Rejected, unloved, and lost.

Chapter 9

An hour later, all 3 washed and changed; Sky was sitting at a table in the dining room; her half-eaten breakfast had just been cleared away, and her sketch pad and pencils were spread out around her. She wasn’t sure where the twins were, probably training or something; she figured, after all, they did have a pack to run. Sky didn’t recall consciously deciding to draw something, but when she looked down at the page on the table, it was filled with an image of Jaimie, his face distorted into a grimace of hate and disgust. Sky knew precisely when it was without even looking any further. Turning back a page, there was Peter’s face. Then her parents, her mother in tears, being held by her father. Charlie and her parents around Jaimie. Brooklyn from school and the other coven bitches. When she got to these drawings, Sky was in tears again. She pulled the pages from her sketch pad, tearing them into tiny little pieces, throwing them across the room, unsuccessfully, and screaming loudly.

Kayla was there in minutes, her face flushed and panting slightly. She had clearly run from wherever she was to get to Sky as fast as she could. Kayla looked around the room, clearly ready to take on any threat. Only once she was sure there was no threat did she seem to calm, turning Sky to face her and hugging her tightly. “Shhh baby, shhh, it’s ok. I’m here. I’ve got you,” Kayla repeatedly whispered until Sky seemed to calm down slightly. Managing to pack up the art supplies one-handed as Sky dried her eyes, leaning on Kayla’s side. “I drew them… I don’t know why I didn’t decide to draw them,” Sky mumbled as she began to pack up with Kayla. Still looking pale and shaky.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Kayla asked softly as she zipped up the pencil case on the table and moved away to gather the torn-up bits of pages.

“I don’t know how to put it into words”, Sky replied softly. Theo burst into the room at this point, also spinning around and looking for any threat. Once he had satisfied himself that all was as it should be and there was no threat that he could beat, he hurried over to Sky’s side, kneeling down by her, his eyes wide with concern “you needed us?… Rylee reached out to me… I’m sorry I wasn’t here, baby… what happened?”

Sky shook her head, brushing away the apology. They had other things to do besides babysitting her all day. “It’s fine, Theo… don’t worry,” Sky told him quietly, unsure how to explain what had happened to him.

“I think you need to finish telling us the story… if you want to, and you are ready,” Kayla said with a hand on Sky’s shoulder. Giving Theo a significant look. Kayla was pretty sure that Sky was drawing these people because she was halfway through her story; she was struggling with the next bit, perhaps? And telling a story will always make it stick out more in your mind, especially when it’s traumatic memories like these.

Sky’s eyes went wide as she looked between Kayla and Theo; they could hear her heart rate increase as she began to panic. Shaking her head softly, she began to gather up her belongings with shaky hands “n…no… please… not yet… I can’t, I can’t, not yet” she was backing away as she spoke shakily.

“It’s ok, it’s ok, Sky, you can have all the time you need. We won’t push,” Theo said as he stood up, holding out a hand to her. “Kay didn’t mean to push you, little butterfly. There is no pressure here… do you want to go and see who we can find for you to draw instead?”

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A few weeks had passed since the incident in the dining room. Sky was still asking both the twins to sleep with her in her room; she had tried to sleep without them but found that she woke up screaming, and they came running regardless. She hadn’t tried to do more sketching since those she did in the dining room, retreating into other books and photography and helping in the clinic instead.

This Tuesday morning, she was in the clinic, helping give the children their vaccinations. They wouldn’t get their full healing powers and immunity to disease until they got their wolves at around 14 or 15. So until then, it was only wise to protect them, primarily since they would interact with humans at school.

She was sitting on the floor in the middle of the reception, making random objects float and glow while she cuddled the first of a pair of twins who had just had their injections. Theo walked into the clinic just as a tennis ball swooped low and drifted towards the door, Sky losing concentration as a crying toddler wandered over and attempted to settle himself in her lap.

The tennis ball hit Theo right in the middle of his forehead. He wasn’t really concentrating; he had been too busy looking for Sky, her contentment and peace bleeding through their slowly blossoming bond; it was precisely what Theo needed right now. Blinking and rubbing his head, he looked up and around. Laughing at the giant mobile of stuff his fantastic mate had clearly created to keep the children entertained. He could see toys and teddies, a set of keys, a stethoscope, a pencil case and a notebook in the medley. She must have been stealing objects from all over the clinic for this project. Theo had to admit that it did seem to be keeping the children calm, there wasn’t much crying, and the baby in Sky’s arms appeared to be sound asleep and very comfortable. “What are you like?” Theo chuckled, a large smile on his face as he too took a seat on the floor at Sky’s side, picking up the toddler and settling him in his own lap “what is your new luna like, little one? Making all these things fly for you and your friends” he said softly to the child.

Sky looked up at Theo, blinking innocently. She hadn’t thought twice about using her powers to distract the children; why would she? It wasn’t hurting anyone and didn’t cost her anything. She knew that Theo wasn’t mad, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of being caught doing something wrong or bad. It seemed to hit her when she was found doing something new or that she hadn’t explicitly been asked to do. She figured it was a leftover from her time in the coven. Theo smiled down at her kindly. They didn’t make much conversation; Sky could tell that Theo needed some time away from something upsetting him, though she wasn’t sure what it was, so they sat together while Sky played with lights and made things fly to amuse the children. Sky liked to play with her powers like this, it was a fun, gentle way to learn how to make things work for her plus, the kids didn’t know what she was trying to do, so if it didn’t go right, they didn’t know. It also showed the older pack members who were anxious about having a witch for Luna that magic wasn’t evil, and Sky used it to help the pack.

Once the clinic had finally emptied and Sky, assisted by Theo, had cleaned up the mess she had made, they left, hand in hand, Sky’s head leaning gently onto Theo’s arm. They walked around the pack lands until they found a quiet tree, settling in the tree’s roots. Sky turned to Theo, “You came to me for a reason… What’s going on, Theo?” She asked him quietly. It was most unlike Sky to start a conversation and use his name, but he certainly couldn’t deny it felt nice to hear his name on her lips. In some respects, she did remind Theo of a traditional she-wolf in that she was reasonably submissive to him. She would let him lead their interactions to a point; she seemed happy enough to let him make some decisions for her too. But it was hard to tell how much of this was just conditioning from her coven. Clearly, this kind of behaviour would have been encouraged by them. But on the other side, Theo had seen evidence of her temper; she could think independently and make her own choices. No one asked her to go to the clinic, for example, but Sky knew that she could sometimes use some spells to help the doctor, so she started going herself. She seemed to genuinely care about the pack and the people in it.

Theo sighed, dropping his head to lay gently on top of Sky’s, scrubbing at his face for a moment before he straightened up again, gently tugging Sky closer to his side. She seemed to be ok with this now. Theo couldn’t put his finger on when this change had happened. Usually, she would stay at least an arms-length from him when they were alone. He could guess what had happened to her in the past. He had now had some of his suspicions confirmed. He didn’t know if he could listen to much more without wanting to find and kill this boy in the most painful way imaginable. Eventually, he spoke, “We have a slight problem, sweetheart. The elders are getting antsy. They are starting to push me to mark you. We have to give the official notice of me taking over the pack now that I have you. They have set a date for two weeks. The visitors will arrive the day before, other Alpha and Beta’s and maybe some of their sons.” Theo decided to stop here, giving Sky a chance to take it all in. He knew it would be a lot for her, and she may very well panic or even try to run. He couldn’t stop her from running if that was her choice, but he hoped she would stay.

Sky pulled back, looking up at Theo anxiously, her eyes wide with apprehension. Her arms wrapped around her middle. The implications of the words were sinking in slowly for her. Her face paling, then flushing as she remembered the intimacy of Kayla marking her. That was a night that Sky didn’t want to forget. They had started out watching Netflix in Kayla’s room, curled up on the bed together, and Kayla wrapped around Sky’s shorter figure. Kayla was explaining about her wolf Remi and how the pack worked. She told Sky about how her brother would inherit the alpha title, the various ranks of wolves in the pack, and their responsibilities. They ended up talking about mates, and Kayla told Sky about the marking and mating rituals and how they could all benefit from it in time. She explained that the mark wouldn’t actually hurt Sky and that she would be able to link to Remi and Archer, hopefully as she was their mate too. Somewhere around here, there was talk of s*x and how intimate relations might work, given how connected they all were.

A fair bit of giggling followed this. Then Kayla kissed Sky. They were locked together on the bed, the TV forgotten in the background. Sky had never felt so comfortable and content, hidden under the blankets with Kayla, their arms wrapped around each other. Sky had kissed Kayla back. Kayla’s mouth had slowly descended over Sky’s jawline and onto her neck as she raised herself over Sky. Sky could tell that Kayla was doing everything she could to avoid making her feel crowded or smothered. When Kayla had sucked over what she called Sky’s marking spot, it made stars flash before Sky’s eyes, her toe curled in anticipation and pleasure as heat flooded her abdomen. Her thighs tensing around Kayla’s, practically purring from just this.

Sky knew she felt closer to Kayla, but she didn’t expect to feel this; she couldn’t even remember her body responding like this to Jaimie, not even when they first started dating. It didn’t make sense to her. And then Kayla had looked down at Sky with a question in her eyes. Sky knew instinctively what Kayla was asking; she hesitated only a few seconds before giving a nod of consent. Kayla’s canines had elongated painlessly, there was a moment of pain as they first sank into Sky’s flesh, but it faded as fast as it came. The pleasure was indescribable; it was intense before, but now… wow… Sky was riding that high for so long; her body felt like jelly, her limbs were beyond her control, her head was spinning, and she couldn’t even open her eyes. Kayla had stayed over her, her teeth in Sky’s neck for a few moments as she growled, their pleasure feeding each other’s. When Kayla could control herself again, she pulled away from Sky’s neck, only to lick over the wound, sending yet more waves of pleasure coursing through their bodies. They both passed out on the bed, the TV playing, limp bodies intertwined. Someone had pulled a blanket over them at some point. Neither was sure who. But they woke up in the morning wrapped around each other with a blanket tangled between them.

Shaking herself from the memory, for once a nice one, and trying to hide the blush on her face, Sky turned her attention back to Theo. “What are we going to do?” She asked him, expecting that he would have a solution for everything already.