Runt's Revenge

Mibayda

Dr. Janna put her put her glasses on as she looked at the runt’s chart, filling in information as the Beta rattled off the facts that he had gathered about her in the last few hours.

“Athena was born a runt to Alpha Charles and Luna Rebecca. Her 18th birthday is actually tomorrow.” Nathan raised his eyebrows. He was trying to keep it brief, but complete, in case any information would be helpful for the doctor in her treatment and, on a different level, to Zayden as he made decisions affecting the pack. “Apparently, the father doted on her, but the mother rejected her. The mother found a second chance mate after the father was killed in a rogue attack. After her father died, as we all know, Beta Eric took over the pack as Alpha. From all of the information that I can find, he was not unkind to her, though she had trouble fitting in to the pack as a whole. She graduated high school early and is a college student, majoring in Business. Up until three days ago, she had a 4.0 grade average. Her professors speak highly of her work, but don’t know her personally, as she takes her classes on-line.”

“Well,” surmised the doctor, “her Alpha blood is serving her well in her healing abilities. The silver poisoning is significant however, with continued doses of the anti-silvering agent and antibiotics,” she said tapping the drip that was attached to the girls I.V., “she should be alright in a few days. Until then, we can expect her to have bouts of delirium, almost as if intoxicated.”

Zayden looked down on her perfectly formed features. He hair had been washed by the nurses and was bright red, long and thick, fanned out in waves on her pillow. She was clean and dressed in a hospital gown, looking so young and innocent.

Lydia had effectively vanished, most likely having dissolved affiliation with the River’s Edge Pack. Without her to question, he had no clear path forward until Cassie or Athena awakened. He was frustrated, concerned and puzzled into knots!

He listened to his Beta carefully before reasoning, “so, any information that we would be able to get from her would be…”

“Compromised and questionable,” the doctor finished for him. “So far, the only thing that we have been able to get from her is the word “fun-size.” She says it whenever she is awake. I can’t make any sense of it. Whatever it means, it makes her very worried.”

“Alpha,” Nathan chimed in, “why don’t you go get some shut eye? We can let you know if anything changes around here.”

Zayden looked down at the tiny face in front of him. Her lips were pursed as if she was dreaming of something that concerned her. He was reluctant to leave, but they all were suffering from a lack of rest. “Alright,” he conceded, “let me know as soon as either of them wake up.”

“Yes, Alpha,” said the doctor. And don’t worry, we will keep her restrained so that she can’t cause any trouble. The leather straps that encircled her wrists and ankles were slightly disturbing to Zayden, but a necessary evil. He nodded before heading up to his room to get some rest.

Zayden slept, but fitfully. When morning finally came, he was relieved to get out of bed and head to the office to get some work done. When he felt like he could not stand a second more, he linked Dr. Janna and Nathan, together, to get an update.

“Oh, Alpha, I was just about to contact you,” the Doctor replied. “Cassie is awake and feeling fine. She would like to have breakfast in the kitchen with you.”

Nathan chimed in, “I am almost to your office, Doctor, after a brief update, I will escort the pip-squeak to the kitchen.”

Goddess bless that Beta of his! He is a mind-reader! Inspired, Zayden wrote an email to his secretary. It said, “buy gift for Nathan and Annie as thank-you, budget $1000!” Zayden smiled as he pushed his chair back from his desk. There was no way to repay loyalty like Nathan’s, but Zayden tried to remember to show his appreciation now and then.

Zayden walked to the kitchen with a spring in his step. The kitchen Omega’s snapped to attention. “What can I get for you, Alpha,” said Kimberly.

“Let’s do pancakes for three!” said the Alpha. Cassie in on her way too, and Beta Nathan. “Oh, and Strawberries with a side of whipping cream! She loves those!” Zayden exclaimed excitedly.

The kitchen staff sprung into action, filling the table in front of him with those items and more. By the time his daughter and his Beta had arrived, the table liked like a buffet breakfast was being served.

“DADDY!” yelled Cassie as she ran into his arms.

Zayden hugged his little girl, rocking back and forth and crooning in her ear, like he used to when she a baby.

“I missed you so much my little pup!” He said, holding back his tears.

“I missed you too, daddy. I was SO brave! I did everything you taught me to do!” said the sweet little girl.

Zayden put her down, finally, in the seat next to his. He looked out at the spread in front of them… “You may want to invite Annie to join us,” Zayden lilted.

“Already happened,” returned his Beta with a grin.

They tucked into their breakfast as all of them were famished.

Zayden and Nathan were trying to be careful about saying anything in front of Cassie about her k********g in case they triggered her.

“Has the person said anything else besides the one thing?” Zayden asked casually.

“Not yet, Alpha,” Nathan replied.

“It’s so mysterious,” said Annie, a little more relaxed than the men. “I wonder what ‘fun-size’ means?”

“That’s me,” said Cassie, not even looking up from her food.

“What?” said both Zayden and Nathan at the same time.

“Me!” said Cassie. “I am not a mini-size candy bar like Mibayda. I am FUN-SIZE!” She threw her hands in the air to emphasize how big she was compared to Athena. She giggled to herself at her private joke with Nea and continued eating. The three adults looked at each other, stunned.

“Cassie,” said Zayden carefully, “that… girl that we found you with… her name isn’t Mibayda.”

“I know,” said Cassie with an especially large bite of pancakes in her mouth. “I know ALL her names… but she Mibayda!”

“She’s not Mibayda, Cassie. Her name is Athena.” Said Nathan.

Cassie started giggling… then she started laughing, eventually laughing so hard that she couldn’t hardly speak. “Ha ha ha… Yourbayda… ha ha” She continued laughing for a minute. As the adults continued to look lost.

“Of course, she’s not Yourbayda, Uncle Nathan… she’s Mibayda!”

Nea woke up again. The same doctor was there looking at a clipboard and at the machines that were hooked up to Athena and beeping steadily. Athena shifted, stretching, feeling her back. It was still super painful, but the wounds were closed, at least, she thought.

“Well, hello young lady,” the doctor said noticing that she was awake.

Nea didn’t say anything. She felt that she had asked about Fun-Size already and that no one had answered her. It was frustrating.

“Are you in pain? Can I get you anything to eat?” the doctor asked.

Nea looked longingly at the glass of water that was just out of reach due to the restraints on her wrists. The doctor helped her take a sip and then Nea laid back and closed her eyes again, pretending to go back to sleep.

“Angel?” she queried, reaching out to her sweet wolf.

“I’m here, Nea… we are getting better.” Angel said, sounding stronger.

“Could we shift if we had to?” Nea asked carefully.

“I think so.”

“Okay… let’s make a plan.”

Cassie was still laughing at her little joke, when she decided to reach out to Nea again, “Mibayda, are you okay?”

“Oh Fun-size! I’ve been so worried about you! I’m okay… but I am dizzy. How are you, kiddo?”

“I’m great! I’m having breakfast with my daddy!”

“Good! Don’t worry about me. You should concentrate on your dad! He was so worried about you!” Nea told her.

Cassie looked at her dad. ”You were SO worried about me?”

“Of course, I was! We all were, sweetheart.” He answered, wondering where that question came from out of the blue.

“Hmmmm…” she hummed to herself as she continued to eat.

Later, they gathered in the Alpha’s office. Zayden asked Dr. Janna to join them in the office before starting to ask Cassie questions about her experiences.

“Cassie,” Dr. Janna probed carefully, may we ask you some questions about where you have been.

“Yeah,” said Cassie brightly.

“First of all,” started the doctor, “I know that you have grown attached to the lady that kidn*pped you.”

“No,” said Cassie, “I don’t like her. I never liked her.”

Once again, the grown-ups all looked at each other. Certainly, the little girl was confused.

“Cassie,” Zayden asked her seriously, “if you don’t like her, then why did you protect her?”

Now it was Cassie’s turn to give everyone a look. She scrunched up her eyes and nose in concentration before asking, “what are you talking about, Daddy?”

“We are talking about Athena, Cassie…” said her dad, “you know… Mibayda.”

Cassie started laughing. “You mean Mibayda?” Asked Cassie.

“Yes, Mibayda,” replied her dad again.

“Daddy, I told you at breakfast… she’s Mibayda… not yourbayda.”

Zayden sighed. They were talking in circles again. “Cassie… we don’t understand what you mean.”

“I mean that she is Mibayda… like Uncle Nathan is your Beta, she is mine.

“Your Beta!” Nathan exclaimed as they all finally got it.

“Yes!” She smiled.

“Cassie, sweetheart,” said Zayden, “she may have been pretending to be your Beta, but that doesn’t make her your friend.”

“That’s right, Cassie,” reinforced Dr. Janna, “she kidn*pped you and, we understand, that she killed her Alpha when he tried to return you to us.”

“NO!” Cassie yelled at them, “She is my real Beta. And she didn’t do those things!”

Dr. Janna linked Zayden. “We may need to end this session. She’s getting over-excited”

“Let’s go back and get some more rest, Cassie,” Dr. Janna suggested gently.

“NO! Mibayda saved me from the rogues and the bad man killed the Alpha, not her!” Cassie started crying when she saw that they didn’t believe her.

“I’m sure that’s what she told you, sweetheart…” began Zayden.

“She didn’t have to tell me. I was there! She saved me and then she became Mibayda! She brought me home and I love her!” Cassie sobbed.

Cassie suddenly stopped talking and looked up at the ceiling as if considering something. Zayden looked at Dr. Janna trying to get a handle on what to do next.

Janna looked at the girl and said, “Look Cassie, I know that you believe what you are saying. Why don’t we go see if we can wake Athena up and have a word with her.”

“You can’t,” said Cassie sullenly.

“And why not,” asked Dr. Janna.

“Because she left. She had to go ‘venge her Alpha,” sulked Cassie.