The Alpha's Broken Runt

Chapter Twenty-One

-Trying-

-Eleanor-

"I'm really sorry he hit you," I say again to Alex as Lillian tilts his head to look at his jaw.
He rolls his eyes, "for the last time Eleanor; it's fine." I glare at him but stop when Lillian speaks.
"It just a bruise, you're lucky, you know, Theodore tends to break the jaws of people he hits. I would like to look over you more though, your ribs and back especially, if that's okay." She says as she removes her hand from his jaw.
"That's fine, Eleanor will probably kill me if I don't."
"Okay, I'll need you to remove your shirt, please," Lillian says and Alex nods before pulling his shirt over his head.
I turn my gaze to the wall, "er, I'll just, um, go and uh, come back in a little while," I almost run into the door frame leaving the room.
"Eleanor. ." I close the door behind me and breath slowly.
"Eleanor?" I hear a voice call and I scrawl as I roll my eyes, turning to where Nightly is standing down the hall.
"What's wrong?" He questions and I shake my head.
"Uh, nothing," I say as I watch him walk down the hall.
"Are you sure?" He questions and I cast a quick glance at the door. "You'll get mad."
"I promise I won't," I raise an eyebrow at him before smirking.
"Okay, Alex took his shirt off and I don't do well seeing people half naked, Alex understands, but you won't."
He looks towards the door and lightly growls before stopping abruptly.
"O-okay, is th-that it?" He asks and I laugh. "Look at that, you can actually keep your cool, that doesn't make up for the fact you hit him, though," I say before I walk past him.
"I held back," he says, and I stop, a few feet away from him.
"I didn't hit him full force. I know that doesn't make up for it, I just wanted you to know."
I stay silent for a moment before walking away from him and out of the building.
--
"You know, almost as soon as you left Lillian started freaking out, talking about how your eyes were green instead of black, she said she didn't want to say anything.. anyways yeah, she was freaking out," Alex says with an awkward laugh as I look up towards the leaves above me swaying in the wind.
"Uh, won't your mate be upset we're out here alone?" He questions and I slightly turn my head to him. He pushes away from the tree he was leaning against and walks towards me, crouchingbdonw next to me.
"Eleanor?"
I look back to the leaves.
"Can you please talk to me? I know there is something on your mind."
The wind chases the leaves once again.
"There was this wall, a wall that was separating me from my emotions. I built it up and blocked them, a wall around each separate one. Sadness. Fear. Happiness. But it would seem, that when I was building those walls, I missed a brick, and fear was able to find it's way towards me."
He sits down next to me with his legs crossed.
"I don't follow."
"I built those walls for the soul purpose to block out fear, yet when my eyes landed on Nightly, all I could feel was fear."
"You're scared of him?"
"And it would appear, that no matter how many bricks I place, I can't build the walls back up."
His eyes trail along my face.
"You want them gone again?"
"They seem useless, every time I have gained happiness, it has been taken from me and replaced with fear and saddness. So really, what's the point of having happiness in the first place?"
A growl slips pass his lips.
"No! You're not allowed to say that!"
"Oh? Are you attempting to say it's not true?"
"Eleanor! What's gotten into you??"
My eyes snap to meet his, and I bring myself up to a sitting position.
"What's gotten into me? Are you joking? My brother, father, and mother were killed directly in front of me. I was beaten, hurt, tortured, and so many others. And you, oh and you! You came into my life, you made me feel safe and loved and whatever other bullcrap and then you left! I was left for dead. Everyone has sacrificed their lives for me, and I'm tired of it!" I stand up and he follows.
"Everyone always tries to save me! I'm a runt for the love of- I'm useless! Maybe if people would have realized that my pack would still be standing. Do you have any idea how much this pack will suffer? I don't even reach my mates neck!"
He grabs both of my arms and stares at me for a moment.
"I know."
My arms go limp.
How selfish of me.
"I know Eleanor. But you're not useless, please stop saying you are."
"What am I going to do? I don't know if I can do what I'm supposed to... I don't even know if I can love him the way I'm supposed to... after what they did-"
He pulls me slightly closer to him.
"Don't let what they did control you. It doesn't matter, you can love him as a mate, it may take you a little longer but, Eleanor you're strong, you can overcome your past."
"I can barely sleep. Every night I'm afraid they'll come back and get me again."
He pulls me and wraps his arms around me, my head right at his chest.
"I know, me too."
"What are we going to do Alex? We're broken."
"Tape and glue, Eleanor, tape and glue."
"What store could possibly supply us with so much?" I question, and he laughs. I wrap my arms around him as he speaks.
"I dunno, but we'll find one Eleanor, I promise."
--
"Why do you smell like that- uh- oh- Alex?" Nightly places his chin on my head, causing me to flinch and move so he can't rest it on me anymore. What's gotten into him?
"No reason." I state and Teddy snickers as she closes the fridge.
"What? What did she tell you?" She shakes her head.
"Nothing, I just find this hilarious." She leaves the kitchen and my stool is turned around. I scoot backwards so my back is against the counter and I am as far away as possible from Nightly.
"We had a moment, now would you stop freaking out?" He squints his eyes but sighs, his head dropping to face the floor.
"A hug? Really? He gets a hug and I can barely touch you?" I grin and bite my lip.
Ashley is hurting, she hasn't touched her mate for a long time...
I'm fine, take your time Eleanor.
I place my hand on his shoulder and push him away from me so I can stand.
"I- I know," I advert my gaze away from him.
Nightly opens his mouth to speak.
"Eleanor!" A voice stops him, and a growl slips pass his lips.
"Alex?" I turn around to see Alex entering the kitchen.
"Where were you?" Nightly cuts in, his tone suspicious.
"Oh, Lillian wanted to ask me something."
"He's getting too comfortable." I hear Nightly mutter under his breath and I sigh.
"Are you hungry?" I ask Alex, and his eyes dart behind me to Nightly quickly before he shakes his head.
"No, I'm fine."
"Are you actually fine, or is Nighly giving you a death glare?"
Ashley snickers and I roll my eyes.
"Um- I actually am, though I have to ask, how long did it take to master that glare?" Alex asks and me and Ashley both sigh, followed by Nightly growling.
He's not the brightest, is he?
"Down fido, Alex," I say warningly and he grimaces. "Right, I apologize Alpha."
"Whatever," Nightly mutters and I shake my head.
"You two are going to be the death of me."
--
"Nightly did get him a room, right?" I ask Teddy as she drys her hair.
"I believe so, I mean you can go ask him if you want, but-"
I cut her off. "No that's fine." She frowns at me for a moment before shaking her head and putting her towel back in the bathroom before coming and sitting down next to me.
"So Eleanor, tell me, who is Alex to you?"
"What do you mean?" She gives me a pointed look.
"You've know each other for a while, you had to have grown close..." she hesitates, but continues when she sees my confused look, "is he more than a friend to you, Eleanor, that's what I'm asking."
"Oh, yes, I mean, hes like a brother to me, he was anyway, and I'd like to believe things will be how they used to be between us, minus the whole captive thing."
Her eyes dance over my features.
"Okay... because Theodore is my friend, and I don't want to see him hurt, Eleanor."
"I know, and I- I don't want to hurt this pack."
She raises her eyebrow. "How would you hurt the pack?" I sigh, turning my gaze towards the ground.
"My mother went missing once, she got kidnapped."
My father screams at our Beta.
"He was mad."
My brother switched our position, so I am facing the wall instead of him.
"He was going crazy, yelling at pack members and more.."
The sound of glass shattering is heard, followed by a groan of pain.
"My pack was terrified."
I can hear a woman's quivering voice asking what they are going to do.
"I don't wish that fear on anyone, and I feel that if I were to leave this pack or him, that the same would happen."
I turn my gaze to her. "I- I um, would have to agree with you there," she says softly.
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Don't look at me with that pity in your eyes, I've seen too much of that, I don't need to be pitied." She sighs.
"Its weird, sometimes I see your real emotions, and then other times it's like you try to push them out again."
"Emotions are dumb, they're useless, so yes, I do try to push them out, I had them for so long and they caused me so much pain."
"Eleanor, I-" a knock is placed on her bedroom door, and she sighs, casting a quick glance to me before speaking.
"Come in!"
The door opens and Alex peeks his head in.
"Hey Eleanor- um, Lillian wanted to see the both of us, I forgot to tell you earlier."
"Right now?" I question and he nods.
"She said she wanted to check on you, and to see how a cut on my side was doing."
I say and wave to Teddy before leaving her room.
"You have a cut?" I question as we walk and he nods.
I stop abruptly and turn to him.
"Let me see it."
"What?"
"Let me see the friggen cut, Alex," I growl and he sighs.
"But-"
"Alex." I growl warningly and he shakes his head, laughing lightly. "Fine." He lifts up the left side of his shirt to reveal his side, which has a thin but deep cut trailing down it.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I breath as I trail my fingers down it.
"You know why, Eleanor." I give him a quick glance before returning my gaze to his cut.
"Its look infected, did she say it was infected?" He grimaces.
"Um, yes, and she gave me some stuff for it, but uh, I can't do it, its stings a lot and it makes it difficult to do it." He says sheepishly and I shake my head.
"I swear." I growl. "You know I can do it," he laughs awkwardly as I put pressure on the cut, causing him to grimace.
"You're an idiot," I snarl.
"Maybe, but you lo-" his sentence gets cut off by a growl.
"What do you think you're doing?" Nightly growls out and I sigh as I roll my eyes.
"Oh get off it, he has a cut," I remove my hand from his side and he allows his shirt to fall.
"I don't care." Nightly growls. "And I don't care what you think." I snap before grabbing Alex's hand and walking pass Nightly.
"I'm sorry-" I cut Alex's statement to Nightly off. "Don't apologize to him."
--
I place three knocks on Lillian's door and it immediately opens, leaving my hand in mid air, unable to place a fourth.
"Well that was quick... Ah!" She grabs my arm and pulls me into her room.
She places her hands on my shoulders as Alex comes in, looking down at me in my almost-fall state.
"What happened? What triggered it?" She asks as Alex closes the door behind himself.
I gesture my head to Alex and her eyes flash to him.
"He did?"
"Yes."
Her eyes dance between mine. "They're beautiful." She says, a smile appearing on her lips.
"They're my mothers." I state and her smile almost slips.
"And I'm sure they were just as beautiful on her."
"They were more so..." Lillian takes a breath before letting her arms fall.
"Okay, well, we'll talk more about this later, but it's late and I need to check on both of you, if you could please sit, Eleanor." I nod my head and sit down.
"My side?" I question and she nods.
"I'll uh, turn around," Alex says awkwardly before turning on his heel to look at the wall.
I lift up the side of my shirt to show my side, which is covered in a large bruise.
Lillian puts some gloves on before walking over to me and sitting in the chair.
She places her hands on my side and puts light pressure, causing me to flinch slightly.
"Does it hurt often?" She trails her hands along a cut I know all too well.
"Only when pressure is put on it." She sighs.
"Okay, I can prescribe you something for the pain but I'm not sure how much it will help. Is there anything else that's been causing you pain?" I shake my head and she nods, pulling the gloves off of her hands. "Okay, you two can switch." I hop off of the examination table and walk pass Alex.
"I'll leave..." I trail off and Alex pouts but nods his head.
"I'll just be outside," I smile before leaving the room, closing the door behind me.
"You have got to be kidding me." I growl and Nightly cringes. "You weren't meant to see me."
"Well I have, can I not go to Lillian without you?"
"You can't go to Lillian with Alex without me." I roll my eyes. "I guess you don't trust me then, huh?"
"What? Of course I trust you!" I start walking pass him.
"I don't want you getting hurt, Eleanor," his voice softens. "And I know I hurt him, and you. But I try my best to not hurt you, and I swear I held back. You trust him, he was your best friend, maybe more, I don't know, I don't want to know. And if hurting him hurts you, I'll try not to hit him for touching you... or for any reason... but if he hurts you, ever and in anyway, I'll hurt him, worse than a simple hit across the face."
I freeze, my arm just almost touching his.
I take a breath, closing my eyes, my head angled towards the ground.
"One time me and Alex were in a room with another prisoner, the other guy came up and hit Alex and I. . . I punched him in the face, multiple times. . I didn't put a bad bruise on him and the hit I got from him and the beating from them was much worse than what I did, but I never regretted it." I hesitate for a moment, "I have anger issues, Theodore, that's something you should probably know."
I walk forward again and leave the building, slamming my back against the outer wall as soon as the door closes behind me and taking a few deep breaths to calm my nerves.
You can hush now, I did what you both asked.
Thank you Eleanor, I really do appreciate it.
Yeah. . Well, I'm sure he does too.
. . . Why?
Why what?
Why did you do it?
Would you prefer that I hadn't?
She growls and I grin.
You know the answer to that, I just mean why all of a sudden?
I. . Could feel the mate pull, I could feel it pulling me towards him, I knew I would break sooner or later. . And I know its hurting you, I'm trying Ashley, but I make no promises.
I appreciate it Eleanor, I really do.

Hope you liked it!
She said his name! Ahhh!
Sorry it took me a lil' while.
School for me starts tomorrow, I went to open house yesterday.
Today is the eighth of August, twenty eighteen.
What about you guys?
(I may have called Eleanor Eclipse, because I noticed one time and fixed it, please call me out on it, lol)

Anyways.

Bye my luvs!

Word Count
2854

A simple word can be the key to someone's heart, and it can also be what gets the key taken away.
                                              -Unknown