Empress of the Wolves

Chapter 8

"Ow...ow...OW" I jerked my head away from Quin's grasp. "Why does brushing hair hurt so much?"

"Because you haven't brushed in, like, all your life." Lucy piped up from behind Quin.

We both gave a small glare and Lucy stepped away. Quin let out a sigh and started to braid my hair. "It's a bit thick, so it's harder to manage. I'll braid it for tonight and we'll find something to do with it tomorrow from the government people."

I thought about this. The people from the government were coming to see if I could go to school with the girls. I was excited for the visit so I can prove that I am ready. I couldn't wait for it.

Quin finished with my hair and we headed to the bedroom, going up the stairs. The kitchen light was still on, like normal, and it was giving off a yellow-green glow because the light bulb was dying. I closed the door that opened to the stairs before going up.

All the girls were already ready for bed. They were still hyper, so I didn't expect for any of us to sleep any time soon. I changed my clothes and got into my bed. For an hour, we talked about whatever we wanted to. 

But we got tired and went to sleep. I laid there, awake. I had a clock on the table beside my bed. It was 10:30 and there was no hope for sleep right now.

I sat up and carefully went downstairs again. I was going to the bathroom when I heard the Bennetts laughing like crazy. Peering around the corner, using the hunting skills I had been taught, I saw Mrs. Bennett was holding a green glass bottle in her right hand, and a white and orange stick thing in her left. Her normal awful smell was stronger now, and Mr. Bennett was no better.

It was disgusting to watch them in this state, even though they were laughing, they still looked creepy and awful. 

Then I sneezed.

They stopped laughing and saw me lurking in the doorway. Mrs. Bennett glared at me. "What are you still doing up? Go to bed your wrenched girl!"

A green bottle came flying it me and the hit the wall. I had ducked, but some glass shards still cut parts of my face. I gawked at the broken bottle, unsure of how to handle the situation I had put myself in. I could fight bullies easily, but not grown ups who were far worse.

Fear had filled my body and panic took over. I made my way to the bedroom again, but another bottle had been flung at me, and not very nice words were held. I knew one meant a female dog, so I was offend by that one. I was raised my wolves, I have manners.

The second bottle's shards only cut a bit of my leg, but not much. I closed the door and gasped for air. The girls had told me that the Bennetts got drunk at night and warned me to not go down. But I did't know what drunk meant, and I was only going to the bathroom.

I crawled up the stairs and sat on my bed. I checked on my leg and saw some blood. Gingerly touching my face, I found blood there too. Now it started to hurt. 

After finding the small first aid kit that the girls had made, I placed the band aids on the cuts. Sighing, I put the kit away and crawled into my bed. I couldn't do anything for the pain right now, and probably won't any ways.

It was telling the girls what happened, that scared me. They were my family now, and I didn't want to disappoint them. But soon sleep came and I drifted of into a dreamless sleep.

---

I was the first to awake the next morning, so I went downstairs to use the bathroom. My reflection showed me some dried blood on my face, and I would imagine there being some on my bed now. I sighed and washed the blood off and replaced the band aids.

Once I was finished, I went into the kitchen to have breakfast. A hand grabbed my hair and yanked my head back. I looked into the murderous eyes of Mrs. Bennett. "You stupid girl. You better not say anything to the social services guys about this or there will be worse punishment then a bottle."

I gulped and nodded. She let me go and I carefully sat at the table. I ate quickly so I could go back upstairs. 

Mrs. Bennett, to me, was not human. She didn't act like a caring mother and Mr. Bennett didn't act like a father. I knew the government gave them money to care for us, and the money was all they cared about.

Not us kids. They hated us because we were so 'needy'. I knew in my father's pack, if anyone was mean to another wolf without reason, they were punished.

And I knew that there was laws the humans had but because of the threats, we couldn't do anything about it. We stayed quiet.

I went back upstairs and flipped my pillow over, so the blood was showing. I also flipped the bed sheet inside out. The other girls had gotten up and were already downstairs, so I get dressed.

After an half hour, the girls came back up. Quin looked at me for a bit. "What happened to your face?"

Lucy gasped. "Quin! You just can't ask what's wrong with er face! That's mean!"

"I said what happened, because she has band aids on the side of her face, not what was wrong with it!" Quin exclaimed and the younger girl gave a sheepish grin. Quin sighed and looked at me, "So?"

I shrugged, "I tripped. That's all." I could tell Quin didn't believe me. Sighing, I looked down. I told them the events from the night before, along with begging for them not tell anyone. 

Charlotte hugged me, "Of course we won't. Promise."

All the other girls nodded in agreement and soon I was in the middle of a group hug. We were interrupted by the door bell. Trinity looked up with wide eyes, "Their here."