7. Someone Is Watching

Icarefully manage to balance the boxes I'm carrying. They are supposed to go to the kitchen and are filled to the brim, making my arms tremble due to their weight. Before I go to school, I have to help in the kitchen. All of us orphans have tasks to do before or after school. We barely have time for anything else. Most of my fellow orphans drop out of school for that reason. It's just too tiring, but school is all I have, and I'm eager to do anything to make it work.

Normally, the other kids avoid me like the plague. The only reason I'm not getting too violently bullied is that they are scared of me ever since I broke one schoolmate's hand for groping me.

The alpha had his minions beat me up for it later, but it was worth it to hear the petty sob cry. Ever since I was born, they believed I was the incarnation of the devil. A traitor's child, my traitor-ness probably being contagious. Whatever they believe, I don't give a fuck as long as they leave me alone.

This year, things are different. It's my last year in middle school, and one girl approached me for a group project. I thought it was just an act, but she stuck around, and now that I'm going to high school, she even chose the same classes I did. She doesn't ask for anything but instead seems to be interested in me as a person. Her name is Annie. A few weeks later, she dragged another kid to our group. I never wanted to make friends, but these two are kind of hard to get rid of.

This year might be the first time in my life with friends, and I will be damned if I let my shitshow of a pack ruin this.

I'm so much in my thoughts, I hear them too late to be able to react.

"Here she comes," a voice whispers, and then a hand comes forward. I try to dodge it, but they still manage to push me down the staircase. The groceries are all over the floor, my ankle aching. I probably sprained it when I fell.

When I look up, I notice some older kids snickering slightly. One of them is the gamma's son, Graham.

"That's where you belong," he snickers. "Face first in the dirt for being that traitor's daughter. I don't even know why the goddess blessed them with a child. You are just dirty!"

I feel anger filling me for… I don't know what for. I scramble to my feet, glaring at the boys and taking a step forward. Graham looks insecure all of a sudden.

"I've heard she is cursed," one of the boys whispers.

"Of course she is," Graham huffs. "She is a mistake."

Aside from the blatant anger I feel, my heart aches too. He isn't wrong… My parents tried to kill the alpha but died while taking it up with his men. I was a baby back then; the only reason I was spared. Everyone else siding with them got killed, including their children.

Maybe I was a mistake.

Graham looks at me like he wants to challenge me, but when we hear footsteps approaching, they run in different directions. To my horror, the beta appears out of nowhere, his eyebrows furrowed when he looks down at me, his gaze full of venom. "You are so useless," he spats out. "Our alpha shows you mercy for not killing you, yet you can't even do the simplest tasks."

I'm contemplating telling him I was pushed, but history has proven that it doesn't make anything better. I expect him to grab me and tug me to the dungeons, beat me up, and lock me in there like he used to, but he just glares at me. "Just leave," he hisses.

"What… but the kitchen…" I stutter.

"Just get lost, mutt. The alpha doesn't want to see you in the packhouse again! Grab your things from the orphanage."

What does he mean? I stare at him in shock.

"Unless the alpha summons you to the pack, you are supposed to stay out."

"And where am I supposed to stay?" I say, not minding that my question might be challenging him.

Something in his eyes flashes, but he doesn't act on it. What the fuck is going on? They are kicking me out of the pack, and why is he so pissed about it?

"Your backstabbing parents had a small apartment in town. They hid it from us," the beta growls.

Oh, so they weren't able to steal that apartment from me in time? They could still take it from me, though. What's the big deal? Don't they want any attention on them? I try to ask more, but the beta shuts me up every time. I'm scared to push my luck and don't want to be hit and dragged to the dungeons like the last time I had one of the ranked members on my case. I almost expect this all to be a sick joke, a trick to get me off the pack grounds, make me rogue, and then kill me. But nothing alike happens.

A few hours later I find myself in a tiny one-room apartment. There is an envelope arriving at night, with a bit of money in it. I grab my phone, not sure what to do now… the phone was a gift from the kid Annie brought into our last group assignment. A human guy named Dave. I hid it well so that no one would be able to take it from me.

When I switch it on, I see a message popping up from Annie. "Hi, wanna hang out next weekend? We could work on the project or just hang out."

I blink, realizing I'm all on my own. Solitude is bad for wolves, and while I wasn't made a rogue, I know it'll still put a strain on me to be all alone, but despite that… It also means I'm away from my abusive pack.

I contemplate her offer for a long while. I've had people approach me and pretend to be my friends just to drop me later and make fun of me, but Annie has been putting an effort into getting to know me ever since middle school.

I don't know yet if I can trust Annie, but well… I'm on my own now. Can at least give this a try.

"Yes." I type.

"Ella." Dante's voice reaches my ears, and he carefully touches my shoulder. "We are landing soon."

I blink my eyes open, feeling slightly disoriented. Dante has booked us first-class tickets again, giving us some privacy, and it takes a while for me to realize that we are in an airplane.

"Are you okay?" he asks, worry clouding his green eyes. "First it felt like you weren't, but then you… I don't know… Did you have a bad dream?"

"Just memories haunting me," I admit, wrapping my arm around my necklace. It's the one I inherited from my mom. Ever since I found it in her belongings, I haven't taken it off. It just gives me some peace of mind to wear it. "I dreamed of the day my old alpha kicked me out of the pack and had me stay on my own in town. It was the time Annie befriended me. It was all so confusing back then because they harassed and beat me for years before that, but on that day, everything changed."

Dante entwines our fingers, his eyes looking at me sadly. "I'm sorry you had to go through so much as a child."

I frown. "You know… I'm starting to think that my dad did have plans to protect me," I admit. "The small apartment and the money he put aside for me for college fees. He managed to hide it from Alpha Marcus back in the day. Back then I was really confused about what was going on. But now I know it was Emmet secretly watching out for me and my parents being prepared for the worst-case scenario," I say. "And that my shit alpha was scared when he realized Annie was befriending me."

"The luna came from an important family, didn't she?" Dante asks.

"Her father was and still is an elite warrior and almost chosen as beta. He has always been very well-liked by his pack and a good friend of his alpha. Back then I didn't understand pack politics, but now I know Alpha Marcus didn't want any attention on the pack and on what he was doing. He was terrified of me befriending Annie and telling her about what was happening. And he couldn't get rid of me anymore without raising suspicions."

"And making you rogue would have raised attention too," Dante concludes. "Emmet probably spread some rumors about Annie's family. He waited for the right time to get you off the pack grounds. Seems like he played it right."

"Sly old man," I say with a smile, warmth filling me. Growing up, I felt a lot of resentment towards everyone. I hated my parents for leaving me alone; I hated the pack and every single member of it; I hated everyone around me. That was until I met Annie and later Dave.

It's not like my life magically turned well from meeting them. Being alone tampered with the relationship to my wolf. When I turned seventeen, and Nefeli awoke, we were barely able to connect because I'd been on my own for so long. It was just my gift that stopped her from going feral. She was able to put a cocoon over her mind to protect herself and prevent us from going crazy due to the loneliness.

"I wish I could have known you back then," Dante says.

"If you had known me back then, it would have been creepy," I tease. "You are almost ten years older than me. Imagine, we would have met when I was in school."

Dante scrunches his nose. "Right, forget that I even said anything. This just made me look like a creep."

"While it was hard to grow up the way I did, I also met Annie and Dave that way," I say. "And then we freed Red Claw, and I met you as an adult."

"Did you ever feel it's weird that I'm older than you, that you were my second chance instead of my first?"

"No," I lean my head against his shoulder. "You were so patient and kind and waited for me to open up to the idea of having a mate, of being able to rely on someone."

"You were a gift," Dante says. "To me you were a gift. After I lost my first mate, after Maria died, I thought I would never be able to be happy again. Then you came along."

"I don't know the kind of childhood Charlie had up to now," I say. "But I want to find him and make sure he grows up safe and loved. It seems like Dad was more prepared than I gave him credit for, so maybe he did take precautions."

Dante nods. "After everything I know and you told me, I strongly believe he did."

Dante and I make sure to grab our luggage and try to find a cab to take us to our hotel. It's then that Nefeli stirs in my mind, sending goosebumps over my arms. It's almost like I feel cold for a moment.

Do you feel that? I link Dante.

Feel what?

It's like someone is watching us, I mutter, carefully glancing around while trying not to be too suspicious.

No, I don't feel it. Dante says. But if you do, then Nefeli caught up on something. We should take it seriously.

I can almost see his beta senses kicking in, and I love him for it. I love that he takes me seriously instead of telling Nefeli and me that we are paranoid. That weird dream and walk down memory lane made us a bit emotional. Yet, he doesn't question us.

Can you feel from which side they are watching us?

I allow Nefeli's senses to come out further, stretching our mind's capacity. With Liam's help, I've been able to train it. It works like a scan now, like our mind expanding and carefully touching on our surroundings to see what's lingering in the dark. Left side, I mutter.

That's where the exit to the taxis is, Dante mutters. He puts his arm around my shoulder and kisses me, putting on a playful front. We are going to take the subway.

Let's take the wrong one first and change it a few times so they can't follow us to the hotel, I say.

He nods, taking my hand and targeting the staircase leading to the subway. I can feel our followers sneaking behind us. Dante and I remain unfazed, though, going through the train schedule leisurely and strolling around as if we don't have any plan. I let Dante do his thing; this is truly his expertise, and he has more experience in situations that acquire his tactical thinking.

It's always a bit hard for me to step back and allow him to take the lead. I'm just not used to letting anyone into my life, but I trust Dante and can allow myself to be a bit more vulnerable with him.

Dante and I grab a map and pretend to look at it. I'm trying not to get nervous; I know which subway Dante is waiting for, and it's really going to be a close call to catch it. I almost think we won't make it, when he suddenly grabs my hand and our suitcase, and runs. I follow him swiftly; stamina and cardio are my forte after all, and we chase through one subway, exiting on the other side, and jump right into the one we want to catch. The doors close before us, and when I look outside, I see two men running towards us right when we set off. One of them gestures towards us, and I can see his eyes darkening as his wolf comes forward. I try my best to take in as much of his appearance as I can to memorize it.

He has a tattoo, I link Dante. On his neck. It's a snake wrapped around a moon.

Sounds like a pack tattoo, Dante verifies while rummaging in his pocket. He hands me his little notebook and a pen. That's the upside of having a bit of an old-school guy as a mate; he always carries around a pen and something to write on. I scribble down the tattoo I saw and draft a picture of the man.

You are so good, Ella, Dante says, impressed. I always forget that you studied art.

This? That's nothing, I mutter.

Drawing that fast and in a moving vehicle? I call that something.

Whenever I hear someone praise me it makes me uncomfortable. It's not necessarily a bad feeling… just weird. But Dante is always honest and genuine, so I find myself nodding instead of answering.

He smiles warmly but doesn't push further.

"Here," I say and hand him the notebook. We both take a picture of it and then send it to our contacts, hoping they can help us, either with recognizing the man or the tattoo at least.

"What's our first step now?" I ask.

"Let's go to our hotel," Dante suggests. "And then head out to Prince Eric's contact. He said he was able to book us an appointment with someone. Let's hope they will help us."

I nod, closing my eyes to focus on Nefeli and the bond we share to our family. For most parts, it's inexistent as they all passed, but we were able to take up a hint of it earlier when we tried to see if Charlie is still alive. Maybe I can try to reach out to it again. I gasp slightly when I can feel the bond feeling more vibrant, a bit more intense.

It's getting stronger, which means we are getting closer to my nephew. To the only family I have left. Please stay safe.