The Women Between

Chapter 1: Coming Home

2 years later

A yellow cab pulls to the curb of the sidewalk in front of a freshly painted grey house. Cassandra looks out of its window at it, seeing the changes that almost make it look new. There is a jutted-out portion on the first floor of this three-story home. She guesses that a window seat is in the living room like her mother had always wanted. The porch has an off-white swing on it that hangs from its roof with a white cushion holding a floral design. A small, whicker brown table is next to it with another one not too far away that is a little bigger. Two chairs that look the same are next to it with the same cushions as the swing except smaller. Even the yard looks to have been remodeled to get rid of the dirt patches.

Its blue trim has not been painted, though. There are still chips and dust as evidence of its age. It is mostly around the edges of the windows and parts of the foundation. Other than that, it looks relatively clean, including the slanted peaks that hold a satellite dish at one of the edges.

This home looks more transformed than remodeled from the last time she was here.

However, everything else looks the same as she turns her head to look at the block. Her midnight blue eyes grazed over everything. There are homes in need of repair that line up and down the road. Some have white picket fences while others have a chain linked to one or none at all to show the boundaries of their property. Each one shows wear and tear from the children that had fled to their homes to peek out the windows at her. The sidewalks are cracked in multiple areas, keeping the green grass secure in the yards. There are dirt patches made in the lawns, too, where children have abandoned their toys. It is like time had frozen this place to make it all look the same.

She cannot believe that things need repaired after two years. Her memories are taking hold of her too much to notice anything wrong, like the peeping adults. A smile was creeping up her tanned slender face that made her eyes sparkle. When it rains, she knows they will be wallowing in the mud in their yards, like she used to do so long ago. It will fill this place with screams and cries of joy amongst the thunder cracking overhead, but now, there is silence. They are all watching from different locations to see who she is and what she will do next.

That is a werewolf pack for you, she thought as she pulled herself back to realize that they are staring at the cab.

She noticed the adults on the porches or looking around the houses with suspicion in their stares. Some were sneakier about it by congregating in small groups at the corners of the block and on porches. They even bore smiles unlike the others that wore furtive looks that said not to mess with them. She is sure they will figure out who she is once she exits the cab, which is what holds her roots to this black leather seat.

“We’re here, Cass,” her mom called softly, drawing her attention from her surroundings.

A small smile is on her mother’s slender face that much resembles hers. It almost makes them look like twins. It is funny, though, as she is twenty to thirty years younger than her. Unlike her mother, though, she has a small flat on the bridge of her slender nose thanks to the alpha twins. Her mother has black hair, too, that has grey filtering through it and wrinkles that have formed from her age. There is not much else that is different about them. She knows she does not like her father except for her golden-brown hair.

A resigned sigh slipped out of Cassandra, making her grab her beige bag from the floor. She used it as a carry on for the flight that made her wish to land. It was claustrophobic enough to make her wish for it to crash, so she could get some air. The terminal was not much better, especially when security had invaded her space by checking her for weapons or drugs. She obeyed all their rules and did not fight them, but the look on her face did say enough about her thoughts, she is sure. Finally, her mother and her had stepped out into the open air and grabbed a cab to head back to a place she did not want to remember. It was wonderful until she had realized that her hell was coming closer.

The Hispanic man driving the cab tried to engage them in a conversation. Neither of them felt like talking even about her grandmother’s funeral. It was a shock that she died in her sleep from nothing other than age. There was no reason or cause for that sturdy woman to just die like she had done, but she did, and it hurt. She hurts for more than just someone she loves passing away.

She knows that she has to go back to her mother’s home and to a pack that hates her. This time, she is different. She is going to make sure of it no matter the dread filling her stomach or the fear lancing through her mind. She is going to make sure that no one f***s with her ever again.

Cassandra steps out still dressed in black from her skirt to her off the shoulder shirt that has thin straps on them. Automatically, she turns her eyes to see the row of flowers under the window at the portion that juts from the house. She had missed the windchimes and a hanging potted plant when she had first surveyed it which made her wince. She knows she needs to do better about keeping an eye on her surroundings, but her heart is thundering in her chest. She needed to calm down and focus, she told herself as she took in a deep breath, then released it.

It seems that her mother made this place homey after she was forced to leave, but she did not care about that. Her eyes went to where her stepfather stood waiting for them with a smile on his lean face. She knows it is not for her but for her mother. Mates care only about their offspring and their other half. His dark brown eyes even sparkled while his hand went through his shaved down brown hair that looked to be graying.

Instead of letting it get to her, her smile went to the six-year-old boy beside her stepfather. He sits on his knees at a table playing a card game wearing a smile for her on his chubby face. He is tanned like his face but round, unlike him. It lightens her heart at the sight of him looking so cute and happy, which eases her pain. She missed him even though they talked by phone a lot. She worried that he would forget her when she had helped to raise him, too.

She flipped her hair, easing the tension from her shoulders, feeling how much she missed her kid brother. She put her stepfather on the shelf, forgetting the way he had abandoned her to make sure that happiness radiated to her half-brother. He was the one she wanted to see the most while she was away. She wanted that smile on his face with those blue eyes that resembled her mother’s and hers to brighten. He still showed a resemblance to his father, and it was not fair, but she could not let that taint her love for him.

“Garrett!” Cassandra called, rushing towards him.

She could not help it. She did not want to think of him as a wolf or a potential wolf. This was her brother even as she stomped up the steps to him and wrapped her arms around his small body. She took a deep breath in smelling the cookies on him. She misses that smell. Her heart flipped at how she remembered he always smelled like that to her. She wanted to cry at the ache that decided to spur to life now instead of when she was gone. It is not fair that she missed a good portion of his life.

“I missed you,” she whispered in his ear.

“Hey, Cass,” he lisped, making her jerk back on seeing his broad smile. His two front teeth are missing, which caused her to worry about him. “I lost teeth last night.”

“He pulled them out,” her stepfather said with a chuckle and a warm smile.

“Oh,” she said with a nod, feeling the awkwardness surface between them. She had thought they had punched them out, which she would not be surprised.

“It’s good to see you, Cassandra,” he said softly as he pulled her in for a hug.

It was an awkward one that made her stiffen at the way it was forced between them. To her, it was like hugging a slimy toad or sludge. She did not want him to touch her at all. She forced herself to do it, though, for the sake of the six months she will be staying here. It will save her trouble in the long run, she knows, but it does not mean the hatchet is buried between them.

Steve had promised her mother that he would protect her with his life. What he did not tell her is that he could not protect her from the pack or his alphas. That caused a rift between them, especially when her mother took her to the emergency room that caters to wolves. It was in the neighboring pack that caters to victims from other packs. She reported it to the doctor and all hell broke loose from there.

“You too, Steve,” she clipped, giving him a tight smile.

The brittleness in her tone was not missed by her mother, but she could not help it. Her mother’s warning look did not phase her either. She is eighteen now and can be what she wants towards those that have harmed her no matter how sorry they are. There is no amount of apologies that can make up for nine weeks of hospitalization and reconstructive surgery on her face. It is a sting to know that she will never be as beautiful as her mother again.

However, there is one more point she wants to prove to this pack before she walks away.

“Dinner’s almost ready,” Steve said, putting his hands in his jean pockets. He does that to keep himself from lowering his shoulders in defeat, she knows, but it is his fault there is a rift between them. “Why not my two beautiful girls go get ready for it?”

“It’s women,” Cassandra corrected him sharply. “We’re women, not girls.”

“Cass!” her mother snapped in warning.

“It’s alright,” Steve said, holding up his hand and acting good-naturedly, like he had done in the beginning. This time, she is not fooled by his pretense to care for her. This time, she knows there is nothing he will do to protect her from anyone. “She is right. You are both grown up to be women.”

“See,” she huffed and walked away with Garrett in her arms.

She did not put him down, until they were upstairs where she could go to her room. This place holds too many bad memories, like the one where she dropped on the porch holding her nose. The exertion and the blood loss were too much on her body that she could not keep conscious for long. The only thing she knew was to get to the one person that would love and protect her- her mother. That is the only person that she came back to see next to her brother. After that, she plans on getting a job and leaving for good.