Ch. 51..60

Chapter 0051 The parents must have decided to leave us alone after my emotional display. So it's just Sierra, the guys and sitting at the patio table now enjoying dessert. I can still hear the adults talking somewhere inside the house though. "So, you get to pick my birthday cake every year Sam! This was great!" laughed at his smug expression as he started to preen himself like the male peacock he is. "Okay, one more tradition before the night is over." Cam says standing up and taking his shirt off. I immediately look away, but I am met with the rest of the guys taking off their clothes too. What the hell is going on? am surrounded by the sexiest guys know, who are now down to their boxer briefs. There is nowhere safe to look. can feel my face burn with embarrassment at the idea of being caught ogling them. They don't need that ego boost, but damn it was hard to look away. They are all 16 year old gods chiseled from head to toe. Every muscle was defined, no area receives more attention than another. Arms corded and ripped, moving with every small twist of the wrist of fingers. Biceps and shoulders taught, abs flexing as they pull the shirts over their heads and those devilish 'V' muscles dipping into their barely hanging on shorts. Oh boy, did the temperature just

"Like what you see Tiny?' My eyes go wide at Cam catching me staring at all of them. "Umm.." I have literally been rendered stupid and speechless while also wanting the ground to swallow me "It's okay, you can always share too, if it would make you feel more comfortable." Sam winks at me and I feel my face burn brighter. "Knock it off, Sam, I'm serious." Mateo slaps him upside the head again. n,Nho gets to do the honors? Except Sam!" are you talking about?" I ask standing up from my seat looking at each of them. I stop on Sierra

trying to catch a hint of what's going on. She just shrugs, no ideas, but she's willing to go with whatever the guys are going to do to me. At least I'm not the only one in the dark. I don't feel unsafe though, and she's probably thinking the same thing. Of all the emotions feel around them, fear has never been "Me!" Dakota shouts and before I know what's happening I'm lifted up and instinctually wrap my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck, painfully aware of all the beautiful bare skin I am touching. Before could ask again what was going on we hit the warm water of the pool. My muscles involuntarily tighten around him as the bubbles from our plunge swirl around us. Kota swims for the surface and as we break free I can hear Sierra's scream as I assume she is being thrown in as well. Then a torrent of splashes and noise happened around us. A'Vhat was that all about?" I question wiping water and hair from my face. •rradition. Once we finish eating and celebrating, we swim until midnight when the birthday is officially over." "You really could have just said that. Was the aggressive dunk really necessary?" He looks down between us at my legs wrapped around him and then at my arms wrapped around his neck. "Absolutely." The little twitch of his lips, telling me he's fighting his smile, makes me feel all warm again. Thank you for today, Kota. was fun." hugged him again. Cam swims up close behind me wrapping an arm around my waist, effectively pulling me off of Kota. "Did you have a good day?" "l did, Thank you." I lean back, tucking my face into his neck and smile up at him as he hugs me from behind. "My turn." Oliver swims over and I don't even hesitate to wrap my arms around his neck, laughing. Cam releases me slowly. Thank you for today, you guys really made it special for me." The smile he gives me when I pull back from the hug,

Chapter 0052 I know it will start a whole new competition if I do, but I can't help instigating his troublemaker tendencies. I slide a hand in his hair at the nape of his neck and place the other on his opposite cheek and pull him to me pressing my lips softly against his stubbly cheek. I barely touched him with my lips wthen he gasped. His fingers flex into my side and leg where he's holding me. 'IF*ck! Little Bit. That was hot! Now I get why Alpha was blushing." His voice is low and deeper than normal and he's not quite looking at me. "Does that mean the rest of us get one too?" Kota asks expectantly. I pretend to think for a moment. "Of course." I wiggle out of Sam's arms and swim to his waiting arrns_ He grabs my waist gently and I wrap both hands into his curly black hair and pull his cheek to my lips. Turning in his arms I reach for Cam doing the same and then Oliver. I leave them all looking a little stunned and swim over to Sierra "Ooh! Is it my turn?" She bats her eyes at me. I grab her, wrap my legs around her waist like the guys and kiss her slowly on both cheeks before looking over my shoulder at them, smiling. I don't know what made me so brave all of a sudden. Maybe having friends who actuallywant to know me. I felt light and really happy, off the training grounds, for the first time in a long time. "I think you broke them." She laughs at them all standing in a line, mouths open, not blinking, staring at us. "They don't know how to handle the Skylar orgy, or the girl on girl action" I just cringe and try not to be embarrassed by her statement, then laugh and hug her tightly. "Thank you for being here today, this means a lot." I say into her ear. "Now, what are we going to do until midnight? These boys are being weird, and we need to lighten the mood." 'Let's see how long it takes them to join a volleyball game." She looks at me and then over to them finally broken from their trance and milling about talking together at the opposite end of the pool. The pool is a beautiful large rectangle edged in large flat stones so it resembles a natural lake rather than a modern pool. The concrete inside the pool is painted a light green with lights placed every few feet so it looks ethereal. It's all one depth across, making pool

games more fun, although it's designed for the average tall werewolf, so I can barely touch. Now, knowing these guys better, everything gets turned into a competition, so this should be easy. We pull the net across and hook it to the support bar and start lazily hitting it back and forth. It took all of three minutes for Sam to reach over Sierra's head and return a volley for her. Then Oliver joins my side and we start playing two on two. Of course the twins and my brother couldn't be left out for long. With the odd number we just kept rotating, the plays getting more and more wild and aggressive as we went and who knows what kind of point system they were using. I stopped trying to figure it out and just had fun. We started splashing as a distraction and once when I was close to the net, Kota grabbed my legs from the other side and pulled me under to make me miss the ball. That turned into an all out dunking match and somehow Sierra and I became the main targets. I kept getting caught and tossed. It was too hard to swim away while still being fully dressed. The guys tried to talk me into going in my underwear, Sierra had finally conceded, but there was no way Iwas joining in. I was really good at keeping my injuries covered, even with all the activities. But swimming around half naked in a pool, nothing was going to make me expose myself like that.

"I need a break" I finally call out to them and go to climb out of the side of the pool to grab a drink have barely stood to my full height, when I hear my brother. "WHAT THE F*CK IS THAT?!"

Chapter 0053 I spin quickly, thinking there is some kind of threat, I'm on high alert. "What?" My wet ponytail whips around and wraps around my neck, hands at the ready for a fight. "What is on your back Skylar?" He hasn 't used my full name in months, since I started hanging out with him and the guys regularly. He looks like he is trying to hold in his temper and his eye color is swirling, letting me know his wolf is pissed and close to the surface. I reach back and realize my shirt has been pushed all the way up to my bra, exposing my whole torso. I didn't even feel it move in the water. My eyes widen and I know what he can see, the bruising around my ribs in various shades of healing and the pink and mottled scars along my back from the whip and silver. The make-up Sierra put on the exposed parts must have come off too, not helping the case. "It's nothing, just training injuries, that's all." I ramble out a little too quickly to be believable, more concerned with getting my shirt down. "You're lying. Why are you lying to us, Skylar?" Cam

and Kota ask in the crazy twin unison that happens sometimes. Again using my full name, not the nickname they gave me as they climb out of the pool and begin to move closer to me. "It's not a big deal. Some people go a little more rough since they know I can fight now, that's all. That isn't a total lie. My attackers have gotten more rough now that they la-low I can actually fight. Trying to bait me into fighting them back And when I don't they try to get paired with me during training so I have to. I have abandoned the idea of getting a drink and now just want to get out Of here and lock myself in my room for a few days. Pm disappointed, they should have never seen this and I was careless enough to let my guard down, and now they won't let it go. Using my peripherals, I'm looking for the best way to escape.

"You don't fight anyone, but us and Sierra at group training and the Luna and a few warriors during advanced training. None of us have sparred with you in a way to leave marks like that and some of them are older, before we started training with you. You wanna try again, Skylar?" Oliver's deep voice and menacing look stalls my breathing as he stalks towards me, the rest of the guys have followed suit. He was built to be

an interrogator. "It's nothing really, let it go. I'm pleading now, not even trying to come up with another excuse. I move towards the side of the house closest to mine. I am just as fast as all of them, but getting into my house is what will slow me down for them. Think Sky, think. "Sky, we aren't going to let it go. Who put their hands on you? We need to handle this and deal with them. Let them know they can't mess with any of us and get away with it. The question from Sam came out growly and he had that same look as when we were at the mall talking to Kaley. Deal with them? What? I stop trying to walk away and look at all of them. These raging fuming boys who had no idea what they were even mad at. They all of a sudden noticed something was wrong and got protective. Well, they are too late, way too late. A hot boiling builds inside me and something snaps. Now I am pissed and my rage flares the minute that one phrase falls from his lips. For years I have been dealing with this, years, because they believe in survival of the fittest and looking the other way when kids are being roughed up or pushed around. And my particular bully thinks she's untouchable because of her dad and the rumors she's spread about being the

next Luna. They have heard all of them and just ignore it, do nothing, or at the very best not enough to stop it. Because when you ignore things they go away in their world. I see red and my wolf is fired up too, she knows what I have gone through, but we have kept her a secret, I am already a freak for the fighting skills I have that 'came out of nowhere' and the grades and schedule I keep, I don't need

'weirdo early shifter' to be added to the list. I give them my own death glare. "NO!" I roar, and they all stop wide eyed. "You. Will. Let. It. Go! You will let it go, because said so. You will let it go because wthile all of this has been going on," I gesture to myself, "I still did everything that was ever asked of me. I showed up, did the work, became the best at everything. The perfect daughter, the perfect student, the perfect warrior and no one took notice then. You never gave a sh*t before I was a part of your friend group, until you deemed me good enough." I looked at my brother pointedly. "Delta Kyle and the Luna noticed eventually," I looked at Sam and the twins with my best glare. "and that was just as instructors. They respected my wishes and let it go. Sierra noticed the first day we met, she didn't even know me, and she respected my wishes and let it go. You five have known me MYWHOLE F*CKING LIFE and didn't notice or give two sh*ts until right now. You don't get

to be protective now, it's too late. I don't need you to step in now. I spit out, letting years of pent up anger flow from my mouth, not caring who I hurt with my words. I wanted someone to hurt as bad as me for once. TO understand the isolating and suffocating pain.

Chapter 0054 "A lot of this has gone on in your presence and you were too caught up in yourselves to notice, you nonverbally gave permission for this to happen to me and, more importantly, to others. So no, you don't get to "handle this' or 'deal with it'." I air quote. am handling it in my own way, and that's the way it's going to stay. LET. IT. GO!" I turned and started walking off before I got so angry I shifted in front of them.

My muscles are shaking, and my wolf is clawing to get out and beat all of them. Luna Ava POV

I jumped off the couch when I started to hear shouting from the back yard.

Lucas followed me to the balcony.

I can see the boys gathered together just outside the pool and Skylar at the edge of the patio soaking wet and looking ready to murder them. Sierra must be just out of sight, I can still smell her here though.

Not all of their words travel up to me, but they must have really done a number on her for her to look like that.

I can only see the backs of the boys heads, but they appear hesitant to move at all.

"I still did everything that was ever asked of me.

I showed up, did the work, became the best at everything.

The perfect daughter, the perfect student, the perfect warrior and no one took notice then.

You never gave a sh*t before I was a part of your friend group, until you deemed me good enough." I looked at my brother pointedly.

"Delta Kyle and the Luna noticed eventually," I looked at Sam and the twins with my best glare.

"and that was just as instructors. They respected my wishes and let it go. Sierra noticed the first day we met, she didn't even know me, and she respected my wishes and let it go. You five have known me MY WHOLE F*CKING LIFE and didn't notice or give two sh*ts until right now. You don't get to be protective now, it's too late. I don't need you to step in now." She turned to walk away and I turned to go into the house.

Determined to find out what they were fighting about and fix it. Lucas grabbed me from behind and pulled me back to his chest.

"Let her go and let them sit with this. Whatever they did to upset her, she set them straight and they need to figure out how to fix it on their own." He says low in my ear, reading my mind as usual.

"My poor girl, did you see her face?" I turn to look at him.

"She has already been through so much and we haven't done much to help." "We can't step in each time a pack member is a terrible parent or when kids are having trouble at school. No matter how close we are to them. We can't show favoritism like that. And you know I am already doing what I can at school, but I have to keep it by the books. We can't investigate properly if people think we are looking for something. They will figure this out, Love."

Lucas turns me and pulls me into his chest.

"She's so special, you can already see the bond with the boys, I don't know if I have heard it happening this early before.

I don't even think they have caught onto what is happening. "Are you kidding? Right now we would have to smack them upside the head with a smart stick to get them to notice.

Even Skylar told them, they pay no attention to details.

They are still 16 year old boys." He chuckles into my hair.

"She is going to be amazing though, did you see them stop in their tracks? She might be more intimidating than you are.

Kyle says he's never seen anything like her on the training field, even in the Alpha King's ranks.

The border patrol keeps an eye on her when she runs the border and says she is faster everytirne and her wolf is beautiful.

She has never been left alone, not after last year. Let these boys learn to grovel, I have a feeling they will have to do a lot of it. She has to learn to survive this and askfor help. She will be okay." "I hope so." I say into his chest.

"She just has to survive high school first.

Chapter 0055 Skylar Choruses of 'Sky,' 'Skylar,' and my various nicknames are being shouted behind me, but they don't follow.

I don't know if they are respecting what I want or if Sierra is keeping them back, but I just need to walk away and cool off.

I walk into my back door and through the kitchen straight to my room. I glance at the clock as I go to the bathroom. It's after midnight, so at least the fight happened after my birthday, technically. I flip on the light and notice I look ridiculous in the mirror.

All my make-up is gone, but streaks of black remain under my eyes from my crying fit earlier, my ponytail is loose and drooping to one side as the ends are still wrapped around my neck like a noose.

My shirt and jeans are a darker color and plastered to my body and dripping from the pool.

I quickly take everything off, dump my clothes in a pile to deal with later, my new jewelry is in a pile on the counter and jump into the shower, feeling really cold all of a sudden.

I let the water get as hot as possible and once I have scrubbed my body until all of the skin is bright red I just let the steam enter my lungs and soothe my muscles and I cry.

I just let out everything I have left. I will lose them, just like I knew I would.

They will hate me for being weakand letting all of this go on for so long.

For lying to them about the whole situation and then yelling at them.

I haven't been able to find a way to make the bullying stop and any one who has tried to help by going through the right channels, to the 'right people have been removed from the school.

Either they transferred or they were suspended and not seen or heard from for weeks and when they come back, they are a completely different person treating me like the problem.

It hurts and it sucks, it's why I stopped trying to befriend people in the first place.

But the only place I allow myself to feel the pity is here in the shower.

No one will ever know that they got to me, but I'm not sure how much more I can take and all alone again.

That hurts the most. It only took months, months for those guys to get close to me.

To break down my emotional walls, the connections wrapping a tight web around my heart and tangle to a point where it might kill me to remove it.

I have to let them go though.

I do not want to tell this story and it will drive its wedge, secrets always do, and they will walk away from me like every other person who has tried to help. And, I won't make Sierra choose.

She is just as close to them as I arn_ It is easier for me to walk away, I have been doing it forever.

I am just one person, easily replaced.

I climb out of the, now cold, stream of water, towel off and head to my room to find something to sleep in.

Once I layin bed, I just stare at the ceiling for hours.

I can't sleep going over the whole fight in my head.

How mad at me they all were, the look of disgust at the marks on me, the imperfections.

I'm just a weak little girl to them, damaged and broken.

I can't even take care of a simple bully or, I guess, bullies.

I never knowwho it is who grabs me, but it is decidedly male.

Their scent is masked somehow, even my wolf can't find it if I bring her forward.

I am positive about who instigates it, but I can't prove anything, which is one of the main reasons I never go to anyone.

It's just my gut feeling and I can usually place it with something she has said earlier in the day, or the previous day.

She makes threats all the time, but nothing that would be considered more than teenage girl empty words trying to sound tough.

She never trains, meaning most people probably think she's weak, which in a one-on-one fight, I probably could kill her in a matter of seconds.

But, I have no obvious reason to challenge her.

I have even gone as far as sneaking in and looking at the camera footage at school to try and find me getting pulled into a closet and leaving bloody and bruised or her and I interacting at all.

But she is so good the footage with the attacks on me are never there.

They are either being erased or she is just that good at covering her tracks and knowing where the cameras are placed.

The only time Kaley let herself be known was when she put the silver powder in the wounds from the

She wanted me to know it was her that time.

*FLASHBACK* Last spring, right before the summer break.

I had been grabbed and pulled into a janitor's closet, as usual.

But, instead of getting smacked or punched, my hands and feet were bound with rope, a gag was wrapped around my mouth and something shoved over my head.

I truly thought I was going to die, this was going to be the last memory I had. After my head was covered, we just stood there, I had no idea why. I tried to struggle, but that earned me a punch to the side of the head.

We kept standing there until I heard it. The faint sound of the bell.

They had timed this so I would miss the last class of the day and since I didn't talk to anyone, no one would miss me, including the teacher.

They waited another few minutes after the shuffle of feet had died down, my head hurt and keeping trackwas hard, then I was shoved forward and heard the sound of the door open.

A large, painful hand was on each upper arm dragging me forward.

The black cloth didn't let any light in and I didn't think to try and keep track of which turns we were making as we went.

Something I made note of later, beat myself up for, and prompted me to really start working on individual senses and tracking.

I have never been, nor will ever be, captured like that again.

Chapter 0056 When we got to our destination, I was thrown to the ground.

I heard whispering, which means these kids didn't have their wolves yet to mindlink The Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta had the power to push a mindlink through to anyone, wolf or not. It made giving directions in a crisis easier. But, until you had your wolf you could not link back or talk to anyone else.

That's all I had to workwith though. Male and around my age.

They were talking too low to recognize a voice and without a scent I couldn't identify them. I had just gotten myself to a sitting position when my arms were yanked over my head and hooked to something, holding me off the ground so my toes barely touched.

My shirt was ripped open in the back and I let out a strangled squeal through the gag.

The first sharp sting registered as I heard the loud crack echo in the air. I screamed again, I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't the white hot pain of a whip.

The first time they whipped me I was draped over a bench in the girls locker room and the 5 lashes carne quickly before my attackers were caught.

This time, there was more bite in the whip and there was several seconds between the first and the second. The second one didn't disappoint, I screamed again and this time heard an amused huff behind me, sick f* cls.

As they went on I started to go to my happy place, counting the lashes, but hiding in my mind trylng to turn the pain off, go numb, don 't feel, control my breathing, stay awake. By number seven I

stopped making noise, which pissed my attackers off.

The last three came in quick succession from either side of my body, telling me two people wielded whips this time, then my legs were lifted behind me, but not to take weight off my arms, just to put me in more of a horizontal position. I thought this was one of the worst feelings ever, like both shoulders were trying to dislocate.

I was so wrong, the most blinding, searing pain hit me like a rocket blasting its engine across my back I instantly lost vision and couldn't even breathe to scream. I could feel my skin bubbling and burning away.

Then the sensation hit me again and my body convulsed and bucked up in my captors grip and my stomach tried to empty its contents into the gag and I started choking.

"Take that f*cking thing out of her mouth, I want her to suffer, not die. She needs to suffer over and over again for all the sh*t she keeps causing me."

That voice I do know. I'm still choking as one of my legs are dropped and I'm hanging awkwardly sideways. The tie is undone behind my head, roughly, taking some hair with it and thrown to the ground as I cough out everything from my stomach, lungs, wherever the vomit is.

My dangling leg is lifted back up and the blinding white hot pain resumes. This time the pain is accompanied by the smell of burnt flesh, my burnt flesh. My body convulses and tries to wretch again. I am struggling to take air in, my lungs don 't want to function and I am pretty sure my bladder relieved itself too.

Tears were streaming from my eyes and I started mumbling incoherently in between the burning sensation and retching.

The grips on my ankles are getting tighter, either getting hard to hold or they are having trouble with the different putrid smells now in the room. I hear a high nasally giggle, she is enjoying herself.

How does someone enjoy watching another person go through pain like this? I still don't know what I did to her this time to earn a punishment, let alone one that is in the form of torture.

"Remember this, you little b*tch. Stay away from my men, stop trying to keep me from issuing discipline to the low lifes in this school, stop making me look bad in front of the teachers, by handing in perfect work and sucking up all the time.

I am your future Luna and you will all bow to me, fall in line and follow orders or next time you will beg me to Idll you. Kaley says from across the room.

"Now clean this sh*t up and dump her in the woods, let's see if she 's worthy of surviving." She says right before the door closes. *END FLASHBACK*

Chapter 0057 That last part hit me the hardest. That stupid f*cking motto my brother and his friends lived by. They let people think that only the strongest should survive. It was actually the way that they played when they did drills together. Last man standing and all that.

They taunted and teased each other for being the 'weakest' that day. The problem was they never explained that they were teasing and motivating each other to anyone.

They just said the stupid line and went about their lives not realizing who's listening and following their lead. They are oblivious to the influence they have without even trying. I throw my covers off, I can't sleep. The memory just brings on more nightmares. I rub my eyes forcefully and look at the clock, it's 3am. The only thing is to run off the nervous energy now. You want out tonight? I thought you would never ask It's been a while. Hanging out with those boys hasn't given you as much free time since we are still hiding that you are special. You Imowwhy we do, and it was your idea in the first place.

Let's get a couple miles out and then I will turn it over to you. Maybe I can get a bit of rest that way. Whatever you need, I'm here for you. We got this, kiddo. My wolf feels like an old soul. Almost like a cool aunt that gives me advice when I ask, but also lets me totally figure things out the hard way after instigating a less than intelligent idea. That used to come in the form of broken bones or other self inflicted injuries when I was trying some new defensive move. I can at least say I haven't injured myself in a long time. I get my running gear on and tiptoe to the back door, hoping to not make a sound going out. I don't know if the guys went home or are still out partying. Maybe they each found a girl to entertain now that they didn't have to babysit me.

I spared one look at the twins' backyard as I ran towards the forest. I didn't hear any noises, but the garden lights were still on, who knows. I couldn't dwell on it though,

I have already decided to let them go. I'm not allowed to wonder what they are doing or who they're with. I can't want to be with them and keep my secret, that's not fair to them. The pack members are more important, they need to stay safe. That's the mission.

I made it to the edge of the forest and sat to put on my shoes. I couldn't risk tearing up my own feet and I can't shift here, someone could see or hear me. The transformation was not pleasant to go through or to watch, especially for a new shifter. Once you get the hang of it, you and your wolf can interchange pretty easily and quickly, but it takes a lot of practice.

We are pretty good, but the noise could still attract someone and I can 't take that risk I tie my shoes tightly, check my ponytail to make sure it's secure and wrap the straps of the little backpack I brought to store everything around my waist so it doesn't bounce around while it's empty. I start to jog, thinking, again, about everything that happened today.

How does Kaley always seem to find me with the guys? Even if it's not the twins, she manages to track me down and make things difficult and cause a scene, then I am attacked the next day. I wish they would at least get creative and find a way to hurt me at training.

Then again, I would have their faces and be able to identify who is abusing their strength and assumed power. What is it about her dad that gives her so much power to not get in any kind of trouble? Just that thought makes me angry again. I run faster, pushing my legs.

I need to feel the burn in my muscles before I turn over control. I start running the patrol route and let muscle memory take over letting the heat take all of the anger I have towards that one person and incinerate the emotion.

I've been going for about an hour when my wolf lets me know there is another presence near us. I'm on alert now, letting her enhance my vision and hearing. To my left I can hear labored breathing, someone is trying to flankme, but at a distance.

Then a twig crack to the right and a huff. I sniff the air, they are down wind, but not making an effort to be stealthy.

Whoever is following me should have known I would figure them out quickly, so they either want their presence known or they are stupid. I'm hoping it's the first one, I'm not close enough to the border's edge for a rogue or neighboring pack member to be following me without patrol picking it up, but as I have that thought six faces pop into my head.

Chapter 0058 As if I manifested them, all of my friends appeared from different places behind me. Even Sierra is with them, looking worried. I keep running. I can't stop. I don't want them to try and understand. I don't want them to talk me into working something out. It will hurt more than anything. I have to let them go, protect the pack at all costs, be worth the Beta blood running in my veins, prove myself a loyal pack member, and put my job as a warrior above all else. I can't be distracted by the drama that having them as friends brings. I ran harder, I can hear them all struggling to keep up, but they are there, just as stubborn as me. There's only one way to get away from them. Let's shift. Full throttle from them. Are you sure you don't want to talk to them? Maybe they could help if you explained a little bit more. No, you saw them before, they aren't going to be reasonable and they don't get to step in like white knights when they haven 't paid enough attention to notice when things are wrong. This isn't just about me, they don 't notice when any kids come in with marks and injuries that didn't come from training. They don 't know any of these kids, unless they are a popular female old enough to f*ck No, they don't get easy explanations, they can do the work and find out the hard way. Now shift. I can feel she wants to talk to them and is coming up with reasons to stop running. But you will destroy your stuff, are you sure? We've never done it moving. There's only one wayto find out. I can't keep this pace up forever, and they have been training with me long enough to know when my stamina will give. They are wearing us down and starting to corral us. There's a reason they waited until we were an hour into our run. Worst case we crash and they catch up anyway. Alright. You got it.

I let her come forward and just focus on my legs moving continuously. We are on a pretty clear path,

one I take regularly, so I don 't have to think veW hard about where my feet need to go. I can feel my lungs starting to burn with the effort of maintaining the fast pace longer than usual. I put on a burst of speed to give us some distance. I'm ready, on the count of three, jump and I will take over. Let's hope this works. One... Two...THREE

As she says three, I jump as high as I can go, giving her as much time to change and land as possible. We twist in the air and I can feel my bones dislocating and reforming, the hair on my body is growing thick, my nose and mouth lengthening. I hear the ripping of clothes.

It's too bad those were some of my favorites, and I will for sure need new running shoes now. We land on the ground on all fours. My jet black tail fur is gleaming in the moonlight. But we don't stop moving. Picking up speed we start to create Some distance.

"What the f*ck? Since when can she shift?" Oliver, I think, yells. "And how has she managed to learn how to shift on the fly?" Cameron, the oldest, usually gets his panties in a wad when he isn't first at something, which is "I have no f*cking idea. Clearly, she's good at hiding sh*t from all of us."

Mateo blurts angrily. Is he mad at me? He does not get to be mad at me when he hasn't been there for me the last few years. Why would I tell him anything? We put on a burst of speed.

Chapter 0059 We have put some distance between them and us, but I can feel my wolf's hesitation. She doesn't agree with running from them. She spins once to get a lookat my friends, then keeps moving forward, but more slowly.

They all look shocked. At the fact that I can shift, how quickly I shifted, or at the realization that there is another thing they didn't know about me I'm not sure. She looked back at them with sympathy coursing through us, slowing more, I have no control right now.

She is going to force me to talk to them. She slows completely and turns in their direction, but doesn't let her guard down. I Imovv she wants to go to them, and rely on them to help. Wolves are pack animals, we are designed to work together, but I won't budge on this.

They need to act like leaders, not just wait for things to fall into their laps. They make a semicircle around us as we all come to a halt. Mateo tries to take a step forward and we bare our teeth to warn him not to come closer. At least she agrees with my decision to make them earn my trust fully.

My wolf refuses to growl though, she will not show hostility or disrespect, just that we are upset and don't want them near.

Hey, Little Bit. I know you can hear me. You can shift so you can mindlink I don't know what's going on, but clearly there are things we don't know and you seem to be really upset with us. We just want to help. Don't shut us out. We can't help if we don't understand.

As goofy as Sarn acts, he is the only one who even thought to mindlinkme, unless the rest of the guys were just listening, trying to keep me calm now that I have stopped running. I hear movement to my right and see Dakota moving to circle me. We bare Our teeth at him and he stops.

I'm fighting the urge to yell at them through the mind link. Once Sam gets me to talk, he'll be able to distract me long enough for the guys to catch me. We spread our front paws and lower our head just a little, looking like we are going to strike, but in reality, I see a breakin their formation I could use to get back to the house before them.

They will never catch me in my wolf form, she is fast, especially when I let her go full throttle. If she will run away from them that is. Hey! Quit trying to run, we just want to talk to you. Oliver jumps in my line of sight, he's quick to figure out my movements. They must have all been listening.

I keep my head moving, I want all of them in my sights at all times. I still refuse to talkto them. My wolf says she can communicate with their wolves and they are terrified of what they saw last night and what I said.

They really want to be here for me, but I just can 't. I don't want to get close to them. It hurts too bad now just trying to keep my distance, and it's only been a couple hours. We are only going to get hurt more. Whether it's from Kaley, Jeanie and Marnie, or any other mate that doesn't want them to be close to us. It's just better for all of us if this whole thing ends now.

Please, just come back and talk to us. You can stay in your wolf form if that would make you feel better. Cam takes a small step forward and then sits on the ground. Orwe can stay right here. This seems to be your favorite spot anyway. It smells like you no matter what time Of day I run through here. He smiles at me. My head snaps to him. What? He follows my trails? Does he know my favorite spots? Wait. No, I can't let them distract me. I shook my head to clear it, look around and get a head count, keeping them all in my sights.

Sierra comes over slowly and lowers herself to the ground next to Cam. "Well I assume you are all having a riveting conversation without me, but it looks like we may be staying outside to talk Can we at least go to the fire pit so the rest of us, not wearing fur, Can get a little more comfortable?

Chapter 0060 My wolf stands up to her full height and starts to walk in the direction of the fire pit in the little valley behind the pack house.

Clearly we are entertaining being around them for now. She seems to trust that they won't do anything to us while we walk in front of them. Pm sure that has something to do with her secret communications with their wolves. I seem to be along for the ride right now. Just don't tell them what's going on. I know, it's stupid and petty, but they really have never cared before and I don't understand why they all of a sudden give a sh*t about me. I want them to fix things, and I know that giving them information would, ultimately, help. But I can't prove what's happening to me and the other kids or by whom and I don't need them going on a rampage and making things Worse. I don 't need anymore pack members thinking I am weak and need their protection. I was left out here to suffer and hopefully die, that is the leadership they have shown.

Letting pack members harm and torture each other without punishment to try and gain power in the pack You got it kiddo. I understand your reasons, but you need to understand mine. We need our pack and they want to know. Why they have taken notice is only something they can answer, but in any case they do care now. Give them something to work with.

Fine, but the minute they start asking about my injuries, I'm out. I don't want to rehash those memories agaln_ Deal. We gather around the firepit, My wolf sits on one side watching as the rest of them sit on the logs across the pit from me, just staring. Dakota and Cam set up the fire pit and get it started. Now it is a waiting game. They followed me out here, they can break the silence.

"Okay, so are we just going to sit here and stare at each other?" Sierra asks. "Or can I just ask one ofyou to translate, if you are talking to her already?" She rolls her eyes. "When did you first shift?" My brother asks quietly, looking sad and I can guess why. Shifting for the first time is painful and it takes a really long time. He's probably worked it out that I did it all by myself, just me and my wolf to comfort me through it. The guys all had each other and their parents to encourage and be supportive and of course a party to celebrate with everyone. It didn 't have that, never had that. They are starting to put the pieces together. About a week after all of you did. The night of the celebration for all five of you shifting. My wolf made eye contact with each of them as their eyes all grew in astonishment _ My answer is short and to the point. Sam relayed the information to Sierra. "By yourself? Why didn't you come to get me or anyone to help you? Do you know how dangerous it was to go by yourself?" Is he really offended right now?

First you were all at a party I wasn't invited or allowed to go to, very occupied by all of your friends. Second, why would I come to people who have avoided me for the last five or six years. I was not worth any of your time or effort, or dad's for that matter. Why would I come to people who made it very apparent that I was not wanted, just tolerated?

Even if I wanted to, I wasn 't in a position to come and get anyone. The shift was unexpected but necessary, at thirteen I certainly didn't know what to do. He looked hurt, and the rest of the guys were looking at him as if they were the ones treated poorly.

Even in my head it sounds like I am being b*tchy and asking for pity, which isn't completely true. I don't want pity, and I don't want them to tell me they would have been there for me when we all know that isn't the truth, not then. They were all too caught up in their own lives and their own first shifts and being another step closer to being the pack leaders.