W O R D S : 2531

D A T E : 8/18/2018

It's perpetual, the feeling of being watched. When my house was first ransacked, I felt it for a few days after, but I have a thick skin, I let it go. I went on with my normal life, I wasn't afraid. I suppose my view has changed, for obvious reasons. I knew the second they attacked me, it was no longer a petty game, it was serious.

Connell was the first person I went to. I don't know if it was really the only safe, or because of instinct. My wolf knew where to go, and my body took me there.

My hands were shaky- I suppose that's a side effect. Short, quick breaths left me. I opened the door, happy that Connell never locked it. Stupid, but helpful in this moment.

Once I got into his house I slammed the door shut, locking it behind me. I paused for a second, trying to catch my breath. It didn't work.

Connell was where I expected him- in his office. It was a good size office, once used for important pack work and meetings. I passed Jay, his dog, not even bothering to pounce on him like I usually do. I would feel bad for that later.

I rushed into his office, causing his head to shoot up. He was grading papers, most likely our English essays that I'm 90% sure I failed. Not even I could convince him to change my grade- no matter how hard I tried.

His eyes honed in on me, first looking at my face before immediately going to my cuts. I had a few on my arms, and some scratched on my legs. I couldn't feel how deep they were- they didn't hurt. I could barely hear over the pounding of my heart.

He stood, about to walk over but I was already running towards him. He let me basically jump on him, even though I was bleeding and sobbing. My face burned as I pushed it into his chest, wailing loudly. If I haven't gotten this across before, I look really ugly when I cry, and am generally over dramatic.

Connell only let me stay in his arms for a few seconds before he tried to detach me to look at my injuries. I let out a cry when he touched my shoulder, jerking away. He caught my hands, looking at the bruises that were already starting to form around my wrists.

Confused? Worried? Sympathetic?

Pissed.

Anger radiated off of him in waves, and he had a hard time concealing it.

Pulling me to his chair he sat me down, kneeling down in front of me when I stopped trying to get up. His rough hand brushed against my cheeks as he took my face in his hands. Soothingly, he rubbed his thumb back and forth, pondering what to say.

"Who did this to you?" He asked, his voice strong and demanding. I gasped weakly for breath, fishing for something to say. I didn't know what to, I didn't know who did it, and even though I knew why, I didn't know how to explain it.

Instead, I took the easy way out, and once again pushed my face into his chest. He didn't push me away, only carefully hugged me back.

He let me stay there for a few minutes before he picked me up, taking me to his bathroom. Picking me up, he gently placed me on his granite bathroom counter. He looked over my cuts, before pulling of my jacket to look at my shoulder.

My face burned as he looked at my shirt. It was a my little pony on that I'd had since I was twelve. Leaving me brushing, he went to get his first aid kit.

When he got back, he emptied the contents and grabbed a small cloth. He wet it, and rubbed away the blood from my bigger cuts. He then went over them again with a new rag, this time covered in alcohol.

After that, he wrapped a bandage around them, calmly as he could. I could feel his anger still, but I knew how calm he was trying to be. He really was trying.

Once he had stopped he helped me down from the counter, walking me to his bedroom. Forcing me to sit on his bed, he fished through his drawers before pulling out one of his shirts, that would act like a nightdress.

Once again he kneeled down in front of me, putting the clothing on my lap. My brown eyes met his, and we sat staring at each other for a few lingering moments.

"You should grow a beard," I blurted, my hands going to his clean shaven face. He had been growing a beard when I first saw him, but had cut it soon after that.

A small smile appeared on his face, and he kissed my cheek, standing. I could still feel how tense he was, but he seemed like he had something to do.

"Maybe I will," he said, before leaving me to change.

As soon as the door shut behind him, I pealed my clothes from myself, shivering from the cold. The shirt he had given me went to my mid thighs, and drooped unflatteringly around my arms. Still, I was encased in my scent, and Dottie couldn't have been happier. And I, I suppose.

I creaked down the stairs, yawning as I rubbed my shoulder. Connell was on the phone with someone when I got downstairs. His fist was tightened around the phone, so hard that it was turning white.

When he saw me, he calmed down, and told whoever he was talking about that he would call him back. Putting the phone down, he put his hand out to me.

Taking his hand, I climbed onto the couch, slouching into the curve of his side. We sat there in silence, just listening to each other's breathing.

"How do you feel?" He asked first, breaking the silence. I shrugged, rubbing my eyes wearily. I could feel his eye burn into me, and I was sure he had about a million questions.

"Tired," I said weakly, wrapping my arms around his arm like it was a teddy bear. It was the truth, I felt incredibly tired from the whole ordeal.

"Is that all?" He asked. Once again, I shrugged.

Propping myself up a little, I looked at him. I couldn't push it off much longer.

"There were these men- big and brawny. They must have been warriors, I mean they were huge!" I started my story, thinking back on the events.

"I was just taking a nice little natural walk, and then they jumped out and tried to grab me," I grabbed his arm for dramatic affect. He seemed dismayed by how into the story I was.

"Of course, I fought them. I kicked one of them in the balls and bit the other," I smiled cheekily, thinking of the pain on their face. Connell seemed both proud, and still incredibly dismayed.

"What did they want?" He asked, cutting into my story. I paused, thinking it over.

Yeah, that had to be it.

"I think they wanted my ring," I though of my ring, the one that I kept safely around my neck. Luckily, they thought I was wearing it like a normal person, and I had gotten away before the prodded.

"Why?" He asked, looking at my ring that I was holding in the palm of my hand.

I let out an exasperated sigh, letting go of my ring.

"You know, I'd like the know that too! My friend gave me this, and I'm pretty sure she didn't mean for it to be a danger magnet!"

I thought back to the letter. She had said that the ring was powerful, but to me, it seemed like a regular ring. That wasn't my main concern of the letter, my main concern was finding her. Sadly that had been halted by all of the recent events.

Connell took the ring into his hand, looking it over. He seemed as lost as I, so her put back the ring.

I let out a long yawn, sinking lower in the couch. I could see the sun peak through the curtains, and closed my eyes, annoyed.

"Why don't you go to sleep," Connell picked me up, holding me to his chest. I smiled happily, taking the chance. I wrapped my arms around him as he carried me upstairs, and held tightly to him as he lowered me to his bed.

He mentioned something about texting my parents that I was staying at a friends house, and somewhere in the process took my hand to use my thumbprint. I was nearly asleep when he did that, and payed no attention to whatever he was doing.

The last thing I remember seeing was him turning off the light, and his blue eyes met mine one last time before I closed them for the night.

The Next Day

"You should buy chocolate chips," I murmured, pouring a generous amount of syrup on my pancakes. Connell watched with a peculiar expression, putting a normal amount of syrup on his pancakes.

"Do you know how much sugar is in syrup?" He asked, looking at my hand reaching for the syrup bottle once again. I didn't stop, instead grabbing it to once again soak my pancakes some more.

"You're not my dad," I responded, shoving some pancakes into my mouth. Connell lifted his eyebrow, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I'm glad about that," he murmured, giving me a look. I stuck my tongue out, clutching my necklace with my hand.

Connell and I were sitting around, eating breakfast. He had called in sick for work, and I had to fake an excuse to my mom to why I wasn't at school. I think she had lost her patience near the end, and stopped badgering me about it.

My shoulder had been aching all morning, so Connell gave me some Tylenol. He was stilled pissed about the whole ordeal, but he hadn't said anything as of yet.

When we finished eating, Connell put our plates in the sink, and we sat on the couch together. I went on my phone as Connell watched me. He wasn't talkative, he just studied me as I texted Maddie and Sara.

"You said your friend gave you that ring?" He interrupted at one point, looking at my necklace. On my necklace hung my ring, which sparkled in the light.

I nodded, palming it.

"Her name was Mecah, she was the Alphas daughter," I told him, looking around the living room. I had spent a lot of time, lounging around here with Mecah when I was younger.

Connell furrowed his eyebrow, "I didn't know they had a child."

I shook my head, smiling as I remembered Mecah.

"Yeah, they weren't exactly A+ parents."

I thought back to the Alpha and Luna. They had tried for years to have a baby, and when they did, they had a girl. It completely messed them up, because all they wanted was a boy to take over the pack.

Not that girls couldn't, there weren't any rules about it. They just sucked.

"She was really nice," I sighed, getting sad.

Connell rubbed the top of my hand with his thumb, making me look at him. I smiled, grabbing his arm tightly.

"She lived here a few years ago, too." I told him, looking at the stairs in the other way. Connell looked around, as though he saw the room differently than before.

"I didn't know that, I just bought it because it was cheap," He admitted, wrapping his arms around my waist. I nodded, a small smile on my face.

"She didn't live here a lot. She spent a lot of time in my tree house," I recalled.

"Why?" Connell asked.

I thought about Mecah, thinking about the first time I had seen her. For a while, my friends and I had tried to stay as far away from her as we could. Her parents had tried to villainize her as a bad kid.

One day, I found her crying in my tree house. I was nervous to talk to her, but really wanted my Gameboy that I had left in the room.

She tried to cover up her tears, but had failed miserably. When I tried to leave, deciding to surrender my treehouse to her, she stopped me, and proceeded to tell me everything that was screwed up with her and her parents.

There was a lot of stuff.

Ever since then, we were tied together. I convinced Maddie and Sara that she was nice, and not long after my entire family was on her side. That had made my parents dislike her parents, making their loyalty shaky, considering my dad was Beta.

We had made a room for her in the treehouse, so she'd have somewhere to go when her parents started yelling at her. She began sleeping their so often, and her parents never asked questions.

"She just, had a lot of problems with her parents," I began. "They never really cared about her."

"I guess thought she couldn't be the next Alpha, so they always held it against her. We were just, really close." I blabbered.

Connell listened carefully, his eyes meeting mine at the end.

"So, why did she leave? Why did her parents leave?" He asked.

I sniffed, thinking of the day I had said goodbye to her. Well, there wasn't much time to say goodbye.

"She just gave me her ring and told me she was in trouble. She left that night, and didn't tell anyone," I told him, resting my head on his shoulder.

"Did her parents go after her?" He asked. I shook my head, thinking of her parents. They had basically been forced out of the alpha position after she ran away. Everyone assumed she left because of them, and they had lost all legitimacy.

They didn't have an heir, and they had lost all strength within the pack.

"They just left because they had too," I told him simply.

Connell sighed, pulling me onto his lap. He hugged me tightly, nearly making me gasp for air.

"Sorry Ruby..." He said slowly, rubbing my back. My wolf purred in happiness, probably prancing around her little wolfy world. I myself smiled into his shoulder, sighing in content.

We stayed like that for a few minutes, before I forced him to get up and make me hot chocolate.

As he was standing, he noticed my necklace once more.

"Ruby, if someone wants that ring, you probably shouldn't wear it," He said, pointing to my ring.

I looked down, and then shook my head back and forward. There was no way I was taking it off, especially if someone wanted it. I had almost lost it twice now, there was no way there was going to be a 3rd time.

"I promised I'd take care of it, I can't just through that promise out of the window," I told him, crossing my arms. Connell sighed down at me.

"Well, all least put it under your shirt," He said, looking down at my shirt.

"You'd love to know what's under my shirt," I smirked, flipping my curly hair behind my shoulder. Connell stared at me for a few seconds, blinking.

With a shake of his head, he turned, and walked off to the kitchen.

Authors Note

Hello everyone! It's been forever since I updated, not entirely sure why. Updates should definitely be coming more regular now. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Love,

Elle Kay