One Wolf, Two Kings

Chapter 8

Emma’s POV

I felt like I couldn’t breathe. My hands started to shake and I ended up dropping the plate. The plates shattered and the food went everywhere. The noise from the plates breaking seemed to be enough to startle them both awake.

Nate shot up and looked around him. It took him a couple of seconds for the whole situation around him to sink in.

“What?!” He yelled out as he jumped up from the bed. He grabbed some shorts nearby and pulled them on over his naked self. Charletta sat up, looking a bit tired, but not groggy.

“Don’t yell so loud, baby.” She whimpered. Nate growled at her. He then looked over at me and took a step in my direction. I jumped back.

“Emma, babe… I honestly don’t know what is going on. I…” Nate tried to explain himself, but I didn’t want to hear it. I turned and ran. I ignored him calling out for me. I ran into the forest. I may not be a warrior, but I was fast.

I ran until my legs gave out on me. Gasping for breath, I held my knees close to my body. The tears silently fell from my face as I just stared at the ground. I heard nothing, felt nothing.

Until the sound of thunder broke me from the prison of my own mind. I then felt the cold rain falling on top of me and the wild wind blowing through my hair.

‘Breathe, sweetheart. It will be alright.’ a voice said inside my head. I chuckled humorlessly.

“Great… I am so pathetic that now I am now making up voices in my own mind.” I said to myself like I was a person going crazy.

‘You are not crazy… and I am actually here!’ the voice growled out. I gasped at the growl. Not only did I hear it inside my head, but actually felt it come from my body.

“Wait… are you…” I started to ask but stopped. I didn’t want to be let down if she wasn’t really here. I heard her chuckle at that.

‘It is wonderful to finally meet you, Emma. My name is Aphrodite, and I am your wolf.’ She said in a calm tone.

‘Aphrodite? Wow, you are named after the Greek goddess of love and beauty. That is so cool!’ I told her. She chuckles again.

‘Yes, and I am so glad to finally meet my human.’ She replied. ‘But why did it take until my 18th birthday for you to show… and shouldn’t we be shifting?’ I asked her.

‘Calm down, baby girl. Trust me it was for your own safety. I can not explain everything to you right now, but we should get back home for now.’ She says. I sigh. I don’t really want to go back to that house.

‘I know, sweetheart, but trust me. Going back is the safest thing for you right now. I know everything that vile little she wolf has done to you. Just because I was not here with you, Emma, that does not mean I was not watching over you.’ Aphrodite said.

I was still confused, but if there was one thing I learned from school is that we should always take what our wolves say in consideration. They have a better sense of danger and all that.

I stand up, my body was completely wet from the rain and my butt and legs are covered in mud from sitting on the ground for who knows how long.

I force myself to walk back toward the house that I grew up in. I was in no hurry to get home, but then I started to get cold and shiver from the wind blowing. I picked up the pace a little bit and within the next few moments, I was standing in front of my house.

I sniffed the air a little and noticed that my sense of smell was already stronger. I never noticed the scents of my family before now. There was a citrus scent with a hint of cinnamon and licorice.

‘I hope and pray that the nasty licorice smell is Carletta’s scent.’ I said to Aphrodite. She snickered in my head.

I walked inside and Carlos was the first to come up to me.

“Emma! Where in the world have you been?!” He asked, sounding a bit worried. The smell of cinnamon became stronger as he placed his hands on my shoulders. I was a little taken aback since he normally is never openly worried about me, but I can see the fear in his eyes.

“I was in the forest. I needed some time to myself. Sorry, I worried you.” I told him. He let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh come on Carlos… it is not like the rogues would have even wanted anything to do with a wolfless human like her. Besides, they were just on the outside of the territory. It is not like they ever came inside the pack.” A nasty voice called out, as the scent of licorice became stronger as well.

I looked up to see Carletta standing at the bottom of the steps with her arms crossed. She was freshly showered and already in her night clothes. No one would ever know she was just in bed with a man mere hours ago.

“Carletta, when rogues come into the territory it is normal for the ranked members to be worried about all members of the pack. No matter what.” he said to her. Carletta huffed and rolled her eyes. She gave me a smirk as she looked me up and down.

“Mom and Daddy should be back any moment. You should clean yourself and the wet mess you made up.” She sneered. I have had enough.

I looked right at her and walked past Carlos and just as the door opened, our parents walked inside… I raised my hand up and with all my strength, I smacked Carletta across her face. Her eyes widened in surprise and shock. I was pretty sure everyone was staring at me like hell was going to freeze over.

For the first time in my life, I was tired of putting up with Carletta’s bull s**t. I normally would just take it over and over, but she crossed the line when she went after Nate. She has taken everything away from me and I am sick of it. Now that I had Aphrodite I had the confidence to stand up to her.

“EMMA! WHY THE HELL DID YOU SMACK YOUR SISTER!?” Father roared angrily.

Mother came over and pushed me aside as she looked over Carletta’s face. Her cheek was a bright red and she had fake tears already in her eyes. I know her tears are fake because she was perfectly fine enough to glare at me for a split second before covering her cheek and ‘crying’.

“Because that girl in front of me is nothing more than a dirty little slut that has to be selfish and has to try and take everything away from me. I am sick and tired of this bullshit.” I snapped at him.

Glaring hard at the ones that were supposed to love me and take care of me as they do for Carlos and Carletta. I have had it with all of them and finally decided to tell them how I feel.

“Though I guess it is not a big deal when your little princess torments and hurts your eldest daughter… Is it father?” I said with a stone face.

Inside my heart was breaking having to confront my parents about the years of the cold shoulder, but I have had enough. Everyone has a breaking point, well my sister sleeping with my boyfriend was mine.

*Smack*

Before I realized it. I was on the floor holding my cheek. Father had actually smacked me with such force that it knocked me to the floor.

“You think you are so entitled because you are older!?” He roared. “I don’t know where you get off thinking you are better than Carlos and Carletta, but I think it is time for you to be brought down a peg or two.” He slowly walked towards me. Carlos stepped in between us.

“Father, I am sure that whatever happened between Emma and Carletta is fine. Please leave it to them to sort out.” Carlos begged. I have never heard him beg before. He actually sounded scared whether it was for me or Carletta… I wasn’t sure, but none of us have ever seen Father get this angry before.

He definitely has never hit any of us before. I mean the only time I can think about him laying a hand on any of us was only when he was training with Carlos and my little brother had left himself open for an attack.

Father stood in front of Carlos and let out his beta aura. “Move out of the way, Carlos.” He ordered.

I could see that Carlos and his wolf were both fighting father’s order, but he whimpered as he was forced out of the way by father’s aura.

‘Stay calm, Emma. Father’s wolf will not allow him to harm us.’ Aphrodite said. I took a deep breath. Aphrodite is right. My family’s wolves have always loved me more than their human sides.

My thoughts were interrupted when I felt a strong grip on my throat. I was lifted up off the floor and looked into the eyes of my father, who seemed to be in an internal battle with his wolf. Though I guessed from the tightening grip he had on my throat… his wolf was losing to the human side. I gasped for breath as I used my nails to dig and claw at his hand around my throat.

“You were a mistake that we should have never brought into this house. You should be thankful that we took care of you… I mean even your real parents didn’t even want something as useless as you are.” He said, venom dripping in his voice.

What? My real parents? I wanted to know what he was talking about, but it was hard to think when I was running out of air.

“Father! Let her go! She can’t breathe!!” Carlos shouted as he gripped father’s arm. Father shoved Carlos away and dropped me. I tried gasping for air but was met with a swift kick to my gut, knocking what little bit of wind I had left out of me.

“We took you in, gave you a family and a home and this is the thanks we get. You think you are entitled to everything in the beta family… you are not of our blood. Your parents are most likely rogues that just didn’t want another mouth to feed.” he continued as he kept kicking me in the gut over and over.

I tasted the metallic flavor of blood in my mouth. I was on the verge of blacking out. Then all of a sudden the door was busted down as Alpha Austin and Gamma Spencer came running inside. Both of them looked as if they had rolled out of bed and came running over in their pajama pants.

Alpha Austin snarled as he shoved my father away from me and against the wall. Pinning him there with his alpha strength.

“What the hell do you think you are doing, Beta Ben!” He snarled. Gamma Spencer came over next to me and started to look over my injuries.

“s**t… Emma, stay awake for me. Okay. The pack doctor is on his way.” He spoke softly while gently petting my hair.

I tried to stay awake, but the pain was too much. I was never trained as a warrior, so I never experienced pain like this before. I felt so tired that soon everything faded into the darkness.