You Found Me

Jaxon

Teagan and I were headed to Li's house to play. We decided to surprise him by climbing into his window since he was easily scared. He was always like that, it's what made him funny. He'd cling on to us every time he was scared. We were halfway there when a question I've been wanting to ask for so long was itching to come out.

"Teagan? Do you notice all those bruises on Li's  wrists?" I hesitantly asked him, knowing there was a chance he might flip off and his wolf would take over.

"Of course I do. Not only that but he flinches every single time we raise our hands, he cowers behind us every time we face a random stranger and occasionally showing up at our hoses in the middle of the night with his clothes torn. Do you really think I don't notice Jaxon?" For a thirteen year old boy, Teagan was already mature and stronger than the rest of us. He was next in line in becoming the alpha, and the fact that his mate was in a difficult situation that he knew nothing about fueled his desire to become stronger.

"Yeah I'm sorry. T-Teagan I think we should tell your parents. The Alpha would understand and they might be able to find out what's really happening." I sat down pulling him along to calm him a little.

"They already do, but they said they couldn't meddle with human affairs. It would make things complicated for all of us, including Iris. The only thing they could do was convince his parents to let him come over more often." The log he was sitting on was starting to break from how hard he was gripping on it.

Naturally other werewolves would be scared but I knew Teagan better than anyone else. I trust him and he trusts me, but we weren't complete without Lisanthius.

"My poor Iris." Teagan insisted on calling him by his second name despite Li telling Teagan that he hated his second name.

Li's name was quite a handful but his mother had a green thumb and was expecting her first child to be a girl. He was quite fragile as a baby, they had to do multiple tests on him and had to stay in the hospital longer than any other baby. That's why she named him after the flowers that represented strength and hope.

'Lisanthius Iris Stully' I thought to myself. He hated his name because it sounded so feminine. Teagan on the other hand, thought it was the most beautiful name in the world. When he found out that the Iris was the flower of hope, he never called Li by any other name ever again. He didn't allow us to call him that too, said that Li was only his Iris and his alone.

~

After that we stayed quite for a while, knowing Teagan was calming his wolf down I stood still. A piercing scream suddenly echoed throughout the forest. It caused flocks of birds to scatter across the sky sending shivers down our spine but for Teagan, a voice screaming out that was so familiar made the blood drain from his face.

His eyes went dark and he sprinted towards the direction of the scream. We reached a part of the woods that we knew all too well. It was behind Li's house. We saw what was happening. How his own father did the most disgusting act on his own son.

I couldn't handle what was happening as a broken cry left my mouth. Teagan who was only supposed to be a child did something he shouldn't have at such a young age. Pained screams and growls could be heard, I stared with wide eyes at what Teagan had done. Not only me but Li was also staring at him in fear. That broke Teagan's heart.

"Iris." A broken cry slipped past his lips. He knelt down to his knees and sobbed. He didn't mean to do it, his wolf had taken over seeing how his mate was being treated.

Li scrambled away gripping what was left of his clothes from what his father did to him. He hid his face away from us  and cried.

"Amon!" Teagan's parents came into view. They stood still, shocked at the scene. Teagan had mind linked them before he sprinted. He was always careful.

"Dad."  A broken sob came out. Teagan's father was a strict man and didn't joke around with our kind's affairs. He didn't let his children call him father and said they were only allowed to call him Alpha like everyone else. For a small child who had a lot of responsibilities along with a sense if independence on his shoulders, and was always following what his father said , for the first time he cried to his father for help. It softened the cold heart of the Alpha,

"Son..."

~

The werewolves present at that time were called in a meeting to discuss what happened. It was hard for both us to explain what happened to Li to the raging adults that surrounded the room. The more we explained the more cries were getting heard through the room.

It was no secrete that Lisanthius was going to become our Luna, the people would not take what happened to him so lightly. The alpha only called my parents and the rest of the high authorities in the Pack house, it was a serious matter and they knew they would be in trouble for what Teagan did, but none of them blamed him or Li. In fact they were ready to face the consequences.

"He was afraid of me." Teagan was curled up in his father's lap sobbing uncontrollably.

"We have to erase his memories of what happened Alexandre." The Luna spoke watching her child.

"It's risky mon amour. No one has perfected that sort of spell in centuries, he might lose all of his memories with us, his memories with Teagan." The Alpha was torn on what to do, he wanted to help ease the pain in his son's heart but he had to consider Li's condition.

"I-I will learn to perfect it. Please."  Teagan who adored Lisanthius more than anything else was scared that he might see him as a monster.

"I don't want him to hate me."

As I stood there crying just like Teagan, I was gradually having a hard time taking it all in. We were all in pain but we were closer to Li and the fact that he might forget us just couldn't sit well with me.

"It's risky Teagan! What if he forgets us and doesn't want to become our friend! They might move somewhere else!" I screamed, all of the pent up emotion I had was showing.

The thought of it only made us cry harder.

~

The Alpha contacted the elders about what happened and they decided it was the right thing to erase his memories. I didn't have a clue about how that happened since the Alpha said it was only meant for the family to hear. When they were finished talking, Teagan had already packed up his things and was ready to leave some place else.

We were sitting in the hospital room looking at Li. Both of us stayed quiet. The bright white room wasn't enough to lighten up the mood nor did it do anything to the gloomy and dark faces we had.

"I don't know how much he'll remember." He sighed.

"I told you not to do it."

"It wasn't me who did it." He gulped, scratching his thumb with his nails almost making it bleed.

"I told you not to do it! We could have explained to him! We could have ease it to him better! What if he doesn't remember us at all!" I was frustrated, a part of me knew that what they did would only cause problems in the future for me, for us.

"Do you think it's easy for me? I had to watch my own mate go through that and the fact that he might end up hating me forever might just drive me to insanity Jax! It isn't easy for me too! The look on his face. If that was your mate, you'd understand how I feel." He didn't try to suppress his emotions, he let his tears fall freely. He never did try to hide anything from me, and he was right, what he's feeling right now might be ten times worse than mine. Li was his mate.

"Where are you going?" I whispered, knowing he can hear me.

"I have to be on isolation, they said I had to train there to suppress my wolf. They said there was a possibility that he might become overbearing and I'd lose all sense of control." The pain in his voice was enough for me to know that the didn't want to leave, but there was nothing he could do about it

"You better come back." I reached over to hug him, and sobbed into his shoulder.

"I will."

He leaned towards Li and kissed hi forehead ever so lightly.

~

Weeks after Teagan left, Li woke up. He doesn't remember what Teagan did, but he still had broken memories of what happened t him, and it was enough for me to know that he wouldn't suffer as much.

What hurt me the most, was that Li somehow forgot me in his early years of childhood. He thinks we met when we were 7  but we were together for almost all of our lives. He didn't forget Teagan, maybe that was because of the mate bond. 

I spent most of my time with him since then, knowing there wasn't a possibility that he would get his memories back . Teagan was right, he wasn't  my mate, but he was the brother I never had. I treated him like my own family.

The three of us were only kids, yet we were forced to grow up because of what happened. No child never should have gone through that situation. From that moment on we knew nothing would ever be the same. 

~

"Why? Because we can't that's why and we're stuck babysitting him." The moment those words slipped past my lips I instantly regretted them. My anger for Teagan unintentionally shifted to Li.

"It's not our fault he's weak." Clara rolled her eyes.

"That's too far Clara." Dominic's wolf was surfacing, just like me he treated Li like his brother.

Although, she wasn't entirely wrong but she could have put it in a nicer way. Li was weak from the moment he was born, that's what made us over protective of him.  I looked up to see a figure zooming past the crowds and leaving through the front door. My face scrunched up in confusion as to why someone would leave a party this early, then it occurred to me.

"Where's Li?" I looked around, panic now staring to appear when I noticed he wasn't anywhere near us.

"Where's Li?!" Shouting in frustration when none of them could answer me nor find any sort of glimpse of Li anywhere.

"You mean the dude with curly hair? He was sitting with you a while ago before he left." The girl who kept complimenting Li with his hair earlier spoke.

The blood drained from our faces as we turned to each other. He heard us. Dread filled my whole body and I stood still for a few minutes, the rest were the same.

Mae was the first one who stood up and gathered her things. Dominic stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"Let's go!" Mae's loud scream was enough for us to snap out of our trances. 

We fumbled over our things and we got nervous by the second. 'I was supposed to keep him safe'

I blamed myself for what happened, I wasn't being careful. He wasn't supposed to find out like this. Knowing Li better than anyone else I knew how fragile he could be. We reached his house but none of us had the guts to get out of the car. Mae was the first one to do something again. She was human, she didn't know either, maybe she was hurt too but right now Li was our priority. We stumbled outside and saw Mae picking up pebbles from the ground.

"Li!" A hushed yell escaped from my lips. The rest of them followed suit and were throwing tiny pebbles at his window.

Minutes after our hushed screaming, the lights in his room turned off. A gust of wind blew through the cold night, but that wasn't the thing that was making us shiver. It was the fact that Li might not speak to us ever again. As the cold wind continued to blow through the night, we stood still not knowing what to do next. None of us uttered a word.

Suddenly, a painful howl could be heard. We knew that howl all to well but it didn't sound the way we expected it when we would hear it again for the first time in years. The ululation of the broken wolf vibrated through our chests. The bellow of sadness could be heard throughout the city.

"He's back." I whispered ever so slightly in the air.