"Mama!"

The screams were coming from the mouth of a young girl who was four summers old. She opened her mouth to scream again.

"Mama, Willie kicked me! He needs to apologize."

Alison laughed before responding.

"Why would William kick you? What did you do Maeve?"

"Nothing! I pr-promise. He kicked me because I stopped him from killing a frog."

"William." Alison knew she wouldn't have to raise her voice in order for her children to hear her. There was no yelling needed. Moments later, William appeared in the forest.

"Did you kick your sister?"

"N-no."

Alison raised an eyebrow and peered down at her son. He had a nervous expression, which told Alison that his words were less than truthful.

"You know how I feel about lying, William. Always speak the truth, my son."

"Yes mother," the young boy replied, casting a look to the ground.

"So, did you kick Maeve?"

Reluctantly, the boy responded.

"Y-yes."

"Why did you do it?"

"Because - because she's an outsider! No one really likes her; she's just too naive and friendly to everyone. And everything."

"So you thought she deserved to be punished because she didn't want to watch a frog die? And you thought you should be the to do the punishing?"

"HE IS MY FRIEND!" Maeve screamed, verging on hysteria.

"Frogs can't be your friends. They are animals, and they don't speak," William was getting angry at Maeve. She was even more naive than he thought.

"Yes, th-they do! He begged me to save him."

"Frogs can't speak."

"Yes, they can!" Maeve was insistent. Why couldn't Will just listen to her?

"Stop this nonsense at once!"

Alison had finally had enough of listening to her children bicker at each other, especially when it was over something as silly as a talking frog.

"William, will you come with me to chop some firewood?"

"Yes, mother."

Alison took her son's hand in her own and they began the trek into the woods. They walked past ponds and cliffs; rocks and too many trees to count. Alison had always loved this place. It was the oldest part of the forest. You could smell it in the air.

"Maeve has always been different," she started. There was a good reason as to why she had pulled her son to the woods. He needed to hear a few facts about his sister.

"What do you mean?"

"She's always been able to think only the best of everyone. Her imagination is something extraordinary. We both know that animals can't speak, and yet her imagination is telling her that they can, and that they do it to her. I can't bear the thought of crushing an imagination such as hers. She's only five years old."

"Someone should just tell her the truth already. If you can't do it, I can be the one."

"Oh, my dearest William. You are like your father in every way. But, no. You cannot tell her. She'll realize the truth on her own, when she's old enough."

"And if she doesn't?" They had stopped beneath the shade of a large tree, and William looked up at his mother expectantly.

"That's a problem for another time. Do you understand me, William?" Alison brushed a few strands of hair out of his eyes gently.

"Yes, mother." He looked downcast, but she knew he would listen to her.

"I love you, my son. Remember that always."

She placed a hand to his cheek and caressed it softly. Then, they continued their walk further into the forest.

Maeve just couldn't understand why her brother would ever want to kill an innocent frog. It had never done anything to him, against him or otherwise. The moment she saw that frog almost being hanged, she knew that she had to do something. She could even hear the frog's pleads for mercy, but her stupid brother didn't even care about it's cries. He would have been a murderer.

Murderer.

Her mother didn't like that word. Maeve didn't know why. It could have been because her father might've been murdered by a murderer, but she didn't know for sure. That was only what Maeve thought had happened. Her mother never really liked talking about her father

"Mister Frog?" she called as she sat down on the shore. This was the place where she last saw the frog. Maybe he was so scared that he was too scared to show himself to her.

"I'm n-not going to h-hurt you."

She only wanted to see that her friend was okay and safe. Was that too much to ask?

"W-William isn't here anymore."

She waited there on the shore for a few hours, but the frog never showed up. Maybe she had been too late, and her brother was a murderer after all. If Will had killed her friend, she would never ever forgive him.

After all, who could love a murderer?

"Maeve?" the voice asking her name was rough.

The girl turned around and saw a tall man with a scruffy beard standing behind her.

"Who - who are y-you?"

She was frightened by the man. Her mother had always warned her children about the dangers of strange people.

"My name is Oliver. I know your mother. She's a good friend of mine."

"If that's true, then why have I never heard about you?"

"She doesn't like to talk about me much. Why don't you let me walk you back to your home?"

Maeve didn't really trust this man. He was unfamiliar, and he looked like the sort of man who would try to take her away.

"How do you know where I live?"

"I told you. I know your mother," he answered as he offered her his hand.

She knew she had two options. She could trust him and let him walk her home, but her mother's words came to mind.

'Never trust a stranger.'

This man in front of her was no doubt a stranger to her, even though her told her his name. For all she knew, his name wasn't really Oliver. But, on the other hand, he seemed trustworthy and nice. Or, she could just run away from him. So, that's what she decided to do.

She ran away from him as fast as her small legs could carry her.

***

"Why isn't she dead? She almost stopped our former Gamma from being executed!"

"If she had succeeded, I don't know what would have happened."

"Thank God that she didn't."

"Why is she even alive? She made us look like complete fools."

"What if her execution was tomorrow? I could arrange it even with such short notice."

The King had had enough of the opinions of his most trusted men, so much so that he sank into his own mind. He really should kill that girl. Or, he could feed her to the rogues. They hadn't been fed in such a long time. Maybe they would like to rip his little problem to pieces.

The girl had only been a big problem since she'd arrived, causing trouble for him and his entire kingdom.

If he hadn't caught her just in time, everyone would think that it was acceptable to go against the explicit wishes of their King. Of course, anyone who acted on these thoughts would've been punished, and some may've been killed.

He remembered the moment that he saw his weak little human mate running towards Caspian. His moron cousin had finally gotten what he deserved. A place next to his family in a graveyard. The fury he felt in that moment was something that no words could describe. He had wanted to rip his cousin apart over a human.

It disgusted him.

That girl should have died when his soldiers went to District Seven. If he hadn't been so stupid as to want a new plaything, his mate would be six feet underground, rotting away for the worms. Fate was a cruel little thing.

"Where are my rogues?" he asked, startling his men into silence.

"Th-they're in their cage," one man stuttered out.

"Don't feed them. Tomorrow, they will try to catch their prey. If they succeed, they can eat it."

"What will be their prey, my King?"

A wicked smile began to turn up the corners of the King's mouth.

"The puny human girl."

This was met with enthusiastic grins from the men.

"Don't forget to inform every wolf in my Kingdom of what's to come. I'm going to give them a show they won't forget."

The King had come to a decision. And his decision was final.

***

"Stupid human."

That really had hurt Maeve's feelings. The one and the only person who'd been kind to her had called her stupid in front of everyone. If the words hadn't been enough to hurt her, the expression Caspian had given her was. He looked at her as if she was the lowest skank in the entire world. Sure, she wasn't a werewolf. No, she wasn't anything remotely supernatural. But she was still human.

And as a human, she had a soul.

"Stupid human"

Perhaps Caspian was just acting when they first met, but that thought didn't make sense. Why would he act kind to her when there was no one else around? It had been just Caspian and Maeve when he'd offered kind words instead of mean ones. Maybe the King had ordered him to earn her trust.

Either way, it really hurt.

Why couldn't she have died with her Mother; or with William and Sophie? She missed her family terribly. They'd left her on her own.

Suddenly, her cell door was being opened roughly.

"Here's your food, mutt."

"Thank you," Maeve whispered quietly, knowing the woman could hear her.

The woman outside of her cell only rolled her eyes and left. As soon as she did, Maeve looked down at the food she'd been brought. It wasn't the usual old dried out bread and glass of water. The glass of water remained the same, but this time they'd brought her something reminiscent of soup. There were pieces of carrot, potato, and even some chicken.

She tasted the soup, becoming surprised that it was actually pretty good. It was so good, in fact, that she knew she could have eaten a whole pot of the soup without having any trouble. Maybe the wolves were finally realizing that even though she wasn't one of them, she too had a beating heart and a soul. Maybe they weren't so bad.

But, the next morning, however, she realized that there was no such thing as good in them.

edited