Chapter 2 - Leo

A year ago...

Training with my friends had been exhausting as always, but the laughter that came with it made it all the more worthwhile. The bonus of being friends with the upcoming Alpha and upcoming Gamma. We would be the guys in the leadership positions of this pack one of these days and we needed to be ready, so training was a necessity, therefore we trained hard; but we had fun whilst we did it…

I had left the Alpha-to-be, Matthew, or Matty as we all called him, and the Gamma-to-be, Conner, not far from the training field as I began to walk back toward my house. Both were headed off to meet their girls once they had showered and freshened up. For me, it was to be a night in front of my gaming PC. No girl for me, having chosen to be happily single for the time being. The last she-wolf having caused far too much drama.

My friends, not wanting to leave me out of their evening of drinks and fun, had invited me to the bars with them, but the invite was far from appealing when I would be playing third wheel to them and their girls. Besides, I was knackered and was ready to chill out. But, the moment I stepped through the front door of my family home, I begun to wish I had accepted their offer…

The atmosphere was off. And as I walked along the hallway past the kitchen there was a glass smashed not far from the large staircase. Dad. He was home. And just as that thought passed through my mind I heard his voice, just to confirm my thoughts.

“I will wait all fucking day if I need to Mari.” He snarled, from what sounded like outside of her bedroom door.

I sighed, and my wolf pushed forward ready to come to my sister’s defence. I hated this. There was no good reason for the nastiness. The slaps… the shoves.. using her like a slave… but he continued to do it despite my warnings… He may be my father. My pack Beta. My family. But this girl was my sister. She was my family too, and without my mother there, she needed me to protect her. She had nobody else. I knew that, and my wolf, Nyx, knew that. That was why he was pushing so hard to come forward. He wanted to protect my baby sister. She did not have her wolf yet, and still my father threatens her... but then, he had for as long as I can remember.

“Or maybe I should take the door off like last time?” He growled this time. “You know what happened that time?”

I was not going through that again. He had thrown all her things down the stairs. Put them in the garbage. Burning half of it too... All while hurling abuse at her for not coming out of her room. For not respecting him. Why the hell would she when she was hiding out because she was scared?! Scared of her own father… the one man she was meant to be able to depend upon the most. It was not like he deserved her respect. He had long since lost mine.

I dashed up the stairs as fast as I could, only hoping my presence would be enough to put an end to this torrant of abuse, and mean my Dad may return to whatever it was he should be doing. I glance down at my watch to check on the time. At this time of day he would often go and play tennis with his friend, our pack Alpha, or go for a run…

“Dad, come on, leave her alone.” I urged, and the moment I spoke, the dark eyes of my father flickered. As his looming figure turned to look in my direction from across the landing of our family home. A once happy and loving place…

“Stay out of it son.” He mumbled. Did he really think I was about to do that? He was a fool if he did.

“You know I cant do that, not when I can sense how scared she is.” I warned him.

“Scared?” He laughed. “What the hell has she got to be scared of? I have never seriously hurt her. A slap, maybe, or a shove, but I have never actually hurt her. Not properly, not like my father used to with me or my sister, she ought to be grateful for that. Because trust me, I could kill her given the chance…” His voice turned lower… bitter… and I do not like the way he sounds. "At the end of the day if it was not for her I would still have my mate. I could still be happy. She caused too much pain..."

“Enough!” I snapped angrily, interrupting him.“This needs to stop. You are scaring her, and you should not be treating her this way, Dad. I will get Alpha Aaron here if needs be?” I hated having to threaten my own Dad with our Alpha and his own best friend, because that could cost him his job… ultimately, cost him everything he has… everything he lives for now that Mum has gone.

Dad’s eyes flickered darker once again as they focused in upon me. “Oh, really? And lose your own title? I don’t think so.” He snarled, moving away from Mari’s door. I knew what was coming, as it so often did. If my Dad lost his title there was a strong chance I would not inherit the title from him, and he used that against me, and I knew that was likely what he would mention.

“You know as well as I do, it would not be wise to breath a word of what occurs within our home to another soul, for you would ruin all of or lives. Ruin our reputations. And you could not do that to me, yourself, or your sister. And do you want me to even touch upon you destroying your mother’s memory. So do not even have the fucking nerve to threaten me with it, Leo.” He stalked off down the hallway to his own room and slammed the door angrily, leaving me stading there watching where he had only moments ago been with a pounding heart.

He was right. I was terrified of saying a fucking thing. Always had been. Terrified because he had always said we would be taken away. We would be separated, that had been his first threat when we were small. And then it was that we would lose everything. And spoil the memories of my mother… I could never do that. My Mum deserved more than that. I was stuck. So all I tried to do was protect my sister instead. The thing was, I seemed to fail miserably at that too…