Ivory's pov
*Flashback begins*
"I was eight when my mother was killed. I had begged her to take me out to the forest just to the south of us so that we could pick unique flowers called Moonflowers as our gift and offering to the Moon Goddess to thank her for everything that she has blessed in the life that she had given us. My mother and I have done this since I was able to shift. Still, this time she was more resistant to going cause we had had an alarming amount of sightings of rogues in our area, and my father had advised that everyone stay close to the packhouse and not to wander travel too far away. I continued to beg her for days. She talked to dad about it and caved into letting her take me. We had left the following day. We arrived at around ten in the morning, and we sat and collected the flowers that we needed. Then there was a snap of branches heard from all around us. My mother grabbed my hand, pulling me closer to her. After another second, there was silence, and that was when she started to run. She told me to shift and run as fast as possible, and I followed what she told me to do. We kept running until one of my back paws got stuck between a twisted cluster of roots sticking out from beneath the ground. My mother stopped and turned back, noticing that I was no longer behind her; she found me and saw a group of three circlings where I was lying on the ground, still trapped. She jumped in front of me and growled at the rogues that now showed themselves from the shadows.
They all attacked my mother and fought them off as long as she could until help she had called for arrived, but one of the rogues came up from behind and caught her by her throat. The next sound that I heard still haunts me in my dreams some nights. The rogue snapped my mother's neck as my father, and the other arrived. My father flew into a rage and killed the rogues that were now surrounding me. Afterward, he shifted and yanked me up by my scruff, throwing me towards my mother's lifeless body. "This is your fault; her blood is on your hand. You get to live with that. You no longer hold a title, and your name holds no value; I, James Thomson, dropped you to the lowest omega status." From that day on, everyone turned my life into my worst nightmare, which I couldn't wake up from."
*Flashback ends*
I continued telling Hunter everything, from the beatings, lack of food, even the violations that have happened to me in the past. I was terrified to look at him. I mean, I don't blame him; anyone would find me repulsive after hearing how I was the cause of the death of a Luna. But when I finally looked up at him, I wasn't shocked to see what I saw. His eyes were hard and darkened with anger. He quickly got up and was pacing besides the bed. It caused me to jump at the sudden movement. "HE IS YOUR FATHER, AND EVERYONE ELSE THERE IS YOUR FAMILY! THEY SHOULD NEVER LAY HANDS ON YOU AND TREAT YOU THE WAY THEY DO," he screams out of pure and utter anger at his point, and I'm terrified of it right now. As he yells, getting closer and closer. I kept moving over until I fell out of bed, I ripped the IVs in my hand and arm, and it hurt like hell. But I was more worried about getting a beating than bleeding at the current moment. I managed to curl up in the nearby corner and cover my head with my arms protecting my head the best I could.
Hunter's POV
After she told me everything that had happened to her, I felt my blood boil and anger quickly rise to my chest. I was so pissed that I was pacing next to the bed and not even knowing I was. "HE IS YOUR FATHER, AND EVERYONE THERE IS YOUR FAMILY! NONE OF THEM SHOULD BE LAYING THEIR HANDS ON YOU AND SHOULDN'T BE TREATING YOU IN SUCH A WAY!" I start moving closer and closer to her, not realizing that I am yelling. I want to hug her so badly, but I am still mad. I watch as she moves more away before she falls out of bed. At first, I don't notice until she puts her arms up, and I feel mine start for hurting. I see that when she fell, she ripped the IVs in her hand and arm out and was bleeding.
"Hunter, you need to relax, dude; you are scaring the shit out of her, "I hear Ash tell me in my head. I calm down and pick her up gently off the floor and place her back in bed, linking for Lily to come to her quickly and letting her know what happened. After about five minutes, Lily gets there, and I calm down quite a bit. "Sorry, Lily, it's my fault it happened. I lost my cool for a moment and scared her. She fell and must have ripped both of them out." I start to apologize. "You're lucky that the IV ripped out clean and that you did no more damage to her," she says as if I am a child again. "Yes, you are right. I will be careful next time." After Lily fixes the IVs, she leaves and lets Ivory know that she will be back later to check up on her and the processes to excuse herself. I notice that Ivory's eyes start to look very heavy and tired. I sit down next to her and again hold her hand, letting the electricity flow through me again; god, I will never hate that feeling when it happens.
"Ivory, you look so tired; stop fighting the sleep; you are safe. I will let nothing bad happen to you, but please sleep." She looks over at me and nods her head as I see that she finally lets the sleepover take her body once again. After about an hour of sitting there, I gently place her hand down next to her and link for Shayne to stand on watch while I go and handle something real quick. "Yes, Sir, is she alright? I hurt her too much, Hunter," he asks as I hear a slight panic in his voice. "No, you didn't hurt her. She has already healed from that, but we have some other problems, so I need you to get here and wait with her until I return." Keeping my voice stern to stress the seriousness. "Alright." I cut that link as I next link Emery to bring me anything that he can find out of the Alpha and deceased Luna of the Opal Moon pack and bring them to my office. He says he will get on that right away; as I finish that, I text the last person to help me out with giving Ivory a more comfortable stay, my… sister Roxie.
Hunter: Hey, sis, I need your feminine touch on setting up the guest room for me… Liz's old room is across from mine. Please?
Tue 5:30 P.M
Roxie: Can I ask why for one. Second, for who, and finally, why does that have to be that room?
Tue 5:31 P.M
Hunter: Someone is staying in that room for a bit. I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's my mate. And because I want her close and that is the only available one. So please, will you?
Tue 5:31 P.M
Roxie: MATE? You got a second chance?!?!
Tue 5:32 P.M
Hunter: Yes… well, maybe I'm not sure yet, but I still want to be close to her.
Tue 5:33 P.M
Roxie: Alright, I'll meet you there and get it together, but I want to meet this girl.
Tue 5:33 P.M
Hunter: As soon as she is settled and comfortable here, you can. She's… fragile. Thank you.
Tue 5:35 P.M
After I finished talking with my sister, I headed back to the packhouse and headed to my room for a moment to grab some of my looser clothes. Afterward, I walked and stood in front of the door for a moment before unlocking it and walking inside. I was putting the clothes I brought over away; Roxie walked with arms filled with stuff, "geez, Roxie, what all did you bring?" "Well, I have some extra clothes that maybe she can wear 'cause I was guessing she probably needed some, and I brought my spare fluffy bed set that she can use too," she says as she drops everything on the bed and starts to sort through everything. "Well, thank you. I appreciate it a lot." "So tell me about her. How did you find her? Where is she from," my sister starts to bombard me with questions? "We can talk about her later. I have to run to my office real quick and handle something important," I tell her, giving her a quick hug as I rush out of the room. "Oh, okay, I will finish up here and meet up with you later," Roxie responds as she walks into the bathroom. I received a message from Emery. He was heading to my office with the information I had asked for earlier, and I let him know that I was on my way.
Shayne's POV
Hunter told me to go and stay with the young girl from early this morning while he handled a few things. I looked out the window and saw her sitting up in her bed. "Excuse me, ma'am?" She turns her head towards me. "Hello," she says softly. "Hello, I was asked to watch over you. My name is Shayne, and I'm Gamma here. I want to start and apologize to you formally for this morning. I meant you no harm, but I couldn't let you jump." I look down at her, and what I see and hear shocked me and warms my heart to know that we will have an excellent addition. "It's completely okay. When orders are given, I know they are followed, not to be obedient but to protect others. It's a pleasure to meet you, Gamma Shayne. My name is Ivory Sterling. I'm an omega from the Opal Moon pack." She holds the softest and smallest smile, and her voice is soft and gentle.
We sat there and talked for about an hour and a half before Hunter walked back into the room. I stand up and greet him at the door. I see that he has a smile on his face. It's a nice change of pace for us to see. "How is she doing?" Hunter asks as he sits down next to her. "She is a wonderful and very nice young woman." I see her cheeks turn pink as she sneaks a peek at Hunter. It's cute; she is so timid to look at him freely.
Ivory's Pov
Talking to Gamma Shayne was nice. He's super sweet and timid in his little ways. Hunter walks back into the room, and as soon as he sees me, he smiles. It catches me off guard a bit. I drop my head down slowly, smiling a little bit. We chatted until Doctor Liliana walked in with some papers that Hunter signed and headed back to her. "What were those," I ask, pulling Hunter and Shayne's attention towards me. Hunter speaks up first," Lily is releasing you into my care as you recover. I had a room put together for you in the packhouse." Taken back that he's gone through all this trouble for me instead of just sending me back.
I know that he promised that I didn't have to go back, but he still has the right and power to send me back, but he hasn't yet. Shayne helps me up to my feet. I'm a bit off balance but quickly get my balance back. "Thank you for your help, Gamma Shayne," I say, bowing towards him. "You're welcome, Ivory, and please just call me Shayne," he responds. We leave the building heading towards what anyone would know as the packhouse, we walk through the doors, and people are sitting around talking and hanging out. I just dropped my head. I wish it were like this back home.
I bumped into something in front of me. I stumbled and fell to the floor. I saw that Hunter knelt before me, "sorry, I didn't mean… I should have been watching where I was going." I stuttered, dropping my gaze back to the floor. "No, sweetheart, it's okay; that was my fault I was distracted," as Hunter helps pick me up. We walk to the stairs as he shows me around the packhouse and stops at a top-floor room. He opens the door and gestures to me to step in. Once I step through the door, my jaw drops to see a beautiful space. He went through all this trouble for me but why. It doesn't matter; I need to be as helpful as possible for now. I don't want to go back home yet.