SIX - Goodbye

Like yesterday, sneaking back into the packhouse is easy. I get to the gates at five in the morning, and thankfully, because of deliveries, they’re open, so I don’t need to put in my code to get in. I go to the Beta wing, and Beta Gerald opens the door for me. Because Danni was in her room, still asleep, her dad made me breakfast, and I sat with him and Francoise and waited for her to wake up.

“Man, we should think about stashing some of your things at our place,” Danni winks as we walk to the Alpha wing.

“Maybe,” I smile, raising my eyebrows at her.

We walk in and hear Hailey getting angry as she tries to prepare herself and Ashley for the day. Quickly we race for my bedroom and close the door behind us, giggling.

“We are so talking about last night,” Danni giggles as I grin at her, grabbing my clothes and heading for the bathroom. I quickly shower and wash his scent off me, cleansing my face and brushing my teeth afterwards.

“I haven’t made you breakfast, so you can just starve,” Hailey snidely remarks as Danni and I walk out of the hall and past the living room.

“That’s okay, Luna Hailey,” I say politely. I can call her Hailey around dad, but I have to use her title when he’s not around, no matter who I’m with.

I kiss Ash on his forehead and tell him goodbye before Danni, and I leave for school.

“I can’t wait to meet my mate,” Danni gushes after I tell her about the romantic night I had with Dorian.

“I hope you find him soon, too,” I tease, smiling at her.

The day goes by slowly, and when I get home, Hailey is standing in the living room, arms crossed and tapping her foot, waiting for me.

“Ugh,” she growls, “I’m having dinner with the girls. Make sure you feed him and put him to sleep by seven,” she says. I nod. Sometimes Hailey meets her friends during the weeknights, but mostly when dad is away. He must be working late in his office or visiting another pack for Hailey to decide to go out tonight.

“No sugar or lollies, do you understand? Hello- no sugar or lollies? Comprende?”

“Yes!” I moan, giving her a look. She slaps me across the face, making me step back from the force. Sometimes I hate my big mouth.

“You’re lucky I’m all dressed up, or you’d really get it,” she says, stepping forward and stomping her heeled foot onto mine. I feel pain as the heel pieces my skin and pushes onto a bone.

“Now look what you did to my shoe, fucking bitch,” she yells, pushing me onto the floor and storming off.

I lay there as I listened to her walk away before I used a chair to help myself up and hobble over to Ashley. The hole Hailey’s shoe left is slowly healing, and my wolf is grumbling in my head about Hailey.

“Hey, buddy,” I say, sitting opposite him on the floor.

“Mamma’s mean,” Ashley states, playing with his blocks.

“You shouldn’t say that” I say. Just because Hailey doesn’t like me doesn’t mean I want Ashley not to like his mother. Mothers are important and special.

“She hurts you, Ave-ree,” he says, making a large rectangle shape with his blocks. I look at him. Ashley may be only five years old, but he’s pretty observant.

“You shodn’t let her,” he says, getting some plastic farm animals and putting them inside the rectangle.

I watch him divide the rectangle into parts, sorting the animals into different pens according to their species.

“Does she ever hit you?” I ask, taking out some wooden railway tracks to make a track near Ashley’s animals.

“No. But I done like her hitting my Avey,” he responds, jumping into my arms and cuddling me.

“All bedder?” he then asks.

“All better,” I reply.

We play for an hour, making a little town spring up around the train tracks we made together. Ashley loves trains, and I’ve spent many hours with him watching ‘Thomas the Ank,’ as he calls it. I love the way he pronounces things. Grocery shopping is ‘gross shopping,’ and ‘Ank,’ is his word for ‘Tank,’ as in Thomas the Tank Engine.

Ashley’s stomach growls, and I laugh at him, making him smile at me.

“Hungry, huh?” I ask, making him nod with a big smile in reply.

“What would you like?” I asked, scooping him up and walking towards the kitchen.

“Noodles? Cheese toasties? Omelette?”

“Omelette!” Ashley yells, punching the air. I sit him on a stool and let him watch as I mix all the ingredients into a bowl.

“Eggs,” I say, telling him what I’m putting in the bowl so he learns.

“Eggs,” He mimics.

“Cheese”

“Chess,” he says, making me giggle.

“Milk”

“Mick,”

“Pepperoni”

“Peppony”

I smile. Ashley has a speech impediment, and because he started speaking when he was four, some words are difficult for him. I think this is part of the reason Hailey doesn’t like him. One, he looks like his father, and two, he didn't start speaking till he was almost four.

I mix all the ingredients together and give Ashley some turns to help before I pour the mixture into a pan and let it cook. While we wait, I read Ashley a story about a wombat that likes to eat carrots.

Spending time with Ashley is easy, and he’s such a cute kid; I just don’t understand Hailey’s indifference to her child. After dinner, I put on his favourite tv program while I sit down and study the fairy book again; I’m more interested now, seeing as my mate is one.

At seven, I put Ashley to bed and went to my room while waiting for Hailey to come home. After about two hours, I hear her walk in, and I sneak a peek just to make sure. Smiling, I lock my door and head out my window to see Dorian.

Because I was earlier than last night, I didn’t expect to see him waiting for me in his car, so I booked an uber and waited five minutes for it to arrive.

The driver drops me off at Dorian’s hotel, and I pay him, smiling as I walk towards the foyer.

“Aviary!” I hear a voice call out as I walk towards the elevators. I turn and see General Birch walking out of the bar towards me.

He is not wearing his uniform. Instead, he wears dark blue chinos and a black button-up shirt, and for an older man, it really suits him.

“General Birch,” I greet.

“Please, it’s Lysander,” he says, smiling at me. I nod.

“Unfortunately, Dorian had a family emergency and needed to leave for Fairyland. He asked me to let you know that he will be back, though,” General Birch says.

“Oh, okay. Well, thank you for letting me know,” I reply. Not knowing what to do, I turn on my heel and leave the hotel lobby.

“I’m sorry,” I hear General Birch say as I leave.

I call for another Uber, and funnily enough, the one who dropped me off a minute ago is the same one to pick me up. I get in and direct him back to the pack grounds.

Without thinking, I walk back to the Alpha wing when I get home. I hang my head low as I unlock the door and enter the foyer of the wing.

I feel her before I hear her. She slams into my body, and I slam into the wall beside me.

“There you are!” she screams. I regain my balance, but it’s too late when I feel her swipe at me with her claws. Her claws scrape against my skin, cutting through the material of my jacket and shirt.

“Hailey!” I cry, trying to compose myself. Hailey grabs me by the hair, and I feel some strands rip as she hauls me down the hallway. I stumble as I go, holding her hand as she pulls me along.

When she stops, she throws me to the floor. I go to get up, but she kicks me down hard.

“I had my nails tipped in silver,” she smiles when I look at her. She smirks and bends beside me, so we are now face to face.

“How long have you been sneaking out for?” she asks, lifting my chin with one of her silver-tipped nails.

“Do you really think you can go out whenever you want? This is my house, remember?” she asks, punching my cheek. I look into her eyes and see a crazy glean in them.

Far out, her wolf has lost it, I think. This is my last sane thought before I receive the onslaught of punches to my face and mouth. The next thing I notice is an immense pain in my stomach as she begins to kick me. I hear Calla, my wolf whimper before another pain shoots through my abdomen, and then Calla disappears, leaving me to Hailey’s wrath.

Hailey lifts me up by my hair, and I look at her, my left eyelid blocking most of my sight from that eye.

“Pathetic,” I hear Hailey say before grabbing my head and banging it on the wall behind me. Patches of black begin to form in front of me, and the room fades away as the pain takes over. My whole body begins to hurt in different places, and then… nothing.

//\\//\\//\\

Hot. I feel hot all over. Everything hurts, and the pain is heat. I try to open my eyes, but they feel glued shut. I don’t think, only feel. Heat. Hot. I feel hot as I fall asleep again.

I’m still hot, but I try to open my eyes again. I can open them more than last time. Everything is blurry and out of focus. The floor beneath me is scratchy and damp. I feel an itch along my body as it touches the floor. I try to keep my eyes open, but they are heavy, and before I can fight it, I’m gone in a sea of blackness again.

My body feels heavy and hot. Sharp pain spontaneously shoots through my joints, and I think I’m making noises when it happens.

- Aviary – I hear my wolf link me.

- Calla? –

- Yes! Thank goddess, you’re awake! I’m sorry, Aviary! I’m sorry! – she weeps softly in my head.

- It’s okay, Calla. It’s okay – I reply.

- No, it’s not. I can’t help you, Aviary. I only got to save one – she says.

I need clarification on what she means by that. Can’t help me? Save one? My wolf should be healing me, I’m still in pain, but I know I’m in more pain than I should be. I feel like I did before Calla.

- Calla? – I call out, - Calla, are you there? –

I’m beginning to panic. I open my eyes, but still, everything is blurry. Slowly, painfully, I move, I try to get myself into a sitting position, but it hurts so much.

- Calla? Calla? Calla, where are you? – I yell in my head. I feel a tear roll down my face, and I begin to wipe it away with the back of my hand when I feel pain and stop. I narrow my eyes and look at my right hand. Pink. The tears on my hand are pink.

~

Edited with Grammarly