Chapter Four

The Jokes on them.

Heat hits me, flames far too hot to survive, yet I am still breathing. I scream for Mum. My skin is blistering before melting from my bones. I scream in panic for Mum, kicking the seat in-front of me. My injuries are so severe not even my werewolf healing can save me. As the flames start to peel the skin off my face I open my eyes to see almost darkness except for a lamp light.

It’s been a long time since I had that dream.

I lay in bed for a few minutes, panting. Trying to recover my heaving chest. Finally, I feel wetness under me and move off the bed. The bed sheets and my clothes are covered in sweat, and I immediately strip the bed and change my clothes. I’ve become highly skilled in the after effects of nightmares. I walk to the laundry cupboard on the landing and place fresh dry sheets on the bed. With my throat dry I head towards the kitchen and grab a cold bottle of water from the fridge. The kitchen is considerably large with navy cabinets and an island that sits in the middle which consists of a large sink and a tap that can be detached to use as a hose when cleaning the dishes. Kath, our cook, takes great pride in her kitchen and was upgraded with a range master cooker a year ago. Poor Kath, she’s tried to teach me to cook but each time the sausages came out black, the pasta stuck to the saucepan and she vomited in the sink when I sliced part of my part of finger off when dicing onions. Luckily the pack doctors were able to stitch my finger tip back on by slowing down my wolf healing. I was injected with a very low concentrated shot of wolfsbane. Works every time to slow down a wolf’s healing or if a stronger dose, it will cause unconsciousness. Kath wouldn’t let me cook after that. Said I was a disaster waiting to happen!

I take a long sip of the cold water which is refreshing on my dry throat. As I leave the kitchen I hear a whimper coming from the hallway leading to the Alpha offices. I listen carefully for any other noise. I hear another whimper and slowly follow the noise.

I leave the kitchen which has a slight glow still from the lights in the two glass kitchen cabinets by the cooker. I hear low voices coming from my brother’s office. I don’t step any further. I need to stay hidden and if I get any closer I run the risk of my scent being revealed. An alpha could always hear the heartbeats of his pack members. However, it never gave away location. If Henri suspected my closeness, I have enough time to race to the kitchen back to the fridge. The water bottle in my hand was already acting as my perfect alibi.

“She embarrassed you Henri…in front of another alpha. You can’t let this continue!” Saskia’s irritating voice reaches my ears. I didn’t know ears could feel irritated. Mine were ready to be sliced off just so they didn’t have to hear her voice again.

“Saskia, Hansen is a friend of ours, it would be different if it was another alpha. She’s known him all her life. She wouldn’t act like that in front of an unknown alpha.” Father responds to Saskia. Did he just defend me?

“Is that a risk you are willing to take? The Lycan King is visiting the Hansen pack next month! Hansen will invite her, we won’t be able to hide her away. If she makes a spectacle of us in front of the King, we lose all political advantage we have gained.”

Why can’t they see she is a social climber? She doesn’t care about this pack, which is why she left it for so long.

“Caleb is eighteen next week. Once he claims her…” Henri starts but is cut off by Saskia.

“And what if they aren’t mates? She’ll go into self-destruction mode and the entire pack will take the brunt. She isn’t fit to be a pack princess, you need to strip her of her title!” Saskia commands.

“Stripping her? Stripping her of her birth right Saskia…you can’t be serious? The pack would revolt!” Henri replies.

“Henri…for goddess sake. We haven’t been blessed by our ancestors yet with children. Aida is the direct heir to the pack. If something were to happen to you she could challenge me for leadership. Are you telling me you’d be happy if she was in charge? She would become the alpha and strip me as luna! Without an heir I would be pushed out.”

“That would be natural selection Saskia, alpha blood must run a pack! If Aida then had a son, he would become alpha, when of age.” Father matches her tone.

“Forgive me Ike, I’m just thinking of the future of the pack. I can’t imagine Aida being a mother let alone an alpha!”

Can’t imagine me being a mother? What a bitch! If I wasn’t hiding in the hallway, I’d slap her in the face.

“I’ll give it some thought!” Henri responds.

“Henri!” Father shouts at my brother.

“Enough Dad, I said I’d give it some thought. Now Saskia and I are going off to bed!”

I use that as my cue to re-enter the kitchen and quietly race up the stairs. Remembering every floorboard that creaked and even climbing three steps at a time, I managed to jump back into bed before being noticed. Not that it’s hard too be honest, I was used to being unnoticed in this house.

The autumn night chill has already reached my bedroom and I close my window all the way. I glance at Caleb’s house, a natural habit most nights when I’m not with him. His bedroom light is still on but his curtains are closed. He obviously couldn’t sleep either.

I close my curtains but also keep my light on. The sudden return of the nightmare that plagued me so much between the ages of twelve and fifteen, was enough for me not to want to return to sleep. At 3am I tried to force myself to sleep but then my brain knew I would be up in three hours for training with the ever delightful Andrei. I couldn’t help but peek through my curtains every hour, Caleb’s light was still on. Very odd. At around 4am he clearly gave in and turned his light off. I, however, didn’t have as much luck.

I arrived at our training grounds extra early. Andrei approached me with caution when he saw me already standing at our meeting spot.

“You’re early?”

“Yes!”

“You’re never early!” He narrowed his eyes at me as if I was guilty of something.

“I couldn’t sleep!” I shrugged.

“Am I playing an alibi?”

“Excuse me?” What the hell was he talking about.

“Are you on the way back from breaking pack law and need me to be your alibi? Oh no Alpha she was already waiting for me…it couldn’t have been her.” His hand actions joining his mimicking tone.

“No! I’ve been in my room all night. I couldn’t sleep.” I honestly replied because I was too tired to come up with a witty reply. It was going to be a long day. Luckily it was a Saturday and I could go back to bed after having a shower.

For fifteen minutes Andrei shouts orders at me to work on my muscle strength. I have to do one hundred sit ups, one hundred press-ups, one hundred squats and then repeat. I’m in my fourth round of repeats and struggling with the press-ups.

“You’re lazy!” He shouts at me.

“I’m not lazy!” I wheeze back.

“Don’t answer me back!”

I don’t think he’ll survive the full thirty minutes before I kill him myself.

He had now moved us over to the mats for sparring one another. Every time I launch an attack on him he overpowers me and throws me to the ground. My body is aching from head to toe, my nose bleeding from where he elbowed me and I’m pretty certain my shoulder is dislocated. Apparently we didn’t have time to pop it back in place because in battle…blah blah blah. The rest of the pack starts training at 7am and a few were here early to stretch out. I hated training with an audience.

“You’re angry!” He shouts as he, yet again, throws me to the floor.

“Why are you angry?”

“I’m not angry!” I seethe through gritted teeth.

“Oh, just pathetic then!” He whispers into my ear quietly, but not quiet enough as sniggers are heard from the pack members waiting.

I jump up from the spot my anger fuelling every cell in my body. I feel like I am on fire again. With all my strength I head butt him in the nose causing a loud crack of his bone. I’ve gone against pack training rules but I’m so angry I don’t care. Rule one is leave personal feelings on the side. Technically, I had but was being provoked.

As a natural reflex, he raises his arms away from his ribs to grip his hands to his nose. I use this chance to punch him in the ribs, both sides. Again, I hear a loud crack. I twist my body and raise my leg to kick his legs out from under him. He lands on a mat and I climb on top of him, straddling him. I raise my fist when I hear a growl from the pack members. I look up to find Henri staring at me.

“Off him now!” He commands to me through the mind-link.

“He started it!” I respond back through the mind-link.

He takes a threatening step towards me and clenches his hands.

“Do I need to teach you a lesson? Because I will!” This time not using the mind-link, instead making it clear for everyone to hear.

I step up off Andrei and take a few steps back so he can recover himself.

“Dismissed!” My brother growls at me.

“Alpha I think you’ve misinterpreted what was going on.” Andrei speaks up.

No I don’t think he did. My brother saw the determination in my eyes to cause some lasting damage.

“I said DISMISSED!” My brother roars at me which makes my body flinch. I pick up my water bottle and head back to the Alpha house.

“Aida wait…your shoulder, I need to fix it!”

Andrei’s voice rings through my head but I don’t answer, I don’t stop. Right now, the pain of my shoulder is nothing compared to the negative thoughts in my head. If anything the shoulder was easing the depression, the self loathing, trying to force its way back in.