I ran into the forest, and the sounds of birds and other woodland creatures echoed around me. In any other circumstance, I may have been enchanted by the woods.I glanced over my shoulder to see the two men standing at the edge of the woods, watching me, almost as if they couldn't follow me here. I slowed down, watching them. They wouldn't come into the woods with me. It was like there was a barrier between us. I wasn't sure why they would chase me through town but wouldn't follow me in here, where there was no one. I didn't want to overthink it; instead, I turned and continued into the undergrowth. My feet were stinging from the needles and pokey things on the ground. It was frigid here. The lack of sunlight made it even cooler. Now that I wasn't running, my body heat dropped again. It had to be in the lower 50's at least, something that I wasn't used to. I knew I would have to find somewhere to exit, to get back to my grandparent's house. I had to get to my phone, wallet, and everyt
I didn't know my way around the spacious house, and I didn't want to get lost. So I stayed put on the stairs and waited until Alexander or someone came around to help me. Not that I minded too much anyway, my body was sore from the amount of running I had done. Yeah, sure, I was a nurse, but I didn't have to run that much. Also, I was warming up from the chilly outdoors. My skin felt less and less like shards of ice were slicing me open from the cold, bitter New England air. I don't really know how long I had sat there when someone opened the front door, causing me to jump slightly. I peeked up to see Alexander entering the house, his massive shoulders covered by dark tattoos and a sheen of sweat and what looked like dirt. He had a pair of loose-fitting joggers that hung loosely around his hips and a dark shirt in his hand.The door latched behind him, his cool blue eyes on me for a moment. He sighed before strolling past me to the room on the right side of the house. I made a face, h
I sat there at the table for longer than I ever wanted, listening to conversations that I knew nothing about. In a weird way, I liked that I was included, but I didn't want to be here at the same time. Maggie and Adam were talking about some sort of ceremony in a month's time, my Aunt Adelaide had left the table to talk with Leah and Charlotte about dresses being altered or something. So I was left alone to wonder when I would be able to leave, I was dreadfully tired still, my body even sorer right now than it was a few hours ago. I had eaten enough to fill my stomach for now, and all I wanted to do was go back to my appointed room to be alone. But that didn't seem to be an option. "Isabella," James's voice spoke from beside me, "nice to see you alive." I turned to look at him, "If this is your version of conversation, please, go make it with someone else." I rolled my eyes. Something about James made my blood boil, he was just naturally annoying for some reason. I heard Adam snort,
I sat on the edge of Alexander's bed, puffing out my cheeks as I waited for him to finish his shower. His threat bounced around my mind like a ping-pong ball. Was he even as attracted to me as I was to him? Pulling my knees to my chest, I stared at the dark wall. I didn't know what to do, I definitely didn't want to look around his room, I didn't want him to get angry with me. I really didn't want to be on that end of the stick, I saw firsthand what it could turn into. And there was no way I would be able to survive that, no way. I thought Alexander was going to be peaceful and try to end things without an altercation, but instead, James took the violent path and was most likely hurting right about now. I jerked, the noise of the bathroom door opening suddenly made me drop my legs, so fast that I almost fell out of the bed. "I'm surprised you're still here." Alexander rumbled, crossing the room to his closet. I noticed he was only in a towel, his hand keeping a firm grip on his cloth
I was left alone in my bedroom, and Alexander dropped me off without a word. He was silent after our heart-to-heart earlier. I was baffled and hurt that he didn't bother to stay or even offer to help me find my way to the dining hall.Maggie ended up coming to gather me for breakfast, and even she was quieter than usual. "Mags?" I murmured, encouraging her as we headed to the breakfast hall. She peeked over at me for a moment but didn't reply. "Maggie, what's up? Why are you so quiet?" I questioned, tugging her arm and forcing her to look at me. She finally sighed, "They're having to mark James." She mumbled. I made a confused face, "What? What's a mark?" "It's something you do not want to get in this world, Bella. It's a sign of incredible disrespect." She described, picking at the hem of her shirt. "An Alpha Mark is when you are found guilty of directly going against your Alpha. And James already has one." "What does that mea
I assisted Maggie with taking her things back to her room after our lengthy shopping day. "God, I had so much fun!" She giggled, flopping on her bed as she kicked off her shoes. I bobbed my head at her but couldn't contain my smile. "Finally, something normal." She sighed, sitting up to look at me and then to her bags. "You wanna help me put this stuff away?" I snorted, "Yeah, we both know that's a terrible idea. You'd rearrange everything that I did, and it would take way longer than it would have if you did it yourself." She nodded her head, "Yeah, you're right... Well, I'll see you at dinner then." I left her alone in her room to put her things away to go to my own room. I was hanging my dress up, admiring the red color of the fabric. As much as I wanted to give my stuffy, stuck-up cousin the ultimate f-you, maybe red wasn't my color? The dress
We stood there for a moment, just staring at one another for a while before she spoke up. “I want to apologize for the things my sister has done to you or said.” She began, “I just want to let you know that we’re not all like that.” I shook my head and crossed my arms, “Mary, you shouldn’t have to apologize for what your sister has said to me- or anyone. She needs to be held accountable for her own actions.” She smiled sheepishly at me, “I know, but I don’t want you to feel like we’re all that way… I want to be friends with you- I’ve never had friends outside of Leah’s.” I frowned, “Just because they’re Leah’s friends doesn’t make them yours, Mary.”How controlling was Leah?She giggled, “Well, you’re quite limit
I took a deep breath, looking at Adam as he held the aged red book in his palm, “...ranking is crucial to understanding how Pack society and relationships are established. Because you may rank high doesn’t make you entitled. It means you have more responsibilities, duties, things like that.” I rested my cheek on my fist, trying my hardest to pay attention to my Uncle’s lecture. Alexander’s compromise was more that I had to do one thing: to be free. And that one thing was I had to spend my days, seven days a week, sitting in a school room, getting one-on-one schooling on basic principles of pack life and how basically to be a werewolf. Since I lacked the understanding and general knowledge, Adam was tasked with teaching me since he was my family and because he had already taught the older kids Pack’s version of Government during the summer. So, to be able to do what I wanted when I wasn’t in ‘class’, I had to endure 5 hours of a lecture. Not only did I have to do it every single day