Courage Don't Leave Me

The Silent Guardians

I got home minutes before the monster walked into the house. Mom and Zaiden were accounted for and hidden from him safely tucked under my bed in the below chamber we use for hurricanes that the beast didn't know about. Zaiden has always been #1 priority when our stepfather got home every night. With him being only a pure age of 8 months we had to hide him carefully. When Zaiden was born I made a vow to my mom to protect her and my new brother from our stepfather, James. 

Drunk, unworthy, total piece of trash bastard. 

He was never and will never be a father to Zaiden or I. His abuse is wearing away at my gorgeous mother. Us werewolves may have the ability to heal and heal fully to restore our strength, but overtime it becomes weak. Weaker even when you lose your mate. My father was once a king. He ruled over the Silent Guardians pack with undying love and absolute faith in his soldiers. He proved himself to have great leadership with the pack and still be there for his family. His alpha role gave my unranked mother a step up the chain. However, when war struck and my father was caught between saving his family or himself he chose death over life to keep us safe. 

I was just born only a pup when my father died. I remember little of the time spent with him before he left the world to a greater place. The last I remember was his promise to pancakes in the morning and a kiss on my cheek holding all the love he felt for me. I was told once that I watched my father die with my mother. But those memories were stolen from me by a witch simply doing the job for my mother. The last I know of him is his stunning smile and a kiss that still burns on my cheek to this day. 

My mother had the choice to live alone in misery or to choose another mateless male. She chose to try to keep a family together and found James. And when I tell you he was a gentleman then I mean it. They went on regular dates, loved each other unconditionally, and even decided to have another kid together. Once the desire and lust died down they became distant. Mom never felt the same after dad passed away. She couldn't portray her love for James any longer because the truth was she never felt that way for him. 

James worked everyday to help pay for the two of us but his company was failing. They didn't have enough money to keep it up and running so about four years ago they shut down. Once my father died my mother was kicked back into her old rank were we lived in poverty waiting for the money to come in from James. Later we found out that James simply didn't like his job and shut it down on purpose. He used the money to go out and get drunk at bars. Alcohol was difficult to enjoy for a werewolf with their high tolerance to it. So when he came back drunk we knew he wasted about a grand for fifty if not sixty pints of beer. 

With my mothers rejection to love him and the fact that he had never and will never find a mate crushed his soul. The moon goddess punished him for his criminal acts as a child and swore to never let him feel loved. So with this very broken heart he drowned himself in his misery every night by going to a bar and coming home to abuse what little bit of family he had. Even though my mother didn't love him like she loved my father she still cared for him. Every time he hit her she found a reason to forgive and forget. 

Once mom and Zaiden were properly hidden I closed my door and sat down in front of the T.V. awaiting his approach and instant attack. The door squeaked on impact of his very large bulky body while he tinkers with the keys in his hand to get in. The door finally swung open and he came barreling into the room throwing his fists about and raging about a bartender who gave him half the drink he ordered. This was normal. He would smash around the house for about an hour raging on the stupidity of mortal human beings before he realized that no one was present to hear him out. 

Then he noticed me. And it began.