AVA
I winced at Callum’s voice. I knew the situation couldn’t be avoided, we had to talk about it sooner or later. But that didn’t mean I wanted to.
I let my eyes fall closed as I sat back in my chair.
“You’ve now all seen the scars on my back and my legs,” I started, voice low. “Since I’ve had my wolf since I was thirteen, I assume you’ve all put two and two together to say that the scars are from before I had Artemis.”
They all nodded.
“I came here as an orphan when I was nine, as you all know. Even then, Artemis was protecting us by hiding her scent. Even before you shift for the first time, all werewolves smell like werewolves, it’s just less distinctive. Because Artemis can shield our scent, it was like I didn’t have one. That led to people assuming that actually my adoptive parents had taken in a human or a cursed child. I was bullied incessantly for that, and it’s not like Artemis or I could do anything about it because I couldn’t talk to her until I was thirteen.”
I stood, walking towards the drinks cabinet, fetching a bottle of rum.
“In the beginning, it was verbal. I was told I was a waste of space, worthless, and needed to be ‘helped’ to become stronger. That was when it became physical. Those wounds on my back were made with silver before I could shift, so they never healed fully. Even after I could shift, Jacob, Alex and my parents all agreed that it would be best if Artemis stayed under wraps for a while longer. It was clear she was going to be a special wolf from the day I was born, we didn’t need that knowledge getting out.” I paused, downing a glug of rum. “Of course that meant that the bullying carried on. So I tried to hide in the background. I tried not to draw attention to myself, I stayed out of situations that could cause conflict.”
Alex’s face was tense. He would remember helping clean some of these wounds.
“This only stopped after I started helping Alex train the pack. Without Alex believing in me, I’d still be that scared girl being tormented by her peers.”
The twins’ faces were all shocked.
“Why didn’t you ask for help?” Noah’s face was distraught.
I turned to meet his eyes. “Would you like the honest answer, or the less brutal one?”
“Honest?”
I nodded. “I tried. Between the heirs to the pack leaders making a big deal out of ‘only the strong survive’ and the fact I had to hide in plain sight, I didn’t exactly have much of a choice.” I motioned to the twins, “at various points I’ve asked all of you for help. All of you walked away.”
Their mouths all fell open.
“When…?” Noah asked.
“First year of secondary school. The four of you looked and then walked away after I was purposefully tripped walking through the field. The person that tripped me had a silver knife.” I turned, lifting my top up and pointing to the scar from that particular event. Their faces paled. “I could go on.”
“But dad, why couldn’t you stop this? If you knew she was being bullied?” Noah’s voice was accusatory.
“It’s not his fault, Noah,” I sighed.
“They could have stopped this!”
“So could you. If anything, the four of you helping me would have been easier and more effective.”
Noah looked like he wanted to argue, but decided against it.
“Think about it. What happens when someone older interferes with people getting bullied?” They didn’t respond. “Either it gets worse, or nothing happens. People like that have no respect. In the early days, people got suspended, kicked out, classes got rearranged. But in most of those cases, it didn’t work because it ended up being my word against theirs. When it comes down to it, what parent is going to believe the word of the ‘wolfless’ girl over their own child?” I paused for another gulp of rum. “There were even situations where I fought back. Of course in those situations, I was the one that got suspended, even though it was self defence. Because again, the school is going to believe anyone over the wolfless girl because they assumed I was just bitter.”
I walked to the other side of the room to stare out the window.
“In the end, I told my parents, Alex and Jacob to just stay out of it. If they got involved, it got worse. If I fought back, I was the one that got suspended. I lost a lot of my middle secondary school years to suspensions. The only reason I never got expelled is because the one thing the school did accept was that I was being bullied.”
“We’re strong, Ava,” Artemis’s voice ran through my mind. “They can’t hurt us, but the twins need to hear this.”
“I know, Artemis. It’s still a hard thing to remember.”
“I know. I’m here for you.”
I turned back to face them all, knowing Artemis was still showing in my eyes, deciding to just let her say what she needed to.
“Ava has always been strong. She has to be for us to truly embrace our destiny. That is why I came to her early. She was strong, but she needed someone truly on her side through everything. I was always in the back of her mind keeping an eye on her, ever since she was born, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t stop it all the times Ava had a silver knife plunged into her back.” Artemis paused for a moment and wiped our face; there were tears in our eyes. “Ava nearly died the day I came to her.”
The room was full of gasps and sobs.
“They nicked an artery in her neck, we nearly bled out. Usually, a Lycan in Ava’s bloodline gains their wolf at 16 and their Lycan at 18. I came at 13 because otherwise she wouldn’t have made it to 16.”
Jacob stood, walking towards us, wrapping his arms around our shoulders, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “I’m sorry, Ava, Artemis,” his voice was low, pained. “I wish I could have done something differently.”
I pulled Artemis back. “I know, Jacob. I know,” I let him hug me tighter, my head on his chest.
“You’ve been through so much, Ava,” he whispered in my ear. “You’re an incredibly strong, powerful and likeable woman, not to mention a terrifying Alpha. If you were my daughter, I’d be so proud of you.”
I wiped tears from my eyes. “Thanks, Jacob,” I gave him a small smile.