The Lost Queens Revenge

Chapter 4

After that first heat, I noticed my body changing more rapidly. My once narrow hips widened and my breasts grew large and firm. Every day when I looked in the mirror I saw more and more of my mother in my face, but my eyes remain the same crystal blue of my father's.

When I returned to school, I noticed the lingering glances from the boys in my class and the glares from the girls. Especially McKenna. She found any opportunity she could to shove me into a locker or trip me in the halls. But the bullying didn’t stop there. She ensured I remained isolated from my peers by spreading the worst kinds of rumors about me. The nickname she had given me in primary school stuck. I was no longer River. I was Roach. I begged Sadie and Momma Beth to let me be homeschooled, but they had none of it. Insisting that I would never be a doctor if I were homeschooled. So, every day I would come home and take Max out for a walk, then come home, eat, do my homework and head to bed. Nothing changed. Until one day it did.

A loud knock at the door caused me to jump and pulled me from the periodic table and chemical reactions. I cautiously crept down the stairs to find out just who was making such an obnoxious racket. When I opened the door, I was surprised to find a young man. He was tall and thin, but muscular with a tuff of dark brown hair sticking out of his deep blue button-down shirt. His messy dark brown hair was streaked with random white hair. He had a full closely trimmed beard and thick eyebrows that cast a dark shadow over his ocean blue eyes. I found myself getting lost in those eyes as I gazed up at him. After a few long seconds, I shook myself from my stupor and gave him a nervous smile.

"Can I help you?" I asked quietly. The strange man just stared at me with a slack jawed expression.

"Sir, can I help you?" I asked once more, but the man said nothing. He just gawked at me as if I were a sideshow freak. I frowned and shrugged my shoulders. I started to shut the door, but the man’s hand shot out to stop the door. I looked up at him with an annoyed expression.

"Excuse me sir, but will you please get your hand off of our door?” I gritted out. He seemed to snap out of whatever daze he had been in and gave me a dashing smile.

"I'm sorry ma'am. I'm looking for Sadie? Is she here by chance?" His voice was deep, and I could hear it vibrating in his chest. He wore a crooked smile and his eyes crinkled up around the edges. I continued to frown at him but called out for Sadie.

"Hold on a minute. MOMMA! THERE'S SOME MAN HERE FOR YOU!" I yelled.

"Zachariah... my name is Zachariah." The man said. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"MOMMA! SOME MAN NAMED ZACHARIAH IS HERE FOR YOU!" I called out once more. Sadie poked her head around the corner and c****d her head at him.

"Why, young Mr. Thompson! What brings you way out here? Is something wrong?" Sadie said worriedly.

"Well... um... I might have made a mistake with an order and I didn't want my dad to find out..." Zachariah trailed off as his eyes met mine and seemed to twinkle. I met his gaze with a scowl.

"Well, that's quite all right Mr. Thompson. I'm sure I can fix it." Sadie said gently.

"Boy, you better take your damn eyes off my granddaughter, or you’re gonna lose ‘em." Momma Beth snapped. I hadn’t noticed her coming into the room. She was staring at Zachariah with nothing short of malice. The man in question turned his attention to the old woman. When his eyes met hers, he released a deep growl. He was a werewolf. I blocked his view of Momma Beth and released a growl of my own before shoving him hard in the chest.

“Don’t you ever growl at Momma Beth! Do you understand me?” I barked. My actions had thrown the man off balance, and he tumbled off the front steps. Yet, he didn’t speak a word. He just stared at me, dumbfounded. I let out another growl for good measure and brought Blue forward for emphasis.

"River, get on upstairs and do your homework." Momma Beth said, but she wasn’t looking at me. She was staring daggers at Zachariah, who's eyes had never left mine. She never called me River, which told me she wasn’t to be trifled with. I looked between her and Zachariah before conceding to her wishes.

"Yes, ma'am." I said respectfully. I turned on my heels and raced up the stairs to my room. As soon as I closed the door, I immediately placed my ear on it, listening intently to the conversation.

"You listen to me, Mr. Wolf. You stay the hell away from my River. You hear me?" Momma Beth demanded.

"Ma'am, I was just-"

"You was just doin’ nothin’. You was just stayin’ the hell away from my granddaughter! She's a good girl. She ain't caused no trouble. Now, you get the hell off my porch, or I'll get you off my porch!" Momma Beth bit out.

"Granny! You can't ta-" Sadie started.

"No, it's fine. I need to go anyway. Sadie, do you think you can help me with my problem though? Dad will kill me if he finds out about the order I screwed up. It's a big client." Zachariah sounded worried.

"Oh no... it's not the Black's is it?" Sadie sounded nearly panicked.

"Yep." Zachariah said, popping the "p".

"Let's go. Granny, I'll be back later." I could hear Sadie rustling around.

"It was nice to meet you, Ms.-"

"Ms. None of your damn business!" Momma Beth said sassily.

"God dammit Granny." Sadie admonished. Zachariah chuckled before the door snapped shut, and I heard the crunching of gravel as they walked toward his car. After the sounds of the car faded out, I could hear the creaking of the stairs as Momma Beth made her way up them. I sprinted across the room to grab a book before hopping on my bed to pretend to read it. My door opened slowly, and I looked up to find Momma Beth looking as if she had aged ten years. She dropped herself on the side of my bed with a deep sigh.

"Wolfie girl, I want you to stay away from that boy. You hear me?"

"Yes, of course... but why?" She let out another sigh before her stormy eyes turned to me.

"Because... I don't trust that family." She said with an edge of steel in her voice.

"But Sadie works for them." I said weakly.

"I know she does, and I hate it with everything inside me." She said bitterly. I stared out the window for a second before gathering all my courage.

"Momma Beth, why don't you trust them? Is it because they're werewolves? Because... I'm a werewolf too..." I said quietly. I felt her strong hand on my chin as she tilted my head up, so I was looking at her.

"Wolfie girl, you are nothing like the rest of those werewolves. You have a sensitive and kind heart. You want to put somethin’ good into this world and help people. The rest of them stomp out any light they find. They're violent and cruel. They take, take, take and crush anything that's different. Just look at how they did you. Just a skinny little child when we found you. I could never understand how they could do such a thing, and to their own kind.” She got a faraway look in her eyes as her memories consumed her. Like she was remembering something excruciating.

"Momma Beth, what did they do to you?" I could see tears misting her coffee-brown eyes.

"They took my baby... Sadie's daddy... and her momma. They even took my Curtis from me when he tried to save them. They didn’t do nothin’. They was just witches, and that was enough. That Marcus Thompson... Zachariah's father. He's a God damn brute!" Tears ran down the old woman's haggard face, and it was at that moment that I understood why she hated werewolves so much. My heart ached for her and the family she had lost. I wrapped my arms around her and, with all my strength, I tried my best to pull all her broken pieces back together.