Chapter Nine: The Skyler Siblings

Enzo Ellios Skyler P.O.V

It's noon now, I'm in the room looking for some documents to use for my preparation at work. I noticed that the papers I was looking for were not here in my drawer, so I thought about entering Max's room. No one is allowed to enter there but I just needed to get something.

I have a duplicate key so I won't have a hard time getting in, Magnus and Cassius aren't here so no one will stop me. I was about to open the door but I was surprised when my cellphone suddenly rang so I picked it up. It was a call from Max so I answered it.

''H-hello?'' I answered nervously, I was sweating and leaning against the wall because of nervousness. It's a good thing that I didn't go ahead with my plan, Max might even beat me if I interfered with his belongings.

''What are you doing there?'' he asked, I gulped as I think of what to answer. ''Uhmm, I'm here at home, cleaning the room,'' I lied. ''Hmm, is that so,'' he urged. I noticed that he was not convinced by my answer, I'm just nervous because Max doesn't like a liar.

''What is the woman doing there? Where is Flynn?'' he asked. ''She was resting, Flynn is with Alas planting outside the garden,'' I answered, I walked closer to the window and peeked at them, I thought that they were cleaning the garden but they were just throwing mud at each other.

''When I came back there, make sure that Freeda is awake and already doing her tasks, I'm hanging up now,'' he said, he immediately cut off the call so I went back to my room. I still need to find something but I'll just ask Max for help, now I have to wake up Freeda. I need to tell her what she will do here at home.

She stayed in Flynn's room, when I entered there I saw her lying in the bed but she was not sleeping. I came over and sat on the side of the bed.

''Freeda, you need to get up now, Max will be home later,'' I said, she did not utter a word, she was stunned by the emptiness as if she had lost hope.

''What am I going to do with my life, I don’t know what I’m living for, it’s all pointless,'' she suddenly spoke, I could feel the sadness in her voice. I sighed as I thought about how to comfort her.

''Do you no longer have a family?'' I asked, she looked at me and shook her head. ''My mother and father have died since I was a child while my grandmother died a week ago,'' she answered.

''You're just like us, we have lost our parent since childhood,'' I said. Suddenly I was sad, I remembered the night that I will never forget. Whenever I remember the incident where my mother lost her breath and saw my father's corpse, I couldn't help but feel sad. I miss them so much until now I still can't accept that they're gone, everywhere that I look at the corner of the house I always remember them.

Freeda got up and I noticed she looked at my face. "You alright?" she asked, I wiped the tears from my eyes, I just nodded my head and smiled at her. "Y-yes, I'm fine," I answered. She remained sitting on the bed and hugged her legs. We went back to the conversation, I can't blame her on why she's like that, she's still going through something so she needs to recover first.

"Freeda, what you are going through is also difficult, I understand it. I know you are having a hard time when your grandmother died and now you stayed here with us, and I know that you don't like here. I can't do anything either, I'm not the older brother. Max thinks differently from us, but don't be afraid, especially of me, if you see me as a bad person, it's okay. You still don't know us very well," I said, she emotionlessly look at me and was very tired.

''How can I still trust you if you broke my trust in the first place?'' she asked, I'm ashamed to look at her but I'll just find a way to make her trust in me again and I'll try to help. Not to help her to escape but to how could she survive at Max's hands.

''I know it's not easy to regain the trust that I broke, it's okay that you will not trust me again, just trust yourself, then, fight for the condition you've said, that's the only reason why you lived, you're lucky that Max didn't kill you last night,'' I said as I faced her and I held her arms.

''I know that you're scared of us, the first time you met us didn't go well. We also have a reason for why we do those things, but for now, stand up for yourself, I can help you but it's not a way for you to escape, I can't violate his rules, we need to obey Maximus. I'm very sorry this is the only way that I can help you, '' I asserted, she nodded and slowly stood up.

''If you are willing to help me, let's start now. I wanted to live for myself, so I will just do the condition that saved my life,'' she speak out. I smiled a little, I also stood up to accompany her.

''If you're ready, don't worry, I'm just behind you,'' I insisted, we left the room and walked downstairs. ''Before I guide you through what you will do, I will first introduce you to our family,'' I said, I took her to the living room where the large painting was attached.

''This is our family painting, the woman in the middle is our mother, her name is Fraulein and this is our father, Ferdinand, and the seven of us are the Skyler siblings,'' I introduced. She just stared at it and looked at the details of the painting.

''By the way, this is Max, he is the tallest of the siblings so he is standing behind us, this is Cassius and Magnus, they are twins but the difference between them is the color of their eyes. Cassius has blue eyes, he inherited them from our father while Magnus's eyes are yellow, he inherited them from our mother. Flynn and Alas are also my hardworking brothers, in case Alas is hot-headed like Magnus, Flynn is kind and calm but stubborn, both of them have the same green eye color. Lastly, Jude and I are the youngest of the siblings, our eyes color is hazel brown and I am the one who is made the helper here, Jude is the most stubborn, he doesn't listen to Max. He does what he wants and he doesn't talk to us, Max can't do anything either but just let him wander at the town,'' I elaborated, I feel like I'm out of breath because of the length of what I said.

''I don't have to get to know you all, I just want to know what I'm going to do, '' she said reluctantly. She walked away to the balcony, I scratched my head because I thought that she was interested in what I told her.

''This woman is snobbish,'' I murmured. I followed her there on the balcony, she peeked outside and we saw Alas and Flynn watering the flowers in the garden, the two were also shirtless and soaking wet.

''They both love to repair here at home, they fix the broken things, especially at the kitchen. When you work inside, Flynn is the one you can approach if you want to learn to cook and to make you aware, he is our Salutary and the healer of the pack,'' I said while looking at them.

''Pack? What is that?'' she asked. I was surprised and quickly corrected what I said.

''I-I mean that in the siblings we are a pack like a group, then Ummm..let's go back to Flynn so..he's the one who takes care of us when someone is sick or injured, like our healer,'' I explained. I have to be careful of what comes out of my mouth, she doesn't know who we are.

''Hmm..like a family doctor?'' she asked and I nodded. ''Yeah..and you can approach Alas if you want to wander around here, but let me just remind you, it's also dangerous here, there are snakes everywhere," I terrified, her eyes widened as she looked at me. "No way! I might die early here if I just get bitten by snakes," she cried.

''Don't worry, Alas is there, he is our sentinel, the one who ensures our safety. So if you'll get water from the river or in the stream, just go with Alas, because he knows the way to get there and he knows how to kill snakes. He was bitten by snakes many times and luckily he's still alive,'' I said and chuckled. I noticed that Freeda was stunned in the distance, she was staring at Flynn.

They were taking a bath using the water hose, I noticed that she was dumbfounded. Seems attracted to Flynn's good looks, he has six-pack abs and his muscles were big. Flynn is charming and the girls in the town get crazy over him every time he just walks in the streets with us.

''Don't get too stunned there, you might fall for him,'' I jeered, she glared at me and averted her eyes from Flynn because he was looking at us.

''What else am I going to do? Aside from cooking and fetching water?'' she asked. I was about to continue talking but we heard the sound of a car in the distance, the car parked on the side, we saw Cassius and Magnus get out there. The two went home first without Max.

''Let's go out first to get some air, '' I invited but she shook her head, ''I don't want to, Cassius is there, I might suddenly punch him,'' she said in disgust. She is still annoyed with what Cassius did earlier when she was sleeping in the basement, it looks like she will also find a way to get revenge.

''Cassius is our crazy brother, he always jokes even in serious situations, moreover, he and Magnus are the Beta, the two is also followed because they are the twin older brothers,'' I said, I noticed that she seemed worried.

''So does that mean I will follow Cassius' orders? What if he wants me to do something..you now..?'' she worriedly asked, I'm scratching my head again. ''Don't worry. He can't do that sexual thing because you're here at home, Max doesn't like such things, and Cassius is a womanizer so don't wonder why he's a flirt, '' I said. It's in our rules that we don't need a mate, but no rule forbids us not to flirt, I also tried to meet other people when I'm in the town.

One night I met a man inside a bar, we talked about our lives and because of drunkenness he suddenly kissed me. At that time, I found out who I was, I found out that I was gay but my siblings didn’t know that. Nobody knows, because I'm afraid of their reaction, I'm afraid that they might judge and hate me.

After that, I never saw that man again, I was afraid to fall into the trap, I would only ruin myself for the love that was forbidden. There are many reasons why my life is complicated, our life as siblings. We are not ordinary people, there is a big secret hidden behind our lives.

''Hey, are you okay? We're going downstairs aren't we?'' I came to my senses when Freeda asked. ''Ahh, yes we're going out,'' I said. She looked at me seriously as if she was confused with me.

''You seem to be thinking deeply, do you have a problem?'' she asked, I could read in her brain what she was thinking about me, she thought that I was sad because of my brothers, that they were bad, but they are not really like that, she just needs to get to know us and she will know that we're not bad.

When we got out, the twins come near us before they enter the house. "Oh! Freeda is wide awake,'' Cassius jested. Freeda rolled her eyes and ignored him, "Why didn't you go home with Max? Where is he?" I asked. ''He will take care of something, but he didn't say about it, maybe he will go home later,'' Magnus answered.

''By the way, Freeda please wash my coats,'' Magnus added, he took off his coat and threw it at Freeda. She gulped as she looked at his coat and turn to Magnus. "You can't wash your clothes? What are you, a señorito?" Freeda blurted. I covered my mouth, I tried not to laugh but I suddenly laughed out loud with Cassius. Magnus's forehead is wrinkled and his hands are on his waist.

''Woah! Stop me! I might strangle this woman!'' he urged, He was about to try to pull Freeda's hair but he was tripped and fell to the ground. Flynn and Alas also come near to us.

''What is going on here?'' Flynn asked, I can't help but laugh because of Magnus's stupidity. ''He ordered Freeda to do the laundry but he was mistaken for a señorito,'' Cassius chuckled and Magnus glared at him. Alas helped Magnus stand up. Freeda looked around the house and we let her walk around, she was not handcuffed so she was free to touch anything.

''Why do you live here in the woods?'' she asked while touching the flower vase, the five of us looked at each other, I didn't know what to answer.

''I thought that you all lived in some apartments, but it's just here in the woods. Well it's simple to live here and the air is fresher to breathe,'' she said as she felt the fresh air.

''Our father built this house a long time ago, we are not used to living in this kind of place but we also liked it sooner because it is far from the noise in town, we live quietly and simply here in the middle of the woods,'' Flynn said, I smiled and agreed.

''This is where we all grew up, our parents left many memories here with us, this is the only place we will stay until we die,'' I added.

I was only about seven years old when we lived here, my dad told us that we would all be safe if we stayed here in the woods. He also said that it was dangerous for us to live in the town when we left our old big house, armed men were chasing us.

We didn’t know what was going on then, but when we grew up we already knew the reason why we left in town, and that was because the police were chasing my father to arrest him. It was not fair what happened to our father when he was mercilessly killed by the police, we know that he was innocent and we believe that he was a good man. He was our father who was willing to do everything for our sake, he put us in a good place to sleep but he was already lying in the coffin.

We turned around when we heard the dog barking, we saw Hugo in the distance with Jude, the dog ran towards us and suddenly Freeda ran away. ''Tie that dog!'' she shouted and ran everywhere and we couldn't help but laugh. Jude tried to catch Hugo but he also had a hard time chasing him. Freeda suddenly tripped over a branch of a tree but luckily Jude caught her so she didn't hit her head on the rock. Jude was above her and they stayed lying on the ground for a few seconds.

I looked at Flynn and noticed something strange in his eyes, I grinned as I looked at Alas. We were teasing him with Freeda so he suddenly came there and helped the two get up.

''I knew it, he likes Freeda and he can't deny that,'' I said and Cassius laughed. ''It would be fun if I interfere with the scene, what if I'm going to like her too? How would he react,'' he teased. I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

''For sure she won't like you back, she's annoyed with you so she will probably just ignore you,'' I muttered. ''I would like that, I will chase her and she might fall for me too,'' he said and grinned. I smiled bitterly as I patted him on the arm.

''Stop daydreaming, she will never like you back,'' I dictated. ''Whatever!'' he just pout and rolls his eyes then walked away. The others went inside the house and Freeda and I were left outside while Jude was feeding Hugo.

Freeda has nothing to do for now so we just talked while sitting on the big branch of the tree that had fallen. ''Jude is stubborn but he is the one who hunts for our food, in short, he is the hunter,'' I said.

''What is he hunting for? A pig?'' she asked.

''Hmm...if he catches a pig, we can grill it, but he just buys some pork meats in town,'' I answered. Sometimes we just need meat, and Jude catches some deers here in the woods.

''Will I go with him if he buys meat in town?'' she asked and I thought about what to answer, I noticed that she wanted to go with Jude if it came out of town, and she was thinking of this way to escape.

''I'm not sure if you'll be allowed to go out into town, we'll find it out later, only Max can tell you of what you can do,'' I answered and smiled. She nodded as she thought of ways to escape, she is unaware that we could read what was running through her mind.

She will have a hard time with what she plans to do, especially since Max knows what she can do to escape. I noticed that she was bored so she thought of taking a twig and drawing on the ground. ''Only Max was holding your phone and he forbade you to use it,'' I said and she look at me.

"Hmm..what about my belongings at home? Can I take that?" she asked and kept drawing on the ground. "You can take it too, but maybe we'll just be the ones he ordered to take it, we'll just know when Max is coming," I said.

''Well talking about Max,'' I muttered. We saw a black car coming inside, it parked on the side next to Cassius' parked car.

''And here's the Alpha,'' I said while we looked at Maximus getting out of the car. Just like before, there was no emotion on his face as if nothing good had happened in his whole life.

''Alpha?'' Freeda asked and her eyebrows rose.

''If I am the scout of the siblings, Max is the Alpha, the highest rank so he is obeyed in all things, so don't break his orders, because he is a cold stone-hearted alpha, and he will kill whoever you are,'' I sad and she just stared at him in the distance.

''Tss..a stone-hearted alpha?Hmm. I might be the one to soften his heart,'' she said and smiled like she was planning to do something.

I also noticed Maximus looking at Freeda, I noticed something was different like a strange tension between the two of them. I feel weird every time they meet. He even broke one of his rules and I'm afraid that he might also fall into the trap.

Max might also fall in love with Freeda.