Royal Redemption

3. Redirect

To say she was rattled after having Chase approach her in the hallways at school with no one else around was an understatement.  Thankfully there was a teacher in the class she had rushed into and she assisted her while she had a panic attack about being approached by her rapist, even if she didn’t seem to know what it was about.

When she finally managed to breathe through her panic attack she realized that she had somehow stepped into the right classroom to hand in her work and to collect her next list of homework and projects.

Maybe she should just give up school and get her GED.  At least then she wouldn’t need to worry about running into him again.  She couldn’t go on with her life when he insisted on approaching her when he saw her or trying to phone her constantly.  She had already blocked his number on her phone and she thankfully didn’t have any social media accounts; the perks of being a sheltered human in a shifter world.

Miss Amber was kind enough to walk her to her car when she was ready to leave but too scared to walk alone and checked with her several times if she was OK to drive.  After reassuring her for the fifth time that she would now be fine, she got into her old dumpy car that she adored since she had bought it with her own babysitting money and drove home.

Her mother was already frantic when she got home and she wondered if they would ever allow her to go out by herself again.  If not for the fact that they needed the money she would have probably quit her job to keep a constant eye on her.  Lula had offered to give them some of her bribe money to help pay off some bills, but they had refused point blank, telling her that that money was to give her a future after what had been done to her.

Her mother gave her lunch and she dutifully tried to eat it, but she just didn’t have an appetite anymore.  She also didn’t really manage to sleep much either after everything.  She had become an almost lifeless shadow of who she had been before.  Her parents and brother tried to help her, but how could she explain to them how she felt?  Not to mention that she still cringed and had panic attacks whenever her father or brother came too close to her; hugs were completely out of the question.

She only managed to choke down about a third of her usual portion and then secretly threw the rest away when her mother went to answer the door.  She had just put the plate in the sink when she heard her mother suddenly scream blue murder and before she could even think to react, her brother flew down the stairs shifting in the air when he leapt off the third stair and knocking someone down while her mother kept screaming.

For a moment she stood frozen, unsure what to do, but then she stepped forward and saw her brother being thrown by Chase.  Why couldn’t he just leave her alone?  Why did they threaten her family with death to keep his name out of the news if he insisted on following her around?  Her fear was replaced by righteous anger when she saw a man in a suit dive her brother’s puma to the ground and hold him in a choke hold while he was gasping for breath and trying to attack Chase again when he mentioned trying to fix things with her.

She stepped past her mother who was silently sobbing in the doorway, unsure what to do and which of her children to protect.  “You don’t get to call me that.”  Lula managed in a cold tone that sounded deathly calm, despite her fear that had become a constant companion, but she had to protect her family, even if she couldn’t protect herself.  “Are you really going to show everyone in this street the monster you are by killing my brother in the front yard for protecting us?”

“No!”  He glanced to the guard.  “Release him.  He is a strong warrior and he could have a place in our guard.”  She wasn’t entirely sure what he meant with that statement, but she couldn’t consider it for long.  He watched only long enough to be sure the guard obeyed before he turned back to her.  “Please…”  He started to say and then trailed off.

“I have a restraining order against you; the police are on their way.  You’ve taken more than enough from me without coming here to murder my family.”  She stated coldly, crossing her arms over her chest in an attempt to hide her fearful shivering.  She was lying of course, she needed a reason to get a restraining order against someone and she couldn’t give one without endangering her family.  Why did he insist on torturing her even more after what he had done?  Was being raped, insulted and left for dead not enough?

“No!  Lula, I don’t want to hurt you –“

“Too late for that.”  She answered and her body began shaking heavily with the stress.  She was vaguely aware of her brother, Ethan, shifting back, grabbing the shorts from their mother who had thankfully thought of handing him clothes.

Ethan reached for her when he was dressed and she cringed away from the contact; she couldn’t face anyone touching her after what had happened, especially males, and though she knew it hurt her brother and father she couldn’t help her reaction.  She had started to feel light headed and hoped he would leave before she either threw up or passed out to show her weakness to him once again.

“Lula, I want to make this right…”  He tried, his voice shaking.  They could hear the sirens in the distance and the man in the suit stood nearby, nervously trying to draw his attention.

“You’ve done enough…”  She answered weakly, feeling all her reserves depleted before her vision started blurring and she felt herself drop to the grass, while several voices cried out, but she blacked out before knowing what would happen next.

When she woke up again she found herself in a hospital bed once more, with her family sitting around.  The doctor came in and smiled kindly at them.  “Hello, Miss Kasey.  I’m Doctor Johnson and I hear you scared your family by fainting.  How are you feeling now?”

“I’m fine.”  She answered emotionlessly; honestly, she couldn’t really care less after everything that was happening to her.  It probably couldn’t get any worse.

The doctor nodded sympathetically while she glanced at the file she held in her hands.  “Considering your records, I can understand your state of mind, but I’d like to run a few tests, if you don’t mind?  I just want to draw some blood and see if everything is alright.  It won’t take too long, maybe a few hours and I’d like to keep you here for the evening for observation.  If everything goes well, we could send you home in the morning.”

Lula nodded and leaned her head back against the bed that was raised up so she was sitting up at a forty five degree angle.  The doctor smiled kindly at her.  “A nurse will be right in to check your vitals and draw blood for your tests.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”  Her mother answered through her sniffles.

When the doctor left, her father looked at her worriedly.  “Want to tell me what’s going on, pumpkin?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, Papa.”  She answered on a sigh.

“That sick bastard came to the house today and scared mom half to death, then he told Lula that he wanted to make things right.”  Ethan snarled from where he sat in the corner.  “Like he could fix what he’d done.  Lula can’t even stand any of us touching her.  Somehow she convinced him to leave when she said the cops were on the way to arrest him for violating a restraining order we can’t even get because we can’t say why.”

Her father dropped his head so she couldn’t see his expression and took a deep breath.  “I don’t know what to do anymore; I can’t even protect my baby girl.”  He moaned in a tortured voice and Lula wished she could have saved them all this torture; maybe if she’d been dead they would have been allowed to grieve and move on with their lives, rather than having some crazy boy ruin their lives even more.

Was there any way she could save them any more torture?  There really wasn’t much for her to do about herself, but maybe she wouldn’t feel so completely horrid if she could somehow fix things for her family.

“You guys should go; Papa has an early shift tomorrow and Ethan needs to be in school so he can pass his senior year.” 

“I’m not leaving you unprotected, Tally Lu.”  Ethan snarled with annoyance, using the nickname he’d given her when they were little kids.

Lula wanted to point out that he wouldn’t be able to protect her since Chase seemed to have a bodyguard as well, but she thought better of it.  She simply nodded quietly and her mom kissed her forehead.  Her father stepped forward but then froze with a pained expression when she cringed unconsciously.

“Good night, baby.”  Her father finally said in a choked voice before he left her hospital room with slumped shoulders.

She wished she could stand people touching her since she used to love to cuddle, but that was just one of many things Chase had stolen from her.  She wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to allow someone to touch her, but she did know that she probably wouldn’t want that for a very long time.

Lula sensed her brother’s eyes on her and she glanced to where he was now sitting on the chair next to the bed.  “You know Dad and I would never hurt you, right?”  He asked in a soft voice as if he was afraid she would disagree with him.

She nodded and looked down at her hands in her lap.  “I just can’t – “  She cut herself off when the nurse came into her room with everything she would need to check her vitals and draw her blood.

She smiled kindly at her and warned her beforehand whenever she was about to touch her for any reason, explaining to her exactly where she would touch and what she would do.  Lula nodded once every time she waited for her to agree to being touched.  In a way it made her feel a little less nervous, but it also made her feel like there was something wrong with her for not wanting anyone to touch her when she had always been a person that loved contact.

By the time she left, Lula was tired and she wished that she could just fall asleep and never wake up from this nightmare.  “You were very brave today, Tally Lu.  I just wanted you to know that I admire your bravery and strength in the face of everything that’s happened to you.”  Ethan said quietly and she felt a single tear escape from her eye at his words.

“I don’t feel it.”  She muttered quietly.

“You might not feel it, but you prove it to everyone else.  You are amazing, Tally Lu.  I wish I could hug you…but maybe…”  Slowly he raised his hand and made a fist except for his pinkie standing up, then he gave her a reassuring smile and waited for her to raise her hand.  “We’ll start with a pinkie bump and work up to a fist bump.”

More tears escaped at his suggestion and she hesitantly raised her fist with her pinkie standing up and touched the tip of her pinkie to his and it didn’t feel like she wanted to burn her skin off after the touch.  He grinned at her with tears in his own eyes.  “If you ever need a hug then you do this and I will never let you down without a pinkie bump.”

She managed a watery chuckle at his excitement and promise to never let her down on a pinkie bump.  It was the smallest thing and probably the stupidest thing, but it meant the world to her and she was grateful for his attempt at supporting her and lightening her mood after everything.

“Now, you should get some sleep; I know for a fact that you haven’t slept much lately.  I’m here to guard you, so try to get some rest.”

She nodded with a faint smile and laid her head back and closed her eyes; she was so exhausted and yet she never seemed to be able to get a good night’s rest.  Amazingly she managed to sleep pretty well that night, only waking up screaming three times.  By the next morning she felt more rested than she had in weeks, though she still felt like she could sleep for another week.

Her parents came in just after breakfast that the staff had doubled up for her brother as well.  They greeted her with sad expressions and her mother handed her a backpack with fresh clothes.  Quickly she went into the bathroom and took a shower before putting on the jeans and baggy shirts that she had resorted to after her rape.

The moment she stepped outside the bathroom and into her room she froze and stared, along with her family.  They were all staring at a large bouquet of daisies, peonies and hydrangeas in both pink and blue.  It was a huge bouquet and she couldn’t think who would go to such an expense and who even knew she was here?

Hesitantly she stepped forward and reached for the card that she could barely see sticking out between the flowers that was towered over her where it stood on the table at the foot of the hospital bed.  She opened the card and read the message:  I am sorry for causing you to faint, but I do want to make things right and this is the first step.  Chase.

The card slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground when she realized that her torture wasn’t over.  He had every intention of showing up in her life and extending the misery he had already caused – and there was nothing they could do about it.  He held all the power along with the money to keep them from protecting themselves against him.

Her anger flared at the realization and she took up the glass vase with the flowers and grunted at the weight of it, but she had no intention of looking at her rapist’s smug promise.  When she got to the door of her room, she made a grunting scream as she threw it with all her might against the wall opposite her room and watched it shatter to a million pieces and scattering the flowers across the flower; it seemed like an apt image for her life.

The halls had gone completely silent and everyone was staring at her with shock.  She noticed a man in a suit standing nearby that she recalled being at a few places she had been and she knew he worked for Chase. 

She glared at the man with rage.  “You tell that selfish, egotistical, bastard you work for that he can shove these faltering attempts at intimidation where the sun doesn’t shine.  I’ve had quite enough of him reminding me of what he did to me.  This is where I stop being scared of him because he can’t possibly take any more from me.”

The man seemed both startled and somewhat intimidated by her reaction while she glared at him and he slightly lowered his face in a show of respect while she glared at him and then she stalked back into her room where everyone was staring at her with wide-eyed shock.

How did they expect her to react?  She was trying to rebuild her life and the bastard kept reminding her of his presence, trying to intimidate her.  She’d had quite enough and she had decided that she would just get a GED, she didn’t have to do the school years left, since she knew she was smart enough to push through on her own.

She had just calmed down after sitting down on the bed with her family still staring at her for her complete change in reaction.  They’d never seen her so angry; they’d always tried to protect her since she had always been rather timid, but now she had been aggressive and assertive and they’d never expected that of her.

After a moment of silence, Ethan chuckled and then grinned at her.  “Tally Lu, look at you being all boss lady!”  He cooed with so much glee she couldn’t help a faint smile when he held out his hand for a pinkie bump, which she accepted with a small measure of pride in what she did.

Her father smiled faintly and hesitantly held out his hand in the same gesture and she took only a moment before she accepted his offer, which caused tears to brim in his eyes.  “I’m so proud of you, Baby.  You have no idea how proud I am of you.”

She felt her own tears threaten and she had to swallow hard a couple of times before she managed to get rid of the lump in her throat.  It was at that time that the doctor came in, glancing over her file while she did and then glanced up and greeted her with a kind smile.

“Good morning, Miss Kasey, how are you feeling this morning?”  At her shrug, the doctor gave her an understanding smile.  “Well, we know why you fainted yesterday.  And considering what your file states, I want to inform you that you do have choices.  But you are free to go after we’ve had our talk.  Do you mind if your family waits outside?”

“No, they can stay.”  She confirmed in a tight voice; the doctor’s expression didn’t make her feel at all comfortable and she didn’t want to be alone if it was more bad news.

The older woman watched her intently for a moment longer before she sighed and then took a deep breath.  “Well, it seems that the reason you fainted yesterday was from stress, which your body couldn’t handle in your condition.”

She blinked at the doctor in confusion.  Was she weaker after the blood loss and being raped?  It had been weeks, her body should have replaced the blood loss already.  What did she mean?

“It seems, Miss Kasey, that you are currently pregnant.” 

It felt as if she had been hit – hard – in her chest at the news.  How was this even possible, they had given her medication to drink after her rape so she would not get pregnant?  How was she pregnant?

“But – but I drank the medication they gave me to keep me from getting pregnant…”

“Well, somehow it didn’t work.  It is usually used for humans after the rape and has a high success rate even with shifters, but somehow it didn’t work this time.”

“What do you mean it didn’t work?  The whole reason for its existence is to work!”  Her mother wailed in misery and anger.

Lula glanced around at her family; they all seemed both horrified and miserable.  How did she feel about it aside from being surprised?

She had no clue.

“I have brought you some pamphlets to read through.  You do have options and choices you can make since it is still early in the pregnancy.”  The doctor continued, completely ignoring her mother’s outburst as if it hadn’t happened and holding her gaze earnestly.  “You still have another few weeks to terminate the pregnancy.  If you don’t want to terminate the fetus we can assist you with finding a wonderful couple to adopt the baby.”  She stated kindly and handed Lula the packet of pamphlets and information.

Lula took it from her numbly.  “Can I go?”  She asked quietly and the doctor nodded in answer.

Quietly she stood and walked out of the room, leaving her screaming mother behind along with her father who was trying to soothe his mate.  She didn’t know where she was going or what she would do, but she just needed to think.

She noticed her brother quietly fall into step beside her, not saying a word, just offering his quiet support while they walked out of the hospital.  She wasn’t sure how to react; what to think.  What was she supposed to feel; carrying her rapist’s child?

It seemed like some kind of bad dream.  How could she be pregnant when she took the medication specifically meant to keep her from getting pregnant?  Could she kill an innocent because it was the product of her own personal hell?  If she couldn’t kill it; could she carry the child?  What was she supposed to do in this situation?

She wanted to cry at the situation, but laugh at the fact that nothing was giving her a chance to get past that night that she had foolishly thought that a popular boy could like her; a shifter without a beast.

How was she supposed to handle this?