Chapter 30: True monster (triggering content)
Roxanne’s POV
“Did you know that he was a werewolf, Roxy?”
I heard my best friend’s voice ask me a second time. I hesitated, unsure of what to do. There seemed to be no right answer as anything I could say to her would hurt. Once again, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place with Mina. What choice could a person make when the truth could destroy their friend and the lie could ruin the friendship?
I didn’t say a word. I couldn’t even if I tried. I just sat there, listening to my friend’s muffled crying through the phone. With every passing second came the realization that I failed her more than I ever knew. I had failed to be honest with her. I had failed to protect her. And I had failed to prepare her for a life which she all but knew nothing about.
Though, I should have known.
Eve since I had met her, I’ve had this constant need to be by her side and to keep her safe from harm. It wasn’t until years later that I had finally understood why. When I saw her being unexplainably drawn to a blurry picture of my brother, I began to feel that, maybe, she was destined to be with Benjamin and therefore, destined to be our Luna.
“I’m sorry, Mina.” I whispered into the phone.
“Just, please tell me.” She replied sadly.
I could feel my friend’s pain and tears of my own began to stream down my face. It has been one struggle after the other for her and I couldn’t help but feel responsible for all of it. I desperately wanted Mina to stop being a prisoner to her past and be free from the shackles that Micheal had placed on her. I wanted her to heal and move on with her life.
As I sat there, sobbing alongside Mina, it became clear to me that the only way to mend what was broken was for her to face the evil that had done it. For her sake and mine, Micheal’s memory had to be dug up.
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***Three years ago***
*“We have to do this again soon!” I blurted out to my friends still in the car as the cab driver dropped me off first.
“Of course, girl! Too bad Mina couldn’t join us.” Misty slurred drunkenly from the back seat.
“I know, right? And she promised she’d come out tonight!” Stephanie replied to her sister. “Ever since she's met Micheal, she doesn’t hang out with us anymore!”
“I know! I’m sorry girls, it’s my fault. I pushed her into his arms!” I cracked up shrugging my shoulders. “Oh well! If it helps, she barely comes home either. I haven’t seen her in a long time.”
The girls booed simultaneously and I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. I really had a great time with them even if I missed my best friend. I was waving goodnight when I noticed Mina’s blue Volvo parked on the street. She hadn’t been home in months and I was very excited to see her again. I opened our door eager to rub all of the fun I’ve had in her face but when my eyes landed on her, my heart sank like a stone.
She was laying on the living room’s floor, shaking. The closer I got to her, the more terrible and pitiful she looked. She had been beaten, that much was clear to see. Every bruise on her body displayed the amount of the abuse that she went through. Both of her eyes were blackened and swollen. The skin on her arms and legs showed nearly no other marks or colour but the black-and-blue ones that covered them.
I tried to talk but no sound could escape my throat. The saltiness from my tears stung my tongue like sharp pieces of glass as I sat next to her, completely helpless.
“Talk to me.” I demanded when I could finally speak again.
Slowly, Mina started telling me everything. The isolation, the beatings, the fear, the verbal abuse and the rapes… she held nothing back from me. Rage and fury came pouring down on me like a torrent and a violent need for revenge shook me to my core. ‘How could he? How dare he? I’m gonna kill him! I’m gonna kill him!’ I could feel my wolf seizing untethered control of me as a crazed thirst for blood dominated the both of us. She wanted him dead and so did I.
“I’m going to kill him.”
I stood up right after promising her vengeance and left. I drove straight to his place with my wolf leading in the forefront. She had decided that before dying, he was going to feel all of the pain he put Mina through, blow for blow. I was expecting to have to burst though his doors to get to him, but to my surprise, Micheal had left all of them wide open. He remained sitting on his couch, beer in hand. As he watched me approach, I could tell that had been waiting for me.
“Took you long enough, Roxy.”
“How could you do that to her?” I spewed out disgusted.
“Do what?” He was grinning sadistically. “Break her, you mean? It’s simple, really. I hit her every day for eight months. I insulted her, I choked her and I raped her until there was nothing more that I could do to her.” He laughed off as he detailed his heinous crimes.
Micheal chugged his beer and bent down to get another. Listening to him speak made me want to rip out his guts and vomit mine all at the same time. Still, I remained stuck in place as he kept talking.
“I couldn’t help myself, really. She was standing in between me and my goals. If I was strong enough, I would’ve paid no attention to her at all but… I mean… she’s so pretty…” He smiled before letting out lungful smile.
“I fell in love with her and- ”
“That’s not love, you psycho!” I screamed in anger.
“You’re right, it’s not!” He immediately returned. “That was anger because I fell for her. She ruined my plans and she’s the only one to blame.”
“You’re a sick fuck, Micheal!”
“Yes. And you’re a terrible friend.”
His words pierced my heart like an arrow to the chest. They rang so true and so loud in my mind that I nearly fell apart.
“I’ve been a sick fuck all my life, Roxy. What’s your excuse?” He cackled cruelly as he stood up and stared me down. “How much did she tell you? Since you’re here to kill me, I’m guessing everything.”
He took a few steps in my direction, keeping his eyes on me.
“You ARE here to kill me, right?” He asked in a playful manner. “Did she tell you that she’s pregnant? Well, I don’t know that she is anymore. She wasn’t sure what to do with the abortion pills so I forced them down her throat, Roxy. Then, I almost killed her. It’s so funny because she wasn’t the one that I wanted dead in the first place.” He laughed in my face, now standing only inches away.
I couldn’t take his vile words anymore and in one swift move, I lunged at him with my claws extended. I had managed to rip into his face and chest when I noticed the change in his eyes. Before I could realize what was happening, Micheal shifted into a huge auburn wolf and tackled me down. He rushed to my face with his mouth wide open but his canines sunk into my right arm instead as I raised it to protect myself. I let out an ear-piercing shriek having never felt such a sharp pain.
My screams alerted the neighbours and their dogs and Micheal quickly disappeared into the night upon hearing their voices. I laid there for a while in complete disbelief. By the time I got back to my friend, my injuries had healed but my mind and soul were both crushed.*
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“I found out that he was a werewolf the night that I confronted him.” I admitted.
Mina cried out a little louder and my heart clenched even more.
“I’m sorry, Mina.”
“Don’t be. You just wanted to protect me, didn’t you?”
“I did.” I sighed back.
“Roxy?”
“Yes?”
“I think…” She paused, uncertain. “I think the rogue Alpha is Micheal.”
“What? How?”
“I saw him when I was at the borders with your brother, today. I really think it’s him.”
“But Micheal’s name is not Miller. It’s Bailey.”
“How can we be sure? He’s a liar, Roxy.”
I thought back to what Micheal had said about his unaccomplished goals. *‘If she’s right, then Micheal is my cousin and I was the one that he truly wanted to kill.*’ I thought to myself still unsure.
“We have to talk to Benji.”
“No, we don’t! At least, not until I’m sure of it.”
“But-”
“Promise me, Roxy. Promise me you won’t say a thing until I figure it out!”
A part of me didn’t want to keep a secret of this magnitude from my brother but I owed it to Mina to help her in any way that I could.
“I promise.” I said softly.