Thorns Of The Past.

'Showing' Her Teeth...

Strength is nothing more than how well we hide the pain and how confidently we show our teeth.

~about one and half day later, early morning, Blue River Pack, pack house~

Kaitlyn's pov

I observe Gabriel staring Hayley's plate, and roll my eyes in annoyance.

He is going to tell her to eat more and I am going to explode, just like every single time he pressures her.

Don't get me wrong. I know that he has the best intentions and he is worried about her, but this behavior doesn't help her at all. I know my niece, she gets stressed, especially when Ryker is present, like now...

We are all in the dining room for our breakfast. This is the only thing we do all together, we eat breakfast and lunch, because most of the times Ryker or Gabriel with Hayley don't attend dinner for different reasons. And I think that I don't have to mention how awkward these 'meetings' are... Most of the times we are silent or someone tries to break the freezing ice, more often this someone is Jenna, Declan or me, but the results are nothing, but disappointing.

This is mostly Gabriel and Ryker's fault, even though both of them have their own excuses. My brother for example... He has turned into the coldest man there is this last week, especially since yesterday morning, but this counts for everyone except Hayley and Max. His mood has 'darkened' dangerously from the moment Max told him what Ryker and Nia did, or better, where they went.

Oh, this is another, frustrating story... Nia and Ryker going out alone.

I was surprised that Gabriel didn't even touch Nia, despite how furious he was for disobeying him when Max explained to him Saturday night's incidents. He was fuming, shaking and struggling to hold his wolf under control, and I was scared of what he would to, but he left me stunned, again.

Do you believe that he just punished her with even more duties and daily fights in front of the entire pack with him as opponent?

Yeap, he did and I have to admit that I love it, because Nia's new behavior reminds me of Michelle's!

The more I think about it, the more I see the similarities between hers and Michelle's way of acting, and the same thing goes for Jenna with whom I talked about it last night. She agrees with me and she is extremely worried about the outcome, not as for Nia, but as for poor Hayley, my donkey nephew and Joel, who won't bare the embarrassment.

"Eat, Hayley. You won't go to school otherwise." Gabriel states, bringing me back to present, and I land my eyes on Hayley, who doesn't lift her head up or reacts.

My heart breaks for her! Not that I am not in pain for my brother, Becky, my parents and Ryker, but it's worse for Hayley. Watching her behaving like a ghost is unbearable to me, because she is my rose, a white one without thorns, which means that she is incapable of harming anyone around her and protecting herself alone.

Ryker has crashed her with his behavior, words and actions and the last drop, which overflowed the glass, was what he did with Nia. Max told us that she was crying when they saw them leaving together, he told us everything and it really hurts.

"Do you want me to tell the chef to bring you something else, sweetheart?" my father asks encouragingly, probably to save Hayley from a second round of Gabriel's stressful demand.

I hold my breath, as this seems to wake Hayley up, and give a quick look to everyone (Nia is not alone, because she has no time to join us anymore thanks to my brother) and I begin with Ryker, who sits on the one head of the table, right opposite of my brother's seat. He denies looking everywhere else except from his plate, he never talks, he is silent and the same thing happens and now, because Hayley, Max and my brother are here.