Dammit! Enough!

Zayla

“How do we help her, then?” My dad’s voice clears the silence that’s slowly settling in the room.

That feeling of dread thinking about a dead mate brings on is not something people like to hear about or talk about.

And because of this, my father’s voice is full of concern.

You can tell by his tone that he was hoping I was merely sick, but finding out what’s actually happening to his pup has him and his wolf on edge.

My mother, however, has stayed silent the whole time, her bond with me emitting nothing but calm and serenity as she softly rubs my fur in soothing, rhythmic patterns, her need to comfort outweighing her want to panic.

Grabbing hold of my snout, my mother locks her eyes on me, her wolf making itself known as it starts searching for something.

Determination is the only thing showing on her face before her wolf pulls back and defeat takes its place.

“The only thing that would help her would be either getting him back to Earth…or getting her to Hell.”

My dad looks at my mother, stunned for a moment. “And how do we do that?”

“We don’t.” My brother Draxel’s voice is so loud, it’s like his wolf is making itself known in his vocal chords.

We all turn to look back at him and his twin Drayden.

Their arms are secured tightly across their chests, their faces are scrunched up in disgust, and their eyes are darkened to the point that you almost can’t even see their natural eye color.

Clearly, they’re pissed, but honestly, I can’t be fucking bothered to deal with their baby-backed bullshit right now.

Huffing out, I look at my dad, linking with him while glaring at my brothers, ~“Dad, we’re going to need a plan.”~

“She says we need a plan.” My father turns back to the group, ignoring my brothers and gathering everyone’s attention back to me.

“There will be no fucking plan! She’s not going to Hell.” Drayden’s voice this time ends our conversation.

Huffing loudly, I let my frustrations show before jumping down from my chair. I walk to my parents, wiggling in between them until I’m standing on the couch.

Slamming my paws against the large back with a loud, overexaggerated thud, I’m now eye-level with both boys.

Making sure my voice is loud enough through the link, I open the channels so everyone in the pack can fucking hear me, because I’m fucking done.

~“I don’t give a fuck who you are, I will make you submit to me or I will take your life if you get between my mate and me. So either help me or get the fuck out of my way!”~

I enunciate every fucking word while snarling and snapping in their faces.

Their mates, who I just noticed behind the twins, are gripping their arms tightly while cowering and showing their necks in a show of submission.

~“My wolf’s not even here, stop fucking cowering. You’re alpha mates, start fucking acting like it.”~ I can’t help but focus my anger on them, snapping my jaws again in frustration.

Kimber and Blair slowly raise their heads, releasing their tight grip on my brothers before quietly apologizing.

It might seem like a random outburst right now, but even though I’m pissed at my brothers for cowering before anyone who shows power—it makes my brothers look fucking weak.

And I’m not okay with that shit!

My brothers may be annoying douchebags to me, but that doesn’t mean they deserve to be disrespected.

Their faces show confusion, and I’m assuming they’re mind-linking their mates, asking what they’re thinking.

I’m pissed, and I make sure that it is well-known, but my wolf is gone, and without a wolf I can’t make an alpha command. This is only something my wolf can do when she’s in charge; it’s the wolf’s power, not the human’s.

So for them to submit to me when I’m not even challenging anyone—I’m just raising my voice—is…fucking disgraceful.

~“Clearly you both have shit to sort out with your own mates, so don’t fucking worry about mine.”~

Backing off the couch, I go back to my chair as my father gives my aunt and uncles a run-down of what just happened. Confusion rolls on their faces as they look at Kimber and Blair.

“I don’t know what that was just about, but you’re right! And we will stand with you, Zayla,” one of the twins says. I don’t even look to see which one and I don’t need to as the other one speaks up right after.

“You’re our baby sister, and we would do anything for you. We just don’t want you to get hurt.”

Turning my head to look at them finally, I see they look defeated. “We thought you had died, Zayla, do you know what that feels like?”

~“To feel like you’re dying? Yes, actually I do.”~

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Draxel says while rubbing the back of his neck.

Drayden copies his movements. “We can’t lose you, you hold us all together. We’re sorry we are being assholes, we’re just not ready for you to grow up. We’re not ready for you to not need us.”

“And we’re sorry too, our wolves trust you, Zayla, they were just protecting our pups. We know how fiercely wolves defend their mates. We didn’t know yours was gone.” Kimber’s voice is timid but holds truth.

I can’t help but sigh again, but this time because it feels like a weight was lifted off me. With everything that’s happened lately, I needed my family.

I need my big brothers, so to feel like I couldn’t lean on them has had me feeling nauseous.

~“I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I just…I’m just lost. I lost my mate and my wolf last night, and I-I just need support.”~

“And from today forward, you’ll have it from us,” Blair says while straightening up, her and Kimber moving from behind the twins to their sides before walking around and sitting in the empty chairs across from me.

I watch them take their seats quietly before a hand softly touches my paw. “All of us,” my dad says once my eyes lock on his.

Doing my best to make a smile, I quickly nod to him.

~“Okay, so where do we start?”~

“She wants to know where we start,” my mom says while placing her hand on my father’s, which is still on top of my paw.

Milani sits up quickly, clapping her hands together in an attempt to change the mood from sour to hopeful. “Well, first we have to get her back to her human form.”

Clearing his throat, my now-stressed Uncle Silas follows his mate’s lead, gathering our full attention. “We have a lot of fucking work to do.”

~Yeah. We sure do.~