Of Beasts and Wolves

Chapter 4: Trauma

Max and Gavin walked together to her foster parent's house, but rather than lead him up to the front door, she led him up the back stairs to her attic room over the garage, grateful that this family had basically allowed her to live on her own. They hadn't come and checked on her, they hadn't cared what she did or where she went, as long as she didn't bother them. To her eyes, her room looked calm and serene. It had always been a refuge of sorts for her, and there had been many days after school when her and Jessica would do their homework together, or just talk for hours about their hopes and dreams and fears.

Gavin, however, was horrified by what he saw. Max hadn't even had a bed to sleep on. She had an old mattress shoved in one corner of the tiny room, and while the comforter was a lovely pattern of assorted colors, Gavin could tell that it had been repaired many times and probably wasn't very warm. He wondered how long it had been since Max had had anything new. There weren't even sheets on the bed, for goodness sake. She had a tiny desk shoved into the closet, and only a handful of clothes hanging on the other side of the small space. Gavin was shocked to realize that he had more socks in a single drawer than she had entire outfits.

Her bare, dingy walls had been papered over with bright, colorful drawings, each with a signature bearing either Max's name or Jessica's. It was clear that, while she hadn't been taken care of, she'd done her best to take care of herself. And she'd mentioned that she'd had a home - of sorts - with Jessica and her parents, so that was better than nothing.

Still, Gavin planned to have a word with Alpha Rhys about the way these people had been "taking care" of Max. He was sure their Alpha would not be pleased, and Gavin hoped there would be severe consequences for this family.

Max, blissfully unaware of the dark turn Gavin's thoughts had taken, happily bounced into her room and began preparing to pack everything away into her one small suitcase. She didn't own much, but the small trinkets and treasures she had left from her parents were among the few items she planned to take with her. She'd take her clothes, too, of course, but she wasn't necessarily attached to them. She fully expected that she and Gavin would be left alone to gather her meager belongings in peace. The 'foster family' she'd been living with had never had anything to do with her, and she didn't see why they would feel the need to interfere now.

And yet, as she moved around her room, collecting her things, she could hear them tromping up the stairs outside her tiny room, and, despite her resolve, she found herself growing nervous. Would whatever it was they were going to say or do change Gavin's mind about her? She hoped not, but years of conditioning h ad the same doubts and fears crowding into her thoughts as the pounding footfalls of her foster family came closer and closer. By the time the door was flung open, Max was doing her best to make herself invisible. she could feel Gavin looking at her, but she couldn't bring herself to turn around just yet. She didn't want to see the look on his face if he decided to reject her after all.

"What's going on here?" her faster father, William, wanted to know.

Max knew that she should turn around and answer him, but her feet seemed rooted in place. Eventually, she heard Gavin speak behind her and breathed out a sigh of relief that he wasn't going to make her talk.

"My name is Gavin. I'm Max's mate, and we're here to collect her things."

Though Gavin's words were polite, there was an underlying tension in his voice. Max hunched her shoulders at hearing it, certain that he was annoyed with her because she hadn't answered her foster father.

"Like hell," came the retort. "I don't care who you are. Until I hear otherwise from the Alpha himself, this half-breed b***h isn't going anywhere." To prove his point, he stalked across the room to grip Max's bicep in a hold that promised to leave finger-shaped bruises later. William had never touched her before, and that combined with the pain of his grip made Max wince and gasp in discomfort.

A low warning growl came from Gavin, and both Max and her foster father turned to look at him in surprise.

"You will unhand my mate," he warned quietly. "Now."

The fury in Gavin's voice absolutely terrified Max, and she cowered a bit in William's grasp. Either her foster father didn't recognize the danger, or he didn't care. Either way, Max's opinion of the man's intellect was made perfectly clear by the incredulous expression on her face when he responded to Gavin's command by tightening his grip on her arm and saying, "I'm not doing a gods damned thing until the Alpha comes here and..."

He was cut off by Gavin rushing across the room and slamming William up against the wall, skillfully spinning Max away from him at the same time, and shoving his arm up against the man's throat. Teeth bared in a snarl, he appeared to be more wolf than man as he growled, "Touch her again, I'll rip your arm off and beat you with it." He let up on the pressure only enough to get William's frantic nod of agreement. "You don't own her, and you have no right to her or her things. Is there anything in the house that belongs to her?"

William blanched at the question and his eyes shot up to his wife, Melissa's. She, too, turned pale and one hand came up to clutch at her chest.

Gavin's eyes narrowed and his face contorted into a snarl, his eyes flashing a bright blue for a moment. Recognizing the signs of a shift about to happen, Max darted over to her mate and pressed her hands to the arm holding William against the wall.

The change in Gavin was instantaneous. His posture straightened, his face relaxed, and his energy calmed. He slowly released William from the wall and took a small step back, though he still remained very much in the man's face. "What is hers?"

William's face hardened and he squinted at Gavin in what was, Max was sure, meant to be an intimidating stare. When he only shook his head in refusal, Gavin looked down at Max and gestured with a head nod toward Melissa. "Take her inside the main house. Wait for the Alpha." His eyes went blank, and Max knew that he was mind-linking with Alpha Rhys. A moment later, his gaze cleared and his face settled into a satisfied expression. When he glanced down at Max again, his gaze softened further. "Go on, sweetheart. Alpha Rhys will be here soon. He'll settle everything."

Still concerned, Max continued to search her mate's face, wanting to be certain that all was well and he had returned to his usual calm state for the most part. When he smiled softly at her, she nodded slightly to herself and leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. She wasn't about to disobey him, especially when he still had that glint of steel behind his gaze, and she turned and left the tiny room, grabbing her foster mother by the wrist with one hand, and shoving her foster sister back down the steps the way they'd come.

"Hey!" Taylor cried, incensed that Max would even touch her.

"Get your filthy hands off my...!" Melissa started, but she was interrupted by another warning growl from Gavin that shut her up quickly.

Max couldn't help the small smile of satisfaction when her foster mother snapped her mouth closed and, for a moment, looked exactly like a frog that had just swallowed a fly.

Once inside the house, they sat down on the couches and didn't say a word. Melissa frowned when Max sat down on one side of the couch, no doubt concerned that the half-breed's taint would somehow stain her precious furniture. She kept shooting angry glances toward Max, but would avert her gaze any time their eyes met. Finally, Max couldn't stand the strained silence any longer and got up to go into the kitchen for a glass of water.

As she walked away, she could hear Melissa and Taylor whispering together, but she didn't care enough to question them about it. She was sure they were talking about her, anyway.

Opening and closing cupboards, Max tried to find a glass she could fill with water, and was interrupted by Taylor standing in the doorway and glaring at her.

"What are you doing, half breed?" she wanted to know.

Max ignored her and continued her search, which only pissed Taylor off more. Most of the teenagers in the pack had been awful and treated Max like dirt, but Taylor was the worst. She was the most spoiled, selfish, inconsiderate, thoughtless and rude person Max had ever had the misfortune of meeting.

"I said, what are you doing, you little freak?!" This time, Taylor's voice was even more shrill, piercing the air around them and making Max wince as her ears were assaulted by the sound.

But still Max ignored her and kept looking for a glass, grinning triumphantly when she finally opened the correct cupboard. The next step was to find some water. Hopefully they kept some in the refrigerator, but if not, Max wasn't above drinking straight from the faucet.

Crossing to the fridge took her directly in front of Taylor, who, of course, wasn't about to let her get away unscathed. She snatched the glass from Max's hand and held it over her head, well above the shorter girl's reach.

"Give it back," she demanded. "I'm just getting some water."

"Dogs don't drink out of glasses," Taylor taunted. "Why don't you go drink from the toilet bowl, mutt?"

Well accustomed to this behavior and talk, Max only shook her head and turned to go back to the cupboard where she'd found the glasses. She would just get another one and not give in to Taylor's taunts and insults. Before she could, though, someone cleared their throat right behind her. When Max turned to look, she saw Melissa standing there, holding the glass out to her, a defeated expression on her face.

More intrigued than ever, Max accepted the offering with a quiet, "Thanks," and went back to the fridge to pull it open. Thankfully, there was a gallon in there, already cold, and she quickly poured some into the cup and downed half of it in on go. Then she refilled the glass, replaced the water in the refrigerator, and took her cup of water back into the living room to await the arrival of their Alpha. She didn't look back to see if Melissa and Taylor were following her or not, and really, she didn't care either way. But she could hear their footsteps, and when she sat down on one end of the couch again, they followed suit.

Once again, they went back to the awkward silence, both Taylor and Melissa glaring daggers at her whenever she wasn't looking at them, then glancing quickly away any time she accidentally met their eyes.

Feeling that enough was enough, and hoping that Melissa would tell her the truth, Max asked, "Why are you so angry with me? You've never wanted me here. I thought you'd be happy that I'm leaving. So why this animosity now, when the only reason I came here today was to collect my belongings and leave?"

Melissa scowled at her and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't care where you go or what you do. I am happy that you're leaving. I've wanted you gone for years, but William wouldn't hear of kicking you out." She looked like she wanted to say more, but quickly snapped her lips together into a thin line, giving her already pinched face an even more sour look.

Max lifted an eyebrow in curiosity, but only shook her head when Melissa stubbornly refused to say anything. It didn't really matter, anyway, she supposed, since the Alpha was on his way and would get to the bottom of this situation - whatever it was - in no time.

Not that she expected the outcome to be anything more than Alpha Rhys telling William and Melissa to stand down and allow to gather her things and leave. Why he would need to come all the way to the house was baffling, but he was the Alpha, and he did things his own way.

As if her thoughts had conjured him, she could hear the Alpha's heavy footsteps ascending the staircase outside up to her little room. All three of the women in that living room looked up toward the ceiling, their eyes following the sound of the footsteps as they moved around in Max's attic bedroom. There was an exclamation of "You son of a b***h!" followed by a muffled cry and a thud. Shortly after that, three sets of footfalls could be heard descending the stairs and heading inside.

William came first, the collar of his shirt wrinkled and bunched up from where it was still held in Gavin's grasp, who followed closely behind him. Behind him came Alpha Rhys, whose face was as dark as a thundercloud. Max's eyes darted back and forth between the three men several times before she saw the bruise on William's cheekbone, already darkening into a purple stain just beneath his eye. It wouldn't surprise her if that bruise became a black eye by the time morning rolled around.

Melissa let out a startled cry and moved as if she would run to William, but one look from the Alpha froze her in place. The expression on her face was one of sheet terror, while William just looked mutinous and Taylor looked confused.

If nothing else, Max was enjoying the turmoil their lives had suddenly been thrown into.

Assuming that everything had been settled and she would be free to go and collect her things, Max moved to step around the three men to head back outside and up to her room. The Alpha's voice froze her in her tracks.

"Wait." It was a command, and Max gritted her teeth as she silently obeyed. "This is your foster family, is it not?" he wanted to know.

Max nodded, but still didn't raise her eyes above the carpet to look at Alpha Rhys.

"Sit down, Maxanne. These people have some truths to reveal to you before you leave."

Intrigued, she obeyed yet again and took her previous seat on the couch, ignoring Taylor's disgusted scoff and the way the spoiled girl moved her dress to avoid having it sat on by Max. The Alpha however, did not ignore Taylor's actions, and pinned her with a glare so fierce, the girl immediately dropped her eyes and ceased fidgeting.

No one said anything for a long few minutes, until Gavin tightened his hold on William's collar and shoved him forward another step. "Tell. Her." he ground out, flexing the fingers of the hand not holding the man's collar hostage. It was obvious that he'd like nothing more than to hit William again, but he was exerting an enormous amount of self control to keep himself contained.

With the command from Gavin combined with the weighty stare of his Alpha, William finally opened his mouth and muttered, "You have an inheritance from your parents."

Shocked, Max looked up at her foster father to gauge if what he was saying was the truth. She'd never heard anything about an inheritance! Wouldn't she have been told?

Gavin shoved William again and commanded, "Tell her all of it! Tell her what you did."

But William only glowered and sneered at her. It was Melissa who said, "We spent it."

Alpha Rhys took a step forward, as though he would strike her, and Melissa cowered back in her seat. "You took the money meant for a 13 year old girl who had just lost her parents, and spent it on your own daughter, who then took every opportunity she could to torment Max. You moved into this house with that money. You bought these furnishings, and all of your clothes, with that money. Not only that, you took the monthly allowance I was sending her and kept that for yourselves, too. Didn't you?"

Melissa nodded, but kept her eyes on the Alpha's face. "She's a half-breed. She shouldn't even have been allowed to stay in the pack. Her father should been killed immediately, and her mother too, once it was discovered she was pregnant."

Max stared at the woman, wanting nothing more than to dart across the room and choke the life from her.

"Control yourself, Max. You're close to shifting, and this isn't the time or the place," Beryl soothed. "Go hug Gavin if you need to, but you have to calm down."

For once listening to her wolf without question, Max rose and crossed the room to her mate, who immediately shoved William away from him so he could open his arms to her. His touch instantly made her feel better, and she closed her eyes to listen to his heartbeat against her ear. Her breathing evened out, and when she felt as though she could control herself without striking anyone, she looked up at her Alpha.

"So now I know. What am I going to do about it? I just want to get my things and go live with my mate."

"Good!" William snapped. "Get out."

This time, it was the Alpha who moved first, and he was so fast that Max nearly missed it. She only realized what happened when William fell flat on his back, the other side of his face beet red where Alpha Rhys had struck him, the lip split and oozing blood. "You will be silent!" he roared, and this time, no one dared say anything. Turning back to face Max and Gavin, he told her, "They will repay every cent they took from you. First I need to know if you wish to keep this house as your repayment."

Max shook her head and told him, "I have no memories in this house. It means nothing to me."

Alpha Rhys nodded and said, "Then the house and everything in it will be sold. The proceeds will go directly to you, to do with as you see fit. It won't cover everything they took from you, but it should be a nice start. As for you three," turning around to face Max's foster family, he intoned, "you are banished from the Forest Whispers pack. My Sentinels will be given your names and descriptions, and should you ever return here for any reason, it will be your deaths. You have 1 hour to pack a bag. You may each take one pair of shoes and a total of 5 outfits. Nothing more. That is all you provided your charge with over the last five years, and that is all you will have until you find another home."

Max could hardly believe what she was hearing, but the stricken looks on the faces of her foster family were enough to convince her that this was really happening. She'd never thought the Alpha cared about her or what happened to her, but he was certainly trying to make things right for her. She didn't necessarily want to see her foster family banished from the pack, but at the same time, that had been the Alpha's decision. Not hers.

"They deserve that, and more," Beryl snarled. "They took the money meant for you and bought themselves and their daughter lavish clothes, rich food, and whatever else, while you lived in a tiny bedroom in the attic with only a few changes of clothes and a worn comforter that didn't even keep you warm in the winter. Thank the moon goddess for Jessica and her family."

Not wanting to question her Alpha's authority, Max waited until he and Gavin stepped outside before following them and asking, "Alpha Rhys, I respect your decision, but is banishment really necessary?"

She wasn't prepared for the kind look he bestowed her with as he answered, "Yes. It is. I trusted these people, as members of my pack, to take care of you and look after you. I provided money for your care every month, on top of the inheritance left to you by your parents, but they spent every penny of it on themselves and left you to starve and have next to no belongings. That is an unforgivable offense in my eyes, and their punishment will stand."

Max nodded and stepped back to stand with Gavin, who held out his hand for their Alpha to shake. "Thank you for coming so quickly, Alpha Rhys."

"Of course, Gavin. Come see me later tonight after you get Max settled in. Cora's making apple fritters for dessert, and I know those are your favorite. We'll go over some last minute details for the Sentinals schedules."

Gavin nodded his agreement, and with a smile, Alpha Rhys turned and headed back down the road toward his office.

Stunned, Max could only stand there in silence, her mouth slightly agape as the realization that her entire world and everything she'd ever thought about herself and everyone around her had changed drastically the span of a few short hours.

Her mate seemed to sense how overwhelmed she was, and he gently wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her temples. "Come on, baby. Let's go get your things and go home."

"Home," Beryl sighed, and Max couldn't help but sigh, too. It had been so long since she'd really had a home, she could barely remember what that even was.

"That sounds really good," she told him happily, pleasantly surprised that it genuinely did sound really good. And, with a smile, she let Gavin lead her back up into her old room to collect the rest of her belongings.