Finding the Power Within

by C. C. Masters

  My heart didn’t believe the lies my head was trying to tell it. I was devastated and confused. What had I done to deserve this?

  I slowly raised my head and used the wall to help me stand. As soon as I let go of the wall to take a step forward, the twins were in front of me. I blinked. I had not even heard them coming down the hall towards me.

  They were both dressed in jeans and hoodies as if they had stopped here on their way to class, backpacks slung over their broad shoulders. They pulled off the hot college student look better than any guy I’d ever seen with their messy brown hair and muscular forms. If I had passed by them in my college student days, I would have been too shy to even make eye contact.

  I looked at Mason and then Jason, hoping they would have an explanation for this. Or better yet, tell me this was a horrible joke gone wrong.

  I didn’t get any reassurance or comfort from either of them. Jason just smirked at me, and Mason had a dark look in his hazel eyes that made me nervous.

  “We thought you would have gotten the message by now,” Mason said coldly.

  Jason laughed, but the sound sent chills down my spine. They both circled around where I stood in the hallway like wolves circling injured prey.

  “Yeah, banana,” Jason said mockingly. “We thought you would have run out the door with your tail between your legs.”

  “Did you not understand when we told you we were done playing with you?” Mason asked with a smirk.

  “We got what we wanted,” Jason laughed. “Not that it was worth all the effort we put into it.”

  All the blood drained from my face. They weren’t joking.

  Mason sighed. “You were just a waste of time, but here you are, taking up even more of our time.”

  “But-”

  “You better run, little wolf.” Jason laughed.

  Mason smirked at me. “I hope you’re still here when Austin gives us the word to rip out your throat.”

  “I hope she gives us a good chase,” Jason said as he circled around me.

  “Are you kidding me?” Cody’s voice interrupted them.

  I turned to face him with relief. Cody was here, he would make things right. But when I met his Caribbean blue eyes, I saw only disgust. Cody was physically the most intimidating of the pack. At six and a half feet tall and 230 pounds, he was a wall of muscle. I had never had a reason to fear Cody before, he had always been warm and a little flirty with me. But now he was anything but flirty.

  “I think we should just toss you into the ocean and let you drown - that way we won’t get any of that disgusting half-breed blood on us.” Cody stopped several feet away from me and crossed his arms, watching me with loathing in his eyes.

  Tears came to my eyes. So it wasn’t anything I had done? They had found out what I really was. There was nothing I could do about that, I couldn’t change what was in my blood. Despair filled me, and I walked further down the hall, away from Cody, away from the twins.

  I saw James watching me in the distance. A part of me wanted to rush towards him, begging him to make this right. But another part of me knew that he would never accept me now. I was tainted. Nothing but a disgusting creature.

  I stopped in front of James. Where Cody may have been the biggest of the pack, James was the most terrifying. He was more lean than bulky, more sleek assassin than hulking guard. His dark hair and dark eyes made him seem at home in the shadows.

  James watched me with cold, emotionless eyes, but didn’t say a word. He merely pointed further down the hall. I trudged forward, feeling hopeless.

  Caleb stepped out of a door in front of me. I wasn’t even hopeful when I looked up to meet his eyes, I already knew what I would find. Disgust and hate. His usually warm brown eyes were cold and calculating, his brown hair mussed as if he had been running his hands through it.

  He reached back into the room. “There’s something I want you to take with you.” He handed me something wrapped in a blanket.

  I could feel the stickiness on the bottom of the blanket, but I set it down to unwrap it. I slowly folded back the corner of the blanket to see the gold and white coat of Tigger. Why would he wrap my pups in there like that? Were they sleeping?

  Dread was in the pit of my stomach - I knew my pups would never lie still like this. Horror and despair hit as the two bodies of my beloved puppies were revealed. I stroked my hand down Eeyore’s silky black coat and my hand came away with sticky red blood. I let out a howl of anguish.

  My shoulders shook with the force of my sobs. They would have happily run to Caleb, expecting treats and snuggles. They never would have thought Caleb would hurt them. I can’t even imagine the horror and betrayal they must have felt in their last moments…

  I looked up at Caleb, unable to speak through my sobs.

  He just looked at me callously. “You’re next. That’s what we do to mutts who try and weasel their way into our world. You don’t belong here anymore than they did.”

  “Anna!” an unfamiliar voice called to me from a distance.

  I frowned, taking a deep breath and trying to place the voice. There was something I should know…

  I glanced back down to see the blanket with my pups gone. I looked up and down the hall, all the guys were gone as well. There was just the empty corridor stretching out as far as I could see.

  I didn’t want to get up off the floor from where I knelt, but something was urging me forward. I felt compelled to stand and walk further down the hallway. I stopped in front of a black door, carved with roses. I ran my hands over the sculpted roses, dread filling my heart. My fate was waiting for me on the other side of this door.

  I wrapped my hand around the metal of the handle and thorns dug into my skin, drawing blood. I didn’t flinch or draw away, this is what I deserved. Pain and agony is what a repulsive creature like me should get.

  The door swung open and I stepped into the darkness, despondent and alone. The shadows parted and revealed my uncle’s kitchen from when I was a child. I flinched at the shout I heard from the living room and scurried to the stove. I reached out with a small hand and stood on my tiptoes to reach the pot on the back burner.

  I lifted the lid and peeked inside to see what I was making. I had been boiling pasta, but I must have been away too long. The water had all boiled away and left the pasta burnt and glued to the bottom of the pan.

  Terror grabbed my heart and squeezed. I panted in fear as I tried to think of a way to fix this. They were waiting for me to bring them dinner right now. There was no time to make anything else and if anyone saw the wasted food I would be punished severely. Anxiety flooded through me and I trembled in trepidation.

  A fist knotted in my hair and pulled me back from the stove. I tried not to trip as I was dragged back by my hair, that would only make things worse.

  “What the fuck is your problem, you worthless little piece of shit?” my uncle raged at me as he threw me to the ground.

  I curled up in a ball to try and protect myself, tucking my hands in so my fingers wouldn’t get broken if he stomped on me.

  “You are useless, even as a slave,” he thundered as he aimed a kick to my back. I was forced to uncurl as he grabbed my arm and pulled me up, dragging me back to the stove.

  He shoved my face into the pot, steam from the hot pasta burning my face. “What the fuck is this? You can’t even boil pasta?”

  “Not the face, please,” a deep voice mocked from behind us.

  My uncle let out a breath filled with frustration. “You can deal with this right now, I’ll take her back when you’re done.”

  He shoved me back towards the newcomer and I looked up to see Danny, the first man who had ever touched me. Danny smiled at me, but he had a sinister glint in his eyes that frightened me. We were suddenly back in his frat house, where I had learned that violence wasn’t the only way a man could hurt me.

  “You and me are going to have some fun,” he purred, gripping my arm painfully. I made my body go limp. I had already learned the
first time that it hurt less if I didn’t struggle.

  “Morpheus, that is enough!” I heard the stranger shout.

  Danny faded away, leaving me alone again. There was an amused chuckle that echoed all around me. I stood and whirled, looking for the source, but there was no one in sight.

  The room slowly started to fade back into the shadows. All around me, the darkness that I had woken up to was slowly consuming the world and coming for me. I desperately looked for a way out, but I was completely surrounded. It sucked me in and I was gone.

  Chapter 2

  Anna

  I slowly opened my eyes to darkness. Panic set in and I trembled, afraid to move. Horror and terror overwhelmed me as I laid here alone. A small part of my brain realized that I had just awoken from a nightmare, but I struggled to break free of the emotions that held me captive.

  How many nights had I spent like this? Terrified that the slightest movement would draw attention to me and cause the torment to start all over again. Slowly I broke free from the nightmare and slid back into reality.

  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes again. The darkness was here all the same whether I had my eyes open or not. I went through some of my mindfulness exercises, trying to push the panic and the fear away. It had been years since I had felt this so strongly.

  I chanted my mantra to myself: I am strong, I am not afraid, I will survive, I will be better. Slowly, I got control over my breathing and heart rate. The panic faded into the background and I was able to think more clearly.

  What had caused me to slide so far back into old habits? I had come so far over the years, I had not had one of these night terror episodes in so long I had forgotten how real they could feel.

  I tried to pull myself back into my current reality and away from the past. What was the last thing I remembered? I shot up from the bed when the memory of Froston coming to the house and taking me through the portal surfaced. He had shoved me back through the portal while I was still in my wolf form, who changed me back into my human form?

  Light came into the darkness at my movement and I looked around in confusion. I was in a bedroom, not my own. The light was emanating from the walls in a soft glow, revealing the stone walls and old fashioned furniture. Had my movement triggered the actual walls to start glowing?

  I stood up from the bed and listened carefully before stretching my sore muscles. I did not hear any sounds, no one was near. I felt too vulnerable, standing here naked, just waiting for someone to come into the room, so I shifted back into my wolf form. I shook out my coat and stretched my back. My entire body was sore. How long had I been laying in that bed?

  I trotted over to the door but was stopped before I could get close to it. There was an invisible barrier that blocked me from the doorway. I paced in frustration, testing the boundaries of the invisible cage I had been placed into. I investigated every inch of my prison, taking in all of the scents and looking for any way out.

  There were no windows in the room, but there was an archway that led into a bathroom. The walls were all made of stone, and it was clear that the door I couldn’t reach was the only way out of here. I pushed away my feelings of panic and helplessness and tried to convince myself it would be okay. I wasn’t a frightened child locked in a room. I was a wolf.

  If Froston or anyone else thought that they could push me around because they thought that I was just a sweet, helpless female then they were going to be in for a big surprise. I wasn’t the timid Anna anymore, I wasn’t going to hide from confrontation or quiver in fear. My time with my pack had taught me to stand tall with my head held high. I am a wolf in the Seaside Wolf Pack and I am a fighter.

  I tried to hold back my urge to shred something with my claws in frustration. Froston, I refused to call him my father, had most likely placed me in here for a reason. He obviously wanted me to think that this was something other than a forceful kidnapping. I was going to have to be smart to get out of here.

  I was going to have to play Froston’s game in order to get an opportunity to escape. He seemed to like playing the role of a caring father, but it was going to grate on my nerves to indulge him after everything he had done. I huffed in frustration but debated on what to do next.

  The room itself was pretty, as far as prisons went. The giant four poster bed I had awakened in was decorated in dainty blue lace and there was an impressive looking wardrobe next to a feminine vanity. The room was clearly meant for a female. The other side of the room held a couch and a small table and chairs. It reminded me of a large studio apartment.

  I decided to make myself presentable in the hopes that I would be given the opportunity to talk my way out of here. I trotted over to the wardrobe and switched back to my human form. I disliked feeling exposed, so I looked for something I could cover myself with.

  The wardrobe contained a large selection of dresses, but no pants. The dresses ranged from thin gossamer to stiff ball-gowns. I decided on a lightweight, lacy dress in white.

  Hopefully, this would put Froston at ease and cause him to underestimate me, so I could make a plan of escape. There were no shoes in the wardrobe, only a selection of thin slippers to match each of the gowns. I sighed in disappointment. The stone floors were going to bruise my feet if I had to wear these all day long.

  After I had dressed and used the bathroom, I stared at the door. Was anyone out there? I threw a pillow from the bed at the invisible barrier and saw it shimmer before the pillow bounced back towards me.

  I narrowed my eyes. Froston had told me that I had broken the barrier that he had placed on my magic. Could I break this?

  I stood in front of the barrier and placed my hands on it. With my eyes closed, I reached down inside of myself for my magic. I didn't have to struggle as much this time. I reached past the magic that allowed me to shift and delved into the deeper well of magic I had inherited as part fae. I tried to ignore all the emotions that came with that thought and focused on the task at hand.

  I wasn't sure what to do once I felt my magic, so I decided to experiment. I tried imagining myself grabbing handfuls of it and flinging it at the barrier.

  Nothing.

  This time I tried to envision a wall of my magic burning a hole through the barrier. The only thing I accomplished was giving myself a headache. I let out a frustrated sigh, I don't think I was doing this right.

  I backed off and paced in front of the barrier. I was desperate to get out of here, but a part of me was also afraid to fully embrace my magic after what happened last time. I could still see the vision of Ben's charred remains in my mind.

  I was gathering my courage to try again when the door started to open. It was strange, because I could not hear the sound of the door opening, or the footsteps of Froston entering the room. He paused in front of the barrier and placed his hands on it, his eyes focused in concentration.

  I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. It looked like the barrier that was the bane of my existence did more than just keep me here, it also kept me from hearing what was going on outside my prison. What was he trying to hide from me?

  I watched the barrier shimmer as Froston removed his hands and then easily strode through it without hesitation. I briefly wondered what would happen if I shoved him back through while holding on to him. Would the barrier allow me to cross if we were touching?

  He was through the barrier before I had to opportunity to attempt it, but that didn't mean I couldn't try when he was on his way out.

  "Glad to see you're awake. I had a feeling you would wake up ready to fight." He chuckled, but his amusement never reached his sad eyes.

  I crossed my arms and glared. “Are you ready to take me home?”

  He completely ignored my question. "You look so much like your mother," he murmured quietly, drifting closer to me.

  I glared at him, barely holding in my anger and frustration. "Don't pretend to care." James had gotten a photo of my mother while he was with the Canadian pack, so I couldn’t deny that we really did look s
imilar. But Froston should have been the one sharing pictures of my mother with me. I shouldn’t have had to wait for James to go on some kind of covert mission to get one.

  He sighed with resignation and took a seat in the chair before gesturing for me to join him. "We’re alone now; no one can hear our conversation."

  I watched him cautiously and tried to push aside my anger. I didn't trust him, but I needed him to trust me if I was going to be able to get out of here. I took a seat and tried to compose myself. Yelling at him was not going to get the information that I needed or get me out of here and back to my pack. Not trusting myself to speak, I simply raised an eyebrow at him.

  I was waiting to hear what possible explanation he could give for this. Why would he throw me through some kind of magical portal and lock me in this stone room? That was not how you should treat your long-lost daughter. Even worse than that, he had harmed two of the men who had taken me in and given me their protection.

  He rubbed his hand over his face in a human-like gesture. I tried to remind myself that he was not human, and that I shouldn’t be thinking of him as if he were the caring father I had always wanted.

  "Anna… there are some things I want to explain to you." He searched my eyes carefully.

  I didn't say anything, I just waited. He was right, he did have a lot to explain.

  He must not have seen what he hoped for because he sat back with a sigh. "I was sent to the human world to fetch you."

  I held back the angry growl that wanted to rise inside of me. After all this time, he had not come back for me because he had located his lost daughter? He came back because he was sent?

  "I had someone watching over you," he told me defensively, probably sensing my flare of anger. "I was concerned when Evelyn died, but I saw that you were being taken care of by a pack."

  I felt a flash of betrayal. Evelyn was hired by my father? I thought that she had watched over me out of the goodness of her heart. Realization struck. Austin had asked me where Evelyn had gotten all of her money. I guess now I knew the answer.