3. Candy: Charlotte's Pov (Brody above^^^)
I stand in front of the stairs and wonder how I'm suppose to go down. I smell like Xander since I used his shampoo and body wash, I'm also wearing a pair of his boxers and a shirt of his.
Sitting down, I lay my crutches by my side and start going down the stairs the way a toddler would; slowly butt scooting down each step.
'This is enjoyable.' my wolf grins. I see her as a wolf inside of my mind, paws and everything.
As I'm nearing the bottom of the stairs, one of my crutches falls and tumbles to the ground. In a flash Xander is by my side. "Are you okay?" he asks.
I nod and allow him to help me stand up. "Why were you trying to go down the stairs?"
"You told me to meet you in the kitchen." I shrug.
"I meant for you to call me when you got done showering." he says gently picking me up. He carries me the rest of the way to the kitchen.
Two plates with sandwiches are on the dining table. Xander sits me down in a chair and pushes a plate closer to me. The sandwich looks good, but I feel wasteful knowing that I'll throw away over half of it.
Ten minutes later, I'm only able to eat half of a sandwich when Xander already finished two. "I'm full." I whisper, pushing the plate away.
"Just one more bite?" Xander urges.
I shake my head. I'm fully aware that I'm wasting food and that other people need it more than I do, but I just can't eat it. He sighs and puts up the plates.
"Baby, the doctors said that you have to try to eat."
"I know, my old pack doctor said the same thing."
"Have you been trying?" he questions.
Once again, I shake my head. "Alpha didn't let anyone give me food; but sometimes people would sneak in some meals for me." I answer.
Xander glares at the wall but doesn't show any other signs of anger. "Brody wants to see you tomorrow, I can tell him to reschedule if you want to wait." he says.
"I'll see him tomorrow."
On our way up to where I think is his bedroom, he's my only heat source. The clothes I'm wearing are huge on me but they're not warm, plus it seems to be extremely cold in the house. "These should help you sleep." Xander hands me a pill and a bottle of water to help it go down.
The effects of the medicine kicks in quickly adding to the fact that I'm already tired. Xander goes into the bathroom to change and leaves me laying in his bed. There's no chance that it's king sized, it's somehow much bigger.
He's most likely going to have me sleep next to him, I just hope that my nightmares won't be that bad tonight. The last thing I see before I lose consciousness is my shirtless mate.
***
"No one will want you after I'm done with you." a sinister voice sneers.
This is the third time this happened today, all the warriors are stressed and use me for release. "Listen when I'm talking to you!"
I look up at Beta Shawn knowing that he hates it when I look him in the eye. They're able to torture me but they can't make me submissive.
A snap let's me know that I pushed him too far. As I try to use my elbows to stand up, I end up coughing and choking on my own blood. "I SAID BEND OVER!"
"Charlotte, wake up. You're having a nightmare."
My eyes snap open and I cower away from the body next to me. "I'm not going to hurt you, it was just a dream." Xander coos reaching out for me. I let him pull me into his lap and bury my face in his bare chest.
"I don't want to go back." I whisper shivering at the thought of returning to Red Stone.
"I'm right here for you, don't worry."
I look around at the naturally lit room and realize that it's already morning.- noon actually.
'Best night ever.' my wolf breathes. I mentally agree with her. That was the longest we've been able to sleep and we almost went the whole time without a nightmare.
So what am I suppose to do now? Usually I'd start making breakfast for everyone.
"Do you want breakfast?" Xander asks putting his hands on my waist. I shake my head. The motion makes my head hurt, but I try my best to ignore it.
"Are you sure?" I nod in response.
"How was your sleep?"
"Good, you have a soft really bed." I say quietly. The soft material and bouncy mattress is a lot compared to where I use to sleep. Alpha Jones was nice enough to give me an old couch pillow to rest my head on at night; I had to work a few months for it, but the pillow made it more bearable to sleep.
"You're suppose to take this every morning for the next two weeks." Xander hands me a small white pill and a bottle of water.
It feels like a swallowed an entire gummy bear.
A laugh makes me confused. "You like gummy bears?"
Oh. I must've said that out loud. "Voicing your thoughts is one of the side effects from the pill." he explains.
I hold out my hand for him to place the bottle in my hand.
Take one unit by mouth each morning. Side effects may include: voicing of thoughts, openness, numbness of injuries.
"How about we play a game, I ask you question then you ask me one." Xander proposes.
"What's your favorite candy?" is his first question.
I don't remember much about candy; just that it contain lots of sugar. The last time I had it was probably two years ago when a little kid secretly sent a small bag up to my attic. "Gummy bears. H-how old are you?"
"Twenty one." That means that we're four years apart. I wonder if Brody is the same age?
"Brody and I are both twenty one, I'm six months older though." Xander states proudly. He slightly puffs out his chest and I could imagine how he'd look like as an ape.
"What kind of food do you like?" he asks.
"I don't know," I shrug. "Anything that fills me up. Are you wearing hair gel?"
I resist the strong urge to feel his hair. 'Do it, I bet you five dollars it's soft.' my wolf persuades.
'You don't have any money.'
'What's yours is mine.'
'But I don't have any money either.'
'And your point is?.'
"Are you talking to your wolf?" Xander asks.
'No fair! He didn't answer our question!' my wolf accuses.
"Yes,"
'CHEATER!' she shouts loudly making me cringe.
"What's wrong?" Xander asks frantically.
'He did it again!'
"My wolf is being weird." I say.
'I'm as weird as you are. C-H-E-A-T-E-R, what does that spell? Cheater!!!' she roars.
"Baby, you and your wolf share a personality. The only difference between a person and their wolf is that the human side doesn't express as much as the wolf side." Xander tells me.
So everything my wolf is saying are things that I would say.
"That's right." Stupid pills.
"Are you wearing hair gel?" I ask in order to calm down my wolf.
"No. Are you ticklish?"
"No." my voice is blended with my wolf's as we answer the question a little too early. Xander raises an eyebrow then his fingers are tickling my sides.
Xander continues to move his fingers along my ribs and belly area. The only sound filling the room are his laughs and my giggles. There's no way that he's not ticklish, I move my hand to his neck and try to tickle his neck. "You aren't ticklish." I state with a frown.
"I'm not, but you are." my frown immediately turns into a smile when he goes back to tickle me.
"You should smile more." he says looking at me. Heat rises to my cheeks and I use my hands to cover them. Xander gently pulls them away from my face and presses his lips to mine.
It takes me a little bit to process the situation, but I eventually kiss back. My lips move against his and I just follow his lead-
Ding dong!
Xander groans in annoyance as the doorbell rings. "That must be Brody." he mutters pulling away. He looks the bedroom door and then groans one more time.
"What's wrong?" he asks when I hesitate to get off the bed.
"What if he doesn't like me?"
"Brody likes almost everybody, plus you're his sister."
"But I don't remember anything about him, he might get mad at me."
"He's not going to get mad, now let's go before he steals the fridge." Xander helps me position my crutches and helps me walk downstairs with him.
"Where's Charlotte?" Brody asks.
"She's right here." Xander says stepping to the side. I do the same and half hide behind him.
Brody frowns and I fearfully look up at him. He's an inch shorter than Xander, but still over 6'0 tall. "Hi." I greet quietly.
"Hi."
We walk over to the living room and sit on the couches. Xander sits me on his lap and Brody sits opposite of us. "You won't believe how long I've been looking for you." he says smiling.
"You looked for me?"
"Our parents too." he sighs sadly. I'm curious to know what he's talking about, but I don't ask any questions.
"What's in the bag?" Xander asks looking at the bag that Brody brought.
"Videos and candy." I pay more attention at the mention of candy. Candy.
Xander gently picks me up off his lap, places me on the couch, and stands up. "I'm just going to the kitchen, sweetheart. I'll be right back." he says turning around.
I grab a nearby pillow and hug it. "I hope that these videos will bring back some memories."
I nod and watch as Brody inserts a disc into the media player. "This is when I was eight and you were four." he tells me pressing play.
The video takes place in a bedroom with three kids. "Is that Xander?" I ask staring at the two boys on the tv.
"Yup, you and me too."
Little Brody and Xander are playing a video game with a whole pile of snacks between them. The girl who is supposedly me is quietly tiptoeing towards the snacks and with a bag of marshmallows behind her. "Hi." the toddler version of me greets when she trips.
Both boys put down their controllers and turn around. "Why are you here?" Brody asks.
"Can I have candy?" I ask sitting down Indian-style.
"I brought you marshmallows." I add revealing the bag of fluffiness.
"Deal." Xander and Brody immediately hand me a pouch of sour worms in exchange for the marshmallows.
Pause.
"Do you remember that?" Brody asks.
"No."
"Not even the candy part?" I shake my head. "Any questions you want answers to?"
'Ooh, oh, ask if he uses conditioner.' my wolf suggests.
'No. That's too weird.'
"H-how'd I get to a different pack?" I ask. If I was born and raised here in Lunar Blood territory, then how did I end up in the hands of Red Stone?
"You were kidnapped. A group of wolves snuck through the border where we were staying for the weekend. They attacked the area and took hostages, you were the only one who wasn't able to escape." he says running a hand through his hair.
I was taken away. My family didn't sell me like everyone told me.
"Who the hell told you that?!?" Brody growls. The side effects still haven't worn off.
"My old pack." I answer cringing from his loud voice.
"What's going on?" Xander is by my side in an instant.
"Charlotte's old pack fucking told her that she was sold to them! Sold."
"Is this true?" I nod and scoot away from the two angry men. They stand with clenched fists and intimidating stances. I don't understand what's so bad about being sold to another pack, isn't it the same as adoption or something?
"Sweetheart, when a wolf is sold to another pack they're sold as a slave." Xander explains noticing how I'm slowly inching away from him and Brody. He moves towards me and I flinch instinctively. My wolf growls at my actions and tells me to go closer to our mate.
"Are they the ones who starved you?" Brody asks in a calmer tone.
I nod- my heart thumping louder and louder with each passing second. "Don't believe anything those bastards told you." he orders.
"Wait here." Xander kisses my forehead and then quickly walks out of the room.
The seven crashing sounds is all I need to know that he's breaking something.
--@;&(!:@:@;&&;/&
(8-18-15) I literally didn't notice that the last few moments of this chapter got deleted until now. I am so sorry for that.
The actual action and drama/wolf scenes are in the next chapters. This is still the very beginning of the book.
xoxo Priscilla