Myths & Rejections

Chapter 15 - Troubling Signs

Word Count : 5042

Adam felt sick with every chop of the axe, he stood frozen watching Harper mercilessly hack the bodies into pieces. She didn't hesitate a second, there were small splatters of blood on her arms and even her face, but she kept at it without the slightest hesitation. He'd burned his share of rogue bodies, but this was almost too much for him, he couldn't understand how she was doing it so casually.

"How can you stand that?" Adam said, finally turning away, fighting to keep from vomiting his breakfast onto the sand. "How many of these things have you chopped up?"

"I went to medical school." Harper said with a snort. "I cut up cadavers every day. This isn't anywhere close to that, but medical school will take away any of your squeamishness. I've only helped chop up a couple of these things, most of the time Mattie gets them in the ocean, and he just draws the sharks to them to take care of the bodies. But we found a few on uninhabited islands off the coast and got rid of them before any casual boaters could find them."

"How did you find them on uninhabited islands?" Adam asked, picking up an arm that Harper had just hacked off and placing it in the cart Harper had brought with them. "Goddess, I'm starting to feel like Dexter with the body chopping."

"They smell, Mattie can pick up their scent for miles." Harper chuckled hearing the Dexter reference, she felt kinda like that now that he mentioned it. "They are kinda like feral rogues that way, they smell like death. Mattie hunts them almost every day, just to make sure they stay clear of our waters and are not a danger to anyone. Usually they stay far out away from populated areas, it's scary that they are so close, and that they actually came ashore here, the lights should have scared them off, even a mating pair trying to get on land should have passed by this island. Especially since there are smaller uninhabited ones close by."

They finally finished up with the bodies and headed toward the dock where Matt kept his boat. Adam had been quiet for a while but finally worked up the courage to ask.

"I know you won't give Reese the time of day since you have Matt, but I was wondering if you'd ever give Callum another chance?" Adam asked.

"No." Harper said firmly.

"Harper, he's your brother..." Adam started.

"Exactly." Harper interrupted. "I don't wish him harm or unhappiness, but I don't want him in my life. I don't trust him, and I don't believe he's changed."

"But he has changed!" Adam exclaimed. "Harper, he regrets what he did more than you know."

"Abusers always regret it, Adam." Harper told him. "They always do, but it doesn't change them. He did it for years. He was my brother, we were so close before Mom and Dad died, but he turned on me for no fucking reason. I was just a kid! You don't know half of the hell he and Reese put me through, you only saw what happened at school, do you think that shit stopped when you weren't around? No. It didn't. The only time it stopped was when the alpha and Luna were there."

"What did they do?" Adam asked quietly.

"What didn't they do? Pushing, shoving, knocking me to the ground, kicking, slapping, punching, twisting my arms out of socket, slamming my face into the wall...take your pick." Harper returned. "It wasn't just mean words, Adam, it wasn't just insults. Do you think the bruises and cuts just appeared by themselves? At first, they only did it around queen Charla, to impress her, but after a while they did it whenever they could. I had to hide from them in my own house! So don't ask me to forget that and open my arms to him. He doesn't deserve a second chance, and I'm not giving him one. I'm not stupid enough to do that. I've seen what happens when victims forgive and forget, I've seen children lose their mothers, mothers lose their children to violence, I'm not going to make the same mistake."