TESSA POV
Tyler and I talked for a little while after that, but he was able to fall back to sleep. But I was unable to go back to sleep. I lied in bed with my mind racing with everything that I told Tyler. I honestly didn't know what came over me. I felt like I could be completely honest with him but this wasn't the type of thing that I told anyone. Even Bella didn't know about the rapes. She just knew about the beatings because they were harder to conceal.
I saw the sun rising through my window so I got out of my bed quietly and I got changed into black and red tights, a red top and a sweater over the top with socks and sand shoes.
I went to my wardrobe and grabbed a bag out of there and I left my room and crept out of the house being careful not to wake anyone.
I went out the front door and this was the first time I had seen this place in the day light. The packhouse was situated on a huge piece of land surrounded by the woods and only one road in and out which was the driveway that took us to the rest of the werewolf town.
I walked over to the tree line and I knew that I couldn't go into the woods because there would be patrols around and they didn't know me. They would think of me as a threat. So I picked one tree on the tree line and I opened my bag and grabbed out a target.
I pinned it to the tree and then I stood back about 20 feet and I grabbed my bow and arrow. I aimed it at the target and hit the bullseye first go.
"Still got it." I said to myself. And I grabbed another bow and aimed and shot it at the target and got the bullseye.
I then heard something just inside the tree line and I knew that it was one of the patrols. But they had to know that I wasn't an intruder because I wasn't near the border and I was just outside the packhouse.
I heard bones braking and rearranging before a big muscly man came walking out wearing a pair of tracksuit pants that would have been hidden in one of the trees. Every pack had trees in their forest that had clothes in them for when they needed to shift and had no clothes on them.
"Hi." Is all I managed to get out. He looked at the bow and arrow in my hand and didn't say anything. So I slowly put them down and put my hands up in surrender to let him know that I wasn't a threat. " I'm not an intruder. I promise." I assured him.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"I'm Tessa. I guess I'm the future Luna. Tyler Lowe's mate. He bought me here late last night." I revealed a little sheepishly.
"I did here that we had a new Luna. It's nice to meet you. I'm Parker. The head warrior." He introduced himself.
"It's nice to meet you." I say.
"What are you doing out here this early?" He asked.
"I couldn't sleep. So I wanted to come out and practice. I didn't go into the woods because I knew that the patrols would probably consider me a threat. Especially since I had weapons with me. But I promise, I'm just practicing." I explain pointing to the target on the tree. He turned to look at it and nodded his head.
"You're pretty good. How far away are you? About 20 feet?" He asked.
"Yeah. That's right. I try to improve each time I practice and move back a little further than usual." I say.
"Well, you've been taught well. You were seen by one of the warriors and he called me. That's why I am here. To see who you are. You shouldn't really be out here until the whole pack knows who you are." He explained.
"I know. But like I said, that's why I stayed away from the woods. I'm on the outside of the woods near the packhouse. It would give them more of a reason to think that I wasn't an intruder." I explained.
"Well, yeah. That was smart. They probably would have attacked if you were in the woods." He says.
"I needed to practice. And I know that Tyler would go nuts if I wondered away from the packhouse. So this is the safest place for me." I say.
"The Alpha would definitely go nuts if he couldn't find you. Is he still asleep?" Parker asked.
"Yeah." I say.
"Well, I have to say on behalf of myself and the other warriors, welcome. We are glad to have you here and hope to goddess that you are nothing like Rachel." He announces. And I scoffed.
"I'm not. I promise." I smile at him. And he smiles back.
"You know, not many wolves use weapons. We don't really need to." He says.
"I know. My trainer back at my old pack started training me before I had a wolf. So weapons were my only options back then. And I just stuck with them." I explained.
That wasn't exactly true. I did have a wolf, but she was being suppressed by poison. So I needed to find another way to defend myself in case I really needed to.
"Do you use any other weapons?" He asked. So I bent down and pulled out my throwing knives that were in my bag.
He stepped off to the side a little bit and I grabbed the knife and got into the perfect stance and threw it at the target. Also hitting the bullseye and breaking one of my arrows.
"Wow. Impressive." He says.
"I've been practicing for years. It takes a while to get that good." I say.
"Maybe we can convince their Alpha to let you train younger members of the pack with weapons. It's always a handy trick to have. Especially if you've been hit with wolfsbane or anything like that." He says.
"Yeah. Definitely a good trick to have in your back pocket." I say shaking my head. Trying not to think of just how right he was about that one.
"Well, I have to get back to patrol. Welcome to the pack. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of each other." He says.
"I'm sure that we will be." I say. And he went back into the woods while I went and got my knife and the other arrow out of the target.
I kept practicing with the bow and arrow for ages before I put another target on a different tree and then practiced with the knives for ages.
"Tessa." Someone says behind me and I turned around to see Tyler coming out looking like a Greek god in only his sweatpants. His chiseled 8-pack looking like it was made of stone.
"Hi." I say.
"What are you doing out here?" He asked.
"Just practicing. I could go back to sleep after last night. After I woke up. So I came out here as soon as the sun started rising.
" That was two hours ago. And you shouldn't be out here. The patrols might mistake you for an intruder." He says. And I explain my whole conversation with Parker, and he alerted patrol to me being there and who I was. So I was fine. And I didn't go into the woods. I stayed on this side of the woods where the packhouse was.
"Come on. Breakfast is being served." He says. So I grabbed my knives out of the tree and took down all the targets and I packed up all my equipment. " Where the hell did you learn to do this?" Tyler asked looking at my targets.
"Tobias. That warrior you met at my last pack. He trained me." I explained.
"Women aren't allowed to train in your old pack." He says.
"Tobias saw me in the hospital once when I was 12. And he knew without me saying what happened, so he knew that I needed training. The wolfsbane was suppressing my wolf so he started training me with weapons. And I just kept up with it." I say.
"That is impressive. You're pretty good. And that was a good idea training me with weapons. Why didn't I ever use it on the others?" He asked.
"That's a whole other story. I usually woke up in the middle of the night to them injecting me with wolfsbane and I couldn't move. That was the warriors. And I didn't want my dad to know what I was capable of until it was the right time. Probably until I was ready to kill him. But that day never came." I explained.
"You were actually planning on killing your father?" He asked shocked.
"I had a feeling that it was going to come down to that. I didn't know when or how. But I had a feeling." I say.
We walked inside and I see a lot of people at the window watching us and must have seen my practicing but Tyler just guided me upstairs while he was carrying my bag.
He put my bag in my wardrobe while I went to the bathroom and had a shower and I got dressed for the day.
We then went down to breakfast and as soon as we went into the dining room Aria practically jumped on me hugging me. But I hissed in pain because of the bruises and ribs. So Tyler grabbed Aria by the waist and pulled her off me.
"What is your problem? Aren't I allowed to greet our new Luna and my new cousin?" Aria snapped at Tyler.
"Yes. You can greet her. You don't need to attack her." Tyler snaps back. And he guides me into the dining room and pulls out a chair for me.
Only people who lived at the packhouse ate there in the dining room and there was a buffet all set out like at our old pack. But Bella and I weren't really allowed to eat from it. So when Tyler came back and handed me a plate with a little of everything on it, I looked at him weird.
"No more food restrictions. Not here." Tyler says smiling to me.
"Food restrictions?" Cade asked. And I looked at him a little panicked.
"Never mind." Tyler says. And then another guy came and joined the table.
"Tessa. This is my mate and the gamma Carter. You met him briefly last night." Aria says.
"Oh yeah. When you got that drunk chick out of my room in the middle of the night." I recall. And Aria scoffs.
"Yeah. Get used to it. She'll be causing a lot of trouble for you for a little while. She's gonna try and get Tyler back." Aria says. And I just nod my head without saying anything.
"But...It's not going to work. I'm not interested in Rachel, and everyone knows that." Tyler says setting the record straight.
"Well Luna, it's nice to finally meet you." Carter says.
"Oh please, Tessa. No Luna." I say.
"We're thinking about having that meet and greet with the pack this afternoon. Aria, can you start planning it? Everyone is excited to meet Tessa." Tyler says.
"Sure. I love planning parties." Aria squealed excitedly.
"A meet and greet with the pack? The whole pack?" I asked worriedly.
"Don't worry. They're going to love you." Tyler assured me. But I could feel the butterflies rising in my stomach.
As soon as we finished with breakfast Tyler took me into town to the medical center and we got immediate attention. I guess that was one of the perks of being with the Alpha.
We were shown to an examination room and almost immediately the head doctor came in.
"Good morning, Alpha." She greeted.
"Morning. This is my mate, Tessa." Tessa introduced me.
"Luna. It is so nice to meet you." She says.
"Oh, no Luna, please. Just Tessa." I say.
"She hates being called Luna. She'll get used to it eventually." Tyler smirked.
"So, what brings you in today?" She asked holding a folder in front of her. But I just sat there not sure what to do. And I could feel Tyler staring at me.
"It's alright. Whatever she sees will not go past her. No one else in the pack will ever know. Mr. Missy. I don't want this on record anywhere." The Alpha commanded.
"Absolutely." She says. So she put the folder down on the bench since she wouldn't be taking notes.
"It's alright. I promise." Tyler assures me. And he slowly grabbed the bottom of my shirt and slowly started lifting it up. Once he got it above my torso I heard the doctor gasp and he pulled it over my head.
I felt really exposed sitting there in just my bra with Tyler looking at me and the doctor walked around me noticing that they were everywhere. Not just on my stomach.
"Can I ask how you got these?" Dr. Missy asked. But I hesitated for a minute. I looked at Tyler and he nodded.
"My father's a drunk." I say simply.
"Right. Why aren't you healing. These bruises underneath, the ones that are yellow in color, they should have healed within a day or so." She says.
"Because he only fed me once a week and the food was always laced with wolfsbane and silver. It was the only way he could supress my wolf so he could do what he wanted. And she wouldn't fight back." I explained.
"Well, I am going to have to take some blood at first to see how much of that poison is still in your system and then try to flush it out immediately. It's doing more harm the longer it is there." She explained.
"There's something else." Tyler spoke up. And we both looked at him. "I'm sorry Tessa. But she needs to know. She won't tell anyone...Tessa was also gang raped on a regular basis but three warriors. It started when she was 8." Tyler told her and I froze. I wasn't expecting that. I was terrified of people knowing that. That their Luna was damaged. I hated everything about it.
"Alright. Well, I will have to do an internal examination to determine if there's any damage there or not. It might be best if you step out of the room for that Alpha." Dr. Missy says.
"I don't want to leave." Tyler says.
"I can't do an internal examination with you here Tyler. Do you know what it is?" I asked. And he thought about it for a second before it finally clicked.
"Yeah. I'll wait outside for that." Tyler says.
Dr. Missy drew some blood and sent it to the lab and put 'Priority 1' on it which I guess that meant it was being moved to the top of the line. Getting tested immediately. And then I went to go and change into a hospital gown.
I got back on the bed and Dr. Missy did the internal examination and I just pulled the blanket over my face. It didn't hurt but it was so damn humiliating. I couldn't believe I had to go through all of this.
After she was finished with that, she moved me to a private room and away from the examination rooms where we would have more privacy and it was quieter. And Tyler sat next to my bed waiting for everyone to leave. But I just laid on the bed looking up at the ceiling.
" I'm so so sorry that I did that. But she needed to know." Tyler says.
"No. You needed to know." I say.
"What?" He asked.
"You need to know if I can still have pups. You need to know if I can still produce you an heir to be the next Alpha of this pack. Or if you need to find someone else who can do that." I say as a single tear rolled down my cheek but I quickly wiped it away.
"That's not true. Yeah, I do want to know if you can have pups. But I am not going to go and find someone else if you can't. We will cross that bridge when we get to it. When we're ready to have a baby." He explained.
"I'm 17. Do you think I'm going to be ready any time soon. I'm still in high school." I say.
"I know. Which is why we will worry about that when the time comes. I am not forcing a baby on you right now. I promise." He says. But I just kept staring at the ceiling.
It wasn't long before Dr. Missy came back into the room, and she sat on the other side of my bed.
"Tessa. How are you still alive?" She asked very seriously.
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"With the amount of poison if your system, it would have killed the Alpha three times over. How are you still alive?" She asked.
"He started doing it when I first shifted when I was 11. I obviously started getting bigger and stronger and building a tolerance for it. So he started upping the dosage. I guess he needed to keep upping the dosage until it got to that strength. But I got extra doses of it when those warriors would come into my room at nighttime. So they could control me." I explained.
"Alright. Well, I guess there is a little bit of good news. Because they were attacking you at such a young age, there was internal scarring. But thanks to them giving you wolfsbane you weren't able to heal, and the internal scarring couldn't heal. Which meant that none of those pricks could get you pregnant." She says.
"Is the internal scarry permanent?" I asked.
"No. I'm going to give you an IV with a double dose of medication in it. Something that I have never had to do before. It's to flush the poison out of your system. Now, this isn't going to be nice. Alpha, you might want to be prepared with the bedpan. This is definitely going to make Tessa throw up. A lot. It's not going to be nice, but it will get that junk out of your system and then you will be 100%." Dr. Missy says. And I looked over at Tyler.
"What about the pack meet and greet?" I asked.
"How long will this take? And how long will she be feeling sick?" Tyler asked.
"It will take a couple of hours because she needs two bags of this IV. And then she could be sick for a couple of days." Dr. Missy says.
"I'll call Aria to postpone it. It's fine. She'll come up with a good excuse. No doubt it will be something to humiliate me." Tyler says.
"Yeah. I believe that." I said. So Dr. Missy hung the first IV bag and said that she would come back and check on me later.
Tyler never left my side. Not for one minute. Which was lucky because after an hour and out of nowhere I grabbed the bedpan off Tyler and started throwing up in it.
"It's alright. It won't last forever." He says rubbing my bag and holding my hair out of the way.