Rhea/LionelI hated fighting with the boys. It reminded me of when I thought they hated me and they were extremely cruel. But I was stronger now and more confident in myself. I wasn’t going to let them bully me or pressure me into being friends with Anastasia or forgive her for what she did to me. I said nothing to any of them as I got ready for school. I ignored them when they tried to greet me or wish me a good day. I wouldn’t be cruel to them, like they had been to me but I wouldn’t acknowledge them. I headed out and got on the bus for school. When Emma and Anastasia got on, Emma came and sat by me. Nina was in the seat next to me. Anastasia sat in the seat in front of me and looked over the seat back at me. “Hey Rhea, how are you doing?” she asked in a sarcastic sympathetic voice. “I heard you and the brothers are fighting. That’s so sad.” Anastasia touched her heart and made a dramatic pained expression.I narrowed my eyes. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of
RheaI laid in bed, feeling relaxed and so much better. Lionel was napping peacefully next to me. I kissed his shoulder and knew I was deeply in love with him. I loved all of my mates but Lionel seemed to reach me at a deeper level. We had a different sort of connection. I wasn’t sure why but it had hurt the most when he asked me to befriend Anastasia. But I felt better now that he had admitted he was wrong. I crawled out of bed carefully, trying not to wake him up. I got dressed and headed across the hall to my room. When I went inside Zek was already waiting for me. He sat at my desk chair with his elbows on his knees, looking contemplative. “Hey,” I whispered. He looked up as if I had startled him. He was on his feet instantly. He looked anxious and jittery. “Hi, Rhea. Please can I talk to you?” he begged. He was at my side quickly and took my hands in his. I nodded. “I’m so sorry. We all had a talk about Anastasia and I realized it was wrong to expect you to accept h
RheaThe monster towered over me, black mist twirling at its gigantic feet. Its snout protruded from its face, pointing directly at me. Its ears twitched, picking up my every movement. Two scarlet eyes pierced the darkness. Shaggy, matted, dark fur clung to the beast, giving it the feeling of being both alive and dead.All I could smell was the stench of rotting flesh and the metallic smell of blood on its breath. I could taste the smells, feel them in the back of my throat, and it almost made me vomit. I swallowed bile.Fear kept me rooted to the spot. As I stared at the giant wolf creature, my heart pounded against my rib cage. I was certain it could hear my heartbeat. A voice in my head told me to run, but I couldn’t bring myself to make my legs work.The creature stalked towards me slowly. I watched its every move, wondering if it was just curious or if it wanted to kill me. Every step closer, I could feel its hot breath on my face. I watched as it licked its jowls. It
RheaI froze in place. Had the thing really called me Veronica? Where had I heard that name before? Maybe I just heard it wrong.I was just about to shift back and ask what was going on when the wolf’s head snapped to the right. I heard it too. Someone was walking this way. Its eyes went wide, and it ran off in the opposite direction. I couldn’t believe it. Surely, it could take whoever was coming in a fight. Why was it running?Why did it call me Veronica?Who even was Veronica?I shifted back into my human form and started to make my way back to the pack house. I realized quickly that I had turned myself around in the forest and was hopelessly lost. I tried retracing my steps, following the blood splatters from both me and that monster.Fortunately, in my human form, I was more or less unscathed, so I was able to walk without much trouble. I found the trees we destroyed, and there was the clearing where most of our battle had taken place. If I turned around here…
RheaI felt sick and my head was hot. I couldn’t believe even Anastasia would lie like that. How could this be happening? I knew Anastasia hated me and wanted to kill me but was she really willing to let a monster run free just to get back at me?How could she be so evil? How could she not be as terrified as I was? The monster had attacked her, wasn’t she worried it would come back? I looked at her face and it was clear she wasn’t. She was just smug and happy for the opportunity to blame me. I wanted to scream. I felt like my defense was drowned out by her dramatic displays of pain. It seemed so obvious to me that she was faking. The monster had hurt her but she was playing it up for the Horace brothers. How did they not see that? But still, I tried. Surely, my mates would believe me. They were my mates, after all, not hers. “I didn’t do this. I tried to warn her. There was a monstrous wolf-like beast. It attacked me before and came back to attack again. Please believe me
Rhea Day one was the worst. I woke up to see my guards were some of Anastasia’s older friends. They seemed delighted to see me in jail. When they opened the gate, I backed up against the stone wall but it was pointless. I couldn’t escape. They beat me until I was almost unconscious. I didn’t know if they truly believed I had hurt Anastasia or not but it didn’t matter. I huddled against the wall and wrapped my knees around myself. My left eye had already swollen so bad I couldn’t see out of it. I expected them to come bring me food and water, even if it was crap but no one ever came for anything but more beatings. I cried until I had no more tears. Then I laid as still as I could and stared at the ceiling. None of my mates came. Day two I could feel the numbness setting in. My ribs were cracked and bruised. My eye was swollen and my wrist was fractured. Anastasia’s friends still came to hurt me more but the pain was duller, less shocking. I wasn’t as surprised when I,
RheaI turned away from the boys, refusing to look at them. Ezekiel stood his ground, staring down my friends with authority in his eyes. Nina and Emma started to protest.“You can’t just throw us out of here!” Emma exclaimed.“We’re her friends!” Nina continued. “She needs us.”“Go,” Ezekiel repeated, this time with more force. Even I felt inclined to leave. “I won’t ask again.”Nina and Emma bowed their heads and left. I didn’t want them to, but they had no choice. The Alphas had asked them to leave. I listened to their footsteps until I couldn’t hear them anymore. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me.“Leave me alone,” I snapped, keeping my eyes on the ground. “Rhea—” Lionel started.“I said leave me alone,” I repeated, staring them down.The boys withered under my glare. Good. They all thought I was capable of evil, terrible things. Everyone wanted to be scared of me so badly. Maybe it was time they learned what that really felt like.“We had no idea th
RheaMany, many people showed up to my trial. Alpha Angus, Luna Simona, and some of the elders were there. Anastasia sat in a wheelchair, surrounded by the Horace brothers.She smiled at everyone who came to give her condolences and well wishes for her health. She looked awful, pale, and gaunt, as if healing was taking everything out of her. Somewhere, deep in my soul, even though all of this was her fault, I was glad she was okay. Like I said that day in the woods, I might have hated her, but I didn’t want her to die. Alpha Angus stood up and raised his hands after everyone had settled into their seats. All the present members of the pack in the room went silent. “Today, we stand to hear the testimony of Rhea, who stands accused of attempted murder against Anastasia,” he said. “Rhea, how do you plea?”“Not guilty,” I said immediately.He nodded. “All right, then. We will be the judges of that. Let Rhea’s trial commence,” he said, his voice booming around the room.