Wolf Sprite
THREE – A Typical Evening

When I went to primary school, Fridays were always the day of the week when we had fun; we played more games and went out for sports or did art. We got to wind down from the busy week. Not high school. Friday at high school is just another day, a Monday but with the excitement of the next day being a day off.

I woke up and showered before school, grabbing the aloe vera from the bathroom to treat the cuts on my face from Hailey’s rings. Yeah, I copped it last night. After I had shifted and dinner was over, dad suggested we all run in our wolves. I jumped at the chance, but Hailey couldn’t go, stating she had to be home to watch Ashley, even though dad had asked one of the omegas to sit for us.

Hailey kicked up a big stink about how it was okay to get omegas to cook dinner for my birthday but not okay to get the omegas to look after Ashley, so why should this be any different? Beta Gerald and Francoise quietly left to avoid the fight, and Danni gave me a sad look before she followed her parents. Dad stormed off to his office, and as I had put Ashley to bed to avoid the argument, I landed a big hit to my face when I walked out of his room.

I look in the mirror and am surprised to see that the cuts are gone; I just need to wash the blood away. Facial cuts bleed heaps. Believe me, I know. The only evidence I had been hit was the yellow bruising on my cheek. At least I could cover that with concealer. I lift my shirt and examine my ribs and abdomen. After I had fallen on the floor, she had kicked me hard several times, but again, the only evidence of this was the black and yellow marks I now wear on my skin.

I dress and brush my hair out before leaving the packhouse to meet Danni in the garage. Danni loves driving, and although I have a car, I like to travel with her to school.

“How are you?” Danni asks me. I look at her and don’t reply.

“Aviary Phillippa Redclaw! You are a frigging Alpha! Stand up to her for once!” Danni growls. I look at Danni knowingly. After I spent the week at Danni’s place when I was fourteen, she got suspicious, and it was a few months later, she found me in my bathroom on the floor, beaten and bruised.

I didn’t have my wolf then and telling dad previously that Hailey had hit me resulted in my week with Danni. Now that I have my wolf, though…

“I know, but school is only another term, and then we’ll be off at Alpha Training….” I begin with a sigh, “I have my wolf now, so I’ll heal quicker,” I add, trying to convince her I'll be alright. Danni just looks at me and shakes her head.

“Who would believe me, Danni? Dad didn’t remember,” I sulk, turning away and looking out the window.

“I know; I just wish it didn’t happen. Maybe if we took photos or?” Danni asks.

“You know she said that if I did that, she would tell dad I photoshopped it,” I say, thinking about the time I had threatened to do precisely that. I had four more months to go and then two years to be away from her, and that was what I was looking forward to.

After school, Danni drove us home, and we said our goodbyes at the packhouse entrance before walking towards our separate wings. I put my head down and walked into the alpha wing. It’s quiet, and I slowly make my way down the hallway towards my room, placing my schoolbag on my bedroom floor.

“Thank goddess, you’re here,” Hailey sighs, opening my door and leaning on the frame.

“Hey, don’t you knock? This is my room!” I snap at her. The look on her face changes, and I know I’m in trouble. See, I have a mouth that speaks before I think- I’m not a quiet mouse who just takes a beating for nothing. Nope, my mouth often gets me into trouble.

“Excuse me?” Hailey screeches, her face turning red in anger. Shish kebab! I think, stepping backwards from my chair, making it fall over behind me. Hailey storms in and grabs me by the hair.

“You got your alpha wolf and think you’re now better than me?” she asks, dragging me along. I don’t say anything; the more I say now, the more grief I’ll get. Hailey lets go of my hair, and I fall onto my knees.

“You’re not better than me, you know that?” she says, slapping me hard across the face. I feel tears form in my eyes, but I refuse to cry.

“You. Are. Not. Better. Then. Me,” she says, punctuating each word by slapping the other side of my face.

“I’m sorry, Luna,” I say, making her give me a snarky smile.

“You’re sorry? You’re always sorry. But you can’t help yourself, can you?” she asks, pushing me roughly onto the ground.

“Now that you have your wolf, you’ll heal quicker,” she muses before beginning her onslaught of kicks to my ribs and abdomen.

I don’t know how long I’ve been on the floor, but when I wake up, it’s dark outside, and a bottle of bleach is lying next to me. I slowly lift myself into a sitting position and see that I’ve bled on the carpet, hence the bleach.

- You should let me take over – my wolf, Calla says.

- I don’t know– I tell her.

- But I can look after you –

- And if dad kicks us out again? – I ask. After I shifted last night, Calla greeted me and had access to all my memories. When Hailey hit me after putting Ashley to bed, she was beyond angry, but as she’s a part of me, she didn’t want to be kicked out again. Calla growls at me and retreats to the back of my mind.

Slowly I stand, and I wobble to my door to check it. Locked. Hailey often does this after she’s beaten me. She tells dad I’m having a female ‘mood swing,’ and he believes her, leaving me alone for a few days. I think he thinks he’s giving me space to settle my mood. However, this excuse works for Hailey because it allows my body to heal somewhat without him noticing.

I stumble to the shower in my ensuite and slowly strip my clothes off, the movement hurting me more. The heat of the water cuts into my open wounds, and I grimace as they sting. Slowly and carefully, I wash the blood off my body, seeing my new bruises on top of my old ones. Hailey really lost control this time. It hurts to reach above my head when I try to wash my hair, and I think I’ve torn a muscle or two.

- Calla? – I ask, trying to link my wolf, but I don’t get a response. I turn the tap off and edge out of the shower, slowly wrapping a towel around my middle. My hair is still wet, and I should dry it, but I don’t care. Instead, I hobble towards my bed and lift the covers up, slowly sliding my body underneath the blankets, wearing only a towel.

I look up at the ceiling and let tears slowly fall down my face before submitting to sleep.

The sun is streaming through my window when I wake the next day. I checked my phone for the time. It was one o’clock. Great. My stomach rumbles, and I remember not eating dinner last night. My body is still sore as I slide out of bed, but walking and moving feels easier.

I look at myself in the mirror. My face has calmed down, and my bruises have gone brown, and again I have no cuts or scars to show what happened to me last night. I pull my towel closer around my waist as I walk into my wardrobe and select some clothes for the day. I’ll probably be trapped here today, so I opt for baggy track pants and an oversized T-shirt.

- Calla? – I try linking again, but I don’t get a response. I walk over to the full-length mirror and notice that the bruises on my abdomen are hardly noticeable, so I guess my wolf has spent all her extra strength healing me.

- Thank you, Calla – I say, even though I’m unsure if she can hear me.

Again, I check my door, but it’s locked. Sighing, I try to use my new telepathy skills to try and link an omega, and thankfully I get hold of Lorraine, one of the kitchenhands a few years older than me. I sit and wait for Lorraine to come up and unlock the door for me, and I hear a fumble at the door, but nothing happens.

“Hello?” I call out.

“Aviary, the door is locked,” Lorraine calls back.

“I know.”

“Why?” she asks.

“Um,” I say, about to respond when I see the bottle of bleach still on the floor next to the bloodstains I’d left behind.

“I lost the key. Could you get a delta to break it down?” I ask.

“I can do one better,” Lorraine says. I hear the lock move, and I guess she somehow unlocks it.

About a minute later, the door opens, and Lorraine walks in with a smile on her face, a tray of food in her hands.

“How?” I ask, smiling at her.

“When you asked me to bring up some food, Olivia gave me the keys just in case. She must have known something was wrong,” Lorraine grins. I’m about to thank her when she stops in her tracks.

“What’s that?” Lorraine asks, looking down at the bloodstain on the carpet.

“Uh, I got my period?” I reply, thinking quickly. Lorraine raises an eyebrow and just gives me a look that reads, ‘yeah, right.’

“Okay,” she says, knowing she’s better off not pressing anything further. She puts the food tray on my desk before walking towards the door.

“I’ll keep it unlocked, just in case,” Lorraine says before she leaves, giving me a wink. I thank her and go to my desk and start to eat.

<<//\\/||\//\\>>

I spend the rest of my afternoon on my bed in front of my tablet watching ‘The Wilds’ on Prime, snuggled in my dressing gown.

“Hey, Danni,” I say, answering my phone.

“About time! I’ve tried calling you all morning!”

“Yeah, I forgot to charge it,” I reply. I hear silence on the other end of the line, and I know she doesn’t believe me, even though it is the truth. I didn’t charge my phone last night. I couldn’t.

“Okay, well, are you free tonight? Tanner is meeting us in Worthington, remember?” she asks.

“Um,” I stop, thinking. I have to ask permission to go out, but I’m eighteen now and considered an adult in the werewolf world. And I could tell dad we were looking for our mates. He’ll understand… I hope.

“Sure; what time are you coming over?” I ask. I hear a knock at the door, and I smile, turning off the conversation on my phone.

“Why hello there!” Danni grins, coming in with a large duffle bag. Like me, she’s dressed in casual clothing, but I have a feeling she has something riskier in the bag she has with her.

“Let’s get ready to party!” she cries, wrapping her arms around me in a hug.

~

Edited with Grammarly

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