The Warriors Weakness

Saving face

   One thing I was thankful for was the accelerated healing. Within a few days I was back on my feet with no wolves vane in my system or malnutrition. Luna Sienna was able to talk to Old man Oliver who owned the bar I worked at and was able to get my job back without hassle. I was back to living at the pack house and my official inauguration into the Crescents wouldn't be until the next full moon a week away.

  I still felt like an outsider which I was but the other pack members didn't openly stare and gossip about me like they used to. They still kept a respectable distance but I was used to that back in my old pack after Jillian mated with Nial everyone kept away from her and since I was her companion they stayed away from me. Seems the same was happening here everyone was still wary of the new She-wolf the only thing that made this bearable  was that they'd accepted my baby girl. Isabelle was happy. She had made friends with many of the other pups though she often clashed with the young alpha heir but that wasn't unusual considering she had alpha blood running through her veins.  Sierra  and Jenna often joked about them growing up to be mates. 

    Even though I was still considered a threat it my wolf wasn't in any hurry to leave or attack the men who had help hold  me captive. Rumors of the damaged I'd caused had spread amongst the pack until Luna Sierra  and Beta Jenna  but a stop to them, The only other person besides the Luna and the Beta female who didn't go out of there way to avoid me was Taylor. He had apologized for taking Isabelle from me. I'd slapped him. Still that hadn't been enough to ward him off because every morning I'd run into him in the kitchen and he'd try to start a conversation with me. I'd ignore him until he mentioned Markus as soon as his name came up I'd leave the room in search of Isabelle who I knew was at the pack daycare.  Markus , (deep breath) I still had not seen him since he dropped me off at the pack infirmary. I.. I didn't know how to feel about that .  The one thing I did know was that I had said many hurtful things I shouldn't have. I didn't hate him, I could never hate him because he was my soulmate. What he did was wrong on so many levels but now that I was calm and could rationally think back on that night I understood why he did it.  I was still angry as hell at him for taking Isabelle and that would never change anytime soon. Nor was it something I could forget but with time I could forgive.

  "Talk to him"  Taylor had caught me off guard me being the skittish ball of nerves I was dropped the coffee mug  in my hands. Muscle memory kicked in and I automatically dropped to my knees to pick up the mess and frantically tried to clean up my mess.

"I'm a worthless mutt " The last time I'd broken a dish Nial had broken my fingers and given me 3 lashes because I'd taken to long to clean up the mess.  I held the broken pieces tightly in one hand so they wouldn't fall again then used my shirt to whip the coffee of the tile but it wasn't working it was making the mess worse. The more I scrubbed the more it seemed to spread across the tiles.  I needed to clean up this mess, I just had to , I didn't want to be punished again.  It seemed like it was useless though because I saw a hand coming towards me from out of the corner of my eye.  I flinched away not that it mattered that only made him angrier.  I closed my eyes waiting for the impact.
Instead of being backhanded and shoved/ kicked to the ground I was pulled off the ground. That was always worse that meant I was for sure getting the whip.  I kept my eyes close waiting for the painful sting of the whip.  I waited and waited but it never came instead I felt arms wrap tightly around me.

"Open your eyes Charolette" Luna Sienna voice brought me out of my haze and much to my embarrassment behind her was a crowd of ladies.

"Its Not real, your safe, your home, He can't hurt you here" If the ground suddenly opened up and swallowed me whole I wouldn't mind. I knew how bad this looked, the wary looks the other women where giving me weren't making the situation any less embarrassing. I felt like a puppet as I let Luna Sienna help me into a shirt then lead me to the sink where she gently prided opened my clenched fist. The broken glass coded in my blood fell out leaving a numbing pain in its place as the luke warm water washed away broken pieces out of my hand. Until doctor Hailey rushed in with her medical bag to properly clean my cuts. One of which had to be stitched up.
Luna Sienna ushered the group of females out of the kitchen when doctor Hailey walked in the only person that had stayed was A shirtless Taylor.

"Did I- " the guards had been looking after me, if you could call it that had spoken about the damage I'd caused Taylor when he'd taken Isabelle from me. My wolf had taken over and I didn't remember what exactly I'd done to him and I didn't want to but the proof was in front of me the claw marks on his chest and the bite on his abdominal where making me sick to my stomach. I'd scarred someone like Nial had scarred me. Those marks where permanent since he'd been in human form when receiving them, had he been in beast form his fur would have prevented the scarring. The more I looked in his wounds the more disgusted I felt with myself, Taylor from what I'd seen was a good man who didn't want to take Isabelle from me. He'd been the one who found me in the woods the one who had alerted the Luna going against his Betas order to kill me on the spot.

"I don't blame you" he took a step towards me palms up in a I mean no harm manner, I instinctively flinched away because Nial had fooled me one to many times. 

"You should, I caused those injuries , I should be punished. I deserved to be punished by your hand ." The only difference was that this time I had done something wrong and I deserved to be punished for it but that didn't mean I wasn't terrified.

"The punishment has been served Charlotte, though I didn't see it necessary Markus took your punishment like any worthy male would."

  "But I harmed you! I deserve a lashing from your hands for what I did to you" as much as I feared the whip I knew better then to harm another pack member it was his right to leave a scar on my body like I'd left one on his.

  "I'd rather not, I'm quite attached to my hands.... in any case you acted like any worthy mother who was was trying to protect her pup. Had the roles been reversed I would have done the same" His implication about Markus cutting his hands off was not lost on me.  Unlike any other time he was brought up I didn't run away.

   "How is he?" What I really wanted to ask was where is he and why isn't he here? Do I really mean that little to him that he wouldn't care if I just up and left. He didn't check up on my recovery and made no move to reach out to me. Truth was that even though I was furious with him it was heart shattering to known I meant nothing to him.

  "He- he's in a mood, not being near you and Isabelle has him on a war path but that is part of his self inflicted punishment, he will not come near you until you call for him"  that wasn't what I expected. I'd almost wished that he'd stayed away for other reason because now I felt guilt for keeping Markus away from Isabelle who constantly asked about him and when he was coming home.