Alphas daughter

Chapter 28

I spent the next week going to school, where my friends didn't leave my side incase I broke down or lashed out or turned - which thankfully, I didn't. I sat through every boring class, listened to every lecture and did every assignment to stop me from thinking. I couldn't think, I wouldn't think because thinking only let all the pain come flooding back. It caused every scream and plead and cry to resurface in my brain and I couldn't handle the constant sound of my mother dying.

I returned to the house, which was usually empty because my dad was out releasing his anger on whoever or whatever made him the slightest bit mad. He didn't listen to the video but Zach filled him in with a summary. Everyone in the pack were tiptoeing around him because one wrong move and he went into full rage mode and attacked.

Zach would sit with me while I cried, he would stroke my hair and kiss my head. Some nights he would sit with me until I fell asleep so that I didn't have nightmares. Sometimes I would wake up with the screaming playing over and over in my head. After school all I did was sit and cry and cry.

And then my dad would come home, he would hide his bad temper or his sadness around me and I did the same for him. He would force me to eat every evening even though I had completely lost my appetite. I would stare at the food, pushing it around my plate while the sick feeling I had constantly in my stomach made me want to starve for days on end.

And then I would go to bed, where the dreams were. Every time I closed my eyes the video played on a loop. Over and over and over. I would wake up with tears down my cheeks and a wet pillow and do it all over again the next day.

It was now the next Sunday and I was feeling a bit better and so while my dad and Zach were off talking about god knows what, I went to the cafe with the rest of my friends.

"So, how are you Ella?" Jordan asked me for possibly the third time while she stirred her hot chocolate.

"Jord, I love you and I really appreciate your concern but asking me how I am every 5 minutes isn't helping, ok?" She nodded and mumbled a sorry before someone finally changed the subject.

"Well didn't you and Zach go on a date last weekend?" Alexia asked. Of course her alternative was boy talk, it always was. Not that I minded, Zach was just about the only thing keeping me sane right now.

"Kind of yeah, we just spent the day in the woods at the lake," I told her, a smile forming on my face as I remembered the day. For the first time in a week, my smile was neither forced nor fake and it felt good.

"Well what did you do?" Ryder asked excitedly. He made himself comfortable on the booth sofa and picked up his cup, looking at me intently as if I was about to read him a story.

"Ran, argued, kissed, swam. That was it really." I laughed, sipping my tea.

"Argued! About what?" Mason asked, his eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

"Everything. Nothing. I don't know just him keeping secrets," I grumbled.

"Well why don't you demand answers?" Caroline suggested as if I hadn't already tried.

"I tried, he can't tell me anything to do with my dad. I only got one question answered." I rolled my eyes and sipped my tea.

"Well what did you find out?" Ryder asked.

"Just that his pack was killed by the largest pack in the country. Him and his mom ran but she fought off a wolf that followed them and when he went back a couple of days later they were all dead," I explained.

"Oh my god," Jordan whispered, her eyes wide with sadness.

"The largest pack in the country?" Ryder asked, narrowing his eyes at me.