Hannah POV
It's good to have some peace and quiet from time to time.
Another three weeks went by with not much incident, the pack was informed that we were staying, and actually, I'm pretty surprised, but most of them seemed quite happy with that. Especially Kyle and, to my surprise, also doctor Gideon. I guess I have a new friend now. After our encounter during the attack, we found out that we had a lot to talk about. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I wanted to study medicine. He's also quite close to my age. He came back home after finishing medicine school last year and was able to finish his studies because the pack paid for it. It also turned out that Mikkeli started the tradition of giving financial support to those members of the pack who show progress and want to learn. Another plus on the jerk's account, well, he's a good Alpha, I appreciate it, but he still can be the mean asshole all the time.
I also started my fighting training, and it turned out quite well. On my first day, Jake gave me a lot of hard time trying to "check my limits," as he kindly put it. Of course, I'm weaker than werewolves and don't have much chance if I face them in their wolf form. But I'm fast, and as Becca kindly said when she was watching my first day, I will be a perfect fighter one day.
During the training, I also have lots of possibilities to look at Mikkeli. He's also a very good fighter, although I haven't seen him in his wolf form yet. He often spars with his pack members when they are in their wolf forms, but he stays in human, where is usually lots of blood, but he keeps healing pretty fast. And he wins very often.
He keeps ignoring me most of the time, contrary to Hayden, who is happy with my decision to stay and tries to make us all feel at home. I'm conflicted about how I should feel about Hayden. He's the man who rejected and raped Maddie, the man who hurt her. But at the same time, I can see how much he's trying and cares.
James and Jason also spend lots of their time on training. Jake, Becca, Tony, Hayden, and even Mikkeli often teach them. Their mood has been better; they started smiling again. We decided that until we find out what is threatening us, they will be homeschooled, and they will go back to school. Hayden also suggests that I should think about going to college as I initially have been planning, maybe next year if everything turns out to be alright.
And if you think about my wolf friend, we keep seeing each other, if you can say something like this about the interactions with a werewolf. Mikkeli finally allowed me to walk again alone in the woods on the condition that I would tell Hayden or Tony where I was going and that I'd be back in half an hour. After one of our quarrels, when he again accused me of whoring around, this time with Gideon, I spent with my wolf almost 3 hours.
Yes, he found me pretty much "very angry" in the woods, gave me the ride, played with me in the grass, and let me pet him as much as I wanted. I was trying to convince him to shift to show me who he was, but he was dead set on not doing it. Rose kept looking strange at me when I came home that day, and to my surprise, so did Hayden. I wonder if there is something they don't want to tell me.
The only thing I still do not feel quite comfortable with yet is the pack dinners. Before we decided that we were staying, we used to eat alone in the kitchen, but now everyone, and I mean everyone including Rose, Kyle, Hayden, Tony, Gideon, Becca, and of course Mikkeli, insists on us eating with the whole pack once a week. And since my status is lower than an omega, I'm helping Rose, Kyle, and other omegas serve everyone.
I don't mind serving; that's not the problem. The problem is that Jake is looking at me, Andrew is looking at me, Mikkeli is looking at me, and some other pack members are looking at me as if I was some kind of dirt. I also could have heard whispers about "me thankfully knowing my place." I presume, as a human, I am at the total bottom of the pack. Thankfully neither the twins nor Rosie seems to notice how questionable our status in the pack is. And truth be told, Andrew's eyes on me keep bothering me more and more. He keeps bumping into me accidentally during my daily training, and I have a feeling he is seeking an occasion to be alone with me.
Rosie wriggles next to me, making me stop thinking about the last weeks and returning me to reality. It is almost 5 o'clock in the morning, and she hasn't made me get up at night this time, but I presume after so many nights of waking up because of her, my body just got into a routine of not sleeping in the morning. I gently get up and go to the kitchen. I'm thirsty. I slowly go downstairs, enjoying some silence in the packhouse, even though I can hear some noise outside. It's morning, probably patrol change. I take my glass and try to go back upstairs; someone enters the kitchen. I take one step back; it's Andrew.
"I'm hungry," he says, stepping closer to me.
I suddenly realize I am alone in one room with the guy who hates me. I don't like the way he's looking at me, I don't like the smirk he has on his face, my guts are telling me to run, and I'm trying to walk past him.
"Are you scared of me?" he asks, blocking my way.
"I just don't trust you; I want to leave, move!" I'm trying to step back to put some distance between us, but the kitchen table is blocking my way. Andrew smirks again and steps back, gesturing toward the door.
"You can go if you want."
I pass him keeping a safe distance, and I open the door. Another guy is standing there; I'm sure I saw him at least once during my training; he was talking with Andrew. He raises his hands, trying to punch me, and I manage to block it, but at the same time, I feel a sudden pull. Andrew is grabbing my hair with one hand when his second one is blocking my mouth, and I can't scream. The other guy pushes me towards Andrew, and they drag me back into the kitchen.
"You promised me something, and you will give it to me now!" Andrew hisses into my ear.
I feel the other guy punching me straight into my stomach. It hurts like hell. I try to do something. I struggle; I try to bite Andrew's hand. He releases my mouth and slaps me hard on my face. I feel the blood in my mouth. Andrew's hands are all over me, and they both manage to press me over the table.
One of them is holding my hands behind me, pressing my chest into the table. The other one, and I know it's Andrew, still keeps his hand in my hair, pressing my face into the wood. He comes closer and whispers into my ear.
"I would prefer you to suck me, but a crazy bitch like you surely bites." I can feel him licking my ear, and I shiver in disgust. I try to scream again, but Andrew muffles my voice with his hand again. "We don't want anybody to interrupt us, aren't we," he starts giggling.
He sucks my neck hard, and I'm sure he's leaving bruises. The other one pulls down my pajama pants and squeezes my ass cheek.
"She has a nice ass," I can hear him saying as he pulls my T-shirt up.
Andrew takes his hand out of my hair and grabs my neck, forcing me to fight for the air. I can feel that he is standing right behind me and spreading my legs with his knee.
"I will show you humiliation bitch. How about we'll do it together at the same time?"
The other one is squeezing my hands harder, and then for a moment, I'm almost sure he's going to break my arm.
I have tears in my eyes, I am weaker and weaker, I feel sick, I struggle to breathe, and I can feel that Andrew pulled down his pants and his dick is trying to find my entrance.
I can hear the roar: "MINE," and then the door literally flies open, and Mikkeli enters the kitchen.
It only takes a second, and both of them are ripped away from me. The other guy is trying to defend himself, but he has no chance as Mikkeli's claws rip through his chest. Alpha's eyes are black, his fangs are out, and he screams in the most inhuman voice I have ever heard:
"You have touched what is MINE!"
The blood is everywhere as he rips his heart out of his chest.
I don't scream. I crouch on the floor, holding myself with my arms and trying to focus on my breath.
Andrew manages to escape the kitchen thanks to shifting and smashing through the window, but Mikkeli roars loudly and shifts into his wolf; instantly, he's outside.
I'm shaking. I don't want to know what is happening outside; I don't want to think about what is happening now, I don't cry, but I struggle to breathe. I can feel two arms wrapping around me. It's Hayden. He presses my head into his chest.
"Kyle, take Rosie and the boys to your room," he says loudly.
"Is she alright?" I can hear James speaking.
"She's OK, don't worry. Boys, please go with Rosie and Kyle, and stay in his room until I tell you otherwise. Tony mindlink everyone and make sure no one leaves their houses until Alpha's rage is over. Tell the guards to show only submissive behavior; Byron is in control and will attack anybody if he feels even a little threatened. "
Then he picks me up and starts walking somewhere with me.
"We must take her to Mikkeli's room," I hear Rose speaking." If she is surrounded by his scent, his wolf will be much calmer."
Soon we are in Alpha's room, I've never been here before, but I don't pay too much attention to my surroundings. Rose tells Hayden to take me to the bathroom and then asks him to leave.
"He will kill any man he will find around her right now, and you must go. I know what must be done!"
Hayden puts me into the shower and leaves me with Rose, who starts cleaning me. She made sure to scrap me clean as quickly as possible. After that, she takes me back to the bedroom, runs to the wardrobe, and takes the oversized T-shirt out of there.
I'm totally numb, and I have no strength to do anything.
Rose gently touches my face.
"Listen, Hannah. You must wear his clothes right now. He will probably still be in his wolf form when he comes back. He must sniff only his scent on you. I know you are scared and you are in shock, but when he comes back, you must stay in one place; no matter what, don't try to run."
I can only nod my head. I'm so confused. I honestly don't know what's going on. I can still hear my heart beating like crazy, and I'm panting hard. Rose helps me lie down on the bed and keeps squeezing my hand, saying everything will be alright. Maybe 10 minutes later, I can hear loud steps on the floor.
The wolf enters the room, my wolf. His fur is dirty with blood, and I'm sure also with flesh and insides that once belonged to Andrew.
Rose backs away slowly from me, her head bowed in submission, her eyes on the floor.
The wolf comes closer, and he sniffs me. I can see blood dripping from his mouth. I flinch away; I can't control it. He slowly wraps his body around me. He is so warm. I think I still am in some kind of shock because I have no desire to run; I don't feel scared. I slowly lay my head in his fur, and he starts licking me. He's licking me like crazy, and I must say this feeling is very comforting.
Sometime later, I can feel him slowly shifting back and manage to realize I'm lying on Mikkeli's naked torso, and his nose is buried in the crook of my neck. We stay like that for nearly a couple of minutes before he leaves and locks himself in his bathroom. He hasn't spared me a single glance.
"Come, Hannah, he wants us to leave," Rose helps me stand up from his bed.
Hayden, with Gideon, is waiting for us in my bedroom. I can see that Hayden tries to cheer me up or at least makes me feel better by asking: "How am I? Is everything alright?" and so on. Gideon gives me a complete check-up and currently states that I have nothing broken, only will have a lot of very painful bruises. After that, we sit in very uncomfortable silence for almost 15 minutes.
"Can you please tell me what happened with Andrew?" finally, Hayden says.
After I finish giving him the details of this nightmare, he gently squeezes my hand and apologizes for not keeping me safe.
"I should have seen that coming. The way Andrew was looking at you should have made us all alert earlier, but at least that is over, Andrew is dead, and after Mikkeli's reaction, I doubt anybody else will ever touch you" Strange, he doesn't seem less worried.
"Thanks, Goddess Kyle was already downstairs because it was his turn to cook breakfast; he heard struggling in the kitchen and woke up Mikkeli," he keeps holding my hand.
"So, I'm Mikkeli's mate?" my voice is shaking.
"The problem is how in the hell Alpha has managed to keep that so long in secret," Gideon interrupts. "Of course, I have noticed that he was avoiding you, but no one would be able to restrain his wolf for so long without any form of physical interaction unless the rejection was done."
I bite my lip and whisper: "I think we have had physical interactions," and of course, it's the moment when everybody looks at me intensively.
"I often hung out with Mikkeli in his wolf form during the last weeks."
"With his wolf, with Byron?" Gideon looks pretty shocked.
"I noticed him, I mean the wolf, watching me very quickly after we had come here. I thought he was supposed to keep an eye on me, and he... it has felt good to be around him."
"What sort of physical interactions?" Hayden asks.
"He was sniffing me, playing with me, was sleeping on my lap; I think I can say we cuddle a lot, and it was nice to pet him."
"You've petted Byron, like really?" Gideon looks beyond amazed.
"That explains a lot" I raise my eyes and see Jake standing by the door ."With this type of behavior, Byron was sedated and managed not to go crazy, and Mikkeli was able to keep himself calm most of the time. It's also typical behavior when a wolf wants his mate, but a human rejects the one."
"Mikkeli is rejecting me?" I ask, but I'm not sure what answer I want to hear.
"Mikkeli is an Alpha, his father's son. For sure, he's not interested in weak Luna, especially human Luna. My guess is he thought that after some time, you all would be gone, you would come back to your human life, and he thought he could manage without revealing the truth. And allowing your interaction with his wolf to keep himself from losing control," Jake calmly explains, "but then it was decided that you are staying, probably join the pack, so things were meant to escalate."
"Well, for now, I have to confront Mikkeli about this," Hayden stands up.
"Hayden, what does it mean for me? Maddie said that mate bond is extremely difficult to resist, and you know what happened between you and her."
Hayden gently takes me into his arms and puts my head on his shoulder.
"Don't worry, and I will make sure you are safe."