Bite Marks

Friends

"What happened?"

I didn't want to hear what Mia had to say. I didn't want to think about the woman in front of me, who might be becoming my friend experience anything like what I had, but if she was strong enough to tell it, then I was strong enough to listen.

"I was so in love with him, Cassie. I thought he could do no wrong. I sang his praises every day. Slowly though, he began to change. Sometimes he would get annoyed with me and lash out, he wasn't violent, but he would get so angry. I knew I could be annoying sometimes so I figured I deserved it.

Kane started to see the change in him, but I loved him and I was embarrassed because I thought it was my fault so I convinced Kane to leave it alone. I begged him really. I couldn't imagine a life without Damien at this point."

I tried to keep my breathing steady. I knew that Mia would notice if I started to seem distressed and I wasn't quite ready for her to know exactly how much I empathized with her.

"He got worse. Looking back now I realize he was getting impatient because an opportunity to take Kane out hadn't shown itself yet. The tension kept building, and the more Kane established himself as alpha the worse Damien got. It's hard to keep your business private in a house of werewolves, but we managed.

No skin was ever broken, because someone might smell the blood, no bruise was ever visible. Honestly is was more emotional abuse than physical. He never really hit me. He pinched and he prodded and he squeezed, but he never actually raised his hand to me, so I lived with it."

I exhaled slowly. Tension dripped down limbs and my muscles relaxed. I thanked every deity I could think of that this man hadn't been given the opportunity to progress past the level of torment he had.

"Eventually I guess he had just had enough of waiting. I don't even know how it happened, but some how I found myself with a knife to my throat standing in front of Kane. He made sure there was an audience. If Kane willingly transferred the position of alpha to him then the rest of the pack couldn't attack or challenge for alpha until the next full moon. He had maneuvered us so well. Played me like a puppet and used to me try and take the position of alpha from Kane.

I know he doesn't seem like much, Cassie, but Kane has wanted his whole life to be a good alpha. When the council met he would go with our dad to the meetings. When he came home he would fume at the way they treated their pack. Kane is a good man and Damien had figured that out."

The thought of Mia held against her will had my muscles tightening again, but I held my tongue sensing we were nearing the end of the story.

"Cassie, he was going to do it. I could see it in his eyes, he would have given the world to keep me safe. He was going to give up something he loved more than his life to protect me and I couldn't let him do it. I wouldn't let him or any other pack members suffer because of my poor choices."

Tears began to slowly leak out of her eyes and trail down her cheeks. She took a steadying breath and looked up at me.

"I had to protect Kane and everyone else, so I stepped forward. I will never as long as I live forget the feeling of that cold metal slicing through my skin. I think some part of me still believe Damien loved me deep down inside. I thought that when my blood began to drip down his fingers he would lower the knife. I wasn't ready for him to twist his wrist and drive the knife deeper. The rest is a blur. I know he pushed me away from him. I heard screaming, but then everything was black."

I looked at the woman across from me, the self proclaimed submissive wolf, in awe. Mia had experienced abuse at the hands of a loved one and she hadn't let it change her. If anything Mia's love had made her strong. I couldn't imagine that, I was selfish down to my core, and I knew it. I wanted to be a good person and occasionally I did something to prove that, but I didn't think I would have been able to sacrifice myself like that.

Even when I had gone to get Kelsey a part of me hadn't understood what I was getting into. I was in shock, and I hadn't understood how real  the situation was. In the back of my mind I had been sure that I would get myself out of it. No part of me really believed I was going to die in that warehouse. Mia however, had known exactly what she was doing and did it anyways.

"Mia, I am so sorry."

Words were inadequate, but I met her eyes and let the tears pooling in mine fall. I showed her the only way I could that I wished she could have been spared that pain.

"Sometimes I dream, not of the blade cutting through my skin, but of the look on Kane's face as he prepared to give up everything he has ever wanted for me. I shouldn't have allowed any of it to happen. I should have been stronger and let Kane know about Damien, but I was in love, and I was naive, and an entire group of people almost paid the price for my mistake."

I realized then why Mia chose to be a submissive wolf. She didn't want anyone relying on her for protection either.

"Mia, I know... I know that sometimes even now it feels like his actions are your fault, but they are not. They never were. He was a grown man, who knew right from wrong and everything he chose to do is on him alone."

She gave me a small sad smile. I knew she thought that I couldn't possibly understand what it felt like to feel responsible for something like that, but I did. I knew all too well what it was like to get caught up in a whirlwind only to blink and have the world crash down around you because you chose to ignore what was right in front of you the whole time. I wasn't ready to share my story with Mia, but I was ready to be her friend.

"Scoot over."

Mia moved to one side of the queen bed and I crawled in beside her. We didn't speak, but I grabbed her hand and laid down against the pillows. I don't know how much time passed before I heard her breathing even out, but I couldn't sleep. As much as Kane annoyed and pissed me off I was now forever grateful for his violent nature, because Damien didn't deserve to live, and I was sure that he hadn't.