Chapter 2 #3
I was sure I’d fallen into a rabbit hole or some shit like that or was still asleep.
Yeah, maybe that was it. No way was I surrounded by women too beautiful for words, who could run their hands over things and make them perfect.
Nor could they take me to another world.
Fuck me running. I was never taking drugs if this was what they did to people.
“You are not hallucinating, nor are you high, young man.” Jenna’s laughing voice broke into my thoughts.
I woke to strange voices. My body ached, but blessedly not as badly as if I’d been run over by a Mack truck—which I’d been at one time.
Of course, it hadn’t been that nice trucker’s fault.
It had been the rogue pack chasing me that I blamed.
The nice trucker man had actually saved my life.
To this day, I wish I had known his name, but he’d left me at a vet’s office and kept going on his trip.
Something about his haul needing to be on time.
When I’d woken up with a needle sticking out of my paw, panic had nearly made me freak out.
The nice assistant had soothed me through the night.
Now, I opened one eye to see if I was in a similar situation.
My pulse spiked at the unfamiliar surroundings that looked nothing like a clinic for animals or humans.
Walls of every color that actually looked like they pulsed with life were on one side, and a stone fireplace that looked straight out of a castle was in front of me.
Beneath me was a stack of fur—fake fur, if my nose was to be believed.
“Well, it’s about time, sleepy head. Now, let’s see what we have to work with, shall we?
” A woman with long dark hair and turquoise eyes touched my head.
I wanted to jerk away at the intrusion, but the soothing presence eased inside my mind.
I felt as if this woman were my friend. Although I’d never met her, she had an aura that exuded trust.
Time fell away while we held hands, walking through the familiar forest surrounding my homeland. I stared up at the fairy.
“Are you my Fairy Godmother?” I smiled, wishing I had my fairy’s pretty eyes.
“Ah, my sweet child, I would love to be your Godmother. My name is Jenna. Where are you taking me?” Jenna asked in a whisper when I put my finger to my lips and jerked them toward the ground.
“Ssh, we must be quiet, or I’ll be sent back to my room. I don’t like being in there during the day.” I wiggled closer. My new friend stayed quiet while several children’s voices carried to us as they ran past.
“Why can’t she play with us?” One child asked, while another said, “She thinks she’s better than us.” Another defended me, saying my parents were the alphas and, as such, made the rules.
“Well, I saw her out here playing in the field yesterday. I bet she’d get another whipping if she were caught again.” They all laughed.
I shivered at the remembered pain. I couldn’t sit for an entire day without the constant reminder.
No matter, I refused to stay away from the sights of the festivities.
Surely, I’d be allowed to attend this year.
I wasn’t a baby anymore. I’d lost my first tooth and was in school.
Well, I was being taught lessons, because it wouldn’t look right if the only child of the alphas didn’t know how to read and write, I silently amended.
Assured the other children were gone, I tapped my new friend and motioned it was safe to stand. We moved closer to the hall where the music was playing. Inside, I slipped through without anyone noticing, gasping at the beauty.
“Let’s hide under the table and watch. You can see how beautiful my parents are.
They are the most beautiful in all the world.
” Crouched, I waited, watching the party, wishing I could be a part of it.
One day I would be. One day, I’d be older, and my parents wouldn’t be ashamed of me.
I’d make them proud to call me their daughter, and I’d dance.
I closed my eyes until I was jerked out from under the table.
Jenna ran her hand over my shivering form. “Easy, it’s okay. You’re safe.’
Lying my wolven head back down, I was shocked to find Slater sitting where I was, his thighs the perfect place to rest. Too tired to fight it, I allowed him to stroke my fur.
I was such a mess. Stuck in one form, remembering things I wished I could forget.
Little girls should have had parents who loved them.
All these years, I’d thought I’d had parents who loved me, but the memories that had slammed into my mind told a different story.
I’d been made to stay away while they partied.
So, what did I do? Runaway like a spoiled brat?
Goddess, were my parents even now living blissfully happy without the child they didn’t want?
Had they sent the pack after me, hoping to run me off, only they’d failed because of one nice trucker?
I let out a defeated sigh. My hopes of regaining my memories and my life seemed to have come crashing down.
Did I want to remember why my family had sent me, a six-year-old girl, off on my own?
Questions flew at me. Why had Rasmund taken me in?
“Sleep, LeeLee. We will go a little further later,” Jenna’s voice sounded strained.
Too tired to look at those eyes I wished I had, I let sleep claim me.