Back and Better

Back to hell

Chapter Three

18 months later

“Back to hell”

Amira POV

“Yeah? Come at me, bitches!” I taunt the twins.

“YOU ARE SO DEAD!” Jason yells.

“Catch me if you can” I squeal, running out of the packhouse. I accidentally collide with Luna Anna, though I call her my real mom. This is my genuine family, and for the past year and a half they have treated me like a daughter and sister.

“Amira! Careful!” she scolds.

“Sorry mom!” I yell behind my shoulder, running into the woods. The next person I collide with is my brother and soon to be Alpha, Damon. Though, he’s more of a protector than brother—he’s too hot for me to totally see him as a brother.

“Woah! Where’s the fire, Amira?” he asks.

“Damon! Help! Jason and Derick are after me!” I screech, hiding behind him.

“You, a white wolf, is scared of two delinquents?” Damon asks with a chuckle.

He’s right. White wolfs are the rarest wolfs, and they have supernatural abilities that link them directly to the moon goddess. The night I joined this pack and my real family, I shifted and found that I was a white wolf. Apparently there are only a few other white wolfs alive right now, and they’re coveted for their abilities.

“They’re threatening to tickle me!” I defend myself.

Jason and Derick catch up, standing in front of Damon with their arms crossed over their chests and intimidating expressions.

“Hand over the sister,” Derick solemnly demands.

“And what is the offense you are attempting to punish?” Damon replies.

“She ate all the brownies,” Jason complains.

“You idiots! I made those brownies! I had no obligation to share!” I yell.

As a white wolf, I have a lot of perks. That means a fast metabolism that quickly rid me of my extra weight, a lot of energy, and excellent fighting skills, especially in my wolf form. Oh, and an admittedly large appetite.

“You ate the entire tray! How do you even do that?” Derick says.

“Easy. I’m a white wolf.” I rebut.

“Showoff!” he snaps.

“Asshole!” I retort.

“Enough!” Damon says. “As the Alpha here, I believe I’ve come up with an appropriate sentence.”

“What?” I squeak.

“GET HER!” Damon says.

I scream, turning on my heel and running deeper into the forest to escape.

“You bastard!” I yell back at Damon.

In about five seconds he catches up to me, tackles me, and tickles me mercilessly. The twins join in and torture me for five minutes before finally letting up. I’m giggling uncontrollably and wheezing, trying to regain my bearings.

“Boys! Amira! Training time!” Dad bellows. We all stand and I brush myself off.

The boys and I train all of the pack warriors. Even the warriors up to decades older than us.

Although we’re young, we’ve all already proven our abilities in combat. We’re all already outmatched in the pack—them due to their Alpha lineage, me thanks to my white wolf.

As we start walking back to the packhouse I jump onto Damon’s back, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and legs around his waist. I’ve always been aware of how strong he is, but times like this really reinforce it. Sometimes, I catch myself staring at him for a touch too long, even though I know I shouldn’t. It’s not like he’s my brother by blood, but his family has taken me in and treated me as their own; I can’t ever think of him as anything but a brother. Well, protector. It’s not bad to have the occasional dirty thought about a protector. Especially when he’s this hot.

Damon’s over six feet tall, with sable hair that’s always messy and just long enough to cover his forehead. He’s packed with muscles, has beautiful hazel eyes, and has such a dominant presence it’s hard not to get a little caught up.

“Brat” he says.

“b***h” I retort.

That’s kind of our thing. I’ll do something silly, and Damon will call me brat—and I’ll retort with b***h.

Once we get to the packhouse I go upstairs to get dressed, and the boys go to lead warmups.

I put on a black sports bra, black shorts, and my new black Nike sneakers. When I head back down I see that the pack warriors in training are currently running laps around the field in the backyard of the packhouse. I join in, catching up with Damon, who’s jogging at the front of the pack.

“Are we thinking hand to hand combat today?” I ask Damon. His father, the current Alpha Anatol, has us oversee training as well as participate. He says it’s part of learning how to lead, and I must say, Damon’s good at rallying the masses. He’s also inclusive enough to ask for help from me and his brothers, as there are a lot of drills to direct and people to oversee.

“Yeah. We’ve been practicing in just wolf form too much recently, let’s just go for hand to hand.”

I nod. Once warmups are over I step up in front of the pack members, who have gathered in a grassy clearing.

“Alright, ladies,” I say.

I call the guys and girls ladies. What? They all act like bitches from time to time.

“Today we are doing hand to hand combat. Find a partner who’s in your strength and height range, and spar.”

“Why don’t you ever spar?” A voice from the back calls.

Damon snorts. “Because she’s better than all of you.”

“She’s just a seventeen year old girl. How is she better? I bet I could take her down.”

I recognize the voice as a 22 year old named Weston.

“Alright. Come here, then.” I invite him. He walks up past all of the other warriors, and stations himself in front of me.

“Since I’m a gentlemen I’ll let you have the first move.” I say.

He attempts to sweep my legs out from under me and I jump to avoid that. While in the air I deliver a strong kick to his diaphragm, sending him sprawling to the floor. He hops back up as I examine my nails.

This time I strike first, delivering a punishing right hook to his jaw. He gets ready to throw a punch so I do a backflip away from him, and when he runs at me I sweep his legs out from under him. He falls face first onto the ground and I straddle him, twisting his arm back.

“Call uncle whenever you’ve had enough, sugar.” I tell him.

I’ve taken to calling boys sugar. It also helps because I can’t remember most of their names.

When he doesn’t say anything I snap his arm.

“UNCLE!” he shouts.

“Someone get the f*****g pack doctor. We have a lady down.” I comment.

“You are such a badass!” My best friend, Samantha, squeals while running up to me.

I laugh and hug her. “Thanks, babe.”

“Attention all warriors” My dad’s voice carries throughout the training field.

“As you all know, there has been issues among surrounding packs with insufficient training. In other words, some packs are ridiculously vulnerable to threats of rogues. Since packs look to us to keep order and to help, we will be sending warriors to train other packs. I will list names and locations now.”

As his words sink in, all I can do is pray that I won’t somehow have the bad luck to end up with the Red River pack. Anywhere but there.

“I’ll start out with my children. You will be sent to the pack with numbers so large they’re unable to conduct proper training, and your mission is to assist.”

Oh, s**t. Red River’s had an overpopulation problem for two generations, and I’d heard whispers about potentially outsourcing training before I ran from there. Please, not there. Literally anywhere else in the world will do, just not there.

“All four of you will be going to Red River pack.”

A collective gasp goes over the crowd. Although it is a pack secret, all of the warriors know my background of bullying and ending up being the mate to Erebus. They are all sworn to secrecy because I can’t afford for Erebus to know my location because I know he’ll come looking for me. It is not in the nature of a wolf to let go of their mate, ever. My successful split from Erebus is historic stuff, and I don’t want to be anywhere near him.

“Are you kidding?” I blurt.

“Sweetheart, you’re our best, and Red River needs our best.” Dad responds. I push down my emotions and nod. He’s right. I’ve grown a lot since coming here—I’ve left my past in the past and focused on being a new, better self. Part of that meant learning how to let go of anger and pain, a struggle that I haven’t entirely succeeded in, but I am trying.

Being a white wolf means I also can’t just think about myself; the white wolf itself symbolizes the ultimate protector and guardian. Turning my back on orders from my Alpha, even if he’s also my adoptive father, is not white wolf behavior. It’s old me behavior.

As long as I have some time to digest this, I think I can get on board. After all, I read somewhere that facing up to your past is the best way forward.

What? Self help books have been a gold mine for me this year.

Dad says, “You leave tonight. Go get packing.”

“ARE YOU f*****g KIDDING ME?!” I explode, before slapping a hand over my mouth. Although the Alpha is a true father, he is still an Alpha, and I respect him in public. I still respect him in private, but talk back like any daughter.

Instead of anger that I expect from him, I see empathy in his eyes.

“You’ll have your brothers with you, honey. It’ll be okay.”

Anger starts to curl inside of me, too intense and consuming to brush off or ignore. I close my eyes and inhale a steady breath while trying to gain control of myself, because when I lose control, bad s**t happens. A loud, sudden roar from the far side of the field causes my eyes to snap open. I whip my head in the direction of the noise, seeing that without even intending to, I set the pile of wood we keep stocked for bonfires ablaze.

“f**k,” I whisper.

One of the gifts that surfaced along with my white wolf was the ability to wield the earth’s natural elements. I’m most skilled with fire, though I don’t have total control of it—which means when I get angry, s**t ends up burned.

I turn on my heel and run towards the forest, needing to get away from everyone.

Being a white wolf my clothes are intact when I shift, so I never have to worry about that. So, instead of stopping to strip, I change right into my wolf.

I run, and run, and run until I reach the edge of our territory. There’s a large lake that marks it, and I spend a little while exploring the banks of the lake before deciding to head home. At the edge of the forest, I shift back into human form, and head into the house.

Dad’s sitting in the kitchen, going over some paperwork when I get back.

“You leave in an hour and stay for a few months, maybe more depending on the help they need. Your brothers will be ridiculously protective of you, so you don’t need to worry. Go pack. You can take your car.”

I sigh. “Okay, dad. I trust this is for the best. But I can’t promise that I won’t beat some bastards senseless.”

Dad smiles. “I’d expect nothing less.”

About an hour later, at 7pm, we start the several hour drive to Red River pack. Apparently Erebus has now stepped up to Alpha—something about the current Alpha having health issues—so he’ll be the welcoming committee for my brothers and I. Thankfully we also have Samantha and some warriors coming with us, so it won’t be entirely lonely for me.

I’ve changed a lot in the last 18 months. My growth spurt ended around 5’5, and I lost all the extra weight I’d been getting bullied for. I’ve focused on health and strength and learning to love and accept myself. All in all, most say I look like an entirely different person from what I was—I actually have a waist, t**s, and decent ass now, for starters. I also have long chestnut hair and green eyes that have gotten a new shine in the last year and a half. I know I’ve finally blossomed.

My brothers constantly threaten off suiters.

Hopefully Erebus won’t recognize me.

“ANTHA! GET IN THE f*****g CAR!” I call out to my best friend my nickname for her.

“Coming, Mira!” she responds with my nickname. She swiftly drops her bag into the car and takes a seat in the passenger seat of my BMW X3—a birthday present from my father. The Alpha is an endlessly generous figure who likes to make sure his kids live with style.

We listen to music the entire ride, and are mostly silent.

“I saw a skating rink on google in the Red River territory.” Antha says.

I’ve always liked ice skating, but I really got into it after joining the Blood Warrior pack. In the winters, I skate the frozen lake in the forest, and the rest of the time, I go to a local skating rink not far from my house.

I nod. “Yeah, I used to skate there. I’m friends with the owner, hopefully he’ll still let me skate after hours so I can blow off steam.”

She nods. “So you really can’t feel the mate pull?” she blurts out. I laugh.

“No. Erebus can, but I don’t feel s**t. The only way I’ll actually start feeling it is if he marks me, which is definitely not going to happen.”

“I hope he rots in hell for all he put you through,” Antha asserts.

“Me too, babe. Me too.”