The Alpha And The Prey

Chapter 2

Tessa Pov

    “Tessa! Oh my goodness!” I gasped, falling to my knees as my arms were wrapped around me. I felt dizzy, but I couldn’t just stay there. I looked at Avery, one of the twins, and gripped her shoulders tightly.

    “Sean?” I whispered. I frowned, feeling annoyed my voice wasn’t stronger than that. Normally it was stronger, but I’ve never been injured like this before. I felt Avery wrapping a towel around my body as the door slammed and a small boy ran into my arms shaking. 

    I sighed in relief, pulling him away from me as I checked his body for wounds. He was crying, muttering incoherently as he apologized over and over again. “I’m sorry, Tessa, I’m sorry!” He said over and over again, his tiny body quivering in my arms. 

    I gently pushed him away from me, pulling the towel around my body better and tying the front around my chest, trying to ignore the shooting pain and the blood soaking through the towel. “Sean, what were you thinking? How many times do I have to tell you guys? No leaving the house! And especially no meadow!” I said, trying to keep calm despite the fear racing through me. It was over, but my heart wouldn’t stop racing and all I could think about was the words I grew up hearing from grandma before she died. The wolves. It was the first time I'd ever seen one, but just as she said…they were fierce and scary, and the one that bit me…he was the scariest of all. I shuddered, trying to calm down now that it was over. Over…it was over. Sean was hugging Avery, even as she stared at me with wide eyes, fear racing through her as she watched me bleed out on the kitchen floor. “Where’s Addison?” I ground out through clenched teeth, having a feeling she was part of all of this. Avery frowned, shuffling from one foot to the other as I stifled a sigh of relief. I could finally feel the healing working. Probably the only good part of being a shifter was the faster healing rate. “Tell me where your twin sister is,” I demanded, glaring at her. 

    Avery and Addison were the twins, and they were fifteen now. Sometimes I lay there at night, remembering my mother, and how happy she was when she was pregnant with them. Sometimes I wonder what she’d say…if she was still alive. Would they be different if she had been the one raising them? Sometimes, at night, I cry myself to sleep wishing she was still here. My parents died when I was thirteen. The twins were eight, and she had died giving birth to Sean. My father, well. He couldn’t handle the heartbreak. I told the kids that he died of a sickness, but really…I watched him shift into a bunny, and hop off towards the meadow. I didn’t see the wolves tear him apart, but…I heard the snarls all the same. When I was thirteen, I was forced to be the parent of two eight-year-olds and a newborn baby. It was exhausting, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. Well, I wonder sometimes, with Addison. She’s such a handful all on her own. Suddenly, the kitchen door behind me opened and a startled gasp was heard, making me spin around, glaring at her. “What happened?” Addison asked, her hand pressing against her lips in surprise. 

    Addison was the one who looked the most like me. Her black hair and the same Heterochromia eyes, but she laid out in the sun for hours and was tanner than me, on top of the fact that she cut her hair to brush against her shoulders. Avery and Sean both had dark brown hair and brown eyes, like our mother. Grandma was the one our Heterochromia eyes came from. “Addy, are you the reason Sean got out? Where were you? What’s going on?” I asked, feeling my anger spiking again. I turned towards Avery, where she was still clutching a shaking Sean. “Take him into the bedroom, he’s probably exhausted. Let us have some space to talk.” I said to her. Avery nodded, pulling Sean down the hall to the bedrooms. It was a small house, not nearly big enough for everyone. Three bedrooms. When I was a little girl, mom and dad shared the master bedroom, the twins and I shared a room, and grandma had the third room. Once she died, the third room was to go to Sean. But…then my parents died. I moved the twins into their room since it was bigger, but they still complained constantly. Having one bathroom, never having enough space, never leaving the house unless we were together. Always together, always in a group. We were bunnies, after all, and all each other had. 

    Addison had her hair curled, and makeup caked on her face as she pouted her lips at me, crossing her arms over her chest. For a second, Avery sneaked back into the kitchen, setting down some underwear and a summer dress, along with the first aid kit, before running back to Sean’s bedroom and closing the door. I shuddered, going over to the sink and peeling the towel off of my body, wincing in pain as the towel pulled at the drying blood, ripping the wounds back open again. “It was the only way to sneak out, okay? Look, I met a guy online, and I just wanted to meet him! I didn’t know all of this would happen. I thought he’d just slip into the woods, and you’d chase him down. I figured I’d sneak back in later tonight when everyone was asleep.” She said, her voice slightly shaking. I looked at her, flabbergasted. 

    “You’re not eighteen yet, Addy, don’t you realize how dangerous it is?” I asked her, frustrated. “You know better! What if you had shifted?” I asked, glaring at her. “I’m not even sure if you’re upset because something happened with the random boy, or because of you almost getting Sean killed! He’s seven, he absolutely can’t control anything yet and you just let him out! Do you know how many wolves there were? Huh? There were more than three, from what I could tell. And one of them nearly killed me.” I said, shuddering as I remembered. The feel of his teeth sinking into me, and those eyes…I won’t forget those eyes. A darker dull green, like the color of the forest. They were as beautiful as they were deadly. An alpha, ready to rip me apart…as grandma always warned. 

    Addy sighed, coming up beside me and taking the towel from me. I stood there as she wet the towel, scrubbing at the dried blood on my back for me. We were used to being naked in front of each other. It was different for shifters. Shifters were rare, very rare, almost extinct. Werewolves were much more common. Shifters were born able to shift into their animal, but they couldn’t control it. More when they’re babies, all up until they turn eighteen. Once the shifter was eighteen, they were able to shift at will, and they stopped shifting without control of the situation. It was dangerous, and because of that, I couldn’t let them out of the house, not without me. I’ve had to keep them a secret, raising them by myself, homeschooling them. Avery and Sean understood but Addison…she hated it. She hated every part of it. “He didn’t even show up, so I came back. So yes, I’m upset about him, and I’m upset about this. I didn’t know all of this would happen, okay? I’m sorry, I just…I’m so tired of being cooped up!” She shouted. Despite her anger, she grabbed the first aid kit and bandaged my back for me. From the feel of it, I had two large gashes. They would be fully healed by tomorrow morning, but the scars would remain. Before she could do my stomach, however, she gasped, before shifting into her bunny form. 

    I looked down at her, the pitiful look on her face as she lowered her head and pressed it against her paws, her ears drooping as she sat there. “See? You shift without control, Addy. I know you hate being cooped up. I hate having to make you guys cooped up but…I love you all, and I don’t want you to be taken away or killed. The humans, who knows how they’d respond if you shifted in front of them. You’d be killed, or taken for study. Poked, prodded, pieces cut off, who knows what they’d do. It’s safer here. At least until you turn eighteen. Then, if you still hate us so much, you can leave. But I will keep you until I know you’re safe, Addy. You’re my sister, and we’re all we have.” I said with a sigh. 

    She simply laid there, either sulking or listening, I wouldn’t be able to tell as I scrubbed my stomach and bandaged it. Two more large gashes. I sighed, grabbing the underwear and slipping it on, before sliding on my dress. Absently, I threw the towel in the laundry basket, before coming back into the kitchen. I grabbed Addy’s clothes off the ground and folded them, setting them on the table with her phone and wallet, before picking her up and sitting her in the chair. She turned her back to me and I stuck my tongue out at her, frustrated. It wasn’t easy for me either, okay? Raising three kids by myself, and I am only twenty now. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t want this. But…I couldn’t do anything about it. They’re my siblings, and we’re all we have. For better or for worse, we were sticking together. I sighed, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders as I started to make dinner. I went outside to our little garden and grabbed the vegetables, threw them all into the sink and washed them off. While I cooked, I turned on the little radio and started to sing along with the song that came on, a soft smile on my face as I cut up the vegetables. Avery and Sean came out of his room, a soft and hesitant look on their faces and I grinned, holding my hands out towards them. Sean hurled himself into my arms once more and I grunted in pain but helped him place his feet on top of mine, before twirling him around the kitchen. Avery giggled her soft shy giggle as she sat on the counter, ripping the lettuce to place into bowls for a salad while Sean and I danced. His bright pearl of laughter saddened me as much as made me smile, if only for the fact that my parents had never heard it. I might not have given birth to Sean, but he was mine, all the same, my son. It was hard, but it was worth it. Addy finally shifted back into her human form and quickly pulled on her clothes, and Avery made a comment about her gaining weight, making Addy throw her wallet at her twin sister. I simply held out my hand to her, raising my eyebrows as I held Sean with my other arm through a twirl. 

    Addy huffed but placed her phone into my hand. I could have taken it when she was a bunny, but I would never do that. They didn’t understand punishments if I simply took things, they needed to hand it to me themselves and look me in the eyes to understand they had done something wrong. With a pout, Addy went over to the counter, gently slapping Avery out of the way so she could lean against the counter and grab a carrot. With an angry face, she placed it in her mouth and chewed on it, and Avery poked her cheek and called her grumpy, causing the twins to start chasing each other around the kitchen. All the while, I danced with Sean with one arm, using my free hand to throw the vegetables into the pot and stir them. Sean untangled himself from me, dancing in the middle of the kitchen as I sang along, turning on the burner and absently moving out of the way as the girls weaved through the kitchen. With a sigh, I lifted myself onto the counter and grinned, watching the kids. Addy was pulling Avery’s hair and Avery was kicking her twin in the shin, while Sean was shaking his hips in the middle of the kitchen, and all I could do was smile. When I was five, and my grandmother was telling me horror stories and my mother was tucking me in and kissing my forehead, I never would have thought this would be how my life ended up. At thirteen, raising three kids as if they were my own. It was so hard some days, and so easy on others, and they were all a mess. But, I couldn’t help but smile as I watched them all, shaking my head at them. They were a mess, but they were my beautiful mess, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.