Moana
I decided that I couldn't let Edrick go on for any longer without telling Ella the truth about her biological mother.
"I know that you didn't tell her everything," I said as I stood in front of him with my hands on my hips. He was standing in front of the bathroom sink in his bedroom and was brushing his teeth. With a sigh, he slowly spit out his toothpaste and then looked over at me.
"What do you mean?" he asked. I could tell that he was trying to play it off like he didn't know what I was thinking about.
A frown came across my face. "Don't play dumb. I know that you didn't tell Ella about her mother even though we talked about it. Are you going to tell her the truth, or do I need to? Because the longer she goes without knowing everything, the more she'll resent you when she eventually does find out."
For a few long moments, the handsome Alpha billionaire stared at me unblinkingly with a somewhat shocked and embarrassed expression on his face. But then that look was quickly hidden, and he shook his head and scowled slightly. I could tell that I had struck a chord by bringing it up to him, which was understandable but was nonetheless something that we would need to work through.
"I'll handle it when I'm ready," he said, brushing past me and heading into his bedroom. "Don't worry about it. I just didn't want to bombard her with too much information all at once. That's all."
I sighed and followed him. His excuse made sense, but it was just that: an excuse. And it didn't matter at this point whether he bombarded Ella or not, because it was better than letting her go on for any longer. But as I sat on my side of the bed and watched him as he took his watch off and set it neatly in the spot that he always kept it on top of his dresser, and saw the way that he ran his hand through his dark hair and the way that his muscles gleamed in the lamplight, I felt myself soften a bit.
"Edrick, she's having trouble at school," I finally said quietly.
Edrick spun around and looked at me with concern across his face. "She's what?" he asked. "Is she alright? What's happening? Is she being bullied? I swear, if I find out that any of those kids are bullying her, I'll—"
"Calm down," I said. "It's not that bad, and I'm sure they'll get over it eventually since they're just kids. It's just..." I paused, sighing again, and stared down at my hands in my lap to hide the tears that were threatening to pool up in my eyes. "She's being alienated because of me. Because I'm a... a freak. And now they think that she is, too, because everyone thinks that she's my biological daughter. So it's my fault, really. And I guess in a way, I thought that if you told her about her real mom—"
Suddenly, I felt a rush of wind as Edrick walked up to me, and I felt his hands firmly grasp my shoulders before I could finish.
"Look at me," he demanded. I slowly looked up, blinking away my tears to see a stern expression on his handsome face. "Moana, you're not a freak. The children and the other teachers will get over your sudden change; it's just new to them. That's all."
I shook my head. "But what if I am a freak?" I asked. "What if I have another episode in the middle of the classroom and I scare everyone? What if I have an episode and I never come out of it, and you really do need to put me in a mental institu—"
"Stop it." Edrick's voice was harsh, and his hands gripped my shoulders even more tightly. Almost too tightly. His eyes screamed with hatred, not for me, but for the horrible things that I just said about myself. I instantly felt like a small ant beneath his glare, and I immediately regretted it. "I won't hear any more of that. You're not a freak, and everything will be okay. You've just been through a lot and your brain is reacting in a perfectly reasonable way for someone who's been through that sort of trauma. As long as you keep seeing your therapist, everything will be okay."
"What if I shift, then?" I asked. "What if I shift, and everyone finds out that I'm the Golden Wolf, and then I'm not only a freak but I'm also a hunted freak by people who hated me before I was even born?"
Edrick stared at me for a moment with wide eyes. "You don't need to worry about that," he said. "I wasn't going to say anything just yet, but I might as well now; the Mother Witch's apprentices are working on a perfume to mask your scent if you shift. It'll keep you safe."
My eyes went wide at Edrick's words. That was comforting, but... I still felt uneasy. My dreams were too vivid, and something told me that no matter what, I would see that knife in my future.
I let Edrick pull me in for a warm hug, but even as I felt the comforting sensation of his lips kissing my forehead, I still didn't know how much I really believed him. How reasonable was it, really, for someone to black out and draw dozens of violent pictures depicting blood and gore and a strange knife with a wolf head handle?
How normal was it for someone to go into a coma for three days and have a dream about being stabbed repeatedly by that very knife? What if part of the symptoms of being the Golden Wolf entailed losing one's mind, assuming that bounty hunters didn't kill me first?
When Edrick pulled away, however, he was smiling. I forced a weak smile too, if only to make him worry a little less.
"How about this," he said, brushing a strand of hair out of my eyes. "I'll take you and Ella somewhere special this weekend. Just the three of us. We'll have a nice day out doing whatever the two of you want, and then I'll talk to her about Olivia. You and I can sit her down and do it together. Okay?"
Edrick's words were a slight comfort. I nodded and smiled against his soft lips as he kissed me, but as we went to bed that night, I still felt the uncomfortable feeling of uneasiness boring a hole through my stomach. No matter how warm and safe Edrick's arms felt, I still felt sick to my stomach as I slowly drifted off into a fitful sleep.
...
I had more dreams about Michael that night. I dreamed about that knife again, too. It was always in his hand, and he was always chasing me with it. He always won in the end...
"You can't run, Moana," Michael's dark voice said. "You might as well give up."
I was standing on that same cliff with the rain beating down on me. Only this time, I was standing facing away from Michael, looking out over the cliff into the dark abyss below. My stomach dropped as I looked down, down into the darkness. I stood so close to the edge that my toes curled over the slick rock that I stood on, and I didn't even bother to turn around because I already knew how this would all end. When I felt the knife plunge into my back, I wasn't even remotely surprised. I heard the sound of Michael's laugh, and then he pushed me over into the darkness...
"Wake up! Moana, wake up!"