Scarred Strength

Chapter 9

Kestrel's POV

I carefully examined her wounds. "What happened?" I ask her. If my brother did this I will kick his ass to New Mexico.

"I don't know if I'm ready to say." She whimpers. I nod and hold her shoulders gently. "Okay, I understand."

She bites her lips and turns around. "Want a drink of water?" I ask. She nods and we walk over to the bench.

I pull out a bottle of water for her and she gladly takes it. I pull out a bottle for me and sip at the water.

I look at her and she was crying. "What's wrong?" I ask her. "I don't deserve your hospitality." She whispers.

"Why not?" I question. Of course she deserves this! She is just a beautiful lost soul who needs guidance. We have that here.

"I was just an injured wolf on the run and you took me in with open arms, you had no idea who I was."

I hug her with one arm gently. "I know you were a hurt soul that needed our help that we were willing to give."

She wipes away her tears and hugs me back. "Thank you Kestrel." I smile "Anytime Tundra."

Tundra's POV

I tried my best to stop crying and I eventually did. Once we were done out break, we got back up and started training. After a while I was getting the hang of defense. Kestrel smiled.

"You're getting good." She said.

I but my lip and looked down. No one has ever complimented me before.

"Let's keep training." Kestrel changes the subject.

"Okay." I reply.

Now she kicks at me and I easily stop them. Every once in a while she'd throw a punch and I would block that. Once she was finished she smiled brightly.

"You are making some real progress Tundra." She breathed as she grabbed her water bottle and drank from it.

"Um, thanks." I said softly.

I noticed my sleeve was going up a bit and you could see the terrible scars from the knife the beta cut me with. I quickly pulled down my sleeve, hoping to not be noticed. However, I wasn't that lucky.

"Tundra, did someone hurt you?" Kestrel asks worriedly.

I shook my head, hoping she would believe me even though I was lying.

"This isn't a game! You tell me who hurt you and I'll put them in their place!" Kestrel growled.

I shook my head again and started shaking.

"We are telling Ash." She stated as she gently grabbed my wrist and went off to find her brother.

Kestrel's POV

"Ash! Drop everything, we need to talk with you." I screamed into the walls of his mind.

I pulled Tundra behind me and opened Ash's door. He sat at his desk waiting for us.

"Did you know about this?" I pointed to Tundra's wrists. He nods and looks at the ground.

I let go of Tundra's wrist and stare at him with wide eyes. "Are you fucking kidding?" I march over to him.

"I may be younger than you but I will still kick your ass for lying to me." I lean my hand on his chair, still towering over him.

"She is like a sister to me so never, ever leave me out of things like this or I swear to god I will hurt you."

I let go of his chair and storm out of his room. I walk down to my room and slam the door.

I sit down at my vanity and look at my reflection. I take out the hair tie and let my hair fall.

There is only one thing that can calm me right now. I change into some random clothes.

I open my door and go to the front room. I open the door to outside and shift into my wolf.

I run into the forest then shift into a human again. I look for my favorite tree.

Then I see it, it has branches sticking out from every end of it, and it's quite tall.

I climb the tree until I get above most of the others. I sit on a branch and stare at the afternoon sky.

The sun rays hit my skin and I relax. I hear sticks and leaves crunch below. I look down and my eyes widen.

About ten werewolves stand in their human form below me. "Alpha! We have a message for your brother!"

"You're from the Red River Clan." I mutter. "You have something of ours, and we'd like it back."

Tundra.

"Tell him that if he gives it to us, nobody gets hurt." The leader of the group says.

"I haven't got the clue what you're talking about." I lie. "Tell him!" The leader demands.

"We have nothing!" I like once again. They can have Tundra over my dead body!

"Liar!" The leader throws down his arms and a delta raises his arms. Then I realize that he is holding a bow.

The arrow in it is silver tipped and coated in wolfsbane. He shoots and I throw myself off the tree.

I hit a few branches on my way down and hit the ground. I groan in agony and look up.

The pack shifts into wolf form and is barreling towards me. I'm too hurt to shift right now.

Instead I run.

Tundra's POV

I just stood there, not knowing what I should say or do. Ash gets up and walks over to me.

"Tundra, please tell me who did this so I can help you." Ash begs.

"N-no, I can't..." I whimpered.

"Please Tundra! I hate seeing you in pain and fear!" He cried.

"You don't understand! What they did to me, what they said to me!" I shouted.

"Then please explain." Ash says.

"I-I can't..." I sobbed.

Ash came over and hugged me. Surprisingly I didn't flinch. I sobbed in his chest as he carefully and soothingly rubbed my back. Oddly, I felt safe in his arms. Suddenly he stopped and went ridged.

"Rogues." He growled as he exited the room. I was scared and confused so I stayed in there. I didn't want to be the next prey of some rogues. I sat in the bed and eventually laid down and fell asleep.