Filed To Story: Secret with Betas Daughter: Skylar Story Series
I laugh and start giving her directions. We eat and head to her place which just so happens to be at the end of our block. “I didn’t realize your aunt and uncle were some of our lead warriors. That would explain your fighting skills. I guess I never really asked about you today, sorry about that.”
I look down at my lap as I sit on her bed as she digs through her closet.
“Don’t worry about it, we have plenty of time to get to know each other. And what I want to know right now is what do you mean you don’t do parties because you don’t have friends’? You’re not going to just slide that into conversation and hope no one heard it.”
I cringe. After I said it, I felt like I was whining.
“Exactly that, I do not have friends, I don’t go to parties, no one chooses to hang out with me. They mostly choose to avoid me. It’s been like that for a long time. You are the first person I have had more than one conversation in a row that wasn’t in school about an assignment or at training.”
I shrug. It’s weird though when I used to think that stuff to myself it hurt, but I feel nothing now, like I am numb to the fact that I am avoided unless absolutely necessary by my peers. That can’t be good.
“That’s a lot to unpack and I have a feeling the silver laced whip marks on your back fall into this same story too, right?
“Wait, what? How did you know they were silver laced whip marks?”
I’m stunned, that’s oddly specific knowledge to just guess and I told Delta Kyle by accident over mindlink today. No one else knows.
“I will allow the topic to change, but we are going to circle back to the friends thing. My parents are chemists. I already told you they work for our Alpha King. Many of the things they work on are chemical weapons and antidotes for war.”
I flinch at the thought that her parents make things to harm other wolves, things like the silver powder that was rubbed into my wounds. “Don’t look at me like that. They aren’t bad people, but they have seen bad things. It’s their job to know the worst things that could be done to our Alphas and the Alpha king and be able to stop it or reverse it. Sometimes they have had to reverse engineer some of the things used in battles. That’s one of the reasons I am here, my parents are on some mission I don’t even have details about. It wasn’t safe for me to be alone, but it would be odd if I stayed with people in my pack for too long since I normally stay by myself when they travel. So staying with family was the best cover for my protection.”
She leans back out of her closet and attempts to glare at me, but her happy features don’t really do that look. “This goes without saying, but keep that to yourself.
“You just met me, why would you trust me with that information?
“Because, you have been taking beatings for something you didn’t do and clearly no one knows, and those who suspect can’t get the truth out of you. You have integrity and loyalty, though your lack of self interest concerns me a bit.”
She giggles. “So tell me, why is someone using some of the worst forms of torture on you? You don’t strike me as a boyfriend stealer, a cheater, or a liar. Which means you are a threat, and I think you don’t even know it.
“I’m not sure what I did to gain the constant negative attention, but the who’ isn’t important. It started when I stepped in to protect another, younger, student from some bullying and it has just escalated over time.”
I shrug.
“Is that the same line Delta Kyle let you get away with too?”
She raises an eyebrow, but she is still smiling at me.
“Maybe.”
I shrug again and look at my lap. I feel like she is just warming up and I am really going to have to choose my words carefully with her. She could be an interrogator.
“So, back to the no friends thing. Care to explain?”
She tries on her third coat and is twirling in front of her full length mirror. “From what I have seen you are great and genuine and I am an excellent judge of character.”
She huffs and throws the coat into a pile on the chair of her vanity and goes back in her closet.
“It’s complicated. And it’s just easier to not get close to people, with everything going on. I don’t want anyone else as a target just because they decided to be friends with me. My brother will take the next beta title and I will take whatever rank my mate gives me. I’m nothing special and don’t have anything to offer. You’ll see, the only reason you lasted this long is because you are new and haven’t figured out the teen hierarchy here. You are gorgeous and have already gotten the attention of my brother and his friends ”
I let the and you’ll move on and forget me’ thought hang in the air.
“You have not met any real friends then. This b*tch won’t scare me away and the way I saw you fight today, I’m surprised you let anyone treat you poorly, let alone physically harm you.”
She grabs a hat that matches the bright red peacoat she chose and does another twirl in the mirror. “I can’t believe that your alphas or even your brother haven’t stepped in.
“I told you it’s complicated. They don’t know about stuff like the whipping and anything else is not worth their time. If I can’t fight my own simple battles, I’m not worth the time or the effort. I’m a beta by blood and should be strong enough to handle my problems without running to them with every little problem. Some levels of minor bullying are tolerated by my brother and his friends. It’s a survival of the fittest mentality.
“Then they are all d*cks and not worthy of leading in my opinion. But, they probably don’t know half of what you put up with based on the scars you carry on the outside. The inside scars, though, they wouldn’t have a clue, they’re guys, that’s just stupid territory for them.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, long and hard. She wasn’t wrong. The emotional turmoil in my head was worse than anything that has been done to me physically. “So let’s make you look and feel as hot as you are tonight and see what we can find out from these boys.
“Wait, what are you talking about? I am not hot and what do you want to find out from which boys?”
Now I was scared. She was looking at me like a predator looks at its prey.
“I saw how each of those boys looked at you today at training and again after school. You are not as invisible as you may think and I am going to prove it to you. Even your brother was impressed at training.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.