CHAPTER SIX: THE LIFE SHE RAN FROM
952 Words
For one whole week, Barbie locked herself away from the world.
Her bedroom door stayed shut, the curtains permanently drawn, sealing her off from daylight and time. Food trays were left untouched outside her door. Sarah knocked every morning and every night. Don Martelos stood outside longer than he cared to admit, his hand hovering over the door, unsure whether to knock or respect the silence his daughter had demanded.
Even Abby came every day.
She pleaded.
She begged.
She cried.
But Barbie never opened the door.
Inside that room, Ama was unraveling.
Too much had happened at once—too much pain stacked on pain until she could barely breathe. Klan’s betrayal still burned like an open wound. The image of him with Kate refused to fade, replaying endlessly in her mind. The lies. The denial. The way he’d dismissed her hurt like it meant nothing.
But that pain… she could survive.
What she couldn’t survive was the wolf.
I thought I was an omega, she kept thinking bitterly.
Weak. Powerless. The lowest of the pack.
So how had she transformed?
How had she summoned a wolf without meaning to—without control?
The answer frightened her.
Because it meant the life she had run from had found her again.
Ama turned onto her side, curling into herself as memories she had buried clawed their way back to the surface. The pack she grew up in. The way omegas were treated like dirt beneath everyone’s feet. The beatings disguised as “discipline.” The hunger. The shame.
Her mother—silent, distant, driven by pack laws and hierarchy.
Her father—absent, human, a name whispered but never spoken aloud.
At ten years old, Ama had run.
She remembered the night clearly. Bare feet. Bloodied knees. The moon watching her flee like a silent witness. She didn’t know where she was going—only who she was running toward.
Her human father.
She found him after weeks of wandering and hiding. Don Martelos had been shocked, angry, terrified—but he didn’t send her away. He took her in. Hid her. Protected her.
And when Sarah entered her life…
Everything changed.
Sarah hadn’t given birth to her, but she chose her. Loved her. Covered her wounds. Helped Don erase every trace of Ama’s past. They changed her name. Changed her story. Changed her world.
Ama became Barbie.
A human girl.
A princess.
Safe.
Until prom night.
Until the howl tore its way out of her chest.
She pressed her hands over her ears, as if she could shut the memories out.
“I don’t want this,” she whispered to the empty room. “I don’t want to be a wolf.”
A soft knock interrupted her thoughts.
“Barbie, darling,” Sarah’s voice came gently through the door. “It’s me. Can I come in?”
Ama hesitated, then answered weakly, “Yes, mommy.”
The door opened slowly.
Sarah stepped inside and froze when she saw her daughter—eyes swollen from crying, skin pale, shoulders hunched like she was bracing for a blow. Her heart broke.
“My baby girl,” Sarah whispered, rushing forward and pulling her into a tight embrace. “Mommy missed you so much.”
Ama’s control shattered.
“I missed you too,” she sobbed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shut everyone out.”
“It’s okay,” Sarah said softly. “I know you needed time.”
Ama clung to her, voice trembling. “Mom… I don’t want to be a wolf. I don’t want that life again. I ran away for a reason.”
Sarah pulled back just enough to look at her. “I know,” she said gently. “And your father and I have done everything to protect you.”
“But what if I can’t control it?” Ama whispered. “What if people find out?”
“They won’t,” Sarah said firmly. “We’ve hidden you for six years. We’ll keep hiding you.”
Ama shook her head. “I felt it, mom. The wolf is stronger now.”
Sarah hugged her again. “Then we’ll be stronger too.”
That evening, Don Martelos finally came into the room.
He didn’t speak at first—just stood there, looking at the girl he had nearly lost once and almost lost again.
“My daughter,” he said quietly.
Ama sat up immediately. “Daddy.”
He crossed the room and pulled her into his arms. “You are not alone,” he said firmly. “You never will be.”
“But my wolf—”
“I know,” he interrupted gently. “And I don’t care.”
She pulled back, shocked. “You don’t?”
“No,” he said. “Because you are Ama before you are anything else. Wolf or human.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “What if City Z finds out?”
“Then City Z will never see you again,” he replied calmly. “We’ll leave if we have to. I’ll burn the whole city before I let anyone touch you.”
For the first time in days, Ama felt something loosen in her chest.
That night, she slept.
But elsewhere, someone else lay awake.
From the shadows beyond the school grounds, a man stood alone, replaying the memory he couldn’t erase—the white blur in the darkness, the red glow of eyes, the howl that had shaken the earth beneath his feet.
He had seen her.
He hadn’t told anyone.
Yet.
And as he lit a cigarette with shaking hands, one thought echoed in his mind:
City Z is no longer safe.
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