chapter 7

Eat the fruits sweetie.” She repeated her voice taking on a saccharine sweetness. “Fruits are good for the body, especially for one as wounded as you.”

“I am not eating that.” I said firmly.

“Are you refusing an order from your future Luna?” She asked.

Her back was turned to the rest of them so she did not see Casey roll her eyes at her words. Understandable, because not even I had reached the level of delusion that Beatrice had gotten to. You’re dating the future Alpha, so what? He hasn’t chosen you as his mate, plus he’s making out with your twin sister early hours of the day in the kitchen, that didn’t seem to me like the actions of a guy who had a future Luna.

“No, I’m refusing an order from someone who’s trying to endanger my life. These are rotten fruits; you can’t expect me to eat rotten fruits.” I protested.

“Why is that?” Adrian asked, “It might be the only good thing you’ll ever be able to put into your body you know. If you’re not able to move your arms, we could also feed it to you.”

He did not just suggest they feed me rancid fruit and from the looks on their faces, it seemed they didn’t even want to stomach the idea of touching the fruits.

“Um, that’s gross Adrian. You want us to feed her. I’m not touching that.” Cameron protested.

“That’s ok, we don’t have to touch the fruits.” He said and with a deceptive smile he motioned for Beatrice to drop the basket on my lap, then he reached for my hair, which I had up in a short ponytail he gripped it, smiled at me and shoved my head into the basket pushing it deeper in.

I choked on the smell of the fruits and the feel of the maggots wriggling against my skin. I almost puked but I had nothing left in my stomach to puke out.

“Hope you’re getting your fill.” Casey said cackling.

“I’m sure she is. Does that taste good freak?” Beatrice asked cackling along with her sister.

“She sure seems to be enjoying herself.” Cameron said amusement in his tone.

“What is the meaning of this?” Helena’s outraged voice said her hurried steps echoing in the room. Adrian’s grip on my head loosened and I raised my head coughing and wiping my face. “I’m sure I told you to behave yourselves.”

“She refused the gift we were so kind to give to her so we made sure she enjoyed it.” Adrian said the perfect picture of nonchalance, seeing she didn’t buy his story he changed tactics, “We were just joking with her.”

“I think it’s time you leave.” She responded her voice firm.

Adrian raised his hands in mock surrender, “Alright, we’re leaving. Come on guys let’s go.”

“See you around freak!” Cameron added as they trooped out of the room with Beatrice and Casey’s laughter echoing in the hallway. Adrian stopped sparing me one last glance.

“See you back at the pack house Lilliana, get well quickly. The place’s not the same without you.” He grinned then left.

I had barely been gone a day and the place was not the same without me? That definitely meant the pack house was in disarray and I’d be the one to have to clean it up.

“I can delay your return to the pack house till tomorrow. You shouldn’t be doing too much labor anyways.” She said as she grabbed a wipe and started cleaning my face. Throwing the wipe into the basket that was still on my face, she grabbed it and threw it into the trash can.

“All of Texas and you just to grow up in the one pack that treats you this way.”

“What’s it like out there?” I asked as she was the only wolf I knew, who’d be willing to answer my questions anyways, that had been out of the pack.

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything. What are humans like, what are cities like?”

I’d only ever seen humans whenever they came to the pack house to have dinners with the Alpha after their meetings.

“Well, out there the existence of wolves are but a fairy tale to humans. So you’d have to be careful with your strength and speed. Finding somewhere secluded to shift so your wolf isn’t restless can be impossible.”

“Wait so it’s not all humans that know of about us?” I said bewildered, “That’s hard for me to imagine. We know all about them, so I’d always imagined they knew all about us.”

“You would think that. But here’s the thing, not every human out there is mentally strong enough to accept the existence of the supernatural. Humans fear what do they do not understand. Thus in a bid to protect ourselves, wolves learnt everything they’d need to adapt and blend in into human society.”

“That’s dope but also crazy that we had to change ourselves just to fit in.”

“Yes that’s true, but in order to survive and thrive, it’s important we live in harmony with our human counterparts. Some wolves even have their packs in cities unlike us that are secluded.”

This I knew about, the Blood Fang pack were the most powerful pack in all of Texas and they were based in Houston, their Alpha was a dangerous and powerful wolf and was the youngest Alpha the pack had ever had. I got all my information from sneak peeking at the school books of the teenagers in the pack house.

“What was it like for you?” I asked. Her eyes turned sad for a moment and seemed to drift off to a place that was far from here.

“I was lonely.” She replied simply after she came back.

“Was that why you came back?” She had returned about three years after the incident, and according to the rumors that was four years after she’d graduated.

“No, I came back because the man I loved learnt about who I was, accepted me but ended up dying in a car accident two months after he’d proposed to me.” Her voice had grown sad and her eyes had a shiny sheen as though she was close to tears. I held her hand in consolation realizing that offering my condolences might just bring her to tears and she probably didn’t want to start crying in front of the bullied teen.

“Well, I’ll be off now and I’ll lock your door. I’ll have lunch sent to you and dinner later on ok. You just rest up.” She said patting my arm and leaving the room, locking the door behind her.

I didn’t want to lay down, so I spent the next few hours till lunch arrived seated up and making up imaginary scenarios in my head; like my family still being alive, and me having a roof over my head surrounded by the people who loved me. Attending classes, eating meals whenever I want to not when someone allowed me to, you know normal teenage dreams.

Sheila was the one that brought my lunch acting like she was asked to get rid of a dead body- she wasn’t happy about it.