Chapter 11:

Aeric

Bash me in the head with heavy metal, and I will get up hundreds of times to fight - again and again. Physical training teaches you that shit. 

Makes you strong, ready, and too coercive. 

What it does not teach you is- what to do when someone bashes you on the inside. Severe. Harsh. To the point that you do not have the will to get up and fight. 

Mom was the only one that actually acted like she was our parent. Not some trainer, who is turning the animals he breeds into fighters that can conquer wars. 

Us being werewolves does not help as well. 

People might expect the alpha kings to be burly, strong, and emotionless. That's not true. 

Wolves are connected to their family with a special bond. A single nip to the person burns our skin, death. 

Well, it just kills us too. 

I close my eyes savoring the pain inside me. I cannot run like Lucius. I bet I will never have the guts to move my feet towards the mansion. Not have the guts to, not hear my mother's voice. 

My fingers dive to my face pinching the bridge of my nose. 

In the next heartbeat, we are entering the mansion gates. Huge golden gates, embezzled with “Valor” in pitch black engravings. 

The gates open, viewing the glass fountain that sits in the middle, opening two more gates on either of its side. The driver glides the car through the right one, passing well-carved gardens, and small fountains deliberately scattered. 

I dont know whether our ancestors were inspired by Disney or Disney was inspired by us but the mansion is something cinderella ran off losing her shoes, or where every evil stepmother cahoots a plan to kill the daughter of the house. 

All white, with Prussian blue whatever that is called at the top the palace is no less than a living epitome of cruelty itself. 

I climb off the car entering the mansion. Lucius only minutes behind my arrival. We enter, finding our mother lying in Luna’s casket. Her skin refulgent, like the shards of the sun. Her hands securely placed over her stomach, cradling the surface too carefully. 

“She was pregnant”, Aunt Marie chimes placing a hand over my back. 

“She said god was sending her a girl - sister that can calm the demons of her monstrous sons.” A rueful chuckle falls from her lips, along with tears that clutch at the edge of her red eyes. 

“What happened?”, I ask. My voice too afraid, too broken to form words that hold anything but contrite. 

“No one knows. She was alright. Even healthy.” She stops mid-sentence, and wails replacing the words.

“Father?”, Lucius says, his voice mimicking mine. 

“No one can reach him. We tried, the office tried.”

“Right!”, Lucius says kissing the temple of mom.

                                                                 ***

Faying sadness is hard. Seconds ago, I learned faying strength when all you feel is broken is the hardest. Try smiling when your lips can hardly take than upturn. It feels like someone put an anchor on both edges making it too impossible to lift - unless ripped. 

The funeral ceremony was wrapped quickly, to make sure her peace was not disturbed. “Huh..”. Camouflage. 

Camouflage to hide the truth that they did not want father to suffer for long because of the loss of his mate. Apparently, the loss can kill him. 

Or might has already killed him for better, so he cannot be reached. 

I feel bad for my mother. The woman stood by my father in every turn, misfortune of his life. He did not even turn up to her funeral. 

As fast as things wrapped up at the mansion, Lucius and I stepped out, not wanting to spend a single second in a place where we could not feel the warmth anymore. It was no more a place where we were cradled in lap and sung songs to. Now, it was a mere training ground that whipped us for every mistake, every weakness, and every tear. 

The layer of warmth scrapped off, sealed in the casket with our mom. All that is left, is cold apathy of war.

Lucius and I decided to run back to the place in our wolf forms. A mere attempt to let out whatever cocktail of emotions that was forming inside us. After all, we wanted to be at least a little less broken and affected when we reach home. 

Penny did not deserve to feel our pain, the moment she got out of one. Now, that she is in our house we want to make sure she is happy, safe, and probably hidden from all the harm that could come to her in any form. 

Penny

I jolt up from the bed, sitting straight. Beads of sweat cover my forehead, my eyes wide, breath ragged, body trembling. 

I have always woken up like this, unlike the movies that show you a smoother transition of the body. 

Thinking of a movie, even today I saw that movie. 

Playing on the drapes of my eyes. Filled with gore and carnage. 

Shouts and screams. 

I dont know the title. I never watched it when I was awake. 

It always comes to me when I am asleep. 

I look around me. Piles of clothes form a wall around my body. The scent of Alpha Aeric and Lucius dancing within the room. Instead of throwing my legs off the bed like I always do, I bury myself in the pile of clothes inhaling the scent that emits them. 

Is this Alpha Aeric and Lucius’s house?

It has to be. 

I turn on my side, drawing my knees closer to my chest to fit myself in the nest around me.  As I move, my body feels bound, like trapped in chains. Heavy, hard to move, just like when Alpha Damon ties me in the red room of the club. Slashing my skin with whips. 

In reality, my body is just covered with white bandages. 

I remember, back at the club, some Alpha wanted a private dance. I refused him. First time. For the first time since I started dancing at the club, I have refused someone. 

Why?

Because I was waiting for Alpha Aeric and Alpha Lucius. 

No, just Aeric and Lucius. 

My cheeks cover with warmth, like the surrounding of a bonfire without the actual one in place. 

He slapped me when I rejected him. 

He asked for a private dance again.

I refused, so he kicked me. 

He asked again.

I refused. His claws retracted slashing me on the face, my hands, and every possible part he had access to. 

I throw my legs down from the bed, walking to the full-length mirror covered in a golden metallic border in the corner of the room. Scars covered my face.

I run my palm over my scars. Alpha Damon told me never to hurt my face. He will whip me again when he comes back. 

Maybe they will fade by then. 

I take a deep breath, lowering my hand to the scars that run down the hem of the blue flowy dress draped on my body.

Does it belong to their girlfriend? 

Sasha said, they should have a girlfriend. 

I feel a punch in my stomach, a wave of hot blood flowing through my body. My throat constricts, the airflow suddenly reducing around me.

My stomach growls. Loud. 

Oh! It must be happening because I am hungry. 

I slip past the door, throwing a glance around the edges of the house. My feet sink in the cold tiles beneath, the marble mimicking my shadow running beneath me. Looking past three doors on the first floor, I climb down the stairs, again sifting through the doors and peeking my head to find the kitchen.

I finally found it, tucked in not so small corner, hidden beneath a big wall that created a partition. 

I trudge forward, opening the sleek black fridge. The panels inside are covered in hundreds of food items saran-wrapped. I dive in taking what looked like a plate of some leftover pasta. Plucking a fork from the kitchen table, I remove the saran wrap and dig into the plate. The coldness of the food tickles the inside of my mouth, but I gobble the food down to remove the feeling of the hot waves running through my body.

I hear the distant ruffle of keys, followed by the striking of the door. I run out of the kitchen, to see Aeric and Lucius instead I find myself face to face with a blonde girl. 

She stands an inch taller than me, clad in a white fitted crop top ending over her chain-clad belly. Her boobs pop out of the T-shirt, her ass flexing a curve in blue-washed jeans. 

Her eyebrows are turned up, nose scrunched, lips open apart. 

“Who are you and what are you doing here?”, she says looking up and down. 

“And why are you wearing my dress”.

Ohh! So it does belong to their girlfriend. 

The hot waves again rush around my body, and I clutch the hem of the dress hoping the waves go away. 

“Hello”, she waves her hand before my face.

“Hii”, I say in a small voice, and her entire face scrunches up.

“Who are you?”

“Penny”

“And what are you doing here?”

“Aeric and Lucius brought me here to see their house. Like they said last night.”

“You mean Aeric, and Lucius brought you here? That’s impossible, why would they bring a girl in here except for me.”

I stare at her not knowing what to answer.

“Are you their girlfriend?”, I ask the words just bouncing on my lips and out of my mouth.

“No. But I am the future luna.” I nod, the waves in my body becoming colder at her words.

Her lips open a small flutter of words rumbling out when her phone blares. 

“Yes, dad.”

“What?”

“I will be right there.”

She looks at me up and down, before turning on her heels and running out of the door that she came in from.

Seconds later, I find my way to the room. 

I lie on my back on the bed, clutching the shirts that lie around me. Fed, and without the waves in my body, I take a look around the room.

Teal accents stare at me, peeping through the grey backgrounds. Shiny metallic accents border their edges, creating a luxe effect. 

The room is so different from mine, covered in nothing but white. The gray walls remind me of them, every accent on the wall having their touch. A fire ignites in me again.

The velvety grey bed sinks my body in itself, the fluffy tactile emitting a radiance of warmth lulling me to another round of sleep.