Chapter 6

Collins

AFTER

I sat straight up in bed, gasping for air. Sweat poured off me as I held my chest trying to calm my heart. I tried to slow my breathing as I took in the surroundings.

I was home. I was safe. Garrett wasn’t here.

Freaking nightmares. Would they ever go away? I didn’t know, but it really didn’t seem like it.

My thoughts returned to that night. How I had eventually passed out, overcome with the emotional and physical pain.. my body and mind shut down. I woke up some time later .. no idea how long ai had been laying there. But thankfully alone.

I tried moving and to my surprise I could move a little now. But actually sitting up took so much effort I wanted to lay back down and take a nap.

I didn’t get very far before that’s exactly what I did.

Once again I awoke .. light skittered through the window. Was it the next day? I searched for a clock but didn’t see one anywhere. Again I tried to sit up and this time I was more successful. I looked around the room and spotted my purse on the floor over by the closet. My phone was in there.

It took literal ages… I had to physically move my legs off the bed with my hands. I dropped down to the floor and pulled myself across it when I finally got to my purse. As fast as possible - which wasn’t fast at all- I reached for my phone.

Watching the door closely, and scared to death they’d come back- I unlocked the phone. And thank goddess. I had battery and it was on. There were literally hundreds of missed calls and messages from my friends.

I also saw that my best friend from my pack had called. And my parents? There was a few calls from a number I didn’t know as well. I found out later it was campus security. The girls had called them when they couldn’t find me and they in turn had called my parents.

I remembered sitting there…. begging Luna herself that Sloan would answer.

And she did. On the first ring.

I had told her where I was and it seemed like it took hours for the girls to find me. They’d left the party thinking I had gone outside and either wandered off.. or something worse. They didn’t know at the time that something much much worse had happened right there in front of their noses.

Getting out of the house was chaotic. It took all three of my friends to help me walk. They all cried when they saw my condition. My cheek had a cut on it from where Garrett slapped me, probably from his ring or watch. And my eye and whole other side of my face bruised already from the punch. Not to mention I was half naked. The girls had to put my clothes back on so we could leave.

But I would heal quickly. Physically anyway. Something I didn’t know how I was going to explain. I had a sinking suspicion that mentally healing from this would take much much longer.

The party had of course ended downstairs. Some people were asleep here and there. But thankfully I didn’t see any of my attackers on the way out of the house.

I momentarily wondered what Garrett thought I would do. Had he expected me to be quiet? Probably. Had he thought I wouldn’t tell anyone? His dad was a powerful attorney however. And something told me he had gotten Garrett out of things before. We had all heard the stories about those frat parties after all.

The security guard waited outside and he drove us back to the dorm. He took one look at me and shook his head. Clearly this wasn’t his first time. My friends all wanted to go to the police, but that would be very complicated due to the fact that I was a werewolf. Wolves usually did everything they could to stay away from human legal matters. Plus the police would have me go to the hospital and get tests run. Tests where they might take blood. There were only a few blood work ups that showed abnormalities… but they had to be careful to avoid those. And I didn’t want to chance it. So I told the girls I had to speak to my parents first.

They got there soon after, they’d already been on the way. My dad cried when I told them what happened .. my mom couldn’t stop sobbing. My dad’s wolf was coming out… things were about to get crazy.

I knew my dad would take care of it one way or another. My friends didn’t understand my parent’s abhorrence toward filing a police report. So I had to make up a story that they wanted to wait and talk to the police once we got home.

I had to leave school. I hated it. I didn’t want to leave but how could I stay, I couldn’t now. Saying goodbye to the girls was the hardest thing I had ever done. I loved those girls, they had become my dearest friends. We had all become so close the past two years.. they were more like sisters now. But I promised to stay in touch.

I didn’t know what mom had told the professors about my absence. Her being a teacher herself, I assumed she just knew what to say to get them to agree. I took my assignments home and finished them there so I wouldn’t lose any credits that I had worked so hard for. Classes were nearly over for the

year anyway.

Quitting cheer made me sad .. but quitting dance… that was like someone stripped half of my soul away.

My dad wanted names of the other two guys but I had no idea. I told him one was wearing a frat hoodie but he clearly wasn’t a member. So he had to settle on punishing just Garrett.

I didn’t know exactly what he had done.. but I knew he’d scared the shit out of him. I wished with all my heart I could’ve told the world what he did.

I said as much to dad.

“He’s going to do it again dad.”

“He won’t be doing anything for a while Collins…” dad said angrily.

I had never seen dad as mad as he was after all that happened.

“He’s done it to other girls…” I said quietly. But I knew he couldn’t let me do anything. The girls knew.. and they’d tell people. We also called in an anonymous tip to the police there. So maybe that would be enough.

But I had become depressed. I felt like I was constantly looking over my shoulder. Even though the pack was an hour away from college, I still didn’t feel safe. I spent the days in bed.. not dancing, not talking, not shifting, and certainly not enjoying life.

That’s when dad decided.

We were moving.