The things that we love tell us what we are.

Thomas Aquinas

"It's healing just as it should be," her uncle told her while he was prodding her ribs and Daphne did her best to ignore the uncomfortable twinge she felt at that.

Most of the wounds were closed now, bruises slowly fading from blue and purple to a greenish tint. It didn't hurt as much as it once had anymore, something that Daphne was quite happy about.

"As long as you keep eating and rest, there shouldn't be any scars left," Matthew continued.

Even when there would be scars left, Daphne would just add them to the collection of scars she already had. She knew that her back was covered in a criss-cross of scars, just as her thighs were...it wasn't pretty. Not pretty at all, but she couldn't change it.

So she just didn't wear tank tops or shorts and kept them covered.

"Turn around please," Matthew said with a sigh, and she did as he asked, letting him push up the shirt she wore and take a look at the wounds on her back.

She couldn't help but flinch at his prodding and he stopped for a moment before he continued.

"All finished," Matthew finally said, and she sat up, opening her mouth to thank him, as she caught the look on his face.

He looked thunderous.

And Daphne couldn't help but wonder if that was her fault.

"The scars on your back are old," he said finally and she could just nod, looking back down to her hands that were clenched in her lap. Right at that moment, she would have given everything to have Luke near her. He somehow managed to make all of this better.

"Did your...Did Michelle...did she ever hurt you, Daphne?" Caroline asked softly, sitting down next to her.

No. No, they couldn't...she couldn't...

"It's not your fault, none of this is," Caroline continued, her voice gentle. "I just...honey, did she hurt you?"

"It's...I..." Daphne couldn't bring out the words, her mouth dry, burying her face in her hands. "Sometimes," she finally brought out.

"How often, Daphne?" Matthew asked her quietly, gently pulling her hands away from her face and Daphne just wanted to go hide in a corner and not come out again.

They would know how much of a terrible daughter she had been.

"It wasn't...only if I tried to take..." Daphne brought out, still fighting against the tears that wanted to spill over, against the sobs that wanted to come out, when she remembered. When she remembered every single miserable minute she had because it had always been a choice between not being in pain or having enough money to pay for food.

She forcibly needed to take a deep breath to calm herself to bring the next words over her lips. But once she did...once she did she felt like she couldn't stop again. Not really.

She broke over a decade of silence with her words as they tumbled over her lips, punctuated with a sob, her voice pleading for understanding, for acceptance, for love.

"If I tried to take the alcohol form her or if I...interrupted her and...and one of her boyfriend....or if I wasn't quiet enough...if I was too quiet...if I...if I didn't give her all the money I made, but if I gave it all to her, then we couldn't have paid for rent because she would spend it all in a few days..."

"Oh honey," Caroline soothed, enveloping her in a hug and letting her cry against her shoulder. "It's not your fault."

But it was. All of this was Daphne's fault. All of this was her fault. Her mother was dead because of her because Daphne hadn't tried to help her in any way.

"I should have done something," she brought out. "I was relieved when she died. Who is when their own mother dies? What kind of human does that make me?"

She cried against Caroline's shoulder, even when her aunt continued to gently pet her hair and promised her that it wasn't Daphne's fault.

"Daphne," her uncle whispered, his hand joining her aunt's on the back of her head, wiping away her tears from her cheeks. "She you. She hit you with a belt. She put out her cigarettes on your thighs," his voice trembled but he continued, "Being relieved that she isn't able to hurt you any longer...that doesn't make you a person."

It didn't?

"It doesn't," Matthew repeated, meeting her gaze calmly. "It doesn't. Not at all. I promise it doesn't make you a bad person."

"Why didn't you come to us? Why didn't you tell us?" He asked her softly. "You ran around with infected wounds on your back for so long. Why didn't you just tell us?"

"I couldn't," Daphne whispered. "I couldn't. If I did, she would find out. And that was even worse."

She shuddered at the memory of that, her whole body shaking, pressing her head against the crook of Caroline's neck when she remembered. She didn't want to remember anymore.

"Shhhh, honey," Caroline shushed her softly, pressing a kiss to her hair. "She isn't here anymore. She can't hurt you anymore."

She wasn't. Michelle was dead. She would never lay a finger onto Daphne again. And that knowledge made breathing easier.

"Nobody is ever going to hurt you anymore," Matthew promised softly. "We are going to take care of that."

There was so much palpable relief gripping her at that promise that it was nearly making it impossible to breathe. She was safe. Safe.

It was as foreign and relieving.

"Was she...was she a werewolf?" Daphne finally brought out, when the tears had dried up and she was still leaning again Caroline's shoulder, just staring at the wall.

"Michelle?" Caroline asked softly. "She was. We were both born werewolves...I changed the first time with less than a year, she was around 3 years old..."

"We are quite certain that she has been dormant for a few years though," Matthew explained with a sigh. "Child abuse...It happens so very rarely for werewolves. Cubs...children they are precious. They are the future of the wolf pack...we are family-oriented. Of course, there are outliers...but it happens if it's a dormant werewolf...they lose their empathy."

Daphne nodded at that, knowing the truth of that. The pack structure helped with the family orientation. There would always be somebody there to watch small children, making it possible for the member to marry young and have children just as young.

"Substance abuse is also very prevalent in dormant werewolves," Matthew finally added. Another thing that Daphne could tick off the list. Alcohol and drug addiction had both been something her mother had lived with for years.

But still...

"Is it my fault that she went dormant?" Daphne whispered but Matthew shook his head. "Was it something that I did?"

"No, Daphne," her uncle told her. "It wasn't your fault. There are a lot of things that can force dormancy...substance abuse is one of that. While we have a much higher alcohol tolerance, even we can't sustain abuse for an extended period without...hurting ourselves."

"So I am a half-werewolf?" She asked after a moment, filing that information away.

Caroline chuckled softly at that. "While we don't really call it that, yes, you already had some werewolf genetics in you even before Luke bit you. I can't tell you what your father was or is. Michelle never answered any questions about him."

"It probably was one of her drug dealers," Daphne whispered. To be honest she had no idea if she ever wanted to find out who her father was. That was a secret she could gladly live without ever finding out.

"...you don't know that, honey," Caroline said softly but Daphne just shrugged.

"She never wanted me. She told me that often enough," she whispered. Often enough.

Daphne had never been anywhere where she was wanted.

"We want you here," Caroline whispered. "We want you, Honey. And I am pretty sure that Luke wants you too."

***

The only reason he had gone home was that Matthew had more or less thrown him out of the house. Well, it hadn't been said in so many words but Luke could easily read between the lines and so he had gone away before Matthew needed to say it.

Caroline and Matthew were already trying to be supportive of their...budding relationship so Luke was not going to make it any more difficult for them. And really...he knew what they wanted to ask Daphne about and that was not something he thought he could bear to hear without putting his hand through a wall. And he somehow did not think that Caroline was going to appreciate it when he destroyed her drywall.

So he ran home, got changed and now was on the search for food, his father's voice stopped him as he wanted to enter the kitchen.

"You are worried," his father said softly and Luke stopped in his tracks, keeping still for a moment.

"Yes," his mother answered with a sigh. About what?

"Why?" His father questioned. "You know that our kind...we don't tend to have PTSD as much." Was this about Daphne?

"I know that," his mother snorted softly."Luke's...view of her is through rose coloured glasses, Stephen."

Well, ...she wasn't wrong about that. Luke was aware of it though. He wasn't blind about Daphne's failures but they seemed to be so small in contrast to how perfect the rest of her was.

"That girl has the power to absolutely destroy him with uttering three words," his mother whispered.

"...and you have the exact same power, Cecilia," his father said drily. "She's his mate. It's gonna work out."

"You think so?" His mother questioned doubtfully and Luke couldn't help but feel at least slightly hurt by that. He knew that his parents only wanted the best for him but still...Daphne was his mate. Daphne was his future if everything happened as it should.

He could hear his father sigh softly. "Daphne Emerson was abused by her only parent since she could think. We know about the physical abuse, we saw the evidence of it. The emotional abuse? We will never know the full extent of that. Not without her telling us. But everything I have seen of her yet, makes her seem shy and quiet and anxious. She's too scared to try and manipulate anybody, Cecilia. Least of all Luke. I think that she will do everything in her power to please Luke and that we should be more worried about him accidentally pushing her into a relationship too fast. I think that Luke wished for a mate for years. And I think that the only thing that girl wants is a family," his father said quietly.

"She can have that," his mother finally agreed after a moment.

Good. Daphne would have a family. Daphne would have pack surround her...she was his mate after all. And she needed it. She needed that far more than she even needed Luke at the moment.

He stepped towards the kitchen, not trying to quiet his steps this time and opened the door,

"Luke! When did you come back?" His mother asked him surprised as she saw him enter the kitchen, hugging him and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"This morning. Caroline and Matthew wanted to talk with Daphne...I am pretty sure it was about..." He didn't need to finish the sentence to make his parents understand.

"How is she doing?" His father asked gently and Luke shrugged. To be honest...he had no idea. She seemed well enough most of the time and then she looked at him so fearful that he wasn't sure if he wasn't making everything worse for her.

"She's sleeping...She's tired most of the time, but no nightmares as long as I am there." Luke was inadvertently pleased by that. "She said yes," he admitted, unable to keep the smile from his face at that.

"We heard," his father said amused. "Ollie told us."

"This is gonna take some time, Luke," his mother warned him gently. "She's going to be...skittish for a little while longer."

"I know," he answered. "I can be patient." For Daphne, he could be everything.

"I know you can be," his mother laughed.

"I'll head back there in a few minutes...maybe I can get her to leave the house for once," Luke sighed softly.

He did exactly that, showing up around an hour later and finding her in the living room, curled up on the couch. She looked up surprised at seeing him but then she was smiling at him and as he sat down next to her, she hesitantly slipped nearer to him, until her head rested against his shoulder.

"Shouldn't...Shouldn't you be at school?" She asked him softly.

"Not right now," he answered. Not after that episode the day before. He wasn't going to leave her alone for longer than a few hours until he felt like she had at least settled somewhat into her new circumstances.

"You managed to infect me with the flu as well...it's a wonder that Oliver is still standing," he told her with a grin, allowing himself to press his lips against her hair to which she reacted with a tiny little hitch of her breath and he laid his arm around her, pulling her closer to him.

They fit together perfectly, her small body curled up against him like that and he could feel himself relax when her smell began to penetrate his senses so completely. There was no fear in her scent at that moment, her breathing was deep and calm and for a moment she seemed truly content.

"Is that the story?" She asked him, sounding a bit amused.

"The humans believe it. And the rest...well, they know the real story," Luke answered softly.

They were quiet for a moment, just soaking up each other's company. He could hear Caroline cooking in the kitchen, the smell of vegetables and meat hanging in the air.

"Caroline is cooking up a storm," Daphne whispered, apparently also having smelled the food.

"Thanksgiving is coming up. She and my mother always tag team the dinner," Luke explained absentmindedly.

"What do you think about a walk?" He finally suggested and she moved away from him, looking at him and biting her lip.

"At the beach?" She asked him, her voice shaking and he nodded. He wasn't going to take her in the forest...not yet. Not right now. She would need to get over the fear of that, but for right now he just wanted to take her out and take a slow walk around the beach with his mate by his side.

***

She ended up needing to wear one of Caroline's jacket's because hers was drenched with blood and ruined...Caroline had told her they would order a new one online that should be there in a few days and that made Daphne feel terrible once again.

And it also reminded her starkly of what had happened.

Luke offered his hand as they stepped outside and she took it, letting his big hand cradle her smaller one and letting him make her feel at least slightly safer. She let him tuck her against his side while they were walking, his big presence calming and finally she could start to enjoy this.

She had...a boyfriend to take a walk with now...

It wasn't...It wasn't anything that Daphne ever thought she would actually have.

No boy had ever been willing to give her the time of the day. She had always been the odd one out, the poor girl that wore clothes that didn't fit her and spend most of her time doodling onto her papers...

It had changed now. All of it had changed. Her whole life had been thrown over and transformed and while all of it was so much, so scary...it was also so good.

There was no fear anymore what she could make herself for dinner that day, no fear anymore that her mother would have a go at her with another bottle of whiskey...she had her own room now, she had watercolours and paintbrushes and...and she had Luke.

Luke, who was happily holding her hand while the walked along the shoreline, comfortable silence between the two of them as Daphne ordered her thoughts.

Werewolves were real. That was still something she couldn't actually believe. Not really. Of course, she had seen Luke's wolf, the big black wolf that slept in front of her bed and let him scratch her behind his ears and she had seen Stephen Schuyler in a partial shift which had been terrifying, to be honest.

But all of that...all of that was fading when she thought about why she even knew about werewolves. Why she was told, why that had happened.

She couldn't remember. Not really. Matthew hadn't been able to tell her if she ever would be able to remember what Kyle Wilder had done to her, and Daphne wasn't sure if she wanted to know. Not really. The pain had been enough to last a lifetime.

The pain was her clearest memory of everything that had happened. The feeling of fire and ice, of prickling and stabbing, of paralysing fear and the try to fight...

But alone the thought of facing him again...that made the bile rise in her throat and made her want to go back to her bedroom and hide in a corner, preferably with Wolf!Luke curled around her. (These startling white teeth the black wolf had would probably be able to take a bite out of Kyle, right?)

"Daphne, is something wrong?" He asked her gently and she stopped, staring out over the ocean, her hands starting to shake when she imagined needing to see him again.

"I don't remember what happened. Not...not really. It's just snapshots in my mind but I can't...I am scared of seeing him again," she admitted, her voice breaking and she could feel Luke's hand tighten around hers for a moment, before he stepped in front of her, cradling her face in his hands.

"You won't ever need to see him again. Dad took care of it," Luke whispered. "He won't hurt you anymore. Not ever. "

Wait what? She stared at him, and he looked at her gently, leaning forward to press his lips against her forehead.

She could smell him at that moment, a scent like a forest, fresh and wild and still, warm and safe. Luke was safe.

That was the one thing she was certain of.

"He won't ever set a foot in our territory again. Not if he doesn't want to regret it. A lot," Luke promised her.

"You...can't...He's going to hurt you!" She blurted out and he looked at her surprised.

"Sweetheart..." he said gently.

"He can't hurt you!" she knew she was nearly hysterically, but she couldn't help it. Not Luke. He couldn't be hurt because of her.

***

He had expected a lot, but not his mate nearly becoming hysterical at the idea of him getting hurt. He still held her face in his hands, while tears were starting to threaten to fall over her cheeks.

"He's not going to hurt me, Daphne. I am a werewolf, he's a human...He's simply no match for me or any of our species," he told her, hoping that that would calm her, but she still stared at him with big lilac eyes, her lower lip trembling.

No, come on, sweetheart, don't cry. He couldn't deal with her crying.

"If he presents himself as a threat to you again...then I will take care of it," he promised, brushing his thumb over her cheek. "There is no better reason than your safety, Daphne." He whispered and the first tear tracked over her cheek. And then she threw herself at his chest, arms clenching around him as she sobbed against his chest while he held her as tightly as he dared.

"You are safe, sweetheart," he promised softly. "Please stop crying?" He asked gently, wiping away the tears from her cheek and she looked at him, a tearful smile on her face.

"Nobody is going to hurt you or me, I promise. And you are a werewolf now...You could kick the hell out of any human you want now," Luke told her and she snorted. She didn't believe him at all.