Possession ( Book One of the Accalia Series)

Beaten Down

Sabrina's POV

Something isn't right. This is what my wolf Flora was telling me as I entered the hut with my parents. I could feel the sadness pouring from them in waves over what had happened — our recklessness. We hadn't even thought we would need supervision, as Jasmine and I tended to go into the forest frequently. What the hell had changed now?

We all sat in the living room. None of them said a word. Flora was still saying something was wrong.

"Of course something is wrong. Jasmine's parents are dead, and there is nothing we can do to help her about it," I told her.

"No, I know that. I mean something is off with Jasmine. I think she is in pain," Flora said.

"Well, of course she is. Did you not hear a word of what I just said?" I asked her, and she growled at me, frustrated. "Besides, how are you sensing her? She has no wolf," I asked, and to that she didn't respond — which was unlike her, because she usually gave a snarky comment back.

I looked at my parents.

"It's not your fault," I said out loud, causing both of them to look at me. "It's not your fault. Jasmine and I play in the forest all the time, and our i***t alpha and luna have the nerve to blame us after Jasmine just lost both of her parents," I said, seething.

I was pissed at them, but especially the luna. How dare she talk down to us as if it were our fault.

"Sabrina, you must watch how you talk about the luna and alpha," Mom told me.

I rolled my eyes, but I knew she was right. Our luna was so uptight. All she had to do was complain about someone and the alpha would have them killed. Hypocrites. Jasmine thought they loved her, even though I had been telling her for years they didn't. I was only sorry this was the way she had been forced to find out the truth about them.

"I feel so sorry for that poor girl," my dad said.

The alpha had commanded us to come home, but he never said anything about staying home. I told my parents I was going to my room and snuck out the back. I could see Tia and Tamera coming toward me, smirking.

"Oh dear, I wonder if she knows," Tia said, smirking.

I rolled my eyes. I didn't have time for those two right now. Jasmine needed me. I tried to sidestep them but they were quicker and both stepped in front of me again.

"Where are you going, b***h? Off to see that dead friend of yours?" Tamera taunted, putting her hand on her hip.

That made me pause.

"What the f**k are you talking about? I don't have a dead friend," I told them, and went to push past them again, but they ended up right back in front of me, laughing.

"She hasn't heard," Tia said to Tamera, who was still laughing.

"Of course she hasn't," Tamera taunted.

At this point I was highly annoyed and I growled.

"What don't I know?" I asked, waiting for them to answer so I could move on.

"The late beta's son Darnell ended up freaking out and punching and kicking your friend almost to death. He blames her for his parents. The alpha and luna were laughing, while Oliver just watched along with many of our other pack members. Darnell would have killed her by choking her too, if Oliver hadn't intervened," Tia explained.

My eyes widened. I pushed past them to get to Jasmine.

"Don't you want to hear the best part?" Tamera shouted, causing me to pause.

They giggled some more.

"She thanked Oliver for helping her, and as he was walking away, we whispered 'asshole' into the air, imitating her voice, which caused him to kick her unconscious. She may be dead," Tamera explained.

She and Tia burst out laughing again. By this time I was seething, debating whether to deal with them or go to Jasmine. I couldn't fight against rogues, but I was ready to face anything to protect Jasmine — and I knew I could handle those two.

Jasmine never knew it, but I had been training myself to become a better fighter, and I was going to teach her once I mastered how to defend myself. I decided my worry about Jasmine was much bigger, and I ran to where she had been left.

My heart broke when I saw her body on the ground, and I ran faster. I could hear Flora howling in my head for our friend as I reached her.

This was not how I left her.

She had open cuts all over her face and arms. Some were bleeding. Some looked like they had been bleeding but had stopped. I checked to make sure none of her bones were broken. I looked around and saw pack members watching. Were they the ones who had watched her get beaten too? Flora growled in my head. I shook off the dark thoughts as I confirmed she was still breathing.

Even though we weren't able to shift yet, we start to develop some of our wolf characteristics as we get older. My heightened senses and strength had already come in, which was what allowed me to pick her up and carry her back to our hut.

I kicked down the door and my parents stood up quickly, most likely thinking they were under attack, but they calmed down when they saw it was just me. Horror filled their eyes when they saw Jasmine.

My parents, being pack doctors, cleared a table in their work area and I set Jasmine on it. They went to work instantly. Our hut was much bigger than most, due to my parents being pack doctors. They attended most of the members there, since the pack had no hospital — according to Luna Leena, it cut costs for my parents to work from home.

"How did this happen?" my mom questioned, hooking up an IV while my dad put a blood pressure cuff around Jasmine's arm.

I went into detail about what the twins had told me. My parents were extremely pissed afterward, but they took a breath and calmed down, going back to help Jasmine.

After Mom cleaned her cuts and stitched them up, Dad put a hand on my shoulder.

"Sport, you may want to go outside for this next part," he told me, but I shook my head.

I had seen the worst of the worst, and I wasn't leaving Jasmine. He looked to Mom for help, but she knew I wouldn't leave. Jasmine and I had an unspoken bond. She was my sister above all else.

"Well, if you're not leaving, then you will need to pin her down. She has a few broken bones and I need to set them in the right place," Mom said.

I nodded and grabbed onto Jasmine's arms. Mom counted to three. At three, I heard a snap and Jasmine woke up. The most high-pitched scream of pure pain filled the hut, and she thrashed against me, but I held her down anyway.

"Poor Jasmine," Flora said, and I agreed.

Jasmine seemed to pass out suddenly. She kept waking up and passing out as Mom and Dad rearranged her bones. Finally, Mom was done and had her bandaged and hooked to an IV with morphine, as well as something to keep her asleep for a while.

My heart was breaking for her, and I tried not to concentrate on the burning hatred coursing through me for every single person in leadership in this pack. I was going to make them all pay. They could count on it.