Chapter 15

Aria's POV

I was in my old bedroom, before my mum left. My mum was sitting on the edge of my bed telling me a bedtime story. When my life was simple, before my life turned sour. I remember she always told me the same set of stories. They were my favourite and I wouldn't allow any other story as my bed time story.

It had to be Beatrix Potter. They were the best book in the world, they started my obsession for reading. The stories that came to life for me. My imagination was grown by adventures with Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle duck, I fell asleep clutching a toy Jeremy Fisher in my arms, my favourite character in the whole series, I wouldn't sleep without him. My dad got rid of him not long after mum left.

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A flash of bright light made me wince and try to close my eyes tighter and the pain in my side made me double over. I wanted to go back. I wanted to get away from the pain and burning light and be back with my mum, when I thought life was all sunshine and rainbows.

One voice stopped me from slipping away again. "Aria, it's ok. I promised you I would protect you and I broke that promise but please stay with me. Open your eyes. Please." Forest. He sounded so sad. Why was he sad? The events in the car came back to me, but they were muddled, in the incorrect order. I couldn't remember what had happened.

The bright light went away slightly, and I opened my eyes. Just a crack. I looked around me and saw I was in a hospital, I was about to drift back to sleep when I spotted Forest. He was covered in cuts and looked in serious need of some rest.

I opened my eyes wider and sat up. Wincing in pain I surveyed the damage. My legs were scratched and covered in cuts and I had stitches in my arms, I could see where glass had been pulled out of my shoulder and dried blood on the back of my head, all in all I had had worse.

Forest looked slightly started that I was awake, but he mainly looked relieved. "You're awake!" He gasped, his eyes teared up, "I thought I'd lost you again." I looked him over and was shocked by how run down he looked, he was covered in blood and he needed serious medical attention, good thing we were in a hospital I suppose.

"Why haven't you seen a doctor." I said. My second sentence in 11 years. Forest looked surprised that I talked again, but didn't answer my question, instead it was Atlas who spoke, "I asked the doctor the same thing but apparently he wouldn't leave your side for long enough to be treated." I stared at Forest until he put his hands in the air. "Fine, fine, I'm going." He walked out the room, finding the doctor treating him.

Atlas looked at me for a few seconds before asking the question everyone wants the answer too. "What happened." I took a big breath in before answering him. Piecing together the puzzle of last night.

"We were driving along back home. Everything was fine, the road was clear, and the sun was shining, and then it wasn't. A car came out of nowhere. It was in the wrong lane and Forest didn't have enough time to stop. Then everything went dark, I don't know what happened after that."

Atlas nodded, "I will get some people to look into it and see if they can figure out what happened." He then handed me a glass of water. "You haven't spoken in years, you need to drink." I nodded my head and drank the water.

Forest told me weres have rapid healing and since I had enough wolf to have a mate, I would heal quicker as well, which I could tell, most of my cuts had healed but I still needed rest to heal properly.

I was so tired. I just wanted to sleep. Atlas seemed to realise that because he snuck out the room, leaving me to drift away from the hospital into a world with a big brown wolf.

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He was standing over me protectively, keeping me safe while I slept. I was sure I recognised the wolf from somewhere, but I couldn't remember where. There was something familiar about the shaggy brown coat and bright green eyes, shining with happiness, playfulness and some over emotions I couldn't place.

He walked over to where I stood, and I put my arm out, stroking his big head, his fur was surprisingly soft. He purred at me and I smiled back, still stroking him. I sat down, and he placed his head in my lap, looking up at me, staring into my eyes.

I felt like he could see everything about me. He wasn't just a wolf, of that I was sure. His eyes were filled with such understanding, he understood the hardships of life. He had gone through hardships and come out the other side victorious.

I continued sitting there, his head in my lap, just stroking him. It made me feel calm and safe.

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I woke up the sound of the door opening and a voice whispering to me. I opened my eyes to see Forests worried face stood over me.

"Are you ok?" He asked, looking me over worriedly. "I'm fine," I said quietly, I couldn't talk much, after so long not talking I couldn't say much before it started hurting. He came over to me and pulled me in to a hug. I was happy to see he was all healed and no longer looked like he would fall over any second.

He stared at me in amazement, "So are you talking now?" He asked with a smile on his face, I just shrugged in answer. "I'm glad you're ok." He said before he walked off back where he came from, leaving me to get some rest.

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After a few hours of waiting and signing forms, we finally got out of the hospital. We all piled into Atlas' car, Forest's had been destroyed in the crash, and went back home.

We sat down at the kitchen table and Isla came over and gave us both big hugs, apologising for not being at the hospital, "I was going to come, but one of the children was shifting for their first time and I needed to be there to help." Forest waved it off and if didn't bother me, except one detail.

"What do you mean, shifting?" I asked, slightly hoarsely. Isla looked at me with a smile on her face, "Are you talking now?" I just shrugged, again. I really needed to decide. I waited for her to answer the question.

"Shifting is where the man turns into wolf or vice versa. You shift for your first time when you turn 13 but some people turn earlier and some people later." She turned to smile at me, "If you have any questions about werewolves just hassle Forest, he is your mate so therefore it is his business to properly educate you."

"Speaking of educate," Forest said, turning to me, "Are we going back to school tomorrow?" I shrank away, my brother may have come back and even if he hasn't he has plenty of friends to take me down.

I started shaking uncontrollably, "can't I go to the pack school?" I asked, directing my question at Atlas, hoping I could go to the school we visited, with Fern. But sadly, my life wasn't that good.

"No sadly, we tried to transfer you, but apparently, we need to get permission from your Dad and that you probably said they abused you for attention." He looked angry at this, really angry, me and Forest took a step back away from him, but Isla took a step forward, she put her hand on his back and he visibly calmed, I'm guessing that's a mate thing.

It's ok, so long as you're with me it'll be fine." I said, smiling at Forest. He took my hand in his and gave it a light squeeze. "Always."

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I was still really tired, so Forest and I went up to bed early. As I lay in bed, thinking through what had happened the past few days I remembered the flash, just as I was going to bed. I walked up to the window where the flash had come from and pulled open the curtain. There was no one there.

Forest came up behind me and gave me a hug, "What's on your mind Aria?" I looked over at him, should I tell him? Could I tell him? No. I just shook my head. He sighed and pulled me towards our bed, "Come on, it's getting late and you're tired." I couldn't argue with the truth. I followed him to our bed and climbed under the covers, Forest's arms wrapping round me from behind. He made me feel safe and even if I couldn't tell him about what I thought I saw, he would protect me from it non-the less.

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I woke up in the middle of the night. Forest wasn't there but I could hear someone walking about down stairs, so it is probably him and not a mass murderer who had already murdered Forest. Wow I'm positive tonight.

I went to the toilet while I waited for Forest to come back. All the time I had been awake since I got back from the hospital I had felt like someone was watching me. I finished washing my hands and headed back to bed.

I stepped into my bedroom and straight away I knew something was off. I still felt like I was being watched and it was stronger now. I went over to the window, looked around the garden and screamed.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Forest came flying upstairs to my side, I pointed, too scared to speak. A man. By the window. Two floors up. Staring at me.

As soon as he realised he'd been spotted he ran off into the woods, like a shadow, blending into the trees.

Forest ran to his parent's room and told them what happened, they sent some scouts to try to pick up the scent, but apparently, he didn't have a scent.

"Is that even possible?" I whispered to Forest. I had read a few werewolf books over my years, obviously not enough since I'm now living in one.... But having no scent, that seemed impossible.

"No, it shouldn't happen. No one just has no scent. We have school tomorrow, so you need to sleep. My parents will fix it." He said and led me back to bed. I was tired. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Dreading school the next day but knowing Forest would keep me safe. Wishing I had the same level of trust in his parents and pack as he did.