The three she-wolves blocked my path to the bathroom on the stairway’s landing. In the middle was Tonya, Felix’s most recent ex, clad in a red dress so tight it looked painted on. She had olive skin, deep brown eyes and long, bone-straight black hair. Flanking her were Calix’s ex, Avery, in a blue sequin mini dress with her shoulder-length light blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin, and Alex’s ex, Sandra, with her long vibrant red hair, green eyes and light sprinkling of freckles across rosy skin. Sandra wore a micro-mini dark green velvet dress. Currently all six eyes had turned black and were filled with envy and hatred. All three outfits were splattered with my vomit.
“I’m so so so sorry, girls,” I said feebly.
“For stealing our boyfriends or for ruining our clothes?” Bellowed Sandra.
“I didn’t steal them, they’re my mates and they chose to break up with you!” I retorted. “I’m sorry for the clothes!” I specified, my temper rising.
“You little bitch!” Cried Sandra trying to grab me by my wrist. I was furious now too. My wolf was snarling, jealous and threatened and outraged. I snatched my hand away from Sandra and literally growled at her, baring my canines. Something the old Chasity or perhaps, Charity, would have never done.
Sandra recoiled a little. Tonya and Avery glared. “So you think you’re hot stuff now, huh, you think you’re actually worth something now?!” Spat Avery.
“Not a chance!” Added Sandra venomously.
I rolled my eyes.
“You should have heard the horrible things they used to say about you!” Said Tonya.
That actually made me a little worried. My eyes widened a bit
“Didn’t they tell you all the awful stuff they said about you to everyone including us?” Asked Sandra in mock innocence.
“Especially us!” Corrected Avery.
That stung a little. Had the triplets insulted me behind my back? They used to do so to my face but this felt worse somehow like they must have truly disliked me. Tonya smirked.
“Felix would go on and on about how fat and pathetic you were! How your cooking sucks and you always gave attitude as a maid when you should just be grateful that their parents let your poor ass stay in the pack house,” snarled Tonya.
“Alex thought you were ungrateful too and that you didn’t deserve to live in the pack house because you had no respect for any of them and were entitled!” Growled Sandra.
“Calix said you broke his nose when you were little but still constantly played the victim as if you were so innocent when you were just as vicious if not more!” Hissed Avery.
I took a deep breath, fighting back tears. The girls seemed satisfied.
“Alex, Baby!” Squealed Sandra suddenly, tossing her long flaming red hair. “Look at what this brat did to me!” She shrieked, gesturing towards her dress.
My heart plummeted. For one horrifying second, I thought Alex was rushing up the stairs to cormfort Sandra. He would take her in his arms and say she was beautiful right in front of me and then my heart would break. It would shatter. Alex bounded up the stairs and my wolf and I waited terrified. He came to us and snatched me up, enveloping me in his arms.
“Little Luna!” He murmured against my skin, his face buried in my neck. “Are you ok? What happened? Where’d you run off to?”
“I had to use the bathroom,” I said softly.
“Did you?” He asked. I shook my head. Alex spotted the open door behind the three she-wolves on the landing leading to a white-tiled bathroom.
“Excuse us, ladies,” he said politely but indifferently.
“Alex!” Shrieked Sandra. “She vomited on us!” Cried Sandra, disgusted.
“She’s sick,” said Alex matter-of-factly, “and if you hadn’t blocked her way to the bathroom you wouldn’t have gotten vomited on.”
“You hated her! You called her a burden and…” screeched Sandra.
“ENOUGH!” Said Alex loudly in his Alpha voice. The three girls stiffened. “Move, now!” They were compelled to obey and fled downstairs. Alex took me into the bathroom and locked the door. I made him face the wall while I used the bathroom. I washed my hands and then Alex made me wash my face and sip some water. He patted my head with a cool damp towel. My skin was flushed and my head ached. He carried me down the stairs. He got some ibuprofen for me. I took that.
“How’s she feeling?” Came a soft high-pitched voice. I was sitting on the kitchen counter and Alex was holding me firmly by the waist so I would not fall over. The room still swam before my very eyes but it no longer spun round and round haphazardly.
I looked in the direction that the voice had come from: Roxie, Felix’s ex girlfriend prior to Tonya. I sighed.
“She’s doing ok,” said Alex, smiling.
“Could I talk to her for a minute?” Asked Roxie sheepishly. I tried to hide in Alex’s jacket.
“I’ll be right in the pantry looking for a snack for you. You need to eat something!” Said Alex.
“Help yourself! You know where everything is!” Encouraged Roxie.
Roxie sat on the counter next to me. I looked away from her, focused on siting up straight. Mina and Tina had been driven home after they both drunkenly fell off the porch and into the snow and they had needed to get out of their cold wet things.
“I know Tanya, Sonia and…Avalon,” she began, somewhat unsure of herself.
“None of those names are right,” I said frankly.
She grinned. “Well you know who I mean, those girls, they were giving you a tough time. That was how it always was when you were dating one of the triplets. Girls would be so jealous. They’d be catty, calling me names, messing with my clothes while I was in the gym shower and they even sabotaged my art piece for the fair. They slashed the painting up,” said Roxie.
I looked at her my mouth agape. “But, you’re popular! You’re outgoing! You’ve always had…friends, money!” I said waving my hands all over this colossal house. “You’re pretty,” I mumbled, feeling self-conscious.
“None of those things made any difference. Everyone hoped to be Luna and they acted crazily over it. Alex’s girlfriend at the time, my friend Clair dealt with the same thing. So did Rosie! She was Calix’s girlfriend,” Roxie explained. “But people who behave that way aren’t worth your time. Any self-respecting girl would let go when a guy meets his mate.”
“Why did you and Felix break up?” I asked.
Moxie smiled. “I met my mate, Deacon,” she said, her eyes lighting up. “And Felix was so happy for me. He really was. He hoped to find his mate soon too! He was never quiet about how much he wanted to meet her.”
I had never gotten the point of werewolf relationships where you know you’ll have to break up because the person isn’t your mate but to each his own. I felt a little insecure that Moxie broke up with Felix and not the other way around.
“Also, the relationship wasn’t perfect, we did fight. We’d argue a lot. He called me Charity by accident like twice,” she said laughing about it now and shaking her head. “So I’m not surprised.”
I blushed and looked away. “You were only seventeen at the time and Felix and I were twenty. We had dated back in high school for a bit when I was head cheerleader and he was the star quarterback. People seemed to like us being together but we weren’t compatible. He broke up with me and we both dated other people until aged twenty when we got back together pretty unexpectedly. I was livid that he was like obsessed with this little maid girl that lived in his house, no offence. Ugh, that sounds so snobby and awful saying it out-loud like that,” said Roxie, covering her face. “He was always either whining about something wrong you’d did or how you looked at him as if he were a monster or how you didn’t respect him. Then he would call me by your name sometimes. Then I found it!” She exclaimed with such vigour I jumped a little.
“Found what?” I asked, holding my breath for some reason.
“The painting,” said Roxie to herself more than to me, her eyes faraway. “The painting of you looking all sullen and forlorn in your hand-me-downs sitting on the pack house porch steps. I mean you were always a pretty girl,” admitted Roxie offhandedly making me blush. “But you were so sour!” She exclaimed. “But now I get it! Who could blame you? After everything you’ve been through. Felix was terrified you would reject him as a mate and say no to the marriage proposal. He was scared he’d wake up one day and you’d just be gone no explanation, no note, no apology, noting.”
“Felix told you all of this?” I whispered.
She nodded. “I hope you’re not upset. I mean we’ve been friends for years and years even before high school. I’m Beta Keaton’s daughter, didn’t you know that?
No, I didn’t!
“Beta Keaton seems in his late thirties,” I mumbled. He looked too young to have a twenty-one year old daughter.
She laughed. “Oh you know werewolves always look young,” she said with a wave of her hand as though it were old news.
I felt a little bit better about Tonya, Sandra and Avery being so jealous and angry but I also felt overwhelmed. The triplets had a whole life that I felt I wasn’t privy to. Their time with me was like a private little fantasy world. I sighed.
“You’re sobering up,” said Alex softly, walking in with a tray of snacks: brownies, chips with dip, soft pretzels and mini croissants some filled with Nutella and others savoury with crab salad.
“Where’d you get all this?” I chuckled.
“Charlista picked some stuff,” Alex said.
“Charlista?” I asked.
“Our housekeeper,” said Moxie, Roxie’s younger sister, who walked into the kitchen at that moment followed by Calix and Felix.
“Chasity! Are you ok?” Calix asked, coming up to me and stroking my hair.
“Baby! Where’d you run off to? What happened? I missed you,” Felix said rushing forwards and kissing my forehead over and over again.
“It took you ages to notice I was missing,” I said in a small voice.
Felix grinned at me. “Fine. Let me have it then,” said Felix, opening his arms widely.
“What?!” I squeaked, surprised at his words.
Felix chucked. “Yell at me,” he said. “It’ll make you feel better.”
“No,” I said stiffly, shaking my head.
He pressed his forehead to mine. “Chasity,” he grumbled in his deep voice. He pressed his lips to my forehead again.
“Come on, little party animal, it’s time to go home,” said Calix, winking.
Alex carried me to the car holding me bridal style cradling my head to his chest. I sat in the back seat in silence. Alex drove. Felix was in the passenger seat and Calix was next to me.
“So you’re not gonna talk to us?” Asked Calix. Felix and Alex looked back at me.
“Don’t you have girls to be winking at, Calix?” I said. Calix frowned.
“And Felix don’t you have any more parties thrown by your exes to go to or attended by your exes? I asked. Felix squirmed a little.
“And Alex don’t you have more pack knowledge to share with a crowd of admiring girls while I stumble off by myself at the party you three wanted me to go to?” I said. Alex looked at me through the rearview mirror.
“The three of you were so furious when my hair tie smelled like another guy and yet I’m supposed to be fine and dandy with your huge fan clubs. Where are the boundaries? You discussed me with you ex Felix. You talked to her about me being your mate and about you proposing!” I snapped.
Alex was pulling into the driveway of the pack house.
Felix was quiet and so was Calix.
“Aren’t you even going to say anything?” I asked.
“You’re just a little tip hungover and you’re emotional. Let’s all go to sleep. Everything will be fine,” said Alex.
I opened the door forcefully and hopped out into the snow. I sank into the crunchy snow. It was knee-deep! I shivered. I had on a thin pair of stockings under my mini black dress.
“Chasity!” Alex called, upset that I had not waited to be carried but I was already moving as quickly as I could through the mounds of snow and shivering all the way. I climbed the porch steps with some difficulty and went to my room, my downstairs bedroom.
Felix followed. “You know you’re not allowed in here by yourself since the kidnapper showed up,” he said in a no nonsense tone.
“I want to take a bath in my tub that’s all,” I said quietly.
“There are many bathtubs upstairs, Chasity,” said Felix blankly.
“I just need a minute. Just one minute,” I said. My wolf was angry at me. She felt I was acting childishly. Felix seemed exasperated. Calix seemed indifferent to how upset I was about the winking. Alex was treating me like a petulant child. The Luna hated me and I knew she had something to do with that kidnapper. Felix sighed.
“Ok,” he left the room.
I was not certain what madness gripped me. Perhaps it was the alcohol, my childhood issues, the triplets’ exes harassing me, me being afraid of the Luna who I was made to still live with. I did not know what was the exact cause. It was probably the combination. When I had first come to live with the triplets and their parents when I was only nine, I would go sit on the roof to feel closer to my parents. I felt we were looking at the same moon and thinking of each other. I would go up to the attic and climb out onto the roof to be closer to the moon and thus closer to my parents. I left the bathroom and went up the stairs. There were two pack guards right outside my bedroom door probably put there by Felix. They nodded respectfully to me and I did the same. I crept up the staircase. I could hear the triplets discussing something. I could even differentiate their voices by the intonation.
“She’s just stressed, it’s all too much for her…” said Alex.
“What do we do?” Asked Calix.
“Can’t we take her back to the beach? All this stress isn’t healthy for her?” Felix suggested.
“We can’t be like runaway Alphas always on vacation. We have so many pack matters to…” Alex’s voice faded as I went up to the attic.
It was dusty there. I sneezed. It was spooky with all its ornaments and statues covered in white sheets. I found a light. It flickered on. It was dim but allowed me to see the familiar circular window. I pushed it open. There was a very small balcony there that was more for decor that functionality. I climbed onto it. It was creakier than I remembered. The moon was full. She was so beautiful. My wolf and I felt relieved instantly. I gazed at the beautiful moon surrounded by her silvery stars. I sighed. I got lost in it, the moon and her ethereal beauty. I lost track of time. I heard a sudden series of thud-like heavy footsteps. Felix come to freak out about me being missing for more than five minutes. I smiled. It was cold so I wouldn’t mind Felix warming me up. Five minutes and I already missed the warmth and smells of the triplets.The heavy thuds got a little louder. I stiffened. The smell was not like Felix’s smell. He smelled of sea salt and coconuts like an island. This smell was sharp, medicinal almost. A slimy colourless liquid dropped onto my shoulder. I recoiled. I turned around slowly and there it was.
A huge wolf crouched on the roof, saliva slipping down its jaw, as its heavy paws thudded on the snow-topped roof. I could see my breath in the cold air. My view grew hazy. I was in no position to shift and this wolf was at least twice my wolf’s size. My wolf whimpered. She wanted me to scream for the triplets but I knew if I screamed the very agitated wolf might go for the jugular and rip my throat out. Before I had to make any difficult decision, human arms grabbed me and pressed a cloth to my mouth. Chloroform. Darkness engulfed me as the angry wolf faded from view.