Lionel As soon as Rhea was asleep Doctor Bauer came over to us. He pushed us out of the room and closed the door. He looked very distressed which made me anxious. “She’s suffering from an acute phobic attack. She is clearly very claustrophobic and I’m afraid her time in the room made things worse. She’s weak and will need some time to rebuild her strength. Rhea has been through a lot. Do you know any causes of her claustrophobia and heightened stress levels?” Doctor Bauer looked at each of us as if trying to burn out the truth. We all looked at each other sheepishly. “She grew up in foster homes mostly. We’ve only had her here for the last five years… We don’t know a lot about what happened to her beforehand,” Zek explained.It wasn’t a lie but it certainly wasn’t the whole truth. We had all taken our turns being cruel to her and I was certain that added to her condition. Even my mother looked shameful. Doctor Bauer nodded as if he understood. I felt certain he k
RheaI woke up feeling much better than the previous day. My muscles didn’t hurt as much and I felt calmer. I reached out to stretch and felt someone there. I opened my eyes and realized instantly that my vision had cleared overnight. “Thank you, Doctor Bauer,” I mumbled. Someone groaned and shifted in the bed. I looked over to see Gerard and Lionel on my left, and Zek and Dylan on my right. All four of them were in bed with me, fast asleep. I couldn’t help but wonder how long I had been asleep.What had Doctor Bauer said to them? Was this just because of my condition? I knew they certainly wouldn’t stay when they knew I was better. I took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. How was I going to get out of here? I sat up and saw some of them stirring. “Good morning, how do you feel?” Zek asked in a groggy tone. “I’m fine. What are you all doing here?” I asked. “What do you mean?” Gerard asked. “You’re our mate.” “No, no, no, don’t say that to me. Don’t
Rhea “Rhea, how are you feeling today?” Gerard asked as he waltzed into my room. Lionel stood next to him, looking at me with worried eyes. “I am fine. You don’t have to stay with me all the time,” I said in a cold tone, hoping they could feel the distance in my voice.“All right, we will leave you alone. Let us know if you need anything.” Lionel sighed and they exited the room. I felt relieved when the door was closed.It’s been a few days and I felt better after talking to Doctor Bauer. He told me to try to accept them as my mate and things might change, but it was harder than I thought. To be honest, I never saw the boys being so patient with me, but I kept expecting them to admit they were joking or knock me down, ask me to get up to do all kinds of work, or torture me with different creative ways.But none of that had happened in the past few days, and it really changed my impression of them. It was really nice having them wait on me hand and foot but it was a bit
RheaWhen I woke up the next morning, it felt like yesterday had been a dream. Did they really care about me? After everything they’d done? All that changed was the fact that I was their stupid mate. All of them. How could I be a mate to all of them? Could I really trust them, or would they betray me in the end like always?Hunger growled in my stomach. I was still recovering from being locked in a room for two days. I went down to the kitchen to make myself some breakfast. Oatmeal sounded good. I hoped I would be in the kitchen alone as I made breakfast. I needed time to think.To my surprise, Ezekiel was in the kitchen already, making his own breakfast. He never did that. I was the one who always made breakfast for them. Strange. The room smelled like coffee, eggs, and Ezekiel. “Good morning, Rhea,” he said, his voice still husky from sleep. “Did . . . did you sleep well?”“I did,” I replied, pouring myself a cup of coffee. I’d never seen him anxious before. I also pr
GerardRhea’s room smelled like lavender, like her, and it filled me with an excitement I’d never known before. My fingers started buzzing from it. I wanted to drown in the smell. Her room looked wonderful, even if it was sparse. It looked like her, simple, peaceful. Her dresser was by her closet. Her vanity sat on the opposite wall from her bed.All that being said, her room was small—way too small for someone as wonderful as her. I turned to look at Dylan, wondering if he was thinking the same thing I was. He looked back at me, concern set in his brow. “You should move to a bigger room,” I said. Dylan nodded.Good. Glad we were on the same page.Rhea’s eyes widened in shock. Clearly, she’d never thought about moving to a bigger room. Was that because of how we’d treated her? Did she feel like she didn’t deserve it? I hoped not.“No,” Rhea said unconvincingly. “No, I . . . I like my room.”Her shoulders bunched up to her ears, so I knew she was lying. I looked at
RheaDylan looked mischievous as he pulled my underwear out of the drawer. He looked at it lustfully and showed it off to his brothers. Soon they had all but forgotten about moving me into a new room and were just playing around with my underwear.My cheeks go red. I thought I might die from embarrassment. They were all playing with them and sniffing them.“Stop it, you guys! Just give them back!” I started trying feebly to move after them, but they were so much taller and faster than I was.They started a playful game of keep away, which started off as fun and turned into a little bit of teasing each time. I got close to them and they would pull it away just in time that I would run up against them. They seemed to think my touch was delicious. I had to admit—at least to myself—that I enjoyed it too. Soon it was not only a game of keeping my underwear away, but seeing how much they could touch me while I tried to grab them.“Come on, Rhea, you can do it,” Ezekiel tea
RheaWhen I woke up, the brothers were in bed with me again. I smiled and blushed before getting up and getting dressed. “Good morning,” Zek muttered, lifting his head up a little. “I got you some new clothes. I filled up the closet with them already. I hope they are your style. If not, let me know and I’ll get new ones,” he whispered.I smiled at him and showed off the new leggings I was wearing that were from his pick. He smiled at me. I remembered when he had demanded that I take off all my clothes in front of him. That had been a terrible moment and he had made me feel so awful. But I supposed he remembered my clothing size and thought to get me new things. I knew they were all worried that I had almost nothing and not a lot of clothes. I thought it was sweet that he had gotten them for me and thought about me at all. All of the boys started getting up now. They gave me suggestive smiles and comments on how sexy I looked in my workout clothes. I blushed and felt a
RheaThe boys had never treated me better. They showered me with gifts and, oddly enough, money so I could go buy my own things. I was actually able to go on shopping sprees for myself. The twins especially seemed to want to spoil me. They rarely left my side. They gave me money whenever they had it. They gave me shoes, new clothes, new books, and more. It was wonderful.There was a hidden edge to it, though, at least in my head. They were giving me too much too fast. It felt like there was some sinister plot brewing in the background, waiting for the perfect moment to turn on me and make me the butt of the joke once again. I couldn’t sit and enjoy my newfound love and adoring mates because I was too busy waiting for the other shoe to drop. Not only that, but I couldn’t stop thinking about all the girls the twins had dated. All the girls must have been treated exactly like this. Jealousy stirred in my heart. I knew it was stupid—they were my mates, after all—but I couldn’t he
RheaI had no answers and no ideas but I felt determined. I couldn’t just let this go. If my mother was out there and still alive, I had to find her. I had to save her.I turned to the only friend I knew might be able to help. “Emma, what do you know of this kind of dark magic and dark witches? Have you heard of a man named Adonis?” I asked the next time Emma was over with me.Emma frowned and shook her head. “All witches, but especially dark ones tend to keep to themselves. They know their actions are evil, but they aren’t about to display that to the world. They would be tricky to find. I also hadn’t heard of this Adonis person until you mentioned him. I’m sure that’s intentional. These types of witches are very good at hiding themselves and going unnoticed if they wish.”Emma picked at her fingernails and did her best to keep her eyes away from me—I could tell she didn’t want to talk about this. She wasn’t pleased I was going to put myself at greater risk to find my
RheaMy father nodded at me and continued speaking.“We moved many times all over the state, trying to get away from Adonis,” he said, “but Veronica still did not feel safe. No matter where we went, she always thought he was one step behind. I wanted to get your help, Angus, but Veronica thought she’d be putting you all in danger. She wanted us to stay hidden for as long as possible.”“You could have come to us regardless,” Alpha Angus said sincerely. “We have plenty of warriors who would have been willing to take this Adonis head on. I would have been happy to help.”My heart warmed at the thought of Alpha Angus helping my parents. He’d helped me for so long. He’d taken me in when I no one else would. In a way, I guess he did help my parents by helping me, I thought. I understood why my mother wanted to hide, though. She thought she was protecting everyone. I wondered what would have happened if they had come to Alpha Angus in the first place. Would everyone still be a
RheaMy father had everyone’s attention now. All eyes were on him and no one was objecting or arguing. He looked like some sort of prophet standing in front of a crowd, explaining the truth of things.Well, part of that was true.Adonis had been more powerful and clever than I had given him credit for. I hadn’t put together the idea he might have been the dark witch we were looking for but now it made sense.Now I understood why my father had found me now. Adonis had probably been close to finding me as well. “I had been tracking this man for a long time. He is the one who cursed me and killed my wife. I smelt him and tracked him here. I had been chasing him for a long time and I hoped to catch him before he reached any kind of civilization. I knew the deviation he could cause. I stopped him just outside your borders. I started to fight him and tried to stop him from doing more damage. Your mem…I’m sorry, they got in the way. They saw us and probably assumed I was the d
RheaI petted out my father’s fur. Patches were missing and dried blood was throughout his fur. I looked like a miniature person compared to him and barely straightened the fur on his paw. He was shaking and I could see where he was hurt and bleeding.He whimpered quietly and I worried he might not survive. My heart was pounding and I felt a strange sense of calm come over me. This was it. This was what I had been practicing and training for. I hoped I was ready. “It’s okay, I’m here. I’m here. I’m not going to leave you,” I kept whispering.There was a huge crowd surrounding me now. I did my best to soothe him and when I was certain he was stable enough I thought, now was the time to help him and cure him. I prayed to the moon goddess that he was strong enough to survive the healing.“I’m going to fix it, okay? Don’t worry, I’m going to fix this.” I looked around desperately for Emma. When I found her in the crowd I beckoned her to me. She came at once, pushing through
RheaI looked around, looking for any sign of my father. The clearing was empty. The safe house was empty.How could he just be gone? He was here not that long ago.Where was he? I looked back at my friends and my mates, who looked just as confused as I was.I took another look around, searching every nook and cranny. He was just gone.I left the safe house and saw my mates and friends standing there expectantly. I was about to say I hadn’t found him when a few people came running out of the woods. They were disheveled and limping. One of them nursed an injured arm. Some of their clothes were torn, and one of them had blood running down the side of his head.“Help!” they cried. “Someone help, please! There’s been an attack! We’ve been attacked by a monster!”My stomach dropped to my shoes. An attack by a monster? Near here? What if it was my father? What if he escaped from that pack he’d allegedly just attacked? What if he didn’t? Where was he now?While I stood
RheaWhen I woke up, people were surrounding me, yelling. Someone held me. It took a second for the world to come into focus. I was still in my bedroom, but I appeared to be on the floor. I pushed whoever was holding me away.“Guys, she’s awake,” Dylan said, his voice coming from above me. I looked up, and he was the one who had been holding me. “Sorry, Dylan,” I mumbled groggily. I forced myself into a sitting position. Pain shot through my head. I pressed the heel of my hand against my eye, trying to use the pressure to relieve some of the pain. “What happened?”“You passed out from overworking yourself,” Gerard said. “We’re worried about you, Rhea.”“Yeah,” Ezekiel said. “You’re doing far too much in far too little time.”“You’re scaring us,” Lionel admitted, his voice small.Hot shame crept up the sides of my face. I didn’t mean to scare them. I just wanted to help my father be free of his curse. I looked down at my hands, hoping to hide the tears springing in
RheaThe whole room was eerie now as Emma leaned forward and kept her eyes on the ground. She continued like she was telling us some dark fairytale and we all listened intently. “I wasn’t sure in the beginning, though I couldn’t imagine what else could create a monster like that. Still, it wasn’t until I saw his reaction for myself that I knew it must be a curse. This is a seriously powerful curse from a strong dark witch.” Emma shuddered at her own words before continuing, “Dark witches are terrifying. They are completely outlaws—enemies of both werewolves and other witches alike. Most witches are good and work alongside werewolf packs when needed. They live outside the boundaries but they are peaceful and always willing to help. But dark witches…that’s another story. They are unfriendly to all and their magic is evil. It comes at a high price.” “So if it’s a curse we can ask another witch to look at him and break it, right? I mean they might not practice dark magic if they
Rhea“What? What did you just say?” I asked, demanding roughly from the monster. It took a step back and seemed agitated and confused. “Please tell me again! Tell me more!” I kept asking and moving closer to the monster but he kept backing up and getting more unsettled. I started to get desperate. “No. N—” it started to say but then shook its head, confused. It said nothing else, or at least nothing else human enough to understand. I could tell that it was getting upset and starting to lose focus. The boys urged me back but I pulled away from them. I couldn’t let it go. Not yet. They listened and let me keep going with the wolf, but they stayed close. Lionel looked ready to grab me and pull me away at a second’s notice.“Who are you? What’s your name?” I asked. But the monster shook its head and growled. It looked like it was having some sort of mental battle between how it was when it spoke and when it seemed more mindless and violent. I backed up and tried to give i
RheaThe monster huffed, its hot, smelly breath hitting me in the face. I tried not to wince. My eyes closed for a brief moment as it breathed on me. It looked at me, studying me like it had before.The mist swirled around its feet and leeched over to surround mine. It looked worse than it had the last time we met. More patches of fur were missing. I heard my mates behind me react to the ever-worsening smell of dead flesh and blood. Someone gagged, and everyone else made disgusted noises in the backs of their throats. The monster’s bright red eyes locked onto my blue ones. “Veronica . . .” it growled. It didn’t sound intimidating or frightening, though. It growled in a longing way like Veronica was the most important thing in the world to it.“I’m not Veronica,” I said with authority in my voice. I kept my shoulders and back straight, my chin high. With my powers, I was able to project my voice more than usual. “How do you know my mother’s name? Who are you?”The monste