Blood Moon

Chapter 27: Realisation

~ The truth of the matter has finally begun to sink in ~

I turn and hurry over to Steven's curled up form, bending down to help him rise to his feet. "T-thank you" he mumbles through his incessant sobbing. "Let's just get you home yeah" I say gently, guiding him out of the forest and towards the main road. We walk in complete silence in the dead of night in the direction of the town centre, moonlight the only thing illuminating our path. 

"If they bother you again please let me know and I'll put them in their place. Oh and Steven... your secret's safe with me" I state as soon as we reach the entrance to Traci's Diner. His eyes go wide upon hearing this but before he can respond I am already on my way back to the safehouse. 

Those cowards latched onto his secret like leeches and used it to assert their dominance, how pathetic. They must have some sort of inferiority complex or something. 'I'm starting to think that you may be right about our mate...' Kali whispers in my mind, beginning to face the reality of the situation. 

I get that he's our mate but he has done nothing but show us how incompetent he is, he is not worth our time and effort Kali... 

She sighs in reluctant agreement. 'Maybe we can give him one more chance?' She suggests. 'There might be a reason as to why he's acting this way... We could help him change-' 

Kali, be so for real. He would have to move mountains to make up for his behaviour. 

Soon enough I am back at the safehouse. I make my way up to Scarlett's room and take a seat beside her sleeping form. "Everything's a mess Scar..." I sigh, taking her hand in mine. "Even more so than before you..." I stop myself, my eyes beginning to well up with tears. I don't understand why she isn't getting better; surely she would have woken up fully by now. She still only wakes up for short periods of time and then drifts back off. I don't get it...

It's been nearly 3 full weeks since she had the operation, wouldn't she have at the very least woken up completely? 

As the tears begin to fall, staining my cheeks I tumble once more into the shadows. 

Cold. It's cold. Dark. It's dark. Quiet. It's quiet. I open my eyes to find myself back in the basement, book in my lap. My sister Maeve is sewing herself a new makeshift dress in the corner. Talon is clutching his side while Tristan tends to his wounds and my little sister Scarlett is snoring softly beside me. "Stay still" Tristan whispers to his twin. "It fucking hurts; how do you expect me to stay still?!" he retorts. 

Visibly annoyed Maeve drops the fabric in her lap. "Will you fuckwits keep it down; you're doing my head in" she snaps. "Oh sorry, didn't realise it was my fault I'm in fucking pain" he hisses back in response. "Well, it is though. If you didn't piss Cain off even more you wouldn't be like that would you, ya absolute plonker" she barks, shaking her head before picking up the fabric to resume the dress. "Don't act like you're any fucking better" he growls.

"Maybe it's best not to test her Tal..." Tristan, the more sensible of the pair, recommends upon seeing her death glare aimed in their direction. As the door made of silver flings open a tall menacing werewolf enters, his ice blue eyes staring us down. Once the door is closed he takes off his gloves and puts them into his back pocket. Tristan stands to greet him. "Father-" 

Without warning he unleashes a flurry of jabs towards him, sending him to the ground. Instinctively I jump up and try to pry him off but to no avail. Once he is done with Tristan he turns to me. I cover my face with my arms and curl up into a ball on the floor as he kicks me repeatedly. I try to ignore the pain shooting through my body as he relentlessly beats me, my little sister's quiet sobbing the only thing that can be heard in the background.

I begin to come out of the darkness as an external force shakes my body. My eyes flutter open to see a young girl with brown hair and brown eyes peering down at me. "Wanette, we're going to be late for school" she says. "Oh?" I yawn. "I need to look after Scarlett, you go on without me" I mumble, still half-asleep. Once Kyra is gone I slowly sit up in my chair beside Scarlett's bed. A flashback. I sigh, unable to shake off the uneasy feeling building inside of me. 

I decide to be productive and clean the house, hoping that it'll take my mind off of that nightmare or rather that memory. I make my way down to the kitchen and begin by cleaning the counters. 'That man was a monster...' Kali mentions. That man IS a monster. He's still alive, remember? 'If we ever see him again I'm going to rip his throat out' she growls. Kali... he quite literally murdered an entire pack almost single handedly... 

'Maybe we're not strong enough now but we will be! Just wait until after tomorrow night, I'm telling you he won't stand a chance' 

You're sounding a bit too overconfident Li. Let's come back down to reality now. I continue my deep clean of the house, making sure to get every nook and cranny, not stopping until the place is spotless. The whole time Kali will not stop bouncing around in my head about her excitement for tomorrow night. I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited too, however I have too much on my plate to worry about, my anxiety overpowering any other emotion that creeps up. 

The whole day flies by and I am finally done. I plop down onto the sofa, exhausted. I pull my flip phone out of my hoodie pocket as it rings. I jump up upon seeing 'Rue' flash across the small screen at the top. "Hello?" I answer the call immediately, worried for my cousin's wellbeing. 

"I'm in Bristol with Jasper and Arthur, you remember Arthur right?" she says. I nod even though she cannot see. Arthur's the man who works for the BWA. "We're on our way to one of the BWA headquarters; we have some things we need to sort out but then we'll be coming back. I should be in Elmbrook with J at the beginning of next week, you gonna be okay until then?" she reports. I let out a sigh of relief upon hearing this. I guess I really was just paranoid.

"Yeah we'll all be fine, stay safe Rue" I utter before the call drops. 'I wouldn't beat yourself up about it too much; it's only natural for you to think about the worst possible outcome' Kali says, trying to comfort me. Not long after the call ends Kyra walks into the living area, already back from school. 

"Rue will be back in a few days" I mention to which she sighs, relieved. I guess we were both thinking the same thing.

The rest of the day goes by, me and Kyra making small talk here and there before it is finally time for bed. I rest peacefully; no nightmare this time. The next day goes by like a blur, we do nothing; just sit around and wait for the nighttime. We wait in anticipation, full of excitement, fear and dread. 

Before I know it a tall blonde pulls up on our driveway in his black Chevrolet Silverado. I take a deep breath before exiting the house. This is it, it's time.

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Author's note

Update on dog - he's got an appointment with the Vet later today to check on his progress, it's now been a full week since his operation and he's doing great. He's still hopping a bit but he does put some pressure on the leg when walking the majority of the time. Boy got a bit too confident and thought he could jump on the bed though, he scared himself but thankfully didn't get hurt. Will update in the next chapter with what the Vet says :)

Back to the story - Wanette's first shift is coming up, how exciting! I wonder what Kali meant by 'he won't stand a chance', guess we'll have to wait and see.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. As of right now I plan to release 1-2 chapters every Friday. Any feedback both positive and negative will be greatly appreciated. This is my first time writing a story like this so I hope that it turned out alright.

Thank you for reading!

Yours,

xgwenux