"She looks just like you." Mason smiled and I looked at him, with a blank face.
"Really?" I snorted. "She looks like an alien."
"Mara!" He scolded and I laughed slightly, cautious not to wake my daughter. She looked so tiny. So... human. To think that she would have caused me so much pain was ridiculous. To think that she was half werewolf... or whatever Will was, was ludicrous!
"What? She does!" She was small, frail, pink and extraordinarily wrinkly. Babies were like pugs, I'd decided. They had too much skin for their own good. Mason had told me that some were born with hair. I was thankful my little one was bald. Hair would have freaked me out.
"You're not meant to say that." I shrugged, not really caring. She was my child and I could say what I liked.
"I didn't mean it in a bad way." I told him. A smile came onto my face as I looked down and love filled me. It was odd; I didn't think I would look at anyone with this adoration. Is this what my mother felt when she saw me and Kaya? "But you can't say that she looks like me. Not until she's a little older."
"Can you not accept the compliment?"
"No." I rose an eyebrow at him and he sighed and threw his arms up. "So, what are we going to do about Will?"
I hadn't wanted to ruin the sweet moment but since I woke up, it had been all that was going through my mind. Even while Dr Abbott had told me about my almost dying moment. Beau, before I forced him to leave, had finally told me the truth about the damn wall and why Will was obsessed. I hadn't been calm. In fact, it had taken all my strength not to call him every name under the sun and call a looney bin and get him admitted. To think that somewhere in my blood, I carried a werewolf gene was idiotic. Did I look part wolf?
"I don't know." He shrugged. "Tristan wants to have someone watching you at all times."
"Like he hasn't been doing that for the last few months?" I rolled my eyes. "What's new? Oh, wait, apart from the fact he can turn into a giant dog?"
"Mars..."
"I'm allowed to be angry. They've lied for the past few months."
"I know, but cut him some slack." My head whipped and I narrowed my eyes. Seriously? "I'm not a fan of the guy but would you have really believed him? If he suddenly told you he could shift into a wolf?"
After a couple of minutes of silence, I answered with a very quiet "no" hating that Mason was right. "They could have at least told me sooner. Not when I was basically on the verge of giving birth."
"We were waiting for the right time." I hadn't heard Thom walk in, and I held my little girl defensively and glared at Thom, hoping to shoot daggers with my eyes.
"Yes, because in the whole nine months I've been here, you've never had the opportunity." I scoffed. Okay, so I was probably being more childish than I should have been but I was hurt that none of them had even thought to tell me. Especially when it concerned my child!
"There's never a right time to tell someone that sort of thing." He tried to justify their reason for not telling me, and it was a good point, but I was blind to any reasoning.
"You could have at least told me about Will."
"We did!"
"Telling me not to underestimate Will is not warning me."
"We said he wasn't a nice guy." Thom looked almost proud. I just gave a sharp laugh.
"Do you know how vague that is? I've had people say that I'm not a nice person but I'm not the one who goes round threatening to kidnap babies." I spat.
"You did punch someone for taking the last Sprite." Mason added to the conversation and I shushed him.
"That's not the point, Mase!" I sighed, annoyed at how he wasn't sticking up for me. He was my friend, shouldn't he be on my side? "Thom, at least if you said that he'd stalked girls, that he thought he could shift into a wolf... that might have been enough for me to get my act together! But no! You wait until he attacks me and I'm alone." I shook my head and gripped onto my baby.
"I'm sorry." Was all he said and I gave him a small shrug. I wasn't accepting or rejecting his apology. I was still miffed.
"And now, I've got some psycho on the loose wanting my little girl. Do you know how terrified I am right now?" I didn't want to admit it but I was going to have to. I was terrified – she'd only been in my arms for a couple of hours but I didn't want to let her go. This was my child – she was mine. Whoever tried to take her away was going to feel my wrath. I was like a mama bear. "The fact that Will could sneak up and take her away from me is fucking frightening! And I'm powerless to stop him because he can shift into an animal and I'll be defenceless?"
"You've got us. And Mason." He pointed out.
"She only has me." Mason said, anger flaring. "Did you not get the memo where she said she didn't want your help?"
"You can't go against a werewolf. You're just a human." Thom scoffed, crossing his arms. I held the frown that was starting to form. Where was this tension between the two coming from? Had Mason been pretending to like them? That wasn't like him at all.
"I've been against one before, and won." Mason crossed his arms too and this time I let the frown show. It wasn't news that Mason knew about their secret – he said he'd only just found out but he wasn't shocked because he knew about the whole werewolf thing. It had pissed me off but I didn't go crazy on Mason. We'd never talked about werewolves so he'd never needed to tell me. It wasn't like it was something he had to live with every day.
"What do you mean?" I asked, wondering when he'd come across one. Were they common? No one had actually told me how many werewolves existed.
"You know I used to do underground fighting?" I nodded, it was something that Mason had done before he took me under his wing. No one knew why he'd stopped. Apparently he was something of a god in the ring. "Five years ago, when I was fifteen, I was challenged by Darmaine Lagoon. After practically being beaten to a pulp, I managed to gain the upper hand and beat him. He wasn't happy and as I was leaving, he shifted in front of me. I did what a normal person would do and run." Just like I had, except I hadn't gotten very far. "That scar on my back? The one I told you that lame story about being whipped with some branches?"
"The dare?" My eyes practically popped out of my eyes. "That's a lie? Do you know how many people I've told?"
Mason rolled his eyes at me. "Of course it's a lie! Who even has a tree whipping as a forfeit for a dare?"
"People do the weirdest things."
"Whatever. Anyway, the guy raked my back and I was hospitalised for a couple of weeks. I have no idea what happened to the guy because I passed out but there you go." I heard Thom laugh, and there was no humour in it.
"You didn't win. He won. You probably would have died if you hadn't gone to hospital."
"I won against him in a physical fight. If I hadn't been so surprised that a guy turned into a dog," Thom growled at that word, "I probably would have fought off his attack. You say that we underestimated Will, but you also underestimate our will to survive."
"Tristan is still going to put you under watch, Samara." Thom ignored Mason which infuriated me. He wasn't better than us!
"And if I don't want to?"
"You have no choice." He looked at me, sadness in his eyes. "This is really the best option. I know you don't like us right now, and I can understand, but you're weak."
"I'm-,"
"You've just given birth, and you almost died doing it. Have you even tried to walk? I wouldn't be surprised if it hurt given that apparently you get torn up down there." I didn't answer. Was I going to let Thom know that I'd almost cried when I tried to pee earlier, the stinging was horrible! I never wanted to pee again. Before I could say another word, Thom carried on. "This is the prime moment for Will to grab your baby. And while Mason may have bested a werewolf, you've never gone up against one."
"I managed to almost strangle Kelly."
"Kelly was restraining himself. If he wanted, he could have snapped your neck." Thom snapped. He let out a huff of air and apologised. "Mars, we just want the best for you, okay? You're a great friend and it would be heartbreaking if something happened to you and we could have stopped it."
I didn't answer, instead I just cooed at my sleeping baby.
"At least thing about your child."
Damn, he had me there. I nodded after a couple of seconds. "Fine." I sucked in a breath, preparing my next words. "But after you get rid of Will, I want some space."
"Fair enough." He said.
"And I want Beau with me first." I demanded.
"Why is that you can be angry at me and Tristan, who by the way is heartbroken because of you, but you'll happily talk to Beau? He kept the secret from you!"
"Because he is the only one who understands how angry I am that you kept something as important as this from me! And maybe, because he's the only one who's apologised, who's acknowledged that maybe it was wrong for you to keep this from me for so long?" I spat. "I mean, when were you going to tell me? What if my baby shifted? Huh? What then? Oh, then you drop the bomb shell when it's too freaking late!?"
My shouting woke my little girl and I grumbled, feeling guilty. I rocked her gently, stroking her head carefully. Dr Abbott had warned me about the soft spot on their head (that apparently helped them get out of my downstairs?) so I took extra care not to bump it or press too hard.
"Samara-,"
"Can you just go Thom? I'm not in the mood." Maybe it was wrong of me to push him away. Maybe it was selfish to want to wallow in self-pity and feel sorry for myself? Was it childish to ignore him?
Hearing the door slam after Thom cursing... I started to feel bad. They had helped me, let me have a private doctor for free. But then again, they were going to keep this massive secret from me. Something that was actually going to affect me and my little girl.
"You can't hold a grudge forever." Mason told me. I'd finally got my little girl to calm, and she'd gone back to sleep.
"Maybe I'll get Jo to teach me."
"What have you decided to call her?" Mason suddenly switched subjects which I was thankful for.
"Isn't it bad luck to name a baby straight after birth?" I asked. To which Mason laughed.
"That's before." He smiled at me, and I gave a small smile back. I'd literally only woken up a couple of hours ago, how could I be so tired already? "I take it you don't have a name yet?"
"No." I yawned.
"Do you want me to take the little one? So you can have a nap?" I shook my head. I didn't want her to leave my arms. She was too precious.
"I'll be okay." I gave her a small smile, not that she could really see it.
Beau came in then, and we chatted for a couple hours about meaningless stuff. He didn't bring up the subject of wolves thankfully. It was more like random gossip and rumours that had happened at school. Not that I'd really gone for the last couple of months. I'd never told them I was pregnant, I just stopped turning up. Liam had been mad, but what could he do?
When Tristan turned up to 'cover' me, I put my little girl (who I still had no name for yet) in the little cot that Rose had wheeled up for me (apparently, it had been used by both Thom and Tristan when they were little) and turned over, so my back was facing him, and went to sleep. It may have been mean and rude but it was better than the alternative. Which would have ended up with me calling him all sorts of names and having an argument.
The next time I opened my eyes, the room was full of shadows. Sighing, when I realised I was facing the door (and there was no sign of Tristan) and rolled over so I was facing the cot. As I turned, I froze, my eyes wide. A tall figure loomed over my baby and I knew it wasn't Tristan.
Breaking out of my fear, knowing who had snuck in, I pushed myself off the bed and lunged for the figure. Unfortunately, the sheets had tangled my legs and I ended up falling and smacking the floor. Hissing as my stomach started to pang with pain, I was useless when my hair was used to pull me up and I was thrown to the other side of the room. This time, my whole body ached.
"Well, well." Will's voice filled the room, and I fought against the fear rising in me. I may have been weak from giving birth, but that didn't mean I was completely useless. I was Samara Ray. I'd made grown men cower before. I didn't need to worry about a growing baby being hurt, because there wasn't one. She was in the cot, and Will was standing in between us. "Looks like someone hasn't learned their lesson."
"Piss off, Will. You're not welcome here." I moved to try and stand, my eyes narrowing. Admittedly, I couldn't see very well and I was just trying to focus on his silhouette.
"Regardless, I'm here to collect my daughter."
"She's not your daughter!" I shouted. Where the Hell was Tristan or whoever was supposed to be guarding me? What a great idea that was! "And she's not an item you can just collect."
"Oh?" I could hear him chuckle. "And who's going to stop me? You?"
"I wouldn't underestimate me, Will. You don't know what I'm capable of."
"You're a human." He spat. "The only thing you were good for was carrying my child." I struggled to stand, my back aching as well as my stomach. Sharp pain filled my neck and I was sure I had jarred it when I landed roughly on the floor. "And now you've done your job, I have no use for you."
Will was before me, and I hadn't even blinked. I felt myself being lifted off the floor by my neck. My eyes felt like they were slowly being pushed out, and I couldn't get any air. I forced my legs to thrash, to try and kick him but it seemed like nothing would work. My hands were at my throat, scraping at his hands, trying to get him off me.
"You are a mere human, no match for me. I don't need you any more, Samara. It's a shame really, you could have carried more of my pups and we would have led a strong family. More powerful than you could imagine." I could hear his voice slowly fading, and I knew I wouldn't last. "But you had to go and fall in love with Tristan Grey."
I was not in love with Tristan. Okay, maybe strong feelings but I refused to admit that to this psycho. As the world started to fade, I knew I had to suck in my pride. Using as much energy as I could muster, I let out an ear-shattering scream. Immediately, I was dropped to the floor and my little girl started to cry. Guilt coursed through me and then fear. Will's dark figure wasn't near me. He was going for my girl.
"No!" I screamed, my throat feeling sore and I threw a hand out and tried to crawl towards him.
"Time for you to go with Daddy." I heard him say before he climbed through the window. Before he left, I saw him stare at me. "Don't worry Samara, I'll take good care of her."
And then he was gone.
With my baby.
Tears fell, and I let out a choked sob before I completely gave into the sadness.
She was gone.
And I hadn't done enough to stop him.