He hates hearing her say things like that and hates it even more that she is made to feel this way. We all did. There is nothing worse to watch your own child suffer, especially at such a young and vulnerable age as hers.
She is only six. No child should feel hated. And although we try to shield her from the judgment and the treatment, it is near impossible when she has a Moon Goddess for a mother and two Alpha fathers.
No matter where we go, we are constantly receiving unwanted attention, and therefore, so is Marabella.
The whispers always get to me. The hardest part is being the bigger person and not rising or reacting to their hurtful words. Instead, I try to ignore them.
There was one time when Ezra once lost his temper, but I don’t blame him, not after what happened. If he didn’t end up killing the asshole, one of us would have.
It was an Alpha meeting, and we brought the kids to play with the other Pack Alphas children when one man, who had no children and had his pack taken by a rival Alpha for cruelty to his members, took a jab at the twins. All because I refused to help him.
“Ah, so here they are! The blessed and cursed twins, abominations, and that one.” he had said, pointing at Marabella. She was only two at the time. “She should have been put down at birth!” The growl that left Ezra as Maddox pushed forward still sends a shiver up my spine to this day.
He had killed him within seconds and then had challenged everyone else in the hall to speak up if they had anything to say. None did; none were game enough to, after watching the man get torn apart. His dead, bleeding body at Ezra’s feet, while he was drenched in blood, was a gruesome display of the power Ezra holds.
Even if they wanted to, they were far too terrified to have the courage to.
I shake the memory away, returning to the present. My mind forced me into the memories and that’s why I realize I have missed half of what is going on as I look at Marabella.
“Daddy, no! Please don’t touch me! You can’t touch me! No one can touch me!” Marabella shrieks as Ezra tears the gloves off her hands. Marabella is hysterical as she tries to pull away from him.
“You don’t scare me; you are not a monster,” Ezra tells her firmly, and I feel my heart skip a beat as Marabella tries to rip her hands away.
As I stand here and watch my child’s distress, I once again notice how hard it is to be the bystander that only stays aside and watches.
I am grateful Ezra is here right now. He grabs her hands and presses them against his face. “You are not a monster, you hear me? You do not scare me, you’re my beautiful daughter. Look, nothing happened, see?” Marabella pulls away, but he refuses to let her hands go.
Marabella holds her breath while Ezra stares at her, trying to get her to see she is not what they claim. “Dad, please,” Marabella begs.
“Say it,” Ezra tells her, and she knows until she listens he won’t let it slide or let her go.
“I’m not a monster,” Marabella tells him reluctantly, and another round of violent sobs escapes her.
Ezra hushes her softly until she calms down and finally stops crying. He pulls her to him, hugging her little body tightly, and his eyes go to mine.
“Alicia is not welcome here again,” Ezra says through the mind link.
Pursing my lips, I glance back up the hall toward the kitchen. Mateo wanders off out the back. Yes, it is best if Mateo returns her to her mother; mine and Ezra’s tempers quickly erupt. He is definitely the calm one of us all. I know Alicia has something to do with her being upset.
And I don’t trust myself not to give her mother the spanking her daughter deserves. I despise bullies; Marabella is a sweet girl. I just hope she can survive everyone else, and I’m determined to help her try. I know all too well what it feels like to be ostracized by your pack.
“Don’t let what they say in, don’t let it in, Marabella. They are beneath you,” Ezra comforts her, and she nods against his shoulder, hugging him back. Ezra’s eyes flick up to mine. I see the unspoken worry in his eyes for our little girl.
Marabella
Ten Years Later
Sixteen Years Old
“I need to go see Mr. Bates after lunch,” Eziah tells me as we eat lunch with his friends. I say this because they aren’t mine. No, they are good pretenders. High-paid Hollywood actors, no one could tell apart from a bully. A wolf in sheep’s skin, literally.
They always are at the top of their roles when my brother is around. I gave up trying to tell him they hate me a long time ago. I tried to tell him that he should just have lunch by himself without me around so many times, but he never listens.
He can’t see the way they treat me when no one is looking. They know Eziah will blow up at them, so they make sure only to be outright mean to me when he isn’t near.
I have no one to back me up unless Eziah is around, and they know that. Yeah, I am just that monster they all hate.. And while they claim I am the monster and deserve this – they are the true monsters. They are the shadows; the demons hiding in them, that attack me when I least expect.
I quickly pack my lunch away and move to follow my brother. “I will come with you,” I perk up. The last thing I want is to be stuck with all these fake people here, alone, without him.
Picking up my lunch tray, I stand up, about to follow him. Eziah shakes his head. “I won’t be gone long. I don’t need you to hold my hand,” he says jokingly, a smile on his face.
He takes my tray from my hand and sets it back down on the table. Nervously, I stare at his friends, who are watching me.
“Yeah, don’t be silly Marabella, you don’t have to leave just because your brother is,” one of them states, and I have to force down the lump that forms in my throat.
“See?” Eziah chuckles, and I reluctantly sit back down. “I will be back. Then, we can head to English together,” Eziah tells me.
He waves to his friends, and just as I expected, the moment he is out of sight, they all get up, sneering at me, moving to a different table. “Freak!” One spits at me.