The wolf pile

For the first time in months, Seph woke up in the early morning hours in the middle of a wolf pile. Kayla and Theo draped over her, pinning her to the bed. It felt reminiscent of a sauna, the heat the twins generated. They seemed to forget that they ran at a much higher temperature than she did. Or maybe their desire to make her smell like them overrode the common sense she knew they actually possessed. Seph couldn’t deny that it was nice to wake up to her mates like this. It gave her a feeling of peace and contentment. Plus, her ribs were feeling better already. Despite the wolf lying on them, Kayla can never resist her chest, even if it’s just lying on it while they sleep. Moving the twins off her, ignoring their growls and groans of displeasure, Seph slipped from the bed. She used the bathroom and got herself a drink before getting back into bed; ditching her blanket this time, she nestled down between the twins happily and closed her eyes, falling back to sleep again quickly.

A few hours later, Theo had woken at his usual time and decided that he would skip training and enjoy being able to touch his mate instead. He was lying behind her; his hand slipped under her shirt to lay on her sternum. He decided that he would never again take this for granted. It was the most incredible feeling in the world, waking up with his mate this close. He didn’t know how long he would have left to be this close; he wasn’t sure if she would want him when she woke up. Seph was rightly still incredibly miffed with him, to say the least.

Theo’s thoughts were interrupted by Seph’s heart rate increases; he struggled to get a handle on her emotions for a few moments. She was upset… she didn’t want something to happen, but at the same time, she knew it needed to and wanted to embrace it. Theo wrapped his arms around her as best he could without hurting her. He wished he could take all this away from her. Theo had just laid his head on the pillow, tucking Seph’s under his chin, when the show started in his head.

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~~~~~~~~ Seph’s dream ~~~~~~~~~~~

Seph was on her own on the short edge of a rather large rectangular wooden table in a large, plain room that looked like a typical school gym/ community centre type place. It was the coven gathering space. Right now, the table was pretty empty. Seph was sitting on her chair; her long hair was clearly supposed to be dyed red, but the colour was washed out and faded, the ends of the hair in desperate need of cutting, the rest of her hair greasy. She was dressed in baggy sweatpants and a massive hoodie, but even through them, it was evident that she was tiny and in dire need of feeding up. Her eyes were dead, and her head down. There was a prominent 18th birthday badge pinned to the front of her grubby grey hoodie, though it was clear from Seph’s behaviour that she would never have put it there. Her arms were wrapped around her middle. Theo had not seen her like this except for the occasional day when they first met her. He was grief-stricken at the sight of Seph so depressed again, even if it was clearly a dream about events that happened before he met her. Theo’s attention was drawn from Seph to her parents as their urgent whispering met his ears, he could only hear what Seph could at the time, so he couldn’t make out what they were saying to each other, but her father had that ridiculous, sour puss, furious face on. Oh, how Theo would love the opportunity to punch it off his ugly mug. Clearly, Mark was not happy about being here right now. It looked to Theo as if Seph’s mother at least was trying to stay calm, attempting to calm her husband and reassure her daughter. Even though it was clear she was fighting a losing battle. Clearly, Seph wasn’t talking to anyone or paying the slightest drop of attention; Theo doubted she was truly consciously aware of where she was, and Mark was not going to be calmed by anything less than a drugged whiskey putting him to sleep, perhaps permanently. He might wish for that when Theo was finally through with him. Seph’s parents were dressed immaculately; her mother wore office wear, a black pencil skirt over stockings or tights and heels, a pretty pale pink floral shirt and a black suit jacket. Her father looked like he too was on his way to or had been called from work; he wore a grey suit, white shirt and tie.

After a few minutes, or that is how it felt, five more people filed into the room and took seats around the remaining sides of the table. Seph flinched as they did, pulling herself as far from them as she could without drawing too much attention. Theo was furious to see her that scared. He decided that these were clearly more people he needed to deal with, trying to commit their faces to memory. The man in the middle seemed to be in charge; he dropped a thick file onto the table with a loud, echoing thud in the silent room. Seph jumped again, not having raised her eyes; she wasn’t expecting it. “Oh Peter, really, is there any need to scare the girl,” Mark said jovially. Smiling around the table at the group. Jane was beginning to look anxious now.

“Come now, Mark, we all know this is some kind of act that the girl has concocted for some purpose or other. Who knows what is going on in her abnormal brain?”

“My daughter is not abnormal. This is all just bullying, which has got out of hand, especially since the humans at that school have got involved. Persephone is recovering from her… errors… she sees her mistakes and will not be making any more in the future,” Mark argued. Jane’s face lost all of its colour when she heard what Peter was saying; she couldn’t say anything.

“Mark, are you sure you want to besmirch your own reputation to defend this… this… unnatural mess of a girl?” Mark fell silent at that, considering the options open to him.

“Mark!” Jane hissed, urging him to continue to defend their daughter.

After a moment or two of silence, Seph slowly raised her head, looking from her father, who was clearly thinking of a way to save himself while not looking like he was throwing his daughter under the bus, to her mother. She didn’t know where it came from, but suddenly, she was filled with this surge of energy. She felt connected to the world once more, to Dextra and her magic. She didn’t need a man to stand up for her, and why did she even want to stay here? These people didn’t even like her. What hope did she have of a happy life, living down the street from her rapist for the rest of her life? “Don’t stress, mum, he won’t stand up for me now; Peter told him not to. But that’s fine; I don’t want him to. You see, it’s their loss if they lose me. They need my powers to protect this coven, to lead effectively. But I’m an abomination because I kissed a girl, and you know what? I’m glad I kissed her because I fucking liked it. If there is anything I regret, it is complying with these monkeys. If you don’t drag yourselves into the 21st century, you will die in your sad little box out here. But that is not my problem is it, Peter? If you learn anything from how you have treated me, I hope it is that you should stop victim-blaming and just being someone who doesn’t fit your box; it doesn’t make them wrong or bad.” Seph croaked through the speech, her father glaring daggers at her and her mother trying to get her to sit back down. Theo wanted to cheer for her, finally standing up for herself; he couldn’t imagine how it felt, though, to know that by doing so, you would have to leave the only family you ever knew.

Some of the other elders, particularly the two women, shifted uncomfortably in their seats. But it was Peter who answered back. “Well, Miss Adams, I am glad you have admitted everything. It has saved Miss Johnson the ordeal of a trial and given her a chance to thrive here in our community… without your shadow hanging over her; we thank you for that, at least. As for your sentence, you will be banished and leave the country within 3 days. You may take your belongings and any monies that belong or are owed to you upon your birthday. We recommend a first stop being Scotland or Ireland. You are no longer a member of this coven from this day forward, and from the next time you leave our lands, you will not be allowed back into them. You will not be permitted contact with any member of this coven or any other, except for letterbox contact with your parents. Is this understood?” Seph nodded defiantly. She didn’t want to be a part of the coven anymore, she didn’t want to be stuck here, and there was no one here to stay in contact with, so why would that bother her? No one had really done much for her. Her mother tried, but what would be the point until she was ready to do something about her own life?

“Peter, please, she’s only just 18 today. She’s my daughter, and you cant banish her yet. She hasn’t even finished school, Peter. Show her some mercy,” Jane begged pathetically.

“No, mother, leave it. I do not want to stay where I am not wanted or respected. I will pack and leave,” Seph said before leaving the building. The door slammed shut behind her. She could feel the connection to the coven break as it did, it was something undefinable, something she had never really noticed before, but the lack of it was a little disorientating for a while.

The dream seems to skip a few hours. Now Theo is watching Seph pack clean and dirty clothes thrown into the cases on her bed. Jane brings in a small pile and clean clothes and sets them silently on her desk; it’s clear that the woman has been sobbing. Seph gives her a hug “look, don’t worry about me; I’ll be back one day; I can feel it. I’m going to be ok; I just know it, alright.” Jane seems beyond words; she simply nods and leaves the room. Theo now sees Seph is only wearing a towel, her hair pulled into braids tightly and still wet. She dresses quickly, and Theo’s rage is quickly rekindled when he sees just how thin she is, only this time, he doesn’t have a specific target beyond that coven. Seph takes a last look around the almost empty room and heads out. Everything goes black for a moment; the next thing Theo notices, Seph is in the back of a car driven by a silent Mark, who was clearly still fuming. The bastard didn’t talk to her at all. He threw her out at the train station, not even a port or airport? Like seriously? How hard would that have been? He threw an envelope at her once she had her cases and bags and nodded at her, getting back in his car and driving off without a backward glance. Theo knew he had never tried to make contact; Seph would get despondent about how her parents could forget her so quickly after 18 years. It was hard to watch and hard to comfort her at these times.

The images seemed to stop here, Seph’s body relaxing back into a peaceful sleep. She would usually be up by now, it was gone 9am, but the doctor had said that she was still recovering from everything and would likely need to rest more. Theo curled into her back tighter “I promise you, my princess, my little butterfly, my angel, my light and my future, I will make sure that they can never hurt you again, that you will never be hurt like that again if I have any say in the matter. I’d rather destroy the world than see you like that again. You are mine, and I will love, cherish and protect you forever.”