Chapter 3

I stood there trembling as Julianne marched towards me before grabbing a fistful of my hair and pulling me across the garden roughly. Suddenly, we stopped at the edge of the lawn, and she pointed towards the driveway which was still covered in dead grasses, brown crispy leaves, and dried mud from where the car had been parked.

“What do you call this!?” shrieked Julianne furiously. “I told you that I wanted your jobs done before I got back, you lazy, worthless piece of nothingness! Well!? Explain yourself!”

“I’m sorry Julianne,” I cried out loudly, while trying to escape Julianne’s clutches. “I didn’t expect you back so soon. Let me just mow the lawn really quick and I’ll be right on it!”

“Well, it’s too late! What have you been doing all morning!” Julianne screeched impatiently, finally letting me go and pushing me roughly down onto the drive. “All you have done is prune and weed the flowers. It doesn’t take two and a half hours to do that, so what have you been doing all this time?”

Finally, something snapped inside me. I could feel a hot bubbling surge growing inside me, about to erupt, like a raging fiery volcano. Deep down in my mind, I could feel Mya waking up and running towards Julianne, teeth bared, ready to attack. Like me, she had also had enough and now it was time to take control. I realised I had had enough of all the shit, the hurt and drama. I wasn’t going to take Julianne’s crap, or James’s crap for that matter much more. She wasn’t my Mother, and he definitely wasn’t my Father! Inhaling a deep breath, I stood up and looked at Julianne dead in the eye, feeling the anger and the hatred surging through my veins more furiously, knowing that what I was about to say would shock her to the core. And really, I couldn’t care less! It was about time the truth was known!

“Firstly, I think you forget who I am and who my parents were! They may be dead, but I still out rank you, even if my pack has forgotten that I exist, which is also down to you, for keeping me hidden in this god damned house!” I snarled angrily. “Secondly, you are not my Mother, and he is definitely not my Father so you have no right to tell me what I can and can’t do, especially in regard to my own wolf, who I have had to contain at your command. And thirdly, if you really want to know what I have been doing all morning, then let me fill you in! When you left this morning, James very kindly beat me with his bare hand and sexually assaulted me. After, I ran to the garden to start on your measly tasks. When I had finished your flowerbeds, I went to the shed, where James promptly followed me, and proceeded to rape me, just before you turned up. James doesn’t love you. He never has and he never will. He wants to make me his special little girl! He is nothing but a dirty little sex pest and I wouldn’t be surprised if he has had sex with Louisa too. Ever since my parents have died, I have been bullied either at school or by you lot and I am not taking it anymore! I am done with the lot of you!”

Julianne stood there glaring at me, white as a ghost, unable to say a word while James stood silently beside her with his mouth open like a goldfish out of water. After several minutes, James began spluttering words before he looked at me angrily.

“Yes, I beat her, to teach her a lesson after being cheeky to you this morning, my love,” he began loudly while glaring at me angrily. “But the rest of what she says is lies. I do love you, Julianne! Don’t believe her, I don’t know what she is talking about! Do you really think I would want to go near that, let alone rape that, when I have someone as beautiful as you!”

“It’s okay babe. I believe you. I know you wouldn’t dare do anything as disgusting as that!” Julianne simpered gently before snapping her head back towards me. “How dare you accuse my boyfriend of ever committing crimes such as those! Are you jealous that I can get any man I want when no man will ever look at you? You will pay for what you just said. I will rip you limb from limb. You will wish you had never been born!”

Gulping nervously, I watched as Julianne transformed into her vixen red wolf form, fangs bared and dripping as she walked towards me menacingly. Growling back in warning, I shifted into my own white wolf, ignoring Julianne’s no wolf rule, and snarled back angrily, much to Julianne’s surprise. Behind Julianne, I saw James quickly transform into a much larger smoky grey wolf, who quickly flanked Julianne, his fangs also bared. Knowing that I was outnumbered, and I had no knowledge of fighting a fully grown wolf, let alone two, I turned and fled, fearing for my life. I could hear the ground thumping loudly as four sets of paws hit the ground furiously. It was lucky that Julianne lived right on the outskirts of the city where there was countryside nearby. I don’t think her human neighbours would appreciate three large wolves bounding down the street in broad daylight.

I wasted no time in clearing the back garden fence and running across the grassy fields, with the two wolves in hot pursuit. I was fast but as I glanced over my shoulder, I realised the wolves were gaining on me. I knew if I stopped running, or even slowed, I’d definitely be dead. Julianne was hellbent on revenge for me shaming her new beau and I knew she wouldn’t stop until my heart stopped beating. I kept running faster and faster, finally relived that my wolf was finally free. I could feel the hard ground under my paws and the wind whistling through my silky white fur, which only spurred me on. As I looked up, I saw a large forest quickly approaching. I planned on using the dense undergrowth and the thick knotted trees for cover, hoping I could find somewhere to hide until James and Julianne had gone. I could feel my legs beginning to slow as my muscles began to ache and become heavy.

Willing my body to go on, I darted into the trees before tripping over a stray branch on the floor and tumbling clumsily down a large debris covered bank before landing with a heavy thump on the forest floor. Too exhausted to move, I lay there, panting heavily, filling my lungs with much needed oxygen. I could hear my blood whooshing loudly in my ears and my heart pounding wildly in my chest. A loud wolf howl in the distance made me look up and finally take in my surroundings. The forest seemed unfamiliar, and I wasn’t sure where I really was. A rustling noise above me made me glance up and I saw James and Julianne’s head pop up over the banks edge as they peered down at me, both snarling furiously. Just as James began to step down to make his descent towards me, the noise of several twigs snapping made him stop. I swivelled my head towards the sound and saw several large brown wolves slinking towards me with their fangs bared, growling angrily in unison at me. As I glanced up at James and Julianne once more, I watched them quietly disappear out of sight, leaving me with the strange unknown wolves, my fate in their hands.

Standing up quickly, I shook the dirt and leaves from my fur and looked back at the wolves encircling me. Snarling back, I walked backwards until I realised, I was trapped between the steep bank and the wolves infront of me, with no way to escape. A loud voice echoed throughout my head, and I realised it was the largest wolf, who was now infront of me, speaking through the mindlink, that us werewolves all had.

“Who are you! And what are you doing in our territory, you rogue!?” he yelled angrily, snapping his jaws aggressively. “Do you know who I am! Who we are?”

“Sir, I am no rogue. I can promise you that! I am Libby Westwood. Daughter of Paul Westwood, who was the Gamma for the Eclipse Pack,” I growled angrily. “I was running for my life from my evil stepmother and her boyfriend. They wanted to kill me! Please, I beg you for asylum! I mean you or your pack no harm!”

“I am Beta Alistair! We don’t give asylum to trespassers anymore,” the large wolf snarled furiously. “Do you know what we do to intruders of our lands? We are the Midnight Sun Pack! We kill all those who pose a threat to us and our people, regardless of their rank or power!”

“Please, I can assure you, I am no threat to any of you,” I pleaded desperately. “If you won’t give me asylum here, let me return to the Eclipse pack, where I truly belong, where you will never see me again. I’m sorry, I didn’t realise I ran this far away from our boundary lines.”

“It’s too late to apologise now, Rogue,” the wolf snarled. “You’re here in our lands and now you must pay with your life!”

“Boss, wait, I sense that she is just a pup,” another wolf piped up suddenly. “Do you really want to kill a pup? Let’s give her a chance! She could be beneficial to our Pack. Pups are easily trained to follow a new Alpha!”

“It doesn’t matter if she is a pup or not!” the first wolf snarled back angrily, launching himself at the second smaller wolf who yelped out loudly. “Don’t question my authority! We don’t know why this pup was sent! She could be here to steal valuable secrets and information about us! She is a danger to us all!”

I closed my eyes as the wolves began snarling and growling once more in agreement as they walked even closer towards me. I knew I was definitely outnumbered and there was no way I’d fight off one of these large wolves by myself, let alone ten. My own wolf was tiny by far and I’d be lucky if I could even take one of these wolves down by myself. I heard Mya whining submissively, desperately trying to make the advancing wolves change their minds, but to no avail. Taking a deep breath, I waited for the pain of their fangs sinking into my flesh but to my surprise it didn’t come. Instead, another loud growl echoed throughout the forest and carefully, I opened my eyes to see another lone silvery grey wolf walking slowly towards us. The brown wolves instantly stopped growling and lowered their heads, in a mark of respect and submission to this strange new wolf. Was this the Midnight Sun’s Alpha? I watched as the silvery wolf transformed into a beautiful tall, slender, woman with long brown hair and a gentle kind face. She was wearing a long white floaty dress with high leg slits on either side, showing off long tanned slender barefoot legs. The strange woman walked towards us before stopping beside the largest wolf who had spoken to me. She carefully looked around at the scene in front of her before calmly uttering a single word.

“SHIFT!”

All around me, the wolves, one by one, morphed back into their human counterparts, as so did I. All the men were exceedingly handsome and had muscular physiques worthy of a warrior, complete with intricate tribal tattoos splayed across their torsos. They were all topless and barefooted and wore black or grey joggers. The men all except for Alistair continued to stare down at the floor in an eery silence. The mysterious woman continued to walk towards us while swaying her hips daintily and didn’t stop until she was right beside her Beta.

“What is the meaning of this Alistair?” she asked calmly, staring at him intently, before glancing over at me and smiling reassuringly. “What seems to be the trouble here? Explain!”

“This Rogue is trespassing on our lands, my Luna,” Alistair replied calmly. “We smelt her coming from a mile off and we came to intervene as she and her friends were approaching rather rapidly. The rest of them ran off when we arrived. You know what happened last time we let a stranger into our Pack. I was about to deal with her for good as the Alpha has instructed, but you showed up and interrupted us.”

“You do realise that this Rogue is under the age of eighteen. She is essentially, a pup!” the woman replied coldly. “You should know our laws better than anyone around here! It is one of our absolute laws. A pup must not be harmed, under any circumstance!”

“I did try to tell him ma’am,” a voice blurted out, making me look up at a young man with a deep gash across his chest, that he wasn’t taking much notice of. “He told me not to question his authority.”

“Did Alistair do that to you?” the woman asked, pointing to his wound with a long thin finger. “Well? Don’t lie to me Jenson.”

The young man shifted awkwardly on one foot then the other, clearly uncomfortable about getting the Beta into trouble. Gulping loudly, he looked quickly at Beta Alistair before looking back at the woman in white. “We may have had an altercation ma’am.”

“You are all dismissed. I suggest you go back to the packhouse and let me deal with this. Get yourselves cleaned up!” the woman ordered loudly. “And that means you too, Alistair!”

I watched as the men all looked over at me and the woman before turning away and running back into the dense undergrowth and out of sight. Only Alistair remained, glaring at me angrily before he too, eventually followed the rest of the pack and out of sight. Sighing and running her hand through her long brown hair, the woman looked at me and began to walk towards me. Seeing me shake with fear and hearing Mya growl in warning, she stopped and bent down on one knee, extending a dainty hand.

“It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m Marii, by the way,” the lady whispered softly. “My husband is the Alpha for the Midnight Sun Pack, and I am his Luna. You are safe now pup! Please don’t be afraid!”

Sensing that Mya and I trusted her words, I watched as Marii stood up and came and sat down beside me, giving me a quick squeeze before smiling sympathetically. She looked at me gently before picking bits of leaves and twigs out of my hair and throwing them to the forest floor.

“Rough day, huh?” she asked kindly. “So, tell me, who are you and what or who was you running from? You clearly wasn’t running towards us for nothing. We can smell your fear for miles.”

Gulping nervously, I looked at Marii and began my story. “I’m Libby. I’m seventeen, nearly eighteen. Both my parents are dead. I come from the Eclipse Pack, but I doubt they’d really care whether I came back or not. I expect they haven’t even noticed I’ve gone. And I was running away from my stepmother and her boyfriend, James.”

“Why was you running away from them Libby?” Marii asked softly, looking at me intently. “I’m sorry to hear about your parents. That really sucks to have no family. Don’t be afraid to pour your heart out to me. You can tell me everything. You are safe now.”

“When my father died, my stepmother, Julianne, turned me into her personal slave. I had to do everything from cooking to laundry, the garden and paying all the bills,” I continued sadly, feeling my eyes beginning to prick with tears. “If I broke a rule or didn’t do something right, she or her boyfriend would beat me as a punishment. Today was the worst though. James, he did the unthinkable…”

“Go on love,” Marii persuaded gently. “What happened?”

“James was punishing me for being cheeky to Julianne. When she went to work this morning, he followed me into the garden shed and he raped me,” I sobbed, letting the tears that I tried so hard to hold back, finally spill as I sobbed my heart to this strange but nice woman. “He said he wanted to make me his special girl!”

“It’s okay Libby,” Marii soothed softy, pulling me towards her and holding me tightly. “No one will ever hurt you like that again. Not while you are in my Pack.”

I don’t know how long I was sat there sobbing out loud into Marii’s chest, but my body just cried and cried until I could cry no more. Finally, exhausted, I stopped sobbing and wiped my tears on the back of my hand before sitting back up and staring glumly at the forest floor. I rubbed my face with my hands and pushed the hair up and out of my face before looking apologetically over at Marii.

“I’m sorry for crying like a baby,” I sighed. “I don’t normally let my emotions get the better of me like that. I have no family, no Pack, and no home. It’s all just hit me like a train.”

“No don’t be sorry. You’re allowed to cry. You’ve been through a great trauma,” Marii whispered, squeezing my hand gently. “Anyway, you are part of our Pack now. You said you was treated like a slave back at home, right?”

“Yes,” I replied nodding gently. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I am looking for someone to be my new handmaiden,” Marii replied gently. “Someone to answer to my every need and be there, just for me. My last handmaiden fell sick and sadly, she didn’t make it.”

“So, you want me to be a slave for you?” I asked slowly before rolling my eyes. “It would just be like getting a new master! I’ll never be free from slavery! No offense, but I’d rather be a Rogue and be Packless.”

“No, not a slave, no,” Marii replied gently. “You would be paid for your work, and you would have the freedom to come and go as you please, have days off and be able to make friends and have fun. See it as a job or as employment. Of course, it would mean you would be ranked as an Omega, but you would be safe. In this Pack, it doesn’t matter what rank you are. We are all family. Plus, my son mindlinked me, begging for me to come and save you!”

“He did? I mean why?” I asked in shock. “He doesn’t know me, and I’ve never met him! I don’t even know his name!”

“Well, he is called Blake. Blake Carson. And I don’t know the reason why. He is away on a business trip with his father, but he stays in constant contact with the Pack,” Marii replied thoughtfully. “He must have heard that Alistair was sending himself and his warriors after you and realised that they were going to kill you. He pleaded and begged me to go and intervene, so I raced all the way here. Blake said there was something about you that he needed to see for himself. Apparently, his wolf sense told him to save you.”

“Oh,” I replied faintly with a hint of sarcasm. “Well, I will make sure that I give him my personal thanks when see him!”

“There’s something strange about you,” Marii murmured softly. “I can’t put my finger on it. It’s not often you see a pure white wolf such as yourself. Come on, let’s get back to the Packhouse and get you cleaned up. I’ll get you checked out at our hospital wing too, to make sure you’re not too gravely injured!”

Marii chuckled before standing up and brushing herself off gently. Carefully she turned to me and extended a hand, helping me to stand up. Silently, I followed her through the undergrowth, feeling the leaves crunch and twigs snapping noisily under my feet. Above my head, I could hear the birds chirping loudly while flapping through the trees. It wasn’t long until a large mansion appeared before us with a large sweeping lawn infront of it. Perfectly sculped bushes lined the garden and lying beside the house, was a crystal-clear swimming pool.

Waiting for us at the end of the lawn, was Alistair and his crew of warriors, who were all sat causally on wooden picnic benches. As we approached the group, Alistair stood up and angrily marched towards us, making the warriors quickly stand up as if they knew a fight was about to ensue.

“Have you got a problem Alistair?” Marii asked calmly, while raising an eyebrow before growling in warning. “Libby, wait there. I don’t want you getting hurt!”