The Mute Mate

III

The alarms blasted from the intercoms throughout the house. The Moore men exploded out of their seats. A few more footsteps were heard from the front of the house. Running footsteps. Panicked footsteps. Dad met the running footsteps first, leaving the kitchen and the other two other Moore men looked at Mom for assistance. She raised from her seat, her demeanor was calm, but a closer look into her eyes revealed that this was not a drill. I began to panic myself. 

Briefly, I heard a snippet of conversation from the men outside the kitchen door before Mom interrupted, "They've breached the border, there's nothing we can do-" 

"TJ, take her to safety. Now." TJ was quick to react, grabbing me by the forearm and practically dragging me out of the kitchen and up the stairs. The last glimpse of the kitchen I saw was my Mother, standing at the dinner table with watery eyes and an attempt of comfort from Lamar. I had an ominous feeling in my stomach that weighed me down the more I walked. 

I finally looked to TJ for guidance, not wanting to face the nightmare I had already heard, "Is..is it pack Weston?" 

TJ hesitated for a moment, trying to quickly make decisions as his mind raced for answers. "Yes, they've come faster than expected." Once we reached the top of the flight of stairs, we took a hard left into Mom and Dad's room, the safest room in the house by default. He closed the door behind me and lifted the light switch panel that revealed a small, red button. TJ pushed the button and the room went into lock-down mode. The windows dropped down a row of jail bars that secured into place and the door had a second bolt that slammed into place. 

I went to go look out the window, but TJ's arm held me into place, not letting me move out of my shoes. "You don't want to go look." 

My stomach was twisted up into knots and was unrelenting to my recently downed food. "Do you know what's going on? Are they on top of us right now? Are we gonna die?" I was in such a panic that my tongue was loose and my brain was turned off. 

TJ took hold of my shoulders and stared into my soul, "Look, Key, this is nothing to worry about. We're gonna be fine, just a little precaution here and there." As comforting as the words sounded, TJ's inflection and demeanor told me to be alert and aware. I'd rather believe his body than his mouth. 

I nodded, simply trying to appease him and his demands as he sat me on the bed and went to go look around the room and into Mom and Dad's drawers. I wouldn't want anyone going through my things, but I guess most rules don't apply at this moment. The alarm kept piercing my eardrums. The noise only panicked me more that they wouldn't turn them off. It let me know more and more that it wasn't a drill. This was actually happening. 

TJ finally came back over with something black in his hand. I wasn't sure what he was holding, but I assumed it was something that would protect us. He sat on the bed with me, his body open and ready to discuss something serious. TJ was never this serious, how did he end up with this job? He swallowed hard and then finally spoke, "Key, I need you to hold something for me, okay?" 

I watched him quizzically. I wasn't sure why he was so serious about this and it made me fear for what was in the future. 

He handed me a gold chained necklace, one I had seen him wear all the time. If I didn't know any better I would've guessed he was born with the pure piece of jewelry. It had a delicate rose on the end of it that seemed like it was carved by the angels of the Goddess. He tenderly grabbed my hand and opened my palm for me, delicately placing the gold necklace into my hand. The chain was thin and I feared one quick movement would make the thing crumble between my fingers, falling out of existence. 

I was immediately terrified of losing the necklace that had been with TJ for as long as I can remember. I searched his eyes for some kind of recognition or joke that he was playing, but they were watery and genuine in their actions. He wasn't joking around for once. My head shook, trying to hand back the necklace, "TJ, I can't hold that for you. It's yours." I realized my confusion was stemming from an ignorance that I didn't want to come to terms with. I simply acted like it didn't exist. 

He smiled sadly, taking my other hand in his, "Ke'aysha, just take the necklace. I promise I'll get it back when the time is right." 

"Why not now? You were born with this thing. Why are you giving it to me now?" My heart was banging on my rib cage. 

"Just in case-" 

"Just in case of what!?" My voice had picked up with a yell unintentionally. I gripped at TJ's arm with an unannounced force. "TJ, you're not gonna leave me. Promise me that.  You can't leave me." 

His smile dissipated. His features relaxed were like Dad's uncontested. Being the oldest, TJ was always told he was going to take over the Moore pack and rule with nothing to stand in his way and everyone bowing to him. Well, TJ had different plans and he wasn't afraid to announce them. That's how Lamar became second in line for the Alpha title. TJ would have been happier traveling the world doing something else besides Alpha work and he was. Dad wasn't expecting this outcome, but he always said he wanted us happy no matter what we ended up doing. No matter how different TJ was from Dad, TJ is the first child and looked more like Dad than any of us could ever. 

"Baby girl, I'm gonna always be with you." he didn't sound very confident about it, but it was the only type of hope I was going to hold onto since he didn't give me anything else. 

I clung to him, feeling enveloped in his warmth and wished he would chuckle in my ear like earlier. Find some type of light in this darkness. But the darkness still drowned me. I couldn't breathe. 

Over the alarms, there was a loud thud downstairs and a scream. It sounded like Mom. I jumped from the bed, wanting to get out of the cage and go to her, but TJ held me down, not letting me go anywhere. I knew he was crazy because he wasn't moving to go help Mom. "You know that was Mom. We have to do something, TJ! We're not just going to sit here and be helpless while they're in trouble." I begged him. 

He denied me, "Key, we all have our part in this. My job is to keep you safe." 

"And we're just supposed to sit here?!" There was another thud and I could hear growling and howling, some familiar like Dad's and Lamar's, and some not. The war was right downstairs. "TJ, they might be dying down there." 

"You are not fighting, you won't win." 

Those words struck me and made me realize why I'm up here and why TJ wasn't doing anything to and help Mom and Dad. I stood up from the bed and paced away, not being able to believe my family and how they treat me. "I'm up here because I'm a small wolf, aren't I?" 

"Dad's simply trying to protect you, Ke'aysha, nothing against your wolf." No matter how much offense TJ was meaning to give, Christina was still not having it. 

A rage began bursting inside of me, "You all just want me to be this damsel that can't defend herself and have to rely on you all to take care of me! Want to chew my food for me too?!" 

 TJ stood from the bed, trying to console me, "Key, we just want you to be-" He stopped. His ear was towards the door and he was dead silent. 

My feet and hands were prickled with worry and fear as everything around me went dead. The opposite of how things were two seconds ago. "TJ-" 

"Shh." TJ put his hand over my mouth and led me to the closet, speaking slowly to me, "Hide in here. Don't come out until I come get you." I clamped on my bottom lip to keep me quiet as I stepped into the closet, letting TJ slide the closet door closed until there was a just a crack enough for me to see out of. And that wasn't much. 

I heard TJ step away from the closet and there was another thud from outside the door. I was shaking, unsure of everything going around behind me. I didn't have any eyes on anything and I wanted the warmth of my brother back. I was scared and I felt like a child. 

I heard growling right outside the door and a little from TJ who I had assumed already transformed. Even though the room was still on lock down, they, whoever they are, broke down the door without any struggle, like it was made of cardboard to them. I heard the overwhelming sound of growls and howls and barks. There were too many sounds of different wolves for me keep track of things. I closed my eyes and wanted everything to stop. All the fighting and the snarling and the growling. I wanted time to stop. 

And then it did. 

There was one final thud right in the front of the closet door and the noise caused me to open my eyes. And I met the eyes of TJ, his eyes dulled and glassed over, staring back at me. Gray. Lifeless. Dead. I slapped a hand over my mouth to keep agonizing cries from exploding from me. My heart broke into a million pieces seeing him there. 

"Well, look what we have here, boys."