ROXIE
We hear some rustling that startles us.
Bex gets up and starts to growl as she sniffs the air.
There was no other wolf here except a deer that must have trod on a branch.
Bex looks out and takes everything.
I had no clue how long we had been sleeping, but I knew we needed to get home as it was dark.
Bex turned and ran back through the forest, making it to the clearing near my Uncle’s house. Bex stopped as we stared at the home; there on the porch were my father and Uncle, who were staring back at me.
Bex walks toward the house, and uncle Keith comes toward us with the clothes he left for us. “We have been waiting for you,” he said. He places the clothes into Bex’s mouth, putting his hand on her head. He gives her a smooth as Bex bumps his hand with her head and grins. She looked toward the porch where my father was watching us. Bex moved away from uncle Keith and walked toward my father.
My father smiled at her and did the same; he smoothed her big head.
After a few moments, Bex trots over to the side of the house, and we shift back into my human form.
I quickly got dressed and walked around. I walked toward my father, who handed me a bottle of water. “We were getting worried,” he said.
“Sorry, Bex and I fell asleep by the river,” I said as I sat next to him. Uncle Keith was in the chair opposite and smirked. “You and that river,” he said as he took a swig of beer.
I looked toward my father, who frowned and looked between us. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, Bex and Roxie love the river, which is only a mile or so in that direction,” he says, pointing toward where we came from. “It was the first place you looked when she went on her run.”
I groaned. “It’s so peaceful and quiet; it calms us,” I said.
My father looked at me, and I couldn’t help but smile. “I will take you there tomorrow; Jo will love it.”
Bex purrs at the mention of my father’s wolf. She loves him dearly and has missed their runs together.
My father smiles and nods, “I would love that.”
I looked at Uncle Keith. “Have you told Alpha Gareth that I would enter the ultimate fighter for the charity event?” I asked him.
Uncle Keith nodded. “I mind-linked him when you went for your run. He was happy and excited to hear that you agreed to participate,” he said. Uncle Keith’s eyes were on me but he looked towards my father, which made me look at him.
My father cleared his throat. “I can’t believe you did that,” he said.
I smiled. “You will have to see it, it is rough, but most people look after each other. Well, except when we are in the ring, but most of the fighters are true and have some humanity to be humans too,” I said.
He nodded.
He stares at me for a moment but turns and picks up a book from the table next to him.
I looked at it, but I quickly knew what it was.
My father looked at my diary. “You should have told me what happened,” he says with a sigh. He looked at me, and I didn’t say anything.
I looked at the diary in his hand. “I know, but I didn’t want to burden you with anything,” I said to him.
My father moves his hand to my chin and makes me look back at him. His eyes were rimmed with tears, “you’re my baby girl,” he said. “I would have sorted it out or even helped somehow.”
A tear slid down his face, but I shook my head. “No dad,” I said, but I stopped myself. I looked at Uncle Keith, who just stared between us.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in and out.
I opened my eyes and fixed them on something that wasn’t my father or Uncle, and I knew if I looked at either of them, I would cry.
“It all started when I started high school. I kept to myself, but one day I didn’t realize I was being followed home. One of the mean girls was heading to the pack house, but I guess she was curious as she followed me to our house. That day changed everything when she realized Alexander and Jason were there,” I said to him. “It started with a few snide remarks here and there, nothing bad, but then Naomi came into the picture.”
I sighed and looked over at my father, who stared back at me.
I turned my attention to the hanging flower pot my Uncle had on the side of the porch.
“Naomi started to bother with me, asking me questions about Alexander and Jason. She wanted to know if I was adopted or something, as I don’t have Jason’s genes or I wasn’t pretty enough. I thought Naomi was a friend and even wanted to come to the house. I invited her, but I made the mistake of thinking she was a friend. She wasn’t. She dumped me and started to hang around with Alexander; she was on his arm all the time. She left me on my own, but I played happily to host,” I said to them. A tear slid down my face. “Naomi went home the next day and ignored me the next day at school. She started making up things about me that weren’t true. But everyone believed her. A few days after the pretend sleepover, she cornered me in the bathroom with a few girls, and they started tormenting me from that day,” I said.
I never once looked at either man, I was bearing my whole soul to them, and it was the first time I had ever opened up about it to anyone. I knew I should have told my father, but I didn’t want to cause more heartache for him. He was still dealing with my mother’s death.
“From that day, I had everything you can think of. I was either pushed down to the ground, where people walked all over me, or even kicked me while trying to get up. They would throw stuff at me and push my head down the toilet, chanting that I should die. I was a pathetic little wolf who needed to be taught a valuable lesson about what a wolf should be. I should be strong,” I said. I could feel Bex coming close, but she didn’t talk to me. She doesn’t stop me; she knows I must tell them everything.
“I thought school was the only place I would get tormented, but I was wrong,” I said and turned to face my father. His face had tear stains. “You would stay in the packhouse many nights to help Alpha Frank and think that Jason and Alexander would be looking after me, but they weren’t the only ones there. They would always bring girls back and were cruel to me. They would make fun of me, as I was always around and never had a mother. Jason would never stick up for me; he would usually be high on something. But the best part was when they would fuck the girls and make me deal with them the next day.”
I hear a low growl, and I look at my Uncle, who is fuming.
“He’s pissed,” whispers Bex.
I stared at him at the moment but sighed. “I could manage some, but others were horrible; one made me bleed by smashing my head on the counter. Most of the older girls were siblings of the girls in school. But when everyone started to find their mates, the older ones never came,” I said.
I turned my attention to my father, his face full of anger.
“He’s also pissed,” whispered Bex.
“I don’t know how or when, but I remember Alexander coming to the house with Naomi, and from then on, they were dating. She’s three years younger than him but three years older than me. In her last year of school, she got a lot worse before I left to come here. She told me I should never be around Alexander as I was pathetic, and he would never like me more than a baby sister. It hurt more when Alexander told her that; she asked him what he thought in front of me, and he told her the same thing she told me.”
“When Jason told Alexander that I fancied him, he made my life hell. I mean, not him or Alexander. But Naomi found out somehow, and she made me the school’s laughing stock; she printed out copies of that damn diary. Everyone laughed at me, but she beat me without anyone around later that day. We were the only ones in school as there was a game for the football team, and everyone was there. Alexander was there, and Naomi had him; she would meet him there. I was all bloodied and bruised. I told you I fell, but the truth is what I just told you.”
I looked between both men; their waves of anger were intense, but neither said anything.
I knew I had to tell them what happened that day I left, and I needed them to know the truth.
“The night I was forced to leave by Alexander, he told me I was ugly, and he only saw me as a kid. He would never love someone like me, not only because of my appearance, but because I was his best friend’s little sister. Well, I left and packed everything up. I was all set on going when I left something behind. It was not even an hour since I left. You were in the packhouse, waiting for me to say goodbye. But I told you that I forgot something.”
My father looked at me and nodded, remembering the time.
“Well, I knew Alexander and Jason were there because I heard the hushed voices of having a party when you were back at the packhouse. I walked down to the house and heard Jason with a girl. I had to block my ears, so I quickly went upstairs, grabbed what I had forgotten, and went downstairs. I was about to leave when I heard moaning in the study. I knew who it was, as I noticed the door was ajar. I shouldn’t have looked in because I saw Alexander fucking Naomi on the couch. She saw me and asked him how much he loved her, and he told her he did. I heard enough and walked out.”
Growls erupted next to me.