Filed To Story: Their Bullied and Broken Mate by Teri Petry
*Melian POV*
I can’t believe I was thrown into this room against my will. I get it, I’m all casted up and in a wheelchair, but that doesn’t mean I am helpless. I am beyond pissed and I’m sure I’m being irrational, but I’m about to become Luna, and I’m sitting in a fucking bunker doing nothing. I have already ticked off Rebecca, and I’m sure Jenna will be next, but I can’t control it. Ruby is stressed and is talking about forcing a shift. I have got to get out of this room. “Mel! Stop pacing in that chair! I’m already a nervous wreck and you are making it worse. The babies are sensing the tension and you acting like a mad woman!” Rebecca barked. My nephew, Maddix, started to reach for me, and Jenna sat him in my lap. Maddix was such a sweet boy, and just being around him made everyone feel better. He just had this aura about him that calmed even the angriest person. He cuddled up in my lap and played with his little toy, and I started to calm down, and started a conversation with Jenna. Eric had always made sure that I had very limited contact with Jenna, and she only knew what my family had told her.
“You know, Mel, you aren’t as weak as Eric made you seem. You aren’t ignorant either. I’m sorry I judged you by what he told me. I was blinded to how he really was when we first found each other. I thought the goddess had sent me the man of my dreams, and after our mating ceremony and we marked each other, he became the nightmare I wanted to escape. When I got pregnant with Maddix, I barely saw him. He was either ‘out with the guys’ or with his dad and brothers doing goddess knows what to you. After I had Maddix, he beat me so badly one night because I confronted him about his ‘boys nights’. I knew he was out sleeping with other women. I felt it through the bond, and he thought he could get away with it. It was that night that he admitted he screwed anything and everything that would let him. He also told me about how the guys in your family enjoyed abusing and torturing you. I had been planning a way out ever since. I had to pretend everything was hunky dory, but it was far from that. Every dime I could get my hands on I would hide away. About a week before….you know….*sigh*…he found my stash. If I hadn’t had Maddix in my arms, he probably would have killed me right there. He told me that Maddix was the only one keeping me alive, because he needed his mother. I think Maddix is the only person Eric ever truly loved. I’m sorry that I didn’t try and help you when I found out what him and your dad had planned, but I couldn’t.” Jenna cried as she explained.
It took a moment for me to let everything she said sink in, and when it did, I held her hand. “Jenna, I don’t blame you. You never got the chance to know me, and when you were around at family functions, I had to pretend everything was this perfect fairytale family. I was instructed not to divulge too much personal information and to only speak when spoken to, and was watched like a hawk by not only my stepmother, but staff. Once everyone left, I would be thrown back into my room and they would dare to leave. Once the boys graduated, school was the only place I could find peace from them, but walked into the shit storm named Lisa. Then we all know what happened before Jason saved me and brought me here.
It’s the past, and they are no longer a threat to me or you. Hell to anyone anymore. I hope that we can build the relationship we should have always had. You have no family, and all I have is what is here. Plus, I think Rebecca would also love another girl in the mix.” I said to her. She smiled and gave a slight nod.
As we chatted, Ruby started to get very anxious. “Zeus is angry. We need to go to them. They need us,” she kept repeating. I looked at Jenna, as I handed the now sleeping Maddix to her, “I need your help. I have to get out of here. Ruby is about to force a shift because Zeus and Loki are extremely angry and Loki is about to lose control. Please help me Jen.” She stood up and walked over to Rebecca. She whispered into her ear and they both practically ran back to me.
“Mel, you can’t let Ruby shift. Your leg and arm are still in casts,” Rebecca pleaded. “Becca, I don’t think I can stop her. She is persistent and I haven’t learned how to keep her under control. She’s also much stronger than I am,” I explained. Fur started to sprout on my skin, and my snout started to elongate. I looked at my sister-in-laws with fear in my eyes and Rebecca ran to the guards and demanded they let me out before I fully shifted and scared the kids. They wanted to argue until Jenna rolled me up to them and they could see exactly what was happening. “OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!” I commanded.
The guards instantly submitted, revealing their necks and apologized. They both fought to get the door open and Rebecca pushed me out onto the porch. She stayed with me until I was fully shifted. The casts on my arm and legs were shredded during the transformation. I started to run towards the chaos without any issues. It was as if I never had broken bones. I saw Nick in the distance fighting with the Royal guards and our warriors. He was struggling with 4 enemy wolves, and I made a split decision to go help. I had no clue how to fight in a war like this, but I wasn’t going to let him fight alone.
Ruby and Hopper, Nick’s wolf, fought through wolf after wolf. Hopper would get the best of them and toss them to Ruby to finish off. They worked great as a team, but something went wrong. Terribly wrong. As Ruby was finishing off a large gray wolf, Nick was attacked by 3 very large wolves. By the time Ruby was able to fight them off, Nick laid lifeless on the ground.
A chunk of his throat had been bitten off and he had bled to death almost instantly. Ruby released an agonizing howl at the loss of her good friend, and her mate’s cousin. Her howl attracted the attention of Blood Moon warriors and those who could come running to her aid were by her side in seconds. Timmy had shifted back to his human form and ran to Nick.
He also let out an agonizing scream and picked up the Gamma and carried him to the steps of the pack house. He gently laid him at the bottom and shifted back into his wolf, Garrett. Garrett fought next to Ruby and the warriors and after a short time, they stood victorious. Ruby walked to her friend, and stood over his lifeless body, guarding Nick until her mates arrived to find out that he was gone. When she finally saw Liam, she fought back her emotions until she saw him break. Jason brought her a covering and she shifted back into her human form. She ran to hug him and they both collapsed. “I’m sorry, I tried…” was all she could muster to say. He held her tight and they laid on the ground crying in pain about their loss.
Loss
*Loki POV*
After the explosion, Zeus controlled everything I did. I had to carry Rico to the hospital in full run mode, and after I knew he was in safe hands, I took off to try and locate Callum, Lisa and George. I probably, in hind sight, should have called for reinforcements to go with me, but I had tunnel vision. To find the trio before they leave the Blood Moon borders.
I ran back to the cell house and went around to the back. I saw the back security door was open and there were tracks going into the woods. There were some guards searching along the edge and I called for them to follow me. I shifted to Zeus, and sniffed out the scent of blood. I ran in the direction it was coming from and came upon a mutilated body. From the scent of the body, I knew it wasn’t one of our pack members. Upon investigation, we discovered that it was Uncle George. Why would Callum kill his Beta? Things were getting weirder, and I had to get back to Liam to let him know the situation.
We knew where Callum would go, and we would go after him. I told the guards who came with me to clean up the body, and put it in the hospital morgue. I wanted Dr. Flores to look it over to see if there was anything odd. I know I was probably overthinking, but I wanted to be thorough too. I shifted back to Zeus and ran to the pack house. I wasn’t expecting to see what I stumbled upon.
Liam and Mel lay over Nick’s lifeless body. I shifted back to my human form and approached them to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me. “Ni…Nick? Is he…?” I asked with tears forming in my eyes. Liam stood up and grabbed me in a tight hug, and just kept sobbing and repeating, “He’s gone Lok!” I fell to my knees and let the tears flow. My body was shaking from grief and I growled at anyone who came near me. Nick was not only my cousin, but my best friend. He understood me almost better than my twin, and I could tell him anything. Who would I confide in now? Who would be there to calm me when I was raging?
Nick was that person for me, and I don’t think he knew exactly how much I appreciated him for it. Melian walked over to me and got down on her knees in front of me. She cupped my face with her hands and made me look at her. She was also crying, and she whispered, “My love, you aren’t alone. You never will be. I know you loved Nick, and he loved you too. He will be with you always, and when you are feeling alone and missing your best friend, I want you to think about the time you had together. No one can take your memories from you, and together we can find a way to keep them alive.” I grabbed her and pulled her to me.
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.