Hunting Haven, Stone Mountain Shifters

Chapter 3 - Haven's Gifts

Haven

I look at the phone in confusion as I hang it up. Willow sounds odd, almost as if she were crying, as she informs me that Remus wants to see me immediately. Normally, when Remus calls for me, my head fills with premonitions or warnings to guide me. The voices are eerily silent right now.

I am currently hidden away in an empty closet in the attic working. Remus doesn't want me to work. He wants me to stay in our rooms as much as possible, but what kind of life would that be? Just some pretty toy for Remus to play with and then put away until he wants me again. I really love Remus, but I wish he would take my wants and needs into consideration sometimes.

My mother warned me early in life about the shallowness and fickleness of males. She was beautiful like me. I am not vain, my beauty is too much, it is a hindrance. Just like my mother's beauty was for her. My mother garnered the admiration of everyone she met. Her kind disposition, paired with her beautiful looks, was a magical combination. The Alpha of her pack, my father, had decided he wanted her for his chosen mate, above his fated mate.

After I was born, which was a miracle in and of itself, my father's fated mate had finally spiraled into insanity and splashed a pot of boiling oil in my mother's face. While mother's shifter healing kicked in and her face healed properly, it drastically changed her looks. She still had her white-blonde hair and her violet eyes, but the shape of her face had changed. Her full mouth had drawn up into thinner lips, her button nose had elongated and her cheeks shifted downward. She still looked like a normal person, but her beauty was gone.

That's when my mother learned that males were shallow. Even though my mother had a perfectly good face, my father was not attracted to her any longer. My father took lovers after that.  Always beautiful females. My mother suffered horribly with what we now know is Cheating Mate Syndrome until a witch helped her rid herself of the mate bond. My father didn't even feel it dissolve.  He didn't care either.   Even though she saved herself from the continued torture and ultimate death caused by CMS, the damage was done to her body. She was never healthy again.

Until her death, she taught me everything I need to know to survive this world. She taught me that other females will envy me and males will desire me; and that I need to be careful who I let close and always watch and prepare.

When I caught the attention of the Alpha, I was very young, only fifteen and my mother was still living, so she guided me. "His attention could change at any time. When a male bases his affection on beauty alone, you have no guarantee of tomorrow. Become independent in secret. Always have a way out. Educate yourself. Keep a secret bank account.  Be clever my darling."

So, I did. I enrolled in college programs online at 15 years old. What my beauty hid from others was my superior intelligence. Again, I am not vain, but I excelled in science and math and was able to get a full online scholarship from Sparksburg College. Before I married Remus, I already had a career as a scientist at the Stone Mountain Genetic Research Institute. I have worked online from this attic space on my laptop for four years. I am limited in what I can do without my own lab, as my hands are tied.   So, I hide my laptop and satellite internet modem beneath the floorboards.

The voices keep me safe. When someone is about to discover my work setup, they warn me. "Someone's coming. Someone's coming." They'd say and I would stow away the things below the floor and spread out my yoga mat. Within minutes, someone would enter my attic sanctuary, while I pretended to do yoga poses. It would usually be someone who needed me for Luna duties as Remus rarely came up here. He didn't really desire my companionship as he never talked to me. It was always about my beauty or my body and how I could please or soothe him.