4. Letter

Atalanta’s pov

I couldn’t believe how much food Raiden bought for me. I knew I couldn’t refuse it, even though I could never finish it. But I hoped that I could take some back with me.

It meant I would have food for a few days.

But then Raiden ate it all, and I’m embarrassed to say I almost cried when I saw him shove everything inside like it was nothing. I shouldn’t have been surprised; he had been cruel to me from the moment we met.

Well, not all the time. It was very confusing. He would call me mouse, "our mouse", which meant who's? Zev’s and his? Or everyone’s?

And then he would buy me food, which seemed nice but also felt like a test. But then the cookie... Why did he feed me part of a cookie?

And why. And this is the big one. Why did I like it when he called me “a good girl”? Probably because no one has ever called me good. Yeah, that must be it.

It took a lot of money to send me and my brother here, which I was reminded of countless times. But since General Sweets, our leader, accepted me on this mission, my parents couldn’t refuse my leaving.

They could refuse sending me money, though.

Before Archer and I were sent away, we both got a few weeks of training. It was essential that we both knew our backstories well. They had chosen an identity for us that would help us blend in. And General Sweets decided it was better that we weren’t siblings during our mission. We were to keep away from each other as much as possible. If one of us got caught, the other might still succeed as long as their real identity wasn’t revealed as well.

Mr. Monreau had crafted our backstory based on everything we knew about werewolves.

We knew their ranks, we knew most of their strengths and weaknesses, and we were aware their numbers were growing.

The hunters have ranks too, similar to the military. Some of our soldiers have had military training, but most are trained on the job.

Not that I know many of them, since I’m kept mostly at home. But General Sweets is my mother’s uncle, and he stops by from time to time. Usually, to check up on Archer, who is the first male born into our family since our great uncle. Which means Archer is next in line to take over.

It’s also why I’m not wanted.

I’m older than Archer by 11 months. Mom got pregnant soon after having me. They were desperate for a boy.

I always wonder how my parents treated me during those first months of my life before Archer came here. Did they love me back then? Did they give me hugs? Were they proud of me when I started crawling?

Maybe it’s better that I don’t remember much from those early years.

Not that the years after were really better.

The rest of the day, I tried my best to pay attention to the classes and keep my head down. It was important that I stood out as little as possible, and by hanging around the most famous alpha heir of students here, I was making myself a lot more visible than I should be.

It didn’t matter where I sat down; Suzie would sit next to me, and Aiden and Zev would sit behind me or on the table beside me.

“Little Mouse, don’t you know you can’t run from the big, bad wolf?” He would whisper in my ear.

Every time I flinched, it made him smile.

My parents could be cruel too, but in a different way. They never cared enough to purposefully hurt me, unless it was to punish me. It takes time to torment someone. Time they would never willingly spend on me.

As long as I did what I was told, I was ignored. Only when I misbehaved would I get their attention. When I was younger, I would crave this attention by acting out. But it wasn’t worth it.

After some time, I learned that getting ignored was better than being beaten.

Archer ignored me too, barely talking to me. When I walked past him, he might shove me to the side if I got in the way. The only time he did talk to me was when he felt I embarrassed him. Despite being his big sister, I never felt that way.

The next class Raiden grabbed a lock of my hair, twirling it around his finger. As long as I wore it up while cooking, it didn’t bother my parents how long it was. It was a way for me to hide myself. A shield I could cower behind, like a curtain, almost.

He pulled softly before playing with it, twirling it around his fingers for most of the class. It was soothing, actually.

I yawned behind my hand. I hadn’t slept much because at night was the only time I could get my briefings. I would wait until Suzie slept to sneak into the bathroom, call back home, and relay everything I had learned.

Sometimes they’d tell me what I was supposed to do, but mostly they just listened.

Every night around three, I called them, making me sleep even less than at home. It didn’t help that I was used to waking up at dawn, so even with as little sleep as I got now, my body still woke me up as soon as the sun got up.

“Am I helping you relax, little mouse?” Raiden whispered in my ear, his breath blowing against the skin on my neck, creating goosebumps. “You’re supposed to pay attention... Or maybe it's better you don't. That way, Zev can tutor you even more.”

I tried to ignore Raiden, but I wasn’t sure what was more respectful. To pay attention to the teacher or to reply to Raiden. He was important, after all.

“I’m just tired.” I replied.

He pulled on my hair. “Liar.”

If anybody here could find out who I was, I knew it would be Aiden. He seemed to distrust me, yet he wanted me to spend time with his best friend.

I seem to annoy him, yet he hangs around me all the time.

Is this a werewolf thing? Because I am really confused on how to act. It’s almost like Raiden is trying to make me angry or cry. Crying is a lot more likely to happen, though. I never get angry.

Thankfully, this was the last class, and when Suzie and I exited the classroom, Zev waved at me.

“See you tomorrow after school.”

Raiden shook his head, “no. Our little mouse will be eating every meal with us. So we’ll see her much sooner.”

Then he walked towards me before picking me up by my waist and placing me to the side, so he could walk out of the door.

I would have moved. I would have stepped to the side.

Does he see me like a child? Because I’m so short?

When I got back to our room, I started with my homework right away. The more I knew, the less time I had to spend with Zev. And hopefully, if Zev was done helping me, Raiden would leave me alone too.

The only reason I said yes was because I needed to know as much as I could about the different packs. If I learned their locations, the number of members, and the type of military they have, it could really help the hunters plan their next attack.

It’s us versus them, and if we wait for the werewolves to attack first, it would be too late.

Suzie usually left me alone while I studied, too busy focusing on her own things. Suzie was training to become a beta. Most women here want to be mated to a high-ranking wolf, but she is the firstborn of her family and wants to prove that she can do the job just as well as anyone else.

Like most in my family, her parents only had girls.

Her parents were happy with a household full of girls, she had said, which seemed like a lie to me.

“Well, aside from the fact that all our cycles are now synced and dad’s life is hell for one week a month,” She had joked.

Suzie tapped my shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts. I flinched, immediately making myself smaller.

“Sorry, Atalanta. I just wanted to let you know I’m heading out for beta training. But when I come back, we’re going to talk about today! That whole Zev and Raiden situation needs to be discussed and dissected before the shitstorm tomorrow.”

“Shit storm?”

“Yeah, the girls around here aren’t going to be happy that you keep hanging around both of them. One day, okay, but it seems Raiden has his mind set on you joining him for every meal in the foreseeable future. And when they see you studying with Zev later... Let’s just say a lot of girls have tried to get close to that chocolate teddy bear, but none have succeeded.”

“Chocolate teddy bear?”

Suzie giggled, “yeah. You know, because he looks so cuddly? And he’s brown. Anyway, I need to go, or I’ll be late. But we’ll talk, okay?”

I nodded my head. Maybe she could make some sense of all this, because I couldn’t.

No human boy has ever wanted to hang around me. Archer sometimes had friends over, but they all ignored me, just like him. I tried to be out of their way as much as possible and make myself invisible. And I tried to do the same thing here.

So why did they see me?

It became hard to focus, and I remembered the letter I had found when Suzie dumped the contents of her bag on the table.

“Dear Mom,

I miss you. Even more today than usual. Maybe it's because I'm not at home.

School is going well. As always. Studying has never been hard for me; I guess I get that from you. Everyone always tells me how smart you were.

That I look like you and have your brains. But the older I get, the more I look like Dad. I have his nose and his chin. Even his hair.

Sometimes, when I stare at myself, I see him glaring at me in the mirror.

Maybe they say I look like you because they don’t want to compare me to Dad. Because they know what he did to me, even if nobody wants to say it out loud.

But I don’t want to talk about that right now. The nightmares are less frequent now that I’m here. Maybe it’s because it’s far away from the pack.

I’m writing this letter in the library because it’s nice and calm here. All the books remind me of you. They even smell like you. Did you sit here when you were attending Ardale Academy?

How was dad before he..”

There was more written down, but it was scratched out. It felt wrong reading this because it read like a very personal letter.

But how did it end up on the floor then?

Whatever the reason, the person would probably want it back. He said he goes to the library, so maybe I can leave a note, telling him I found the letter and that I am willing to return it if he wants.

Yeah, I’ll do that tomorrow after meeting up with Zev.

God, how did my life turn into this?

I’m not used to socially interacting with people. Especially not men who are this attractive. No. Not men. They’re beast. They might not have their wolves yet, but I can’t forget what they are. Even if they are two of the most handsome people I have ever seen.

I’m here to get as much information as I can so I can stay here for a while longer. And when I do finally go home, maybe they’ll start treating me better since I helped. Wishful thinking, right? But who knows?