Old Version Shatter Pieces

Chapter 34: Cheesy Goodness

Elinn

Carter stood by the stove stirring a pot of mac and cheese and I sat on the kitchen island watching him. Xander and Darius were sitting at the table watching both of us. The smell of food had my stomach grumbling, something that hadn't happened in a long time.

"Elinn, I can hear your stomach from here. How long has it been since you've eaten something?" Xander teased.

"Last time I was given food was about three weeks ago. One of the maids felt bad for me and snuck a roll down for me to eat. Only got to eat a few bites before they came downstairs...." I stopped as I noticed the looks on their faces.

"Elinn, you're telling me you haven't eaten anything besides a few mouthfuls of bread in three weeks. How much did you eat before then?" Darius asked his voice sounding harder than before.

"Well before that I got some cheese every month. Sometimes I couldn't eat it though because it was moldy. I'm not allowed to have food, I am already fat enough as it is. I don't need to be loaded up with more fat. At least that's what Master told me." I realized that they thought this was odd, but I didn't know why. I thought that the answer would have been obvious, how could they not understand?

"Sweetheart, you are not fat. Actually, you are severely underweight and that scares both your doctors and me. It's not healthy for you to weigh so little, it means that you aren't eating enough. I never want to hear you say your fat again, your not fat and even if you were you would still be beautiful to me." Carter was firm yet comforting. He left his position by the stove to walk over and plant a kiss on my forehead.

"Carter why are you not freaking out. This isn't good, Elinn isn't healthy and from what I can tell it's the fault of some guy in her old pack. You can't seriously not care about that." Xander barked. Carter had Xander up against a wall in two seconds flat. Before any of us could stop him from doing something he would regret, Carter began to quietly murmur into Xander's ear.

"Xander, you don't know anything about Elinn and her past life. You still remember her as your eight-year-old sister who had no worries or cares. She isn't that girl anymore, she has been through hell and back quite a few time.

Just because I don't run around making my feelings known doesn't mean I'm not upset. I sure as hell am upset by the fact that my mate was treated as less than human. It makes me furious, but I have to be calm. If I run around doing all the things I want to do when I hear about stuff like this, then Elinn would never be able to look at me again and I can't take that.

So instead I do my best to help her learn about how wrong her past life has been. Imagine if you were taken at the age of eight and forced to learn an entirely new way to live. One that involved more pain and suffering than you have ever felt in your whole life. It would be pretty hard to remember how the rest of the world works. That is what I am trying to slowly do. I'm trying to help your sister see the bad so she can understand the new good.

So don't you ever again even mention the idea of me not caring about what happened because I will break your pretty little face. I love Elinn more than life itself! Don't you ever question my loyalty to her again!" Carter's voice was low and dangerous. It reminded me of the way Master would talk about my punishments right before they would happen.

"Carter, please stop, you're scaring me." My words were muffled by the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks.

Immediately Carter let go and turned to face me. His eyes still burned with hints of the rage that must have filled them, but they softened as the met mine. He gingerly made his way back to stand beside me and took my face in his hands.