Attacked at granny's.

Aurelia's Point of View

I filed my nails as I stared at the dull gray colored wall, wondering when Brooks would be back.

It was exactly two weeks he brought me to this dreary house.

I haven't heard from my family, not like they cared, I have always been a burden they have been wanting to get rid of.

Brooks was hardly ever home. An old friend had given him this house before he passed.

The few days I spent here were like a monotonous cycle.

I would wake up, stare at the blank walls, and try to occupy my time however I could.

My recovery process was fast, I had taken in two stray dogs lost in the woods.

Sometimes I'd flip through the few channels on the ancient television set, but there was never anything worth watching.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a key turning in the lock. My heart raced as the door swung open, and he walked in, carrying several plastic bags.

"You are back," I said with a trembling voice.

He ignored me and set the bags down on the coffee table.

"I brought you some new clothes and a few other things. Thought you might be getting bored in those same old clothes."

I eyed the bags warily, not wanting to accept anything from him.

"I don't want your gifts. I want to go home."

"You can't go home, you know more than anyone else you aren't safe there."

"You also aren't safe outside and neither is this place safe, it's in the middle of nowhere, what if we get attacked by rogues?" His jaw tightened.

"That will never happen, but if you have a better place in mind, I would go with you."

"My grandparent's house, it's a nice place," I suggested but he just stared at me.

"They're nice people and we have lots of free room, but they're old, we will need to get a job."

"I got one today, a cleaner at a mall."

"That's better than being idle," I replied.

We were soon on the gravel driveway towards my grandparents' old farmhouse.

The building hadn't changed a bit, the oak tree in the front yard was still present.

"Your grandparents have kept this place the same, it looks nice," Brooks commented as we approached the front door.

I nodded. "They've always loved the design, and would never let it be renovated, even if the roof was caving in."

I missed this place a lot, the building held so many memories for me, it was the same building where I first shifted.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the key they had given me years ago. But as I inserted it into the lock, it wouldn't turn.

"That's strange, my key doesn't seem to be working," I said, trying it a few more times.

Brooks stepped forward. "Let me give it a try."

To my surprise, his key slid right into the lock and turned smoothly. The door opened, and the family compound came into view.

"How did you...?" I trailed off, staring at him.

He shrugged. "I guess your grandparents must have changed the locks. Here, let me show you."

We stepped inside, as the musty, comforting scent enveloped me.

Everything was exactly as I remembered, the faded floral wallpaper, even Grandma's old rocking chair in the corner. But something felt off.

"This is weird. Why would they change the locks without telling me?" I wondered aloud.

"Maybe they were worried about security or something."

I made my way through the house, calling out for my grandparents. But as we reached the kitchen, I froze in my tracks.

The place was silent, with no sign of Grandma baking cookies or Grandpa tinkering with one of his old radios.

"Where are they?" I whispered, with a growing sense of dread. The place looked abandoned.

I walked to the side of the fridge where they kept emergency letters and pulled something out. It was a note.

"Dear Lia" I read aloud, my voice trembling slightly. "By the time you see this letter, we are long gone. This house has been sold, please do not try to find us, love you."

I felt the blood drain from my face as the words sank in. Sold? But this was my family's home, the place I had grown up. How could they have just left?

I shook my head, my mind racing. "This doesn't make any sense. Unless..." I stared at Brooks who was just looking at me with a straight face.

"You mean they didn't sell it willingly?" He asked as I nodded, my heart pounding.

"What if something bad had happened to them? We need to find who they sold the house to."

But he stopped me from moving.

"I will find them, I don't want you getting hurt, just rest." He said as I sniffed, walking to my grandma's rocking chair.

I was finally able to power my phone and as I turned it on, I was greeted with a flurry of missed calls and voicemails from my mother.

Anxiety gripped my chest, did something happen to her? I pressed the call button, bringing the phone to my ear.

"Where have you been?!" she yelled the moment I connected.

"You need to come home right now and get married to your boyfriend, the guy you had sex with on your sister's coronation, you're soiling the name of this family, I don't want you getting pregnant out of wedlock. " She said, not letting me speak as I was taken aback by her unexpected demand.

"What? Married? What man? Mom, what are you talking about?"

"Don't you sass me, young lady!" she scolded.

"The poor Chef with the broken right leg came by and said he wants to marry you. Now get your butt back here this instant!"

I shook my head in disbelief.

"I'm not pregnant and I'm not getting married to a man I don't know," I yelled back into the phone.

"Alpha Aiden said you're free to mingle, be glad someone is getting married to a pathetic omega like you." Not like she cared about me, she had called just to save her face.

"Your sister is making us proud and you, what are you doing? Having sex like a slut."

"Mom!" I yelled in anger. "Stop it, I'm not a baby anymore, stop comparing me to your saintly daughter Tania, I'm not getting married to some stranger and just so you know, Grandma and Grandpa are missing and the house is sold."

She scoffed as I spoke. "How did you even get the keys to the house?"

"Don't tell me you had something to do with their disappearance." But before I could get her response, Brooks screamed.

"Lia, look out." It was followed by a deafening gunshot.