You walked

into my life

like you had

always lived

there, like

my heart, was

a home built

just for you.

A. R. Asher

On Tuesday morning, he drove both his sister and himself to school, Grace spending the 10-minute drive on her phone, seemingly more interested to catch up with the newest gossip than to actually have a conversation with him.

It didn't bother him, he happy enough to spent some time in silence and consider how the thing with Ollie's cousin was going to work out.

He knew that she had arrived yesterday afternoon, Ollie had been crabby all through their football training because he had just wanted to go see her. His instincts had been in full swing, a member of his pack, of his family, hurt and in need of comfort. The question was just how it had ended.

Even Grace, his mate, hadn't heard a thing from Ollie since they had said their goodbyes after school the day before and Luke could see that his sister was worried.

"You know, he would have told you if it was bad," Luke reasoned softly and his sister just huffed.

"Of course, it's bad. What do you expect? That girl just lost her only parent and was ripped out of her hometown, away from everything she knew only to be thrown to the wolves," his sister ranted.

"Literally," Luke commented drily, unable not to laugh at that and Grace reached out to slap the back of his head.

"Not funny, Luke," his sister snapped at him.

Thankfully the building of Fairbury High School, Home of the Wolverines (Luke swore that their whole pack had a terrible sense of humour.) came into view before his sister could slap him somewhere else.

"There's Ollie," he commented, hoping to distract Grace and it worked. He parked their black F150 that had been his and Grace's 16th birthday present from their parents next to Oliver's bright red Jeep.

Ollie had just arrived as well, slipping out of the car and Luke took his time to get out of the driver side, to let Ollie and Grace have their normal welcome.

There were some things a brother didn't need to see. His sister passionately kissing her mate was one of them.

"Hey, Luke," his best friend greeted him as he came around the car, thankfully not making out with Grace anymore.

"You look terrible," Luke commented. Ollie looked like he hadn't slept a wink last night and Oliver just shrugged.

"That bad?" Grace asked softly, keeping her voice down. The parking lot was still nearly empty and Luke looked around, trying to see if there were any other Werewolves there that could hear the conversation they were having but they were in the clear. No other member of their pack around yet.

"Yes," Oliver gave back with a sigh. "She's pale as a ghost looks like a walking skeleton and flinches away if you move too fast." Luke bit his teeth together at that.

"And she just...she looks so terrified. You can smell the fear pulsing from her," Ollie snapped and then closed his eyes, visibly trying to keep himself in check

"Mom is...Mom spent most of the night crying," he continued, his voice softer now. "It's not...I don't think she wants to believe that her own sister would...do anything to hurt her own child, her own flesh and blood but...but whatever happened to Daphne, it wasn't good," Ollie said. The way he said the last word told Luke all he needed to know.

Physical abuse didn't happen often underneath wolves, not when the imperative to protect was so strong. If it did happen...then it could get ugly fast.

Daphne's mother had been a wolf away from her pack, either already dormant or on the cusp of going that way. Her instincts wouldn't have been as obvious any more than the instincts of a normal werewolf were.

Dormancy...that was the worst thing that could happen to a werewolf. To be stripped of the ability to shift, the ability to use their senses, their instincts...Luke shuddered at even the thought of that. To be reduced to not even have the sense of a normal human anymore, to be numb...that was the most terrible thing he could imagine.

There was a reason why most of the people that happened to didn't survive long afterwards.

"Just...just give her time," Grace suggested at that moment and Luke looked up to see his sister reach out to comfort her mate.

It was a biting pain to know that he didn't have this. He didn't have a mate that reached out to comfort him, he didn't have a mate to love and to take care off. Their kind tended to find love young and to hold on to it tightly. And there had been no sign whatsoever of Luke's wolf deciding than any girl would be a good choice.

"I know. I just...I want her to stop smelling like I am putting a gun to her head, G," Ollie sighed softly and Luke couldn't help but pull a face at that in sympathy. Having a member of his family, of his pack scared off him...that would be hurtful.

"Do you want to come over today?" Ollie asked finally.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Grace countered the question. "She just arrived, I don't want to overwhelm her."

And Grace could manage to overwhelm most people easily.

"She needs family around her," Ollie said decisively. "And you are family."

Grace nodded her agreement then."Of course."

"And you too," Ollie told Luke who just raised an eyebrow. Somehow he doubted that that was a good idea.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Ollie?" He questioned. "I am probably going to scare her even more than you did."

"She needs to get over that sometime, right?" Luke nodded his agreement but internally he was just sighing. Great.

Humans recognised them as apex predators, recognised them as dangerous and exotic in a sense and that was what made them so attractive. Humans reacted to danger stupidly, namely with attraction. Werewolves were like catnip to them.

But that could also backfire spectacularly, namely if a human did not find danger attractive but feared it. And if Daphne was already scared of her own family, her own pack...Luke didn't even want to think about how she was going to react to him.

He was after all the future alpha of the Schuyler pack and he knew, he knew that that was obvious even in his human form. He emanated that he was an alpha without any conscious decision and it wasn't like he could just stop being what he was.

He trailed after Grace and Ollie into the English class, the only class they had altogether, apart from gym later in the day that was spent training for the football team and the cheerleading squad separately though.

He did do his best to pointedly ignore his ex-girlfriend though. Haley Webster had been his girlfriend for around 5 months during the summer and that had not ended well at all. Mostly because he hadn't been able to keep being around any longer. Not that his wolf had ever liked her either way.

Haley had turned vapider by the minute and after she had gotten in a fight with Grace about getting the Head Cheerleader spot that year after a senior had wanted to concentrate on school for her last year...Luke had broken up with her. And now Haley had gotten it in her head to want to get back together with him.

So he ignored it most of the time, hoping that she would find somebody

They found their seats, the rest of the class slowly filing in and Luke leaned back into his chair. Whatever had happened to Ollie's cousin...they were going to figure out a way to make it better. Somehow.

***

She slept for nearly 10 hours. When Daphne finally woke, the sun had come out to shine through her window. She just laid very still for a moment, hearing the waves hit the shore of that rocky beach and break against the land. The last time she had ever seen a beach was years ago.

Daphne couldn't help but slip from the bed carefully and then pad over the dark wood floor to the window.

The sky was clear, the sun bright, the ocean stormy and blue. It was beautiful.

She didn't stay there long but went rifling through one of the suitcases, trying to find something to wear.

The one garbage bag that held her mother's things she tried to lift to the top of the closet and she failed, her arms protesting with burning pain, so she had put it in the back of the closet. She couldn't...she couldn't unpack it. She couldn't.

Daphne managed to unpack the rest of her meagre belongings, managed to put her clothes in the closet, not even filling one rail. She put her sketchbook on the night table, her charcoal next to it and put most of her school stuff on the chair that stood around in one corner of the room.

Finally, she went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and get dressed. She carefully peeled off the tank top she had worn to sleep in, clenching her teeth at the feeling of the fabric having glued itself to her back. It was impossible to get it off without it hurting or ripping open the wounds once again. She finally got it over her head, the grey fabric xxx with blood.

It had never given her that much of a difficult time before. Most of the times they had healed quickly enough.

Yeah, but normally, Michelle had stopped after once or twice and not kept on for it until you felt ready to faint, a voice in her head added and she shook her head, putting the memories back to where they belonged.

She soaked the top in soap and cold water, working out the blood and had hung it to dry before she had put on a black shirt underneath her thigh hoodie. While the colour would make Daphne look even more like a zombie, it would stop any blood from showing through.

She got her hair in a ponytail and then finally dared to leave her room, being as quiet as she humanely could be.

The house was quiet as well and empty, not that that surprised Daphne.

Oliver would be at school and her uncle at work in his practice. The only one who would probably be there would be her aunt, as Caroline worked as an author and as such from home nearly all the time.

"Good Morning!" Her aunt happily chirped from the kitchen and Daphne couldn't help but flinch in surprise. She slowly walked around the corner, not quite sure what she should expect.

It wasn't her aunt cooking however, obviously making scrambled eggs and bacon.

"Have you slept well, honey?" Caroline asked her and Daphne could just nod, taking in the scene that was so utterly normal that it made it difficult to swallow.

This was what normal life was like, right? No standing up at 4 am to help clean that small corner shop, waling out of a dark apartment as quietly as she could, mentally pleading not to wake her mother.

Before she could protest, there was a plate laden with eggs and bacon in front off her, two slices of browned toasts added. This was...more than Daphne normally got to eat in a whole day.

She could only stare at it.

"There is orange juice in the fridge or milk," her aunt continued, while Daphne was still frozen in place in front of the kitchen island. "I made cookies this morning, you can have some afterwards."

"Thank you," Daphne brought out, hesitantly getting to the fridge to open it. It was half full with groceries, and Daphne picked up the milk container, closing the door again. Right, glasses...

"To your left," her aunt helpfully commented and Daphne opened the cupboard to pull out a glass and fill it with milk. Putting the milk container bag into the fridge, she finally sat down at the counter to eat, sitting down on the barstool and picking up the cutlery.

"We are out of nearly everything, so I need to go Grocery Shopping. Probably Target...There is an outlet store, we can get you a new winter coat there..." Her aunt trailed off. "Which size do you wear usually?"

"Really, I don't need..." Daphne protested. She didn't need a new coat. They had already spent more than enough money on her.

"Daphne, it's going to get cold here soon. Really cold. And it's going to stay that way for a few months. You need a good coat," her aunt cut her off with a laugh. "We'll find you something heavy enough for around here."

She ate her food, not protesting again. Daphne managed to finish the whole plate before her stomach started to protest and then she put on her beloved sneakers and waited for her aunt, while Caroline searched for her keys. She appeared just a few moments later and Daphne leaned against the door throughout the drive to Augusta.

They went to a mall first, by far smaller than most of New York had been but there still were most of the shop's anybody could need around here.

They went to that outlet first and even when the coats were greatly reduced Daphne nearly got a heart attack when she looked at the price tag. Nearly 400 dollars for a coat? That was nearly the rent they had paid for a whole month.

Daphne could have bought food for nearly two months with that.

She trailed behind her aunt, deeply unsure what she was supposed to do, while Caroline happily chattered on about brands and colours.

"What colour do you want?" Caroline asked her, pulling out a navy parka and holding it up. "Something blue maybe? Or maybe something red..."

"I don't need one...they are all so expensive..." Daphne brought out. This was so expensive. And she didn't need a new coat. Her old one would be fine for another year or two and in the meantime she could...

"You are going to wear it every day for the next 4 months and maybe even next year," Her aunt reasoned, turned towards her.

"Look, honey, you don't" Caroline reached out to her, tucking a piece of hair behind Daphne's ear. "Let us worry about the money, alright? Both Matthew and I make enough money that we can buy you a new winter coat. I know you...you didn't have a lot, but it's our job to provide for you now. It's the adult's job," Caroline emphasised.

Daphne could only nod. She couldn't remember the last time she had an adult let take care of things for her.

"Let's buy you a coat, some new clothes and whatever else you need. Alright? Now, do you want blue? Or maybe a black one..."

Daphne looked over the railing, her eyes finally concentrating on a coat in an army green colour. It had a thick fur hood and was also lined with fur.

"What about green?" Her aunt pulled that coat from the rack. "It's an extra small but it should probably fit you."

"it's pretty," Daphne finally admitted softly. It was beautiful.

"It is. Try it on," Caroline encouraged her.

She got the coat in the end. It was heavy and warm, the fur hood the softest thing she had ever touched and she adored it. It cost way too much though.

Especially together with a pair of brown winter boots that had a green tartan pattern all up the side. For once they were actually comfortable, probably helped by the fact that they weren't holding up by thread anymore.

They went to TJ Maxx next, rifling through rail after rail of sweaters and Jeans and Caroline didn't let her leave the fitting room until Daphne had finally settled on two pairs of jeans that for once actual fit her lengthwise and three pairs of sweaters, as well as two more tops.

After everything had been paid for she had gone into the bathroom at the front of the store and changed into some of her new clothes before they even left the store. She picked a pink sweater, keeping her shirt on underneath it but put on her new jeans and new boots.

Her new clothes weren't just pretty, they were also a whole lot more comfortable than the too-small clothes she had been wearing that morning. Daphne didn't notice that the sweater was cashmere until she took the tags off to put it on.

It had cost way too much as far as Daphne was concerned but she adored it. Hours later she still kept catching herself petting her arm to enjoy the fuzzy fabric.

Caroline pulled her into a phone shop, adding her to the family plan and while again, Daphne tried to argue Caroline could her off with telling her that it was for Caroline's peace of mind far more than anybody else's.

So Daphne left the mall that day with a sparkly pink phone case wrapped around her new phone. She had exactly 5 numbers in that in the morning, the mobile numbers of Caroline, Ollie and Matthew, the number of the house, and the number of Matthews practice.

They went to Walmart next, Caroline parking around halfway across the parking lot.

"I need to get groceries, and you should get shampoo and toothpaste and everything else you need," she told Daphne leaning over the centre console so that she could reach her purse she had thrown on the backseat.

"I don't...you put in my bathroom, I already have it?" Daphne asked bewildered which made Caroline laugh.

"Honey, I put some of the stuff I buy in bulk for myself in your bathroom. I am sure you have favourites," her aunt told her.

Favourites.

"I don't," Daphne brought out softly. "I just used dish soap. Michelle always uses all the shampoo."

And then she replayed her words in her head and corrected herself. "Used. She used to."

Her aunt was painfully quiet for a moment.

"No more dish soap, alright?" She told Daphne, her voice forced cheerful.

No more dish soap.

Daphne picked out some shampoo, some conditioner as well and finally a hair mask. Maybe that was going to turn her hair into something presentable.

Caroline added new hairbands and bobby pins to the trolley as well and they wandered through the clothing department for a bit, picking out some tank tops and thick flannel pyjamas. There was also a new school bag added to Daphne's possessions.

She also picked out a set of earrings and necklace with pretty pink stones.

They bought groceries, which seemed to be enough for a small army, which didn't surprise Daphne after she had seen how much Oliver ate in an evening and Daphne was allowed to get Cocoa Puffs for breakfast.

Finally, Daphne stocked up on school supplies, new ring binders and a new pencil pouch, as well as new pens and highlighters.

She didn't allow herself to gaze longingly at the art section. She had gotten far more than she deserved already.

They paid, Daphne, feeling slightly faint at the grand total and finally got all the groceries in the car.

"We have one last stop to make, then we are going home," Caroline told her as they drove from the parking lot and then nearly immediately turned left.

They were near Target now, but also...there was a huge art and craft stores right next to the Target.

Her aunt got out of the car and Daphne trailed after her as Caroline went straight to the art store, grabbing a basket.

"What do you need?" She asked Caroline, pushing down the hope that was building in her chest.

"I don't need anything. But I am pretty sure that you do. At least if you are still doodling on everything you can find," her aunt told her amused, handing her the basket that Daphne grabbed reflexively.

"I do," Daphne admitted. "But I don't need..." she protested half-heartedly.

"Honey, we are not leaving that store until you put at least five things in that basket," Caroline told her amused.

"And don't you dare to just put 5 pens in it," she added thoughtfully after a moment. Daphne couldn't help but laugh at that.

"I...Thank you," she finally brought out. She couldn't...no thank you would be enough for this.