey, Stacy. I came to check on Janet,” I told her.

Stacy wiped her eyes and gave me a small, yet sad, smile.

“Hi, Judy,” she said softly. “You can come in. It’s nice of you to stop by. Heard you were caught in the explosion. I’m surprised you’re walking around.”

“As soon as I was healed, I was up and walking,” I told her, stepping into the dark home. “Can’t keep me down for long.”

“I’m glad you chose to be the Elite Gamma for this pack,” Stacy said with a small smile. “You are a good one, Judy Montague.”

She guided me through the small home; it looked ransacked, and I realized nobody had bothered to clean up since the rogues made their attack the other night. They destroyed the place, and I could tell there was a struggle before the Delta was killed.

Janet was seated in her living room; her hands were trembling as she stared at the ground, tears soaking her cheeks, and her lip was trembling. It looked as if she hadn’t showered in days; she wore the same clothing she wore when I saw her the day before the attack, and my heart broke.

“Janet, you have a visitor.”

Stacy spoke to her like a child, and it hurt even more. Stacy sat beside her on the couch, picking up a broken picture frame that had fallen on the ground, her shoulders slumping.

“Hey, Janet,” I said, sitting down in the chair near the couch. I wasn’t sure what to say. I had the letter gripped in my hands, and I wasn’t sure if now was a good time to present it to her. She looked utterly broken, and I couldn’t blame her. She just found out her daughter was in the forest the day after her husband was killed, after rogues broke into her home, a home she worked so hard to maintain. A few days ago, this house was the best in the pack. Janet took pride in both her home and her store, and it showed. But now it was the worst, and I could only imagine what the store looked like without Janet there to maintain it.

“She hasn’t spoken since Beta Aiden’s visit yesterday,” Stacy muttered, rolling her eyes. “How he became a Beta is beyond me. That man is an asshole.”

I nodded in agreement.

“He’s Alpha Sampson’s best friend,” I told her. “That’s how he became a beta.”

She just rolled her eyes.

“He came here to pretty much interrogate her over the Cindy situation. That was how Janet found out it was Cindy who brought the bomb to the forest and that it was Cindy who exploded along with some of the other gammas.”

“He interrogated her??” I asked, astonished by Aiden’s audacity. “Interrogated her about what exactly?”

“He was accusing her of working with Cindy to destroy this pack,” she said, shaking her head with her lips pressed in a thin line. “He was completely out of line.”

“I’ll speak with him,” I said, shaking my head. “What he did was wrong. I’ll make sure Sampson knows this, too.”

“Make sure Sampson knows what?” Lucy asked as she walked into the room. “Sorry… the door was unlocked, so I figured I’d just come in. Plus, Sampson told me that Judy was here already.”

“Did you know that Beta Aiden came here and interrogated Janet?” I asked her, my eyes narrowed. “And that was how she found out about her only daughter?”

Lucy’s eyes widened.

“What the actual fuck?” She asked, stepping further into the room.

“He pretty much manhandled her,” Stacy muttered, folding her arms across her chest. “Had her pressed against the wall and everything. I walked in on it and made him let her go. She was sobbing. I couldn’t get her to speak again after he left. He broke her…”

“I won’t let him get away with that shit,” Lucy spat. “God, I always hated that jerk.”

“You, me, and both, and I’ve only been here a couple of weeks,” I muttered.

“I came here to tell Janet that we are having a memorial for both her husband and daughter in a couple of days. We’ll have a memorial for the others over the weekend, but we wanted to do something special for the Delta,” Lucy said, addressing Janet, who was still seated on the couch, with more tears falling down her cheeks. “Janet, you are not alone. This entire pack is rallying behind you. We are your family. You can lean on us. More packmates will be arriving later with some homemade dishes for you. You need to eat and keep up your strength.”

My heart hurt so much for Janet; she was so pretty and she was young, at least 32 years old. She was too young to be going through what she was going through.

“I’ll make sure she’s there, Luna Lucy,” Stacy said thoughtfully. “That’s very kind of you. Thank you.”

Lucy nodded before turning to me.

“Let me drive you home so you don’t gotta walk. You should be resting,” Lucy said, raising her brows. “You were just discharged.”

She and the doctor were the only ones who knew that I was pregnant, and I knew the look in her eyes was indicating that I should be resting for this baby.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, my eyes remaining on hers in a silent argument, one I was losing.

“Okay,” I finally relented as I stood. Then, I remembered the letter in my hands. I turned to Stacy. “Walk us out?”

Stacy nodded and turned to Janet, telling her she’ll be right back.

Soon, we were walking out of the house. I turned to Stacy and handed her the letter.

“Sampson wanted me to give this to her,” I told Stacy. “It didn’t seem like a good time, though. But I figured you could give it to her once she’s ready.”

“What is it?” She asked, eyeing the envelope with a frown.

“A letter from her husband, along with money… I’m assuming all his assets,” I told her. “He set it aside in case anything happened to him.”

She swallowed, tears filling her eyes again as she nodded.

“You were right not to give it to her right now. I don’t know if she can handle it. But hopefully soon she can. My husband and kids will be arriving here tomorrow morning, so I’m glad there will be a memorial for the Delta.”

I nodded.

“Thank you for being here with her,” I said softly. “You’re a good sister.”

“Family has got to stick together. If you can’t depend on them, who can you depend on?”

Her words struck a chord in my chest; she was right. If ci couldn’t depend on family, then who could I depend on? It made me feel bad that I hadn’t called home since landing in Redcliff. I missed my mom and dad... I missed my friends. I knew the reason I didn’t call them was because I couldn’t handle hearing about Gavin and his happy, engaged life… but was that really an excuse to shut them out? It’s not like they did anything to deserve being ghosted.

We said our final goodbyes, and I slid into the backseat of a car. One of the Gammas was driving; I wasn’t surprised. There was no way Sampson would let Lucy drive here herself.

“Take us to Judy’s house,” Lucy told him.

He nodded and pulled away from the house. Typically, I would sit in the front seat with my fellow Gamma, but at this moment, I wasn’t there as a Gamma; I was there as Lucy’s friend.

I made a choice as we headed towards my house; the second I got home, I was going to call my parents.