by CY Jones
Once I finish paying for my tray of food, Ethan takes my hand in his and leads me over to his table where Logan and Mekka was already seated. Upon seeing me, Logan pulls me onto his lap almost making me drop my tray of food with his enthusiasm, and I giggle when he nuzzles his nose in the crook of my neck.
“I missed you, sweetheart,” he murmurs in my skin.
“You just saw me like a hour ago,” I say laughing at his antics. This is definitely a different response from the last time I was in his lap at this lunch table.
“Longest hour of my life,” Mekka chimes in, and I roll my eyes.
Taking my eyes off my mates I glance up and catch everyone staring at us, and I shift uncomfortably in Logan’s lap. With how focused they are on us, you would think we were taping a reality show or something.
“Don’t worry about them,” Ethan says, taking in the expression on my face. “The sight of us will blow over soon, and they’ll be moving on to someone else.”
“At least Kassie isn’t here, I don’t think I could take everyone watching me and her smug face,” I tell them. She thinks she’s gotten away with what she has done, and wouldn’t think twice about rubbing it in my face. I totally not looking forward to gym. I may kill her before Tyler gets the chance to tell her the news. I’m surprised I didn’t hear any rumors about the party with two high profile students missing. I’m guessing that’s because the Council probably ordered everyone to keep quiet.
“I’m sure she knows she’s not welcomed, and if she doesn’t and she’s dumb enough to show up here she’ll be sorry,” Mekka says menacingly, and I’m surprised to hear the violent tone in his voice. Usually he’s the mild, easy going one out of the bunch.
Just when I was starting to relax, Kassie comes sauntering in with her cronies hot on her heels, but it’s not them that I’m worried about. It’s the familiar powder pink diary clutched in her hand that has my attention.
“How the fuck did you get that?” I growl, jumping out of Logan’s lap, and he grabs my arm, halting me from going any further.
“What? This old thing,” she smirks, holding my book out for all to see. We’ve already attracted quite the crowd with the audience hungry for their lunch hour show.
“I have to admit I found it quite a hilarious read. Who knew you were so funny? You should be a comedian,” she taunts. “And the entries on the guys? God, you’re such a loser. So pathetic.”
“What is she talking about? What is that?” Mekka questions.
“It’s my diary,” I answer sofly, and a low growl starts low in Ethan’s throat.
“That’s what you took from Aspen’s room,” Ethan accuses, and I stare at him with hurt in my eyes.
“You knew she was in my room?”
“Yes, no, well I wasn’t sure. It was the night of the party and you were missing, so I didn’t really look into what I thought I saw. I was only concerned about finding you at the time,” he explains, and I soften.
“You have two seconds to give me my book back before I rip your throat out and paint these walls with your blood,” I threaten.
“So violent, nothing like the girl who wrote..., let me see,” she says as she opens my diary and thumbs her way through the pages until she gets to the entry she was looking for.
“Dear Diary, I have three mates. I wish I could believe I’m that lucky. This has to be some kind of sick joke, a punishment for how cruel I’ve been. Mekka is new, but the twins? They hate me, and I don’t blame them. How can someone as wretched as me be paired with hot Gods such as them?”
Laughing, Kassie moves on to another entry.
“Dear Diary, Mekka makes me so happy,” she says in a theatrical voice. “Meeting up with him every evening has been life changing, and a much needed distraction to the hell the twins have been putting me through. I get lost just staring into his emerald green gaze. I can never look at an emerald the same.”
Turning the page, she clutches her heart and says loudly for all to hear, ”this is one of my favorites, one of your most pathetic entries yet. Dear Diary. It’s not fair for the twins to be so hot. Those eyes, their bodies. I know they’re the enemy, but more than once I’ve imagined what it would feel like to be the meat in between that sandwich. I’ve never had sex before, but I wouldn’t waste a second in giving them my virginity if they wanted to conquer me.”
Having heard enough, I pull out of Logan’s hold and stalk over to Kassie and yank my diary from her hands. The whole cafeteria is laughing at me, having heard all my private thoughts that she’s carelessly airing out in her pursuit to humiliate me.
“You can have the book. I’ve made plenty of copies,” she says, nodding her head at her cronies, and they break apart passing out thick stacks of papers to the crowd around us, and throwing pages around in the air like confetti, for anyone to pick up.
“What the hell have I ever done to you? I didn’t ask to come here, and I didn’t ask for the Fates to give me Logan and Ethan as my mates,” I cry out. I have lost my battle to keep my tears in. No longer can I keep up my tough girl facade. She has reached into my deepest darkest thoughts, and exposed me for all the world to see. Just like when she sent those asshats to violate me, I felt helpless, and broken. Kassie was just plain wicked, a monster put here on earth to break me.
“But you are here, you do exist. The twins were mine, and you waltz in here, and took them from me after you treated them like shit their whole lives. I’ve read all your entries, I know how awful you were to them. You don’t deserve them. You never did,” she answers. Her voice is filled with so much venom, her pretty face contorted in all consuming hate. If looks could kill I would be dead now, and she wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep.
“Come on,” Ethan says, gathering me in his arms. “There's nothing we can do about this now.”
I can hear the pity in his voice, and I hate it. It makes me think that I’m just as pathetic as Kassie says I am, and maybe it’s true. I was cruel. I was mean, but I’m not anymore. I took the steps to reform myself. I learned to forgive myself, and in turn the guys have forgiven me. I've dropped my tough exterior, and lowered all my walls, and the enemy snuck in, exposed and killed me. Kassie is a poison, and who knows how far her hate will spread. Done with fighting, I allow my mates to lead me out. Ethan is right, the damage has been done, and there's nothing we can do about it. Sure we could have locked the cafeteria doors, and went around and snatched each and every copy back, but that would only be a temporary fix. I’m sure Kassie has more where that came from. It became a lose-lose situation as soon as she got her hands on my diary. I barely register being put in the car, or the drive back to the compound, and as soon as we go through the guarded gates I tell Ethan in a low voice to drive me to my Grands. I can’t be in the main house right now. I don’t feel like explaining to Tyler yet another wicked thing his fucked up daughter has done to me. I’ll leave that to my mates. For now, I want nothing more than to curl up on the couch in one of grandma's knitted quilts, and forget today ever happened.
31
Mekka
When we pull up to Aspen’s grandparent’s house they’re both already on the porch like they were waiting for us to arrive. I remember years ago, there used to be rumors Aspen’s grandmother would get visions, and that was the main reason why the family doesn’t interact a lot with the pack. Judging by the look on her face now, I couldn’t help but think that the rumors held some truth to them. I look on as Logan gathers Aspen in his arms and bridal style carries her into the house. Besides telling us to bring her here, she hasn’t spoken, or even moved, content on being in this catatonic state. I didn’t like it. Despite her name, Aspen is like a raging fire. She blazes her way through life, and we are lucky enough to be near her and bask in her flames. She warms the hearts of others, and she’s the driving force behind my very existence. I want nothing more than to destroy Kassie like I did Joey, and I would have, if I didn’t think the consequences behind my actions would kill Aspen.
“Take her int
o the living room on the couch, she’ll be more comfortable there,” Aspen’s grandfather says, holding the door open.
As we walk inside I couldn’t help myself from looking around. I’ve never been in Aspen’s grandparent’s house before, or know of anyone who has either. Their home was warm, and gave off a homey feel. Much better than the one bedroom hovel I stay in. Once my mother died, and I turned down Alpha’s offer to stay in the main house, he let me stay in one of the homes built for single wolves who had yet to mate and have a family of their own.
“Logan and I are going to go back to the main house, and let Alpha know what happened. Why don’t you stay with her?” Ethan says, once Aspen is settled on the couch.
“Ok, cool,” I agree, taking a seat on the floor by the couch so I can be near her. My wolf was anxious, he didn’t like our mate being hurt, and his instincts were shouting to fix it.
“Do you want to talk about it, tesoro?” Aspen’s grandmother says, as she places a cup of what smells like tea on the table for Aspen.
“What is the point?” Aspen mumbles.
“It might make you feel better to get it all out,” I tell her.
“I don’t want to talk about Kassie anymore, or even think about her. Hopefully, by this time tomorrow she will long gone to her new school and she won’t even matter anymore,” Aspen grumbles.
“I remember when your mother came home crying about Tyler. He had just told her that his father refused to grant his request to mate her, and once he graduated he was going to be mated to Rebecca, the Alpha’s daughter of a nearby pack. Your mother was devastated. She thought her world was going to end. She closed herself off from the pack, and she alienated herself from everyone around her. She turned evil and vile until everyone wanted nothing to do with her.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Aspen asks.
“Because, tesoro, I don’t want you to take the same path your mother took. Don’t cut yourself off from the people who love you. What Kassie has been doing is horrible, but don’t let her actions ruin and chase away the ones you love most.”
“It seems like that family has quite an impact on ours,” Aspen mutters.
“That they do, but it ended well for your mother, so in time, it will for you as well.”
“I still don’t want to talk about it, grandma. I’m not trying to push you away or anything, it’s just the situation I don’t care to talk about.”
“Fair enough, lovely. I’ll leave you to your mate. He looks like he needs as much comforting as you,” she says and I blush.
I wait until Aspen’s grandmother is out of hearing before I ask, “how come you never told us about your extra powers?” I hate that my voice sounds so small, but ever since April’s spell, that’s been on the forefront of my mind. I could understand her not trusting the twins, but when we would spend our nights out at the lake, we used to talk about everything.
“I was going to tell you guys,” she says sitting up so she can look at me directly. “When I saw the twins markings before my mother’s mating ceremony, I was going to tell you then, but shit kept happening, and we were always busy I never got a chance to.”
“You could have told me all those nights we would meet up at the lake,” I whine.
“Yeah, I could of. But you have to understand I have been keeping my extra abilities secret all my life. I wouldn’t even know how to start that conversation, or even want to,” she says in a sad voice, and I understood.
“So tell me now. What is it you can do?” I question.
“I have power over all four elements, fire, water, wind, and air. I can’t wield any of them in my wolf form, only while I’m human.”
“Who taught you how to use them if you never told anyone?” I ask intrigued.
“It’s been more of a trial and error thing ever since I found out I had the extra powers,” she answers shrugging.
“That’s amazing and sad at the same time. I don’t know how it is to feel like you can’t turn to anyone for help.”
“I have you and the twins now,” she says smiling and I beam at her words.
The alarm on my watch goes off, interrupting us, and I quickly turn it off.
“What’s that?” Aspen asks looking over at me.
“My alarm for work. This is usually around the time I leave,” I explain.
“Oh, you should go, I’m sure you haven’t been the last couple of days I’ve been out of it,” she says suddenly.
“I haven’t, but you’re more important than my stupid job, love. I could get fired tomorrow and not care.”
Cupping my cheek, she kisses me softly. "My grandmother is right, I don’t want to push people away, or have you lose your job because of this mess. I’m in good hands here. Go to work.”
“Are you sure?” I ask again. My job really isn’t important, but I’m the only one with a job, and I wanted to contribute as much as I can to our little family. I know soon the twins will be groomed as Alpha’s Betas, and I’m not going to lie and say that it didn’t hurt when her father called me weak.
“I’ll be fine, I promise,” she says, kissing me again.
Losing myself in her kiss, I reluctantly agree. Before I leave, I text the twins to let them know I’m going to work, and Aspen is safe with her grandparents. Jogging to my house, I take a quick shower before throwing on my work clothes, and heading back out.
32
Aspen
As soon as Mekka leaves, a sudden wave of exhaustion comes over me, and it doesn’t take long for me to fall asleep. My dreams are plagued with nightmares of Kassie and my father. The two villains currently in my life. When I wake, it’s to a crashing sound, and I bolt forward on the couch.
“Grandma,” I shout, clutching my chest.
I receive no answer, and immediately, I go on high alert. My wolf is uneasy, and everything seems too still, too quiet with three people currently in the household. Slowly, I get up and walk towards the kitchen, careful to step lightly on the wood floors so that I make as little noise as possible. As soon as I round the corner to the kitchen, I see one of my father’s Betas holding grandma with a knife to her neck. Once he sees me, he pulls grandma to him tighter.
“Aspen, there you are. I was just asking your grandmother if you were here,” he says giving me a wicked smile, and I scowl back at him. I never liked any of dad’s Beta’s, but this one in particular I hated. He’s old enough to be my father, but he always had his eyes on me filled with lust. Too many times he so-called accidentally touched me in improper places when I would walk by, like my ass and side boob for example, and once he brushed up against me with an actual hard on.
“Why are you here Carlos?” I spit out, not at all bothering to hide the disdain I have for him.
“Your father wants his princess to come home. Come with me willingly and no harm will come to her,” he says, pushing the tip of his knife into Grand’s neck until a small bead of blood forms, “or this pack,” he adds.
Stalling for time I ask,”what makes you think I can trust you, or that anyone else won’t hurt the pack?”
“You can only take my word for it,” the ass replies, and I scowl even harder.
I don’t know what to do. Certainly I don’t trust a word he says, but he has grandma, and I don’t want her hurt, especially not for me. When I glance back, her eyes hold my attention, and she keeps shifting her gaze from me to the counter next to them. At first, I’m confused until I notice the plant on the counter. It was one of grandma’s hybrids. This one must be bred from a cactus, because it didn’t have any leaves or flowers, just vines littered in tiny thorns.
“So what’s it going to be, princess?” He sneers.
“I think I’ll go with option three,” I answer.
“There is no option three, you dumb slut.”
As soon as the derogatory comment leaves his mouth, I reach into my earth powers, and the vines on the plant lengthens and grows, and snap out at Carlos, wrapping its thick vines around his neck until he’s gasp
ing for air. Desperate, he pushes Grand away so he can use both his hands to pull at the vines, but all he succeeds in doing is cutting his hands on the sharp thorns, until his blood drips freely from his neck and hands. I take great satisfaction in watching him sink to his knees gasping for air until he finally stills and falls over. Even after I was sure he was dead I still had the vines hold their grip around his neck until grandpa runs in the kitchen clutching a double barrel sawed-off shotgun.
"Well, it looks like you ladies don’t need me,” he chuckles as he takes in the scene, and the dead body laying on the floor staining the linoleum. “I caught another one out back, trying to sneak up on me, when I surprised him and pulled this baby out and got him straight in the chest.”
I didn’t even hear the gun go off which shows how deep in my bloodlust I was. I’m glad Carlos is dead. He signed his death warrant as soon as he put that knife up to my grandmother’s neck, and soon my father will have the same fate for sending him here in the first place.
“Grandpa take grandma, and get the hell out of here until you get the all clear. I need to go to the main house and check on my mum and my mates.”
“You can’t go there. I'm sure Dante will have the mass of his army there looking for you,” Grand says in a panicked voice.
“I know, but I have to make sure mum is alright. I don’t want anyone getting killed because of me.”
She’s about to argue when grandpa grabs her by the arm stopping her. “Be safe, bella,” is all he says before dragging grandma out the door.
I give them a minute to leave, and as soon as I hear their car driving down the dirt road, I run out the door towards the main house. Shifting would have been faster, but I do not want to be naked when I come across any more of my father’s men, plus I can’t use any of my extra powers in my wolf form.
Using my wind ability to help push my feet faster, it doesn’t take long to get to the main house and I freeze from the madness in front of me. With my mouth wide open, I watch people and wolves fighting everywhere. I don’t know how they got through the gates, or how many wolves dad was able to sneak in here, but by the looks of it, he was prepared for an invasion. Creeping around the carnage, I sneak inside the house. In the entryway, I don’t see anyone, but I could hear a scuffle further in the back towards Tyler’s office. I don’t think, I just run in that direction. I didn’t see the twins outside, so they had to be in here fighting somewhere. They didn’t strike me as the cower and hide type. I am so glad I sent Mekka off to work, or he would be in the thick of this too, but with our wolf speak connection I’m sure he’s probably headed back. And with that thought, I smack myself for being so stupid.