Chapter 313: 1-3

Kicking the ball along, “hey Chelsea… your cousin has kids my age? Is she my cousin too?” he asked with that confusion and interest I saw all the time in Oakley. “Well… she’s my cousin by our dads, so she isn’t your cousin…” I said softly being honest, he just nodded, “She has kids my age?” he pressed again. “Not exactly, she has triplets, that means three children born at once, and they are a little younger than you, nine years old I believe,” I said pushing brush out of the way to let him and Ava enter Rainy and Chris’ back yard. With a nice sized play ground set surrounded by a meadow until you hit the deck and pool, Kayla was outside playing with the two little girls I knew were Fiona and Quinn, Ava went over, while Ben stayed at my side sniffing the air. Instantly I stilled, my attention on Ben sniffing and on Ava, “you make flowers grow?” she asked confused, pointing at Kayla. . . . Oakley POV I stood still, while a man; similar features of Tera came from behind me, followed by three more, each with slight similarities to Kieran. “Darling?” he asked concerned, I moved away closer to the wall, to be out of the way. “Kieran shifted,” she bawled, but my eyes were really focused on one of the boys, with Kieran’s jaw, “yeah because he was forced to do it,” he said with disdain, but that caught my attention. “Why?” “Wait – why are you boys back so soon?” Mrs. Ryan said, before waving her hands, “Where are my manners, boys this is Tera’s friend, Oakley,” she said my name like it was special, prized which only confused me more. The same boy that had spoken didn’t smile; the other two and Tera’s father gave me soft hello’s. “Oakley this is my husband, Tony,” the man stepped forward, pushing his hand out for me to shake, which I did awkwardly, putting my weight on one of my crutches, “This is my oldest, Connor, he’s eighteen years old,” he gave me a head nod going inside while the rest of us were still on the porch and threshold of their home. His father’s intense gaze followed him but he seemed uninterested to that small fact, but I noted it wondering what was going on. Tera had only spoken of her family briefly and I knew that Kieran had been hurt but I felt like there was much more that I was just missing. “This is Dominic, he’s my sixteen year old,” he came forward less hostile than Connor, “Don’t mind him,” he said softly giving me a small smile entering the house, sleeping bags and a duffle under his arm, “Come in – come in,” Mrs. Ryan gestured, so I hobbled in following Tera while Mr. Ryan closed the door behind us. “So why are you boys back so soon?” she asked them, going to the kitchen, bustling around. Dominic shrugged, his voice light and steady “our wolves told us to come back, the Luna asked that everyone report to the hotel and explain why we are here, so we sorta had to come back, we passed Kieran heading over there.” Mrs. Ryan nodded, “Do – did you,” she eyed her husband, “you think he’ll come here?” I tried to look away, moving my eyes to Tera but she was focused on the question her mother asked. “He better not,” Connor muttered going into the fridge with a glass, pouring himself some milk and two steps from leaving the room before his parents could really answer him, “No wonder he stayed on that hill,” I muttered before I could catch myself, everyone else looking at me with wide eyes. Spinning around Connor let loose a small growl in my direction, “You’re talking about things you don’t understand,” he snapped, the cup in his hand shaking because of his grip. “I think I know exactly what I’m talking about, I had someone just like you back in Middleburg, thinking they knew everything, that they could talk about me and treat me like crap in my own home… until the one place I was supposed to feel safe in felt like a prison, making it so I felt like I couldn’t breathe, each step closer to that place made my stomach turn-” I answered again before I could really understand why I cared. Connor just looked at my walking cast, his eyes filled with the same hatred that Kieran just had. “No one is safe around him, you think you’re the first person he hurt little girl?” my eyebrows knitted close together, frowning at his words. I shook my head, lips frozen for just a minute, before I was able to speak, “Kieran didn’t push me when I went to see him… he isn’t the reason that I fell-” “Fell?” he snorted slack –jawed, “Are you sure about that?” Connor ducked out of the room quickly, Mr. Ryan following him. Swallowing, I turned back to face the others, Dominic averted his eyes after giving me a smaller smile than before, Tera was gazing at me bug-eyed and Mrs. Ryan, frowning – met my eyes before doing as Dominic had. The room had so much extra energy; I could feel it sparking around me, unpleasant. Amelia’s birthday part was the last time I had felt this way, and nothing good came from it. The minute I thought that however, I had a change of mind, that wasn’t true, something great had happened, I was here. "Mrs. Ryan," I called her softly, waiting until she turned around, "He didn't push me. Kieran I mean. I was leaving and he tried to make me stay back with him, but I didn't tell anyone where I went and I had lied. So I tried to climb down myself and slipped," I told her before turning to Tera.