Triton's Oath - His Hybrid Princess

2 - Why is it always me?

Ava

I wake up on the ground, shaking and feeling sick. I turn onto my side and vomit my guts up. I spit the access out and roll onto my back so as not to aspirate my own vomit. My head is killing me, and that is not normal but also not surprising. Whatever was in that drink was powerful. It rendered me paralyzed, but I could see, hear, and feel everything that was happening. Every vile word spoken, every touch of their hands on my body, I felt it all.

I sob while trying to drag myself to my feet. I feel so hurt by what happened. They haven’t broken me, but I feel this hollow depth in my heart.

How could they do this to me?

What did I do to deserve this?

I stumble all over the place. The drug is still in my system; I can feel it rushing through my veins like wildfire. It hurts and burns. Not as much as I’m going to hurt the bastards who did this to me!

I clumsily pull my skirt into place as tears fall from my eyes. I don’t know where my panties are, but at least they fixed my bra.

Goddess, why me?

What did I ever do to anyone?

I’ve always tried to be a good person. Okay, I can be a bitc.h sometimes, but every woman can. That doesn’t mean I deserved to be hurt like this. Those crap hounds didn’t even have the decency to take me home, never mind cover me up after they assaulted me!

I clutch the tree beside me for support. I touch my neck, wanting to feel my necklace because it brings me comfort when I’m upset. But a sob escapes me when I realize my locket is gone.

Where is it?

I look through blurry eyes around the ground. But I cannot see my locket anywhere.

Where could it be?

Did one of those assholes take it as a souvenir?

I’ll kill them! My mother gave me that locket when I was a little girl. I have worn it every day since she gave it to me, only removing it to shower. I want it back! I can’t think about it now; I need to get home. I’ll come back here later and look for my necklace, and if it isn’t here, I’ll go to those pieces of crap and demand they return what is mine before I free their heads from their shoulders!

Goddess above, I cannot go home looking like this. My mother would have a heart attack! Too many questions would be asked, and my dad would go crazy. I couldn’t handle that.

I have no problem telling my mother what happened, but seeing me in this state would break her heart. But I don’t know what to do or where to go. I feel empty and full of despair all at once.

When my legs stop shaking enough to move, I fold my arms around myself and walk forward. My mind is so jumbled. There are so many questions floating around that I can’t keep up with them.

“Ava!” I hear someone call my name. I was in a world of my own and hadn’t realized where I’d walked to. My brother Michael runs up to me. “Where the hell have you been? It’s after midday. Mom’s been going out of her mind worrying about you!”

“Sorry,” I mumble without looking at my brother. “I lost track of time. It was late when the party ended.”

“Alivia said you left early.”

“I only left a few minutes before everyone else.”

“Likely story.” Michael huffs. “Alice and Alivia already told Mom you left two hours before they did. By the look of you, it’s not hard to see what you’ve been up to.”

Of course, he would jump to the conclusion that I had stayed with some guy doing the nasty. No doubt anyone who sees me like this will. No doubt my brother can smell it on me. I could tell Michael the truth, and I want to, but the words won’t come out.

“Look,” Michael sighs. “I’m all for you having fun. You’re a grown woman, Ava. But you did use protection, right?”

I roll my eyes and walk away. “Leave me alone, Michael.”

Of my seventeen siblings, Michael is the one who’s tough on me. He’s not horrible; Michael is anything but. However, Michael thinks he’s in charge when our oldest brother Mark is away. Usually, it doesn’t bother me. It goes in one ear and out the other. But I can’t deal with it right now.

I make it home with no more interruptions. I’m surprised that no one is home, but also thankful because it means no one can ask me questions. I still live at home with my parents, which is pathetic for a woman my age, especially when most of my siblings have moved out. But I wasn’t ready to leave home, and with Alice and Alivia gone, I have a room to myself.

I lock my bedroom door and head straight to the adjoined bathroom. I turn on the shower to the hottest setting, strip my clothes, and climb in. As the water pounds down on me, I scrub every inch of my body from head to toe four times. Once that’s done, I grab my toothbrush and toothpaste and scrub my teeth and tongue over and over.

Then, I finally let the tears fall. Tears of sadness, anger, and frustration. I slam my hands over my mouth and scream into them. This is the only time I will allow myself to cry like this. I need to let it out, and then I’ll bury my sadness like I bury everything else. Once I have, I’m going to kill the bastards who violated me last night. I’ll kill them in ways they couldn’t even imagine!

After dressing in black jeans and a black T-shirt, emphasizing my mood, I make my way downstairs. I allowed myself to cry, but now it’s time to pull up my big girl panties and make certain people pay. No one messes with me and gets away with it!

I will not be the weak link in the Knight family chain.

‘You should let me kill those bastards!’ My Lycan, Amarni, mumbles through the mind link. This is the first time she’s spoken to me since I drank that stupid drink last night.

‘I can handle this, Amarni.’

‘I know you can. I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you last night. I don’t know what happened to me.’

‘Nor me.’ Amelia, my Dragon, sniffs. “I’m sorry, Ava.’

‘You two have nothing to be sorry for. I know you would have helped me if you could.’

‘I can’t believe what they did.’ Amelia huffs. ‘Doing what they did was bad enough. But leaving you half-naked in the woods!? I thought they had a tiny bit of respect. Clearly, I was wrong.’

Amarni growls. ‘Stupid people do stupid things.’

“There you are!” I startle because I didn’t see my mother standing in the kitchen as I entered. She stares at me with her hands on her hips. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Nowhere specific.”

“All night, you’ve been gone. Ava, I know you’re a grown woman, but I was worried sick!”

“Mom, please,” I can’t deal with my mother yelling at me like a naughty little girl. My head is banging. I feel horrible, violated, humiliated, and everything in between. I just want my mom to hold me because things don’t seem so bad when she does. I walk into her arms without giving her the chance to say anything. “Please hold me,” I mumble.

I can sense her confusion, but Mom doesn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around me, cocooning me in safety and love.

Mom kisses my head. “What’s wrong, Ava? Did something happen last night?”

I nod against her shoulder. I have no reason to keep the truth from her, even though it will hurt her. If I tell my mother, she’ll tell my father and those who hurt me will get what’s coming to them.

But as I open my mouth to speak, my youngest brother, Logan, runs into the room. “Mom, you need to come deal with Emma before Dad kills her.”

“What now?” Mom sighs before kissing my head and walking away.

I’m not mad that my mother just walked away from me like we weren’t having a conversation. Emma can be a nightmare. At thirteen, Emma is a handful. She’s always up to something she shouldn’t be. Dad says Emma takes after Thorin and Tane, Tristan, and Starr. They used to pull pranks on each other all the time. Emma pulls pranks on anyone she feels like.

I sigh again. I need to get out of here for a while. I need clarity, and I can only get that away from here. I won’t let those spineless bastards get away with what they did to me; I guarantee you that. I’ll make them pay in the worst way! No one who does what they did should ever get away with it. But right now, I can’t decide if I’m empty or furious. My emotions keep flitting from one to the other.

Why did they do that to me?

How could they leave me the way they did in the woods?

Have they no shame?

Did they honestly believe they would get away with it?

Did they think I wouldn’t remember anything or who hurt me?

I take a deep breath, grab my car keys from the kitchen counter, and leave the house. I could run in my Lycan form or fly in my Dragon form, but I don’t have the energy to let either animal take over. Besides, driving helps clear my head. Letting Amarni or Amelia take over would be letting them take the burden of this pain, and I won’t do that to them.

I climb into my silver car and take off. There is only one place I ever go when I’m upset or finding things difficult. It doesn’t take me long to reach my destination – the ocean. I love the beach, feeling the sand between my toes and the breeze flowing through my hair when I walk.

I find my favorite spot, a small boulder near a small opening in the rocks. I sit down and wrap my arms around my knees. I used to dream about this place. I have seen the same thing for seven years: the sea’s gentle waves as the seagulls fly above it and the Merman who watches me from afar. Of course, there is never any Merman, just the sea.

As soon as I learned to drive, I came here. I wanted to know if there was anything to my dreams. I had them so often that I wondered if they were trying to tell me something. In my dreams, the Merman was always too far away for me to see him well. But I saw his blond, collar-length hair blowing in the wind and his ripped muscles gleaming in the sunlight. His tail was stunning, shining, blue and green as it flipped back and forth. I could even make out his gorgeous smile, and it would make me smile in return because I knew his smile was meant for me.

I have had the same dream since I was sixteen. Back then, I had an accident. I fell from my horse and banged my head. I was in a coma for a few days. I recovered, but the dreams started soon after. They were sporadic at first, then at least twice a week. But I’ve had them every night for the past three months. I used to believe they were the hopes of a young girl wanting to be loved. Now, I wonder if they mean something else.

There never is any Merman when I get here. Maybe there never will be. But I can’t deny the sea calls to me. Sometimes, I hear my name whispered on the waves. I used to hear it on the wind back home, blowing through the trees. It would freak me out initially, but by the third time, I figured someone was calling me, though I never found the source of the voice or who it belonged to.

I would also hear someone whispering my name while I slept. It was a male voice, and funnily, that never freaked me out. In fact, it brought me a sense of calm. Whenever I felt low, that masculine voice brought me peace. It also gave me the courage to follow the voice on the wind, which is what first brought me to the ocean.

I’ve often wondered if the voice I heard belonged to the Merman I see in my dreams. Then I laugh because the very thought is insane! Hell, I’m insane. I’ve been crazy my whole life, hearing voices and dreaming day and night about a half fish, half man.

My mother sent me to see a therapist when I was seventeen because I stupidly told her about the Merman in my dreams. I couldn’t stop talking about him, and Mom got worried something was wrong with me. She believed my accident had left me with brain damage.

After three weeks with my therapist, I pretended I was fixed, and the dreams were gone. I knew never to mention the Merman again. But my dreams weren’t gone, and I don’t want them to be. I wish my Merman was real; perhaps he could take me away from this place if he was.

I love my family more than anything, but I don’t feel like I belong with them. I’m nothing like any of them, and I feel like something is missing within me. I don’t feel whole, and my mind feels like there’s a wall blocking something I should remember. Perhaps there are memories I lost due to my accident. I feel them, but they’re too far out of reach, and I can’t grab hold even though I try.

Last night rushes to the forefront of my mind, and I shudder.

Did I do something that made my so-called friends do what they did?

Did I somehow give them the wrong idea?

Did I make them think I wanted it?

Were my clothes too revealing?

Was I a tease as they accused me of being?

There are so many questions flowing through my mind, so many what-ifs. I don’t blame myself for what happened, but I wonder if I caused it somehow.

“Now, what’s a pretty girl like you doing out here all alone?”

I startle and gasp while looking at the colossal man now beside me.

How did I not hear him approaching?

Damn, I was too far in my head to notice!

I put my hand over my eyes, shielding them from the sun so I can see the man. Black hair, a handsome face with a short black beard, and thick ripped muscles under his weird, ancient-looking leather vest, thick thighs behind his skin-tight leather pants.

I swallow hard while looking at his smirking face. His brown eyes sparkle with mischief, and my stomach turns over.

“Can I help you?” I hope I sounded as confident as I think I did.

“Still waiting around for your mate, huh?”

“What?”

Who is this man?

What the hell is he talking about?

The man laughs loudly. “Oh, this is priceless! He’s been free for weeks, yet he still hasn’t come for you like he swore he would.”

“What are you talking about?”

This guy is clearly a madman. There’s no other reason he would randomly approach me and say this stuff.

Why is it always me?

Why do I always attract the nutcases?

“Ten years you have waited like an obedient little pup.”

“Look, no offense, but you sound insane. Please, leave me alone.”

The mountain of a man tips his head to the side, regarding me closely. He gives me the creeps!

I climb off my little boulder. “Well, this was fun. But I’ll be going now.”

“I think not, little one. You’re mine now.”

I scream as he grabs me, and all I can think is: What the fuc.k now!?