The Sentinel's Maid

Chapter 1

Present-day (sort of!)

Cat’s POV

I ran into the, lunging at my mother’s leg, so the big wolf behind me didn’t catch me. I turned, eager to see if he’d catch up--- but to my surprise, I saw him pause at the door, not daring to come any closer. His big gray eyes flickered back and forth, between the Alpha, the Luna, and myself. And I frowned, wondering why he didn’t come any closer.

The fun had just begun…!

Suddenly I was lifted off the ground and into my mom’s arm. Mama Vic was there too, and they talked about magic. I liked magic, but mom wouldn’t teach me until I was older.

My attention drifted back to the wolf, who now was talking to the strange redhead boy on the couch. The twins joined them and they left the room. Instantly I struggled to get down so I could follow the wolf. I liked him and wanted to play…!

Mom put me down and I hurried after the kids. But they were too fast! Sadness overtook me, as I realized, that I was alone.

Nobody wanted to play with me…

A quick tap on my shoulder made me spin around. And my heart jumped with joy. It was the wolf! His face was strange, marred by ugly red lines and he talked funny. But of all the wolves, I liked him the most.

“Lulu!”

It wasn’t his name, but his real one was hard to say. But he didn’t mind! He always smiled when I said it like that and I liked his smiles. Even it was weird and not really normal. It only made me laugh more and I loved him!

When I grew up, he was going to be my mate!

“Come, Cat,” he said in a deep and gruff voice, holding out his hand for me. “I keep you safe.”

I nodded eagerly and let him lift me up into his arms. He ran with the both of us to the playground. I closed my eyes and let myself sink deep into his embrace. It felt safe. And warm. And like everything was right.

He felt like MINE!

*

“CATELYN SUMMER!!!”

I jolted awake, hitting my head on the beam over my bed. Hard. I cursed throwing my head back on the pillow, ready to pass out again. But I knew with “mistress” screaming that hard, I wouldn’t get the chance to even pass out. She’d haunt my ass if I didn’t come at her beg and call.

I groaned, hating that the same scene seemed to invade my dreams every night. I didn’t know who the wolf in my dream was or who the women were, that I thought were my moms. Probably just wishful thinking, I concluded and knew that Freud would have a field day picking my brain apart. Like how in my dream, I had two parents who loved and cared for me, but the reality couldn’t be further from the truth! And that some wolf-boy wanted me, yet the only male wolf in my life – my annoying older brother – hated my guts and did everything in his power to make my life miserable!

The safe and warm feelings of my dream slipped away, and I was back in reality.

And reality sucked!

6 more weeks! I chanted it over and over again, as if it were a mantra, while I got out of bed and hurried downstairs. In 6 weeks, I would be 18 and I could finally leave this dump. And no, I wasn’t talking about the bad part of town or the fact that the house smelled of mold and stale air.

I was talking about my so-called family.

I was raised by my two moms – but god forbid I called them that. I might be their daughter, but they didn’t have any qualms about making it painfully obvious to me that I was an unwanted byproduct of a mix-up they got stuck with. So, while they raised me, they made sure I knew I wasn’t part of the family.

It was a Cinderella nightmare just without the prince charming at the end of it!

After I finished middle school and was about to start high school, my moms pulled me out of the system and forced me to work at home. I did all the cooking, cleaning, shopping, and other household tasks that they didn’t want to be bothered with. And while I might have understood the need if we were barely making ends meet and both my moms were out working a million different jobs or something. But no! Both my moms were living off the state welfare and the bum that owned the house – Rick – let us live here for free as long as one of them sucked him off when he asked.

It was disgusting, but they didn’t seem to mind, so who was I to judge…?

I made my way down from my room and to the kitchen, but I gasped when suddenly a strong hand gripped the back of my neck.

“How’s my favorite pet?” A male voice murmured close to my ear. It sent shivers down my spine and my stomach turned.

“Isn’t it too early for this, Jack?” I asked, hoping I was hiding the shiver of fear in my voice better than my erratic heart was. Jack was the reason I locked my door at night and slept with a knife under my pillow. Jack was a prick and the worst kind of jerk that walked on this earth. He’s never tried anything s****l with me – thank God! – but he liked making my life a living hell. As in he made me his personal punching bag.

“No,” he grinned, and just like that, he punched my gut. I groaned and doubled over. Luckily for me, he didn’t use his shifter strength otherwise I wouldn’t be getting up again – ever! But it still hurt like a b***h!

“I’m hungry,” he growled, gripping my hair and pulling my face up to meet his. His blue icy-blue eyes stared into mine with a malicious that could kill ordinary people, as his sandy-blond shoulder-length hair fell into his face. I cursed, hating that he was a good foot taller than me and built like a brick. He’d always been a big kid, and no, I was not talking tall and broad – I was talking overweight! Think Dursley from Harry Potter! But instead of Karma catching up to his pounds and giving him a heart attack, he instead shifted and every ounce of fat somehow turned to muscles. Once he looked like a pig – now he just ate as one!

I hated shifter metabolism...

“Go make me something to eat,” he demanded and pushed me down the rest of the stairs. I braced myself and after a step or two, I found my footing and ran down the rest of the way. I hated how scared I was of him. Of all of them. Of how weak they always managed to make me feel and utterly worthless…

I came into the kitchen and saw Susann and Lauran already sitting at the table with Rick, their heads pressed together whispering low. They were most likely planning Rick’s next ‘get rich fast’-scheme. It wasn’t unusual and sometimes it even paid off. But more often than not they burned through the money faster than a forest fire and then we’d be broke again. They were all werewolves, so they didn’t need to worry about me overhearing their plot, since I wasn’t a wolf. Another thing that made me stand out like a sore thumb among them. I wasn’t a shifter! I was just plain old ordinary human. Not that I minded. For all I knew, werewolves were all flea-infested mutts, and if they somehow all could just drop dead, it would really make my day…

I started cooking, nothing fancy just eggs and bacon. But with the amount I was making, you’d think I was feeding an army. Not that I would ever touch any of it. I was a vegetarian, so breakfast for me was just some leftover fries and crackers.

Jack came in and I did my best to ignore the smug smirk he sent me. I refused to let him see how terrified I was of him. Hell, all of them. And what’s worse than being terrified of the people you live with? It’s when they plan on using you in their little schemes.

“No! She’s perfect!” Rick snickered, giving me a sideways glance. I hated how that made a trickle of fear creep up my spine and breathe down my neck. And when they all turned towards me, I knew that I was going to get dragged into whatever they were planning next.

It wasn’t that unusual for me, sad to say. Not that I ever got to reap what I sowed, but if I didn’t they’d just beat the s**t out of me until I did what they wanted. So there really wasn’t much choice in the matter…

“Cat! Get over here!” Susann snapped and motioned me closer. She was a short, chubby blond who once upon a time was probably a very beautiful woman. Now she wore too much make-up and seemed to have that doom and gloom about her that only someone who had given up on life could have. Her only joy now was the pain she could inflict on me every time she had a mental breakdown or the things she could buy every time we had cash.

And despite Susann being the vicious one, I knew it was Lauran I should be really afraid of. She wasn’t brutal or lashed out in violence, but she had a way to get into your head like no one else could. Jack was her biological child and she favored him above all else, but for a long time, she had me pining for her affections as well. Promising me love if I only did this or that or said whatever she wanted to hear. But with her, love was always out of my reach, because I was pretty sure the woman didn’t know how to love. Sure, she was beautiful – a tall, slender woman with sandy-blond hair and blue eyes that looked like a summer sky. But her heart was ice cold…

I took the already-finished breakfast and put it on the table.

“We need you to break into this house,” Rick said, handing me a picture of what looked like a suburban house. Rick was somewhere in his early 40s, but he looked and stank like a 60-year-old. His black hair was dusted with grays and always combed back, so that it looked greasy and shiny. His beady black eyes always looked at me like I was some sort of juicy steak. It gave me the creeps, but I learned to live with it.

I picked up the picture and looked at it, while Rick went on a rant about security and what I needed to do, to get the job done. Then “all” I had to do, was to find the man’s computer and insert a memory card that contained a virus. A virus, that would corrupt all the files he had and render all the evidence they had on whoever had enlisted Rick’s help useless!

“And we’ll be set for life!”

Yeah, I’d heard that a million times before, and like all the times before this, it didn’t do anything to encourage me. Instead, I felt fear lodged itself in my throat.

“What if I get caught?” I asked, looking to Lauran, knowing she was the greediest of the bunch. I might be turning 18 in a couple of weeks and willing or not, she was going to kick me out if she couldn’t claim child support on my ass. Which also would be the case if I got caught. My motivation, however, was quite different. If I got caught this close to my 18th birthday, there was a good chance that they’d try me as an adult.

And not only didn’t I want to go to jail, but I also wanted a life when I was out of this dump!

As it was, I didn’t stand a chance of getting to college, but I was willing to do whatever it took to achieve my dreams. I wanted to become a graphical designer. I’d find work – anywhere! – and I’d live on the streets if that’s what it took. I’d already endured 18 years of hell, an x-amount of years on the streets fending for myself wouldn’t be any different. Hell, at this rate it would probably be an upgrade, considering that I wouldn’t have to deal with Jack the Looser and his merry band of Mother-f***s.

“Well, you just have to be careful then, don’t you?” Susann snickered, and the gleam in her eyes told me she wanted me to get caught. To see me f**k up and cry, probably even beg a little.

I took in a deep breath and looked at the picture again. It all seemed too easy. The guy was home on vacation, but he was barely ever there, spending most of his time in the woods or at local bars. He was a cop, and they suspected that his computer had all the information they needed to get some big shot out of jail.

“I’ve never done anything like that before,” I tried again, not wanting to get involved in this. Not now! Not when I was this close to freedom! But Lauran sighed, as a woman at her wits end with a misbehaving toddler.

“Cat, sugar,” she chided and sat up straighter in her chair, eyeing me like some bug on her windscreen. “You’ll do this for us, you understand? We’re a family here, and family helps each other.”

Family my ass, I mentally scoffed, but with Susann’s loud gasp and Rick’s loud growl, I realized that I’d said it out loud.

“If that’s how you really feel, then, by all means, tell me,” Lauran continued with a coldness in her voice, that felt like the temperature in the room literally dropped to below zero degrees. “Who took you into their home without ever asking anything in return?”

Not asking anything in return?! I wanted to scoff at that. But if I did, the lecture would never end. I mentally sighed and gave her the answer that she wanted.

“You.”

“And who raised you? Gave you food and clothes?”

“You.”

“And who took you in, when not even your own parents wanted you?”

That one stung! But I couldn’t deny it. Susann wasn’t my biological mother, and neither was Lauran. Rick wasn’t my dad and Jack wasn’t my biological brother. Susann and Lauran might have been a mated pair, but I was the unwanted and unfortunate accident that Susann happened to get stuck with. She was the surrogate mother of another mated pair, but once they broke up, neither of them wanted me. And that’s how she got stuck with me.

I gritted my teeth and said what needed to be said.

“You!”

“Exactly,” Lauran smiled coldly, as if it gave her pleasure to remind me, of how utterly unwanted I was in this world. She reached over and laced her hand with Susann’s, giving her mate a loving look, before turning her attention back to me. “Without us, you’d be nothing! You’d be an abortion in---”

I tuned her out after that and tried to focus on the task ahead. So, that moral lecture and 24 hours later, I was left on the sidewalk leading up to the house. Dressed in black from head to toe and with nothing but a bolt cutter in my hand.

I was surrounded by darkness, as I moved up to the house with no streetlight or outdoor lighting to light the way. I knew where to find the breaker box to the house and with light steps, I walked right up to it. And while doing that, I had a sinking feeling in my gut. Something wasn’t right. For one, I did find it strange that there was no fence around the property. And no big sign either with the promise of caution if you trespassed. And despite that, the house seemed to be deserted – as promised the owner was out somewhere – it didn’t---feel deserted! It was hard to explain, but I’d done this dance a couple of times. There was a different feel about a house that was empty and one, that wasn’t. People gave off a certain kind of vibe and the vibe coming from somewhere inside was---

A lot!

I didn’t have the right words to describe it other than that. It was vibrating as if it was breathing on its own. Protectiveness and power that snaked its way under your skin and just stayed there. Like an unwanted parasite that keeps you warm and feeling protected.

But a parasite nonetheless.

Because once you felt it there, you were addicted to the warmth and safety it provided. And you never wanted to let go...

I shook my head, trying to clear my mind and focus. After cutting the power I dared to move closer and while I waited, I took a look around. The house was huge, with a big back patio and an outdoor swimming pool that was cleverly surrounded by a mixture of tall plants, wood, and glass, that gave the illusion of privacy. The smooth white surface blended with the glass façade and the balcony on the top floor, made me yearn to sit there on a hot summer's day with a book, ice cream, and a cup of iced tea. It looked like someone had made it with love and tenderness, focusing on spending time together, but also giving individuals room to be their own person…

But I wasn’t here to admire the architecture.

I was here for a job and nothing else.

I waited for a few moments longer before sneaking up to the huge patio glass-framed doors and sneaking a small pocketknife in between the sliders. Again, surprised at how little security this luxurious house had. The guy was obviously loaded, so why he hadn't spent a meager amount on a better security system was beyond me…

I got in, carefully sliding the door open. It was a huge living room, but it was going to take my eyes a little while longer before they finally adjusted to the darkness inside. In the meantime, I crept in and closed the door behind me. Pocketing the knife I’d held onto, I moved towards the door. According to the information, his office was upstairs and that’s where I’d find the computer.

Carefully I managed to get up the stairs and focused on counting the doors until I came to the one I opened. Like with the rest of the house, I couldn’t make out much of anything. The only light inside came from the moon and the stars outside. But I did manage to make out a desk and a computer sitting on it. Careful, I snuck up to it and---

“What the actual f**k?” A gruff voice suddenly growled behind me. I froze as I looked up--- and realized that in the doorway was the silhouette of a huge hulk of a man.