"Now I know you’re upset, but that doesn’t mean you can speak disrespectfully," her father said.
"On the contrary, I can do whatever I want," she snapped.
"Now, wait just a minute," her father said, putting his heavy hand on her shoulder.
"No." She slipped away from his hand. "I will not wait a minute. I want to know exactly what you did. You’ve been sending me clients for years. I've asked you to stop, more times than I can count." She resisted stamping her foot, but just barely. "You know I want to make it on my own." Her blood was boiling. Her nerves felt like live wires.
Her brother and her father looked at each other. Her uncle had wandered over with some firewood. He’d paused what he was doing, but he didn’t meet her eyes either. He looked up at the sky.
"Tell me what you did. I want to know everything," she said, doing her best not to scream. "Do not leave anything out."
That was when her mother came out of the cabin. "Honey, they love you. They just want the best for you." Just as her father had, her mother held her hand out.
But Everleigh didn’t care. "Don’t make excuses for them. This is a form of control, and I will not accept it."
Her mom wasn’t going to give up. "But isn’t it a good thing? Your career is improving. How can you be angry about that?"
"Because I asked him not to interfere at all. They have deliberately gone against my wishes. This is not a surprise to anyone. I have been asking repeatedly for two years."
She turned back to her father. She wasn’t giving in. She was going to get some answers. She let them get away with far too much over the years.
Finally, her brother spoke up. "It was me. I did it. I sent the client your way. But you need to understand. This isn’t about you getting handed things. Clans look out for each other. And so do humans. They network. They even have rules about hiring family members in business because they want to give their family members jobs too."
"Yes, I am well aware of what nepotism is." They acted like she had grown up under a rock. They just couldn’t help but be condescending to her. It was like part of their DNA.
"You got that promotion because of the clan," her uncle said. "Just accept it. It’s normal."
"What do you mean I got that promotion because of the clan?"
Her uncle was trying to back away.
"Uncle Thomas, did you have something to do with this?"
"Well, you know we just didn’t think that boss appreciated you enough," her dad said.
"How do you know anything about my boss?" she yelled at her dad.
"No," Sutton said. "Listen, that part was my idea. Don't pop off to Dad."
"Are you spying on me? Were you having people report on what was going on at the office?"
"No, we weren’t spying," Sutton said. "We just asked a few people how it was going." He grinned.
She was too angry to even form a response. "Thank you for telling me. I appreciate your honesty."
Although she couldn’t really call it honesty when she had to beat it out of them. Why was it too much to ask for them to let her stand on her own? So what if she struggled? So what if she failed? She could handle it. Lots of people faltered when they were starting out.
They just wanted to smooth the way for her. Plenty of people tried to excuse it and say it was out of love, or that it was because she was the baby of the family, or because she was a female. But none of that mattered to her. Because she had asked them to stop. She had made it very clear. And they just did not care.
It was the way they ran the pack. Her grandfather was the Alpha. One day her father would be the Alpha, and then her brother. They were just used to meddling in everyone’s lives. And for some reason everyone seemed to like it. For her entire life people had come to her grandfather for help, and they’d spilled their guts and told him every single detail of their lives.
Now that he was older he delegated some of the duties to her father and to her uncle, and the same thing happened with them.
She had to break free.
No one in the clan would understand. None of her human friends would understand either. They all admired how close-knit her family was. They’d say, "But, Everleigh, you don't know what it’s like to have a dysfunctional family. I’d do anything to have my family’s help."
They also didn’t understand what it was like to be treated like a baby though. To always be watched and guarded. She was never allowed to be her own person.