Chapter 58

Axel grabbed me before an eye could blink.
I yelped as he effortlessly threw me over his shoulder like I was nothing more than a sack of potatoes.
“AXEL!” I shrieked, pounding my fists against his back. “PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW!”
He didn’t even flinch. If anything, he adjusted me like I was a slightly inconvenient duffel bag and started walking toward the car.
“Axel, I swear to God—”
“If you bite me, María José, I will bite you back.”
I froze. “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.”
Heat shot straight to my face.
The workers at the butchery—who had been quietly pretending not to witness any of this—were now openly staring, their mouths hanging open like fish.
I could almost imagine what was running through their minds; the Beta has lost his mind. He’s hanging around with a cursed and wolfless Omega!
Axel reached the car, popped the passenger door open, and deposited me into the seat.
“There.” He dusted his hands off like he had just finished a hard day’s work. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
I glared daggers at him. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
I crossed my arms, fuming.
Axel leaned down, resting his arms against the car door so his face was level with mine.
“María José.”
I refused to look at him.
“María José.”
I clenched my jaw. “What?”
“I mean it,” he said. “You can’t keep avoiding this.”
I gulped.
“We’re going to your house. and you’re going to face your father. And I’ll be there with you. Every step of the way.”
Every step of the way? My heart gripped itself.
I hated that he was right.
I hated that he cared.
I hated that a small—stupid part of me wanted to believe that my life could change for the better just by speaking to my father.
It won’t.
Axel tapped the car roof twice, straightened up, and shut the door.
Then, with all the confidence in the world, he walked around to the driver’s side, got in, and shut the door before I could scramble out.
I banged my fists against the window. “YOU’RE INSANE!”
“Relax,” he said, buckling his seatbelt. “I’m doing you a favor.”
“It’s no favor. I told you, I can’t go back there so openly,” I gushed desperately. “If he finds out I left the house—if he finds out I was here—”
“He should find out. Because this is madness.” Axel cut in.
I frowned. “What?”
“This.” He gestured at the butcher shop behind us. “All of this. Your father is sitting in his house, probably drinking a nice glass of wine, while you’re out here dodging disgusting men and slaving away to pay off a debt that shouldn’t even be your responsibility in the first place.”
I bit my lip, refusing to meet his gaze.
“How could he let this happen?” Axel demanded like it wasn’t already so obvious. “How could he—as a father—just sit around while you came here to work?”
My nails dug into my palms. “He… he didn’t sit around.”
Axel scoffed. “Oh, really? Then where is he? Because I don’t see him anywhere. I had to be the one to pull you out of here. I had to be the one to make sure no one touched you. I had to be the one to teach that piece of filth a lesson.”
A lump grew in my throat. “Axel—”
He shook his head, cutting me off. “No. This needs to stop. You need to stop.”
Sadness overrode the panic in my heart.
Axel wasn’t just angry at my father anymore.
He was angry at me.
“You’re mad at me? For what?” I asked, staring at my lap.
Anywhere was good to gaze Ay except for Axel’s eyes. While he was busy trying to teach some resistance into me, I might lose control and kiss him.
I didn’t trust my timid but affection ridden self around him.
“For not standing up for yourself,” Axel said bluntly. “For letting yourself be treated like this.”
My stomach churned with shame.
“This isn’t just about your father, María José. It’s about you.”
Even though his voice softened, it still held a hint of frustration.
“You need to learn how to stand up to him,” He continued. “You need to learn how to fight for yourself.”
I frowned. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re—”
“What?” He tilted his head, daring me to finish. “I’m what?”
I hung back.
“Stronger than you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “More powerful?”
I scratched my nape.
“Well, yeah,” I muttered.
He let out a mocking chuckle. “You think that’s why I can do it?”
I nodded even though I was unsure where he was going with this.
“No,” he said simply. “That’s not why.”
I blinked.
“The reason I can stand up to people, María José, is because I demand to be respected. I don’t let people walk over me—not because I have a wolf, but because I refuse to be treated like I’m less.” He put forward and finally placed a hand on the wheel.
I bit my lip. Well, not everyone became a rebel at a young age. Some of us lived under our father’s wing, protection, and obligations our entire lives.
If only I could say that to him.
“I don’t care that you don’t have a wolf,” he went on. “I don’t care that your father is powerful or that you’re an Omega. You are still a person.” Follow current novᴇls on.net
I was digging a nail deep into a finger now. It was better to feel a physical pain than the one shooting in my heart.
“And your father needs to see that.”
I looked away. “He won’t.”
“Then we’ll make him see it.”
I stared at him finally and instantly regretted it. My heart jumped so hard at the beauty of his green eyes.
“What you need, María José, is not anger. Not frustration. But Determination.
He actually believed I could do this.
“You need to talk to him. You need to make him understand that you’re his daughter first and an Omega second.”
I grew my hands into fists, torn between fear and something else—something close to hope.
But then reality set in.
I shook my head. “I can’t.”
Axel exhaled, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Dios mío, mujer