Beauty and Beast

Chapter 6

Madilyn's POV

When I woke up, I thought that maybe that was all part of this horribly bad dream. I was wrong. Before I even got a chance to acknowledge my surroundings, I heard her.

"Can you not make us look dumb?" Eden said, rolling her eyes.

I rolled my eyes in response.

"Can someone please explain what the hell is going on?" I said, aggravated.

"You better come downstairs..." Max said nervously.

When I got downstairs, there was a whole breakfast waiting for me. Whatever they had to say could wait. I loaded my plate with eggs, waffles, and bacon. I ate until I couldn't. This has been the best birthday by far. I joined Max and Amy in the living room and they both had very serious looks. I could tell that they were trying to figure out how to tell me what they were about to tell me.

"So, as you already know, you are a wolf," Max said awkwardly.

"What you don't know is that so is everyone else in our family," Amy said, twiddling her thumbs together.

How come no one mentioned it? Why would they all hide it from me?

"More than likely for a good reason. You can trust them, they would never intentionally do anything to hurt you."

("But Eden, why would they lie to me my whole life?")

"If you be quiet and listen, you'll find out."

I have never rolled my eyes so hard before in my life.

"We only hid it from you for so long because your parents didn't want you and Rory involved in the "wolf business," as they called it." Amy said, sounding angry yet understanding at the same time.

"They moved out of Washington when you were about 5," Max said, right after Amy, without missing a beat like they had prepared this.

"Wait. My parents are wolves?" I said angrily.

Amy and Max look at each other then back at me and shake their heads. Yes.

"Madilyn, you need to calm down. You'll learn that if we can't control our emotions, bad things can happen."

At that point, I was livid. How dare they hide this from me? Although it's not surprising, they were lousy parents.

("Eden you don't get it. Mom left us. Just left. And Dad was an alcoholic who used me as a maid, all the while I was more than that.")

"Everyone was trying to protect you, whether you could see it or not."

"Well, I have never seen Dad act like a wolf and Mom has always been gone, so honestly, who knows about her? They lied to me, my whole life. And you guys let them?" I said, disappointed.

"Yes sweetie, but you have to understand. They wouldn't have let us visit if it wasn't for us promising to keep it a secret." Amy said, looking directly in my eyes.

She wasn't lying. I could see in her eyes that keeping that secret killed her just as much as me finding out about it.

"Okay, so my parents are wolves. I am a wolf. Is Rory a wolf too?" I said curiously.

"Yes. He won't discover his wolf until he is 18 but he will start having dreams about him at 17, like you did, and like we all did." Max said, almost sounding extremely happy about everything.

"We all?" I said with a look of disbelief on my face.

"You didn't think we were like a magical miracle family, the only wolves in the world, did you?"

("You know, I wouldn't like you very much if you were a person.")

"I am a person, I am you. Are you saying you don't like you?"

("You are a real workout. You know that?")

"We are not the only wolves in the world. There is a whole community of them. There are many different territories and there are rouges. We are just all hiding in plain site," Max said with a smile on his face.

"Rouges?" I said again with a look of pure confusion on my face.

"Rouges are wolves without a pack," Amy said with a half smile.

"So like my parents? Wouldn't that make me a rouge too?" I said, even more confused.

"Yes and no. Your parents left the pack after you were born. They can't force you to disown a pack, it has to be of your own free will. So you are part of the pack, but you can't feel the bond because you have been gone for so long." Max explained.

"Your parents left the pack for a different reason as well...." Amy said with a grim look on her face.

Great. There always has to be something. Nothing can just be simple, can it?