NICHOLAS (old version)

chapter eleven: kin

I HIGHLY recommend listening to Burning Bridges by Bea Miller on loop while reading this chapter. It was pretty much my muse while writing this.

I sat in Dr. Kozlowski's office, or Liz, as she'd told me to call her, my entire body feeling heavy. She'd covered me in a dozen different ointments and salves, wrapped up each wound, and gave me a few painkillers. Nothing hurt anymore, it just felt numb and heavy.

I tried to make myself not be angry with him. Every instinct I had, for some fucked up reason, told me to find him and apologize. Luckily, I couldn't walk very well at the moment, so that wasn't happening. Instincts could piss off, as far as I cared. I wanted to be angry with him, because being angry was the only reason I was still conscious.

The door opened and my peace was interrupted by the trio of my family, no mates in tow this time. Tyler's features were contorted in a look of murder, Candy features were of pride, and my mothers eyes were full of tears - but she still smiled, I knew, for my sake.

"I will tear his goddamn eyes out and choke them with him!" He said, his tone low and his hands balled into fists. He wanted blood, he wanted retribution for me. I was his kin, the baby, and he wanted to insure I was protected. In his eyes, Nick was doing a shitty job at it - and in that moment, I wasn't sure who's side I was on.

Candy rolled her eyes, shoving him and pulling herself up onto the exam table beside, smiling at me. "Fuck him. Fuck the Alpha, fuck the pack, fuck everything. You're a goddamn warrior if I've ever seen one. Nineteen silver cuts - I would have been crying like a little bitch." She insisted, giving me a once over before glancing around the office. "Shit, you're naked." She observed, standing up and beginning to search through drawers and cabinets.

My mom took the opportunity to rush over, pulling me into a hug that made the cuts ache, but I didn't complain. She needed this more than I needed no pain. I'd need to get more painkillers from Liz before the end of the day. "Darcy, sweetie, you didn't need to do that. I'd have been fine. Your father got thirty-five and survived just fine." She scolded me, and I felt something inside of me awaken, full of questions.

"Mom, y-"

"Aha!" Candy called full of joy, pulling a hospital gown out of one of the cabinets. Turning back to me, she lifted my arms and pushing the fabric onto me and tying the back. Glancing at Tyler, she clapped her hands. "Alright, let's roll."

I felt my lips tilt into a frown, scooting further back onto the table. "Guys, I may kinda-hate Nick, but I ca-"

"We're not leaving. Just carting you up to your room until we decide whether or not we're killing Nick." Tyler said with an eye roll, and before I could argue otherwise, he had me in his arms and the entire party was moving down the hallway at a speed that told me we really shouldn't have been doing this. But I didn't care about the rules in that moment, and an Amber Alert or two might scare some sense into Nick.

Mom led the way through the house, down hallways and up stairs, and we were at my room in a matter of minutes, Tyler dropping me on the bed. Candy started rummaging through drawers, while my mother sat down next to me, heaving a sigh.

I glanced at her, chewing my lip, unsure whether or not to ask the questions that had begun in my mind. But no one spoke, and I couldn't be left in silence with my thoughts, not right now.

"Mom, why did dad get silver cuts?" I asked finally, sitting up a bit when Candy trailed closer, holding out a tank top and a pair of pajama shorts. Tyler turned around, though we'd all seen one another naked a million times; decency wasn't something common to werewolves. I pulled the clothes on, glancing at my mother, who chewed her lip, confliction on her features.

Finally, she sighed.

"All three of you, sit down for this. You... deserve to know." She said quietly, sitting back herself. Candy sat on my other side, while Tyler wiggled his way onto the end of the bed, just like we always did as kids. We were each within a year of the other, and we'd all grown up nearly the same. The nightmare ages, the bedtime story ages - we'd been a little pack of our own, the three of us, and we'd done everything together.

We were silent, waiting for her to start, and for a few minutes, she sat, staring at her hands. Then, she sighed. "I was eighteen when I met your father. I was a very good girl, I never did anything wrong. My parents died when I was eight - Mila was only a pup at the time, almost two. I always had to be the grown up, had to take care of her.

"But I'd been at training, and we'd had a few visitors from the Jones pack." My heart stopped at her words, and she met my gaze. It was clear that she'd seen the correlation as well. I was mated to Nicholas Jones, Alpha of the Jones pack. All three of us were mated into this pack. And, I realized before she'd even said it, so was she.

"Your father was leading the group of trainers and... the second we saw each other, it was like the world stopped spinning. He swooped me off of my feet and marked me on the spot. He was a bit older, but I'd always been a grown up. I hadn't ever had a choice, I was the head of an orphaned family. 

"I was in love with him. I knew right away that this was the man I'd have my happily ever after with. He was so charming and funny, so much charisma. Very good with people, it was why he was in charge, he was so easy to like. 

"I was terrified to go home with him. I didn't want to come back to his pack, to this house, but I didn't have any choice. I'd heard stories about how they treated females, and I didn't want to be treated like that. But he promised me he'd care for me, protect me. So I went.

"The first night I was here, he just... shut me out. All the romance, the fireworks, the magic, it was over. You can sense someone's feelings through the mark, and all I sensed was fear. He was scared shitless, and I couldn't understand why. At the pack breakfast, he was possessive but distant. His parents hated me - I was just a distraction to him, in their eyes. The only females respected in this pack are the ones born into it. Everyone else is weak, soft.

"I couldn't take it, so I left. He was at my door within hours, begging for me to give him another chance. We sat down, we talked, and Candy was conceived. I refused to go back, so your father decided to stay with me. He came back to get his things and Alpha Nicholas-" Nicholas' father, I knew, not him; I wasn't sure how far it went back, but I knew there were at least two of them. "-was furious. He'd lost one of his best warriors and a fertile female. So he beat him to a pulp. Put him in the dungeon. After a week, he brought him up, gave him thirty-five silver cuts, and sent him back to me. Once Nicholas learned I was pregnant with a third child, he raided our pack and killed your father. He said that you all should have been in his pack - I suppose he was right."

She was quiet after that, and I figured she was done, though there was something sad in her eyes. We were all quiet, curling up into a big ball of bodies, like we were pups again. It was comforting, the smell of our family, the warmth.

Hours ticked by. The pain medication because to wean off, and one by one, they left. Tyler said Natalie wanted him, Candy said she needed to talk to Dante. Eventually, my mother stood up and tucked me in, kissing my forehead and pulling back. The sadness lingered in her eyes and I clenched my jaw, lips tilted in a slight frown.

"What is it?" I expected her to tell me we should leave. Tell me to come sleep in her room, so she could keep an eye on me. Tell me what a bad person Nick was. But she didn't.

"Your father... told me about a boy. In the dungeon. One hundred silver cuts, Darcy. Beaten to a bloody pulp. Half starved, almost dead." I knew what she was going to say before she even said it, I felt it in the pit of my stomach. "Sweetie, it was Nick."

Authors note: Okay, so a half-hour late, but... owell. Don't kill me? 

And what do you guys think of Darcy's parents origin story? Should they have just stayed in the pack? AND WHAT DO Y'ALL THINK ABOUT THE LAST PART?

Next chapter will be up Saturday! And ahh, guys, we're doing so good! I can't believe people are really reading and interested in this? Like, whaaat? This is crazy. I love y'all so much, don't forget to comment, vote, follow, and share with your friends!