Chapter Five: A Living Hell

The thought of Alban and the unfortunate situation I had found myself in clouded my mind, the way his eyes looked into mine caused me to want to shrink but at the same time, run into his arms. That man was awful to me the last few years I was staying at this pack, each time he would see me, the look on his face was as though I had betrayed him in such an outrageous way, and I was his worst enemy. But the awful mixed with confusing thing, I had never done a single thing which would grant being treated the way he treated me.

It wasn’t only me that he’d do it to, but almost to every friend that I had. It was as though he thought I was such a repulsive person that I didn’t deserve to have friends, so he did everything in his power to force them to leave me. I even recall around a month before I left, my best friend Malcolm and I were walking home from a little get together deep in the woods when Alban appeared out of nowhere. I knew what he was like, so I grabbed Malcolm by the hand and began to pull him away, but my action seemed to only enrage Alban more.

The next thing I knew, Alban had taken Malcom by the scruff of his neck and began beating him to a pulp, for seemingly no reason. I tried all I could to get him to stop but he was much too strong for sixteen-year-old me and being an Alpha, I didn’t stand a chance and neither did poor Malcolm. After what felt like an eternity at the time, Alban gets up, looks at me with that same sick smirk he always did and walked back through the woods as though nothing was amiss.

Malcom was rushed into hospital and was forced to stay in intensive care for weeks with none of us knowing if he was going to make it, thankfully, he was able to pull through. But after seeing for myself what had happened, I told Malcom for his safety it would be best if we didn’t see each other anymore and I left, before he and I could talk more, I was sent away to The Full Moon Pack and that was the end of it.

But now to realise that I’m mated to that heartless monstrosity of a man, the confusion and anger which pulsed through my body took all I had within me to keep at bay. Why did I have to be mated to him, why couldn’t I have found my mate when I was away and never had to deal with that scum ever again?!

Wanting to keep this new realisation to myself until I fully understood what I was going to do, I follow my parents around the house as they showed me what renovations they had done while I was away. The inside of the house looked nothing like it did the last time I was here; they had even moved the bathroom! The only place they hadn’t touched was my bedroom, which I silently hoped they did once I walked in.

My room hadn’t changed at all since I left, I did begin to wonder if my parents had left it as a sort of shrine to me, not a single thing seemed to have been moved since I left!

Opening up my boxes and starting to put my things away, I attempted to distract myself, but the more my mind was left with no other interactions, the more it enjoyed playing the scene back over and over again in my head. I still couldn’t quite understand what I was going to do, I knew I didn’t have a plan for what I was going to do when I arrived home but I know it definitely, wasn’t mating with the fucking Alpha, one I have despised for a multitude of reasons for a very long time.

As though he could sense what I was dealing with, a knock at my bedroom door sounds making me jump and stare at the thick slab of wood as though it was some sort of attacker. I of course, knew such a thing wasn’t about to happen but, in my brain, I worried it was Alban on the other side, his face holding pure rage for me turning around and leaving him.

“Open the door, I want to see him!” My wolf shouts in my head with such a seductive look in her eyes, she didn’t seem to care that I was going through torment over this new revelation, all she wanted was her mate.

“Come in.” I call out once taking a deep breath in and telling myself how suspicious it would look if I simply allowed the person to stand outside of the door whilst I plotted my escape.

Watching in horror as the doorknob turned with my heart pounding in my chest, I back up towards my bed in the corner bracing for impact of some sort. But when an older version of my brother poked his head through the door, all that fear and anticipation for war soon flashed from my mind.

“Lincoln!” I exclaimed dropping the clothes which hung from my hands and rushing over to him, where he soon scoops me up in his arms and held me so tightly, this was one hug I had missed over these past five years.

“Look at you.” He smiled pulling away and getting to look at my face, but I was more shocked at his transformation, he looked great.

“Look at me? Look at you! You look like a different person!” I exclaimed still flabbergasted at how much he had changed since I was away, he was about to turn eighteen before I left but now as he stood there as a twenty-three-year-old, I couldn’t quite wrap my head around what I saw.

“I mean that’s what being a Beta does to you, I’m under a strict regime to ensure I have the power and control to fulfil my duties, and Alban sends me on many different missions around different packs, I hardly have time to rest.” He explained still holding onto my arms as he spoke, but now he had said that one name I had been avoiding, he only sent my feelings into turmoil once again.

Letting out an audibly loud ugh type of noise to keep up an act but once I turned around, I was forced to attempt to keep the heat from rising to my cheeks when that man flashed into my brain, what is wrong with my feelings?!

“I know how you feel about him Iris, but he isn’t that bad, many pack members agree that once he took his title as Alpha, he changed.” Lincoln attempted to say as though he was defending his honour, but I could only shake my head walking around my room with my arms folded.

“I volunteer as tribute to witness him change!” My wolf shouts in my mind as though she had any say in the matter, her eagerness only causing me to roll my eyes so much I thought they’d get stuck.

“A man like that is incapable of change, the evil shit he used to force me to endure and anyone close to me when I was here, it was as though he wanted me to be alone! He is the one thing about this place I didn’t miss for even a second!” I exclaim feeling the anger of all the past memories of everything that he’d done to me and others begin to boil inside of me, this is why I refuse to be mated to that man!

“A little too late for that don’t ya think?” My wolf smugly tells me in my head, but I still knew I had an option, I could reject him. “If you dare attempt to do that to mate, I swear-” She began to growl in my head but before she could continue, I block her out so she could rant to herself.

“I understand that Iris but trust me, I wouldn’t walk you into a situation where you could get hurt. How about you come to dinner with our family and him and his, you’ll see for yourself what a positive difference his title has done for him?” Lincoln asked with such a genuine smile on his face, but even the thought of sitting in a room in close proximity to Alban caused such a rush of adrenaline to rush through my body and a thirst for his touch to grab hold of my emotions.

“I would rather stab drawing pins into my eyes.” I mutter attempting to make myself believe that I despised that man so much that I didn’t want to sit in the same room as him, even though my body was begging me to do the very opposite and allow our bodies to collapse into one another.

“I can see your personality hasn’t changed.” Lincoln laughed crossing his arms over his chest and looking over at me with such a smile, where I opened my arms out wide.

“See! I’m living proof that people can’t change!” I exclaim using his comment as my leverage for getting out of this dinner, I didn’t only not trust myself around him but I certainly, didn’t trust a single thing that man may do if I’m forced into a room with him.

“I’ve been picturing each intermit detail.” My wolf purrs in my had after breaking through my block just to tell me that, where that block was soon back up and stronger than before.

“Even though that offer sounds beyond tempting, I’ve had such a long day of packing and driving that I just want go to bed and see what tomorrow brings, well if I can sleep in that bed, what was I thinking?” I said hoping he would understand before turning to look at the bed in question, the style of those covers was truly a statement and one I hoped to change at the next chance I found.

“I understand and will let everyone know, it’s great to have you back.” Lincoln laughed at first but soon looked over at me with such another genuine smile on his lips, which warmed my heart.

“Thanks Lincoln.” I replied before he sent me one last wave and soon walked back through my door leaving me to settle in for the night.

As I looked down at the bed, I couldn’t help my eyes drifting to the window and spotting the reflection of myself looking back at me.

What was I going to do?