The Survivor Queen

Four

~Edited~

*SHORT*

Ch. 4

~Lily~

I walk arm in arm with Jas into the daycare. Jas leads us to the front desk where a motherly looking woman sits. "Hey, Naomi, this is Max. We were wondering if she could hang here and help with the pups?"

The lady looks at me and smiles. "Of course! Just be careful, I just know some of the pups will want to pull and poke your cast and bandages." She nods at Jas and we walk to the colorful door into the room painted with bright colors and rainbows with toys scattered everywhere.

There's some small tables set up and a bunch of sleeping mats are set up in the corner. "That door is the kitchen, and over there is the bathroom. The break room is the other door that was in the entry room. I need to make sure everything is going well in the kitchen and we have lunch started. Go ahead and mingle with the pups." She says before turning and leaving me with probably 20ish kids from ages 2 to 5.

I take a breath and as I'm about to walk up to a small cluster of kids when I feel a pull on my shirt. I look down to find a small girl who must be barely 2 with some tears in her eyes standing next to a boy about 5 holding her hand. The boy was the one pulling on my shirt.

"'Scuse me, miss. Those boys took my sister's doll and threw it up there. I can't reach it." He motions over and I look to see a group of three boys laughing while looking up on a shelf where a doll hung partly off a shelf next to some first aid things. I pick the girl up and sit her on my hip with my good arm holding her and the boy stands next to us.

I walk over with the boy following and grab the doll from the shelf and hand it to the girl with a soft smile. The girl giggles and tightly squeezes it. I look over to the boys who are now looking at me. I tsk and shake my head, giving them a stern look. They frown and look down.

I click my tongue so they'll look up and motion to the girl with a meaningful look. They all look confused until one boy sighs and mumbles an apology. I smile and walk away with the boy still following. I sit the girl down on a pillow where some stories are and smile at her and the boy, who I assume is her brother.

"I'm Jax. She's my little sister, Nix. What's your name?" He asks. I smile and point to my collar where my dads name is, but he can't read it so I shake my head with a smile. I look around and see a toy figurine of the dog, Max, from The Little Mermaid. Hopefully one of them gets it.

I grab it and point to it. He creases his eyes. "Max? He's the dog in that mermaid movie Nix likes. Is your name Max?" He asks, tilting his head. I grin and nod. Nix giggles and reaches for the toy. "Max!"

I smile and hand it to her. "You don't talk much. Did you hurt your throat? One time my mommy hurt her throat and she didn't talk for a while and daddy said it was to help her voice come back." Jax says.

I smile and decide the easiest thing would be to just nod. It wouldn't be easy to explain to them why I'm not talking, even with words, let alone hand signals. Besides, I don't really know why I'm not talking. It's a mystery even to me.

"Max?" Jas calls. We're sitting behind a little shelf with story books so we're hidden from the kitchen door. I stand and poke my head out. "Oh! There you are." She says, walking over with a smile.

"Ah, I see you've met Jax and Nix. They're the Alpha pups." She explains, crouching by Nix with a smile. "Miss Jas, Miss Max helped get Nix's doll back from those boys. I like her, she's nice. She doesn't talk much. She said she hurt her throat." Jax explains.

I smile and sit back down next to them. Jas laughs. "That was very nice of her. Don't worry, she'll be okay." Jas continues talking to him while I freeze. 'Don't worry, she'll be okay.' The way she said it makes it feel almost directed toward me. It makes me feel... Hopeful? Maybe I will be okay.

***

I walk out of the daycare next to Jas and let out a breath. "They can be kind of exhausting sometimes." She laughs as she hooks her arm around mine. She talks about some get together some of the she-wolves are hosting. Just a sort of lunch they do together every month.

In my old pack my brother and I were the Beta pups. We always had big parties. He would have become Beta, solely because he was technically older. No, he is technically older. I refuse to believe he's gone. I never saw a body, so how would I know?

I need to believe he's safe. He's alive. That we'll be together again one day. My parents told me to find him. And I will. He's my brother. My twin brother. His hazel eyes and brown hair the same as mine. He's the male version of me, I the female version of him. If I lose him, I lose part of myself. I already lost my parents, friends, classmates, Alpha, Luna, my entire pack. I can't lose him. I won't lose him.

I come back to reality as Jas walks us into the pack house. I get a glance at a clock on the wall and see that it's 6:34 pm. I haven't eaten since lunch. Jas mentions that there's pizza for dinner and she'll grab us some and meet me in my room.

Jas is the sister I never had. I've only known her for a day at most, but she's already my best friend. I smile as I walk to my room. I've never had a best friend. Liam is my brother, not my best friend. I love him, but he's not someone I could talk to about boys or clothes or have sleepovers with or go shopping with. A best friend. That sounds nice.

>*<>*<>*<

a/n: Omg Jax and Nix are so cute I wanna scream. Ik I wrote it, but Jax's little " 'Scuse me, miss." AHHH They're so cuuttteeeeee. Hope y'all are enjoying so far 😘

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