Damon’s P.O.V

I look around the small expanse of fresh, green grass that laid below the sun’s light, making up the park that was overflowing with families.

My legs remain stretched out beneath me, hand supporting my head as I watch with tired eyes. Following the happy families of attentive parents and cheerful children playing without a single concern for the eye to see, pain blistering through me from the sight of it.

I pull my eyes away and focus them instead on my feet. I knock them together to distract myself, trying to make the knocking loud enough to drown out the laughter that echoed through my ears.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I check it, the agony only doubling when I see it’s another call from my parents.

I stare at the screen, heart thumping at the contact picture of dad and I. I was younger in this photo, I’d jumped on his back and he was running with me, his smile wide. Pops was behind us, chasing after us with Levi on his back, mouth parted in a warrior cry. My mind reels in a desperate attempt to equate the people in the photo to the ones who’d lied to me.

The screen goes black as the phone dies in my hand and I don’t miss the way my shoulders sag because of it. Relief flooding me at no longer having to see their calls without having the strength to answer them or decline them . I couldn’t answer any of their calls, knowing everything would come rushing back in at full force the second that I did.

I shove the dead phone back into my pocket and retake the position I was in before. Trying to focus on taking deep breathes to stop the misery from overflowing, trying to control my emotions, but they weren’t willing to be tamed.

I don’t think we should be here – Theo voices after a moment, no doubt feeling a seed of anger begin to grow through my veins.

I curl my toes in my shoes, a failed effort of cementing myself in this position. A failed effort to control myself as the torment bloomed, my emotions mixing to trigger a deadly effect, threatening the lives of everyone here.

He’ll be here soon – I reply through my labored breaths. Just a few more minutes.

Theo decides to leave it alone, not arguing as much as he usually would. He’d been much quieter ever since that day, feeling just as lost as I did, but he had an easier time of keeping his hands clean than I did.

“Hey.”

I sit up straighter when I see Mekhi approaching with a large duffel over his shoulders. He hoists it up a little higher, gesturing for me to stay seated when I begin to stand.

He sets the bag on the floor gently before he takes the empty place on the bench, his brown eyes meeting mine to show unfamiliar compassion in them.

“Hey,” I reply when I find my voice, sure it won’t crack with that one word.

Dead air fills the space between us, neither of us saying a word as we sit and watch the families play, the children running and the trees swaying. I consider just taking the bag and leaving. I wasn’t in the right state of mind to talk to anyone, let alone carry a conversation.

“Peter said to tell you that he didn’t know,” Mekhi says filling the silence, my eyes dart to him in alarm but he just shakes his head in dismissal. “I didn’t tell him I was coming, didn’t tell anyone about this. He’s a smart kid and knew I’d find you eventually or vise-versa. He came to me and told me that if I saw you, to tell you that he didn’t know and neither did the twins.”

I feel the weight that had attached itself to me, slip away, his words calming a piece of me that’d believed that my entire family had lied to me. It eased the pressure on my throat a fraction, allowing me to breathe easier with the new knowledge I hung onto desperately.

“He said to tell you that he’s not talking to your parents. He said they were wrong and ‘being mean’, they hurt you so he’s not speaking to them.” Mekhi says with a weak smile, I can’t help but laugh a little. My mind trying to construct an image of Peter not speaking to dad, it seemed impossible. “He said that he hopes that you call him, he misses you.”

I nod, closing my eyes to digest it all.

Peter and I were never close growing up, in fact, if memory served me right, I made his life a living hell for the majority of it. But in recent years, things had changed. I started protecting Peter, starting helping him out, indulged his pleas to play and even got him a fucking bunny. And now Peter was saying he was on my side, Peter who had no reason to be, was on my side. I feel the tears build behind my eyes and force them away, not wanting to break down in front of Mekhi of all people.

“I brought everything you asked for, no one saw me take it and they won’t smell me there either.” Mekhi continues, somehow sensing that I wasn’t going to speak in this conversation. “They’re looking for you but no one has thought to check Wolfshedge yet, they don’t think you’d stay with the humans. If you keep your head low, they won’t find you here.”

I nod again, grateful for him going through such lengths to help me and for not asking a single thing in return, not questioning me for more details or patronizing me about my how I was dealing with things. He hadn’t once mentioned the loss of my position, reminding me why I’d formed such as easy friendship with Mekhi. He wasn’t heartless, no matter how much people thought he was.

“Look in the bag.” He says after another long moment of silence. I glance his way and he nods encouragingly so I do.

I pull at the partly open zip and smile when two black ears shoot up, I pull at the bag to properly see Blaze who looked up at me, one of my shirts between his lips. He lets it slip away before jumping out of the bag and coming straight to me. I can’t help the large smile on my lips as I pick him up and rub his head, he wouldn’t usually allow this but it seemed that he missed me as much as I missed him.

“Thanks,” I say glancing to Mekhi who grins widely, his smile proud and a little mocking.

“No problem.” He says before standing up. “Keep in touch.”

With that, he disappears. Leaving me alone once again in a park full of joy and glee, but it doesn’t hurt so much as I look down at Blaze who had gotten comfortable in my lap.

——————

A groan escapes my lips as I push the bag higher up on my shoulder, glancing down to glare angrily at Blaze through the bag. The fatass was making the bag unnecessarily heavy with his presence.

My shoulder collides with a small human pulling a growl from my lips before I can stop it, I don’t spear them a second glance but do look back in surprise when a small dog starts barking at me. It kind of fucks with me for a second cause it’s the first time that it’s happened.

But I force myself to keep walking, the barking sending my mind for a spin. I tug at the top of my hoodie, pulling it further down over my head as I weave my way through the smelly humans.

Once I reach the building Mekhi directed me to, a small sigh escaped my lips with relief.

According to Mekhi, this place was an apartment complex which was originally built by a witch and it was passed down through the generations. They didn’t usually accept wolves but he’d put in a good word and me having the rent in cash didn’t hurt either.

I sniff around after giving my details to the receptionist, so far I’d picked up on only human and witches. It was weird, as a wolf, to feel more disgust at the humans than the wolves but I couldn’t help it. Humans just pissed me off in almost everything they did and living in the same building as them made my skin crawls.

“Your room is 304,” A young witch says as she eyes me suspiciously. I don’t return the attention and grab the key. “Rent includes utilities and nothing more.”

I nod as I hoist my bags up further, not bothering to ask about animals I could smell a couple through the hallways. I make my way to the elevator, surveying the space with every step. It looked nice so far, comfortable enough to stay hidden.

The elevator takes me to the top floor where I find a single hallway with several doors for presumably other apartments, yet there were only two scents I could pick up on. I frown as I reach my room at the end of the hallway, the door opposite it the owner to the other scents. I could make out a human and a dog, I hoped they wouldn’t be annoying, I’d never had a neighbor before.

I twist the key inside the doorknob and step inside. My eyes scan the space quickly making sure it had the basic things, a studio with a kitchen, bed and living room. All fully furnished and relatively clean, being a werewolf meant things weren’t ever really clean, not with our noses picking up every underlying scent.

I shut the door behind me, dropped my back before opening the one with Blaze to let him hop out. He looks around before looking to me as if asking if this was our new home. The silent question tearing at my chest a bit, the thought of sleeping here instead of with my family, my pack… it was more painful than I’d imagined it’d be.

But they weren’t really my pack were they, I wouldn’t be their alpha and my family had proven that they didn’t see me any better than the ones who hated me did. Even Levi.

I force the thoughts out of my mind and focus on busying myself instead if I kept myself moving I didn’t have to think about what happened only a few days ago. I didn’t have to think about the pain it caused, the sadness it brought with it and then anger it left behind. If I kept moving, it kept my mind away from the things that made me angry and my hands off others I could turn into my outlet.

So I settle in, spend the evening cleaning up with the leftover supplies until I was comfortable enough and then unpacked the little clothes I had. I spread clean bedsheets over the large queen bed before tossing a few dirty shirts in a small pile for Blaze to get comfortable in. By the time I was finished, it was almost midnight and so quiet I had no choice but to think.

I sit on the edge of my bed, sliding my dead phone onto the small nightstand, all too happy to leave it uncharged forever. I lean forward to cover my face with my hands, tension keeping my body stiff and in its place as the tears fill my eyes once more.

I don’t bother trying to stop them. I’d learned quickly that I couldn’t stop myself when I got like this. I couldn’t drown out the pain no matter how badly I wanted to. It sat inside of me, festered throughout me and left me shredded every time.

My mind pulls me back to the phone call I’d had with Levi, my panic state seeming stupid to me now. I should’ve known what was coming, weren’t the signs all there, weren’t they all so fucking obvious? But I hadn’t, the thought hadn’t even entered my mind because no part of me could believe that my parents of all people, didn’t believe in me.

So I called Levi and he reassured me, said all the right things to keep me at bay. Kept me calm so that I wouldn’t be even a little prepared for when they’d strike. I’d listened too, listened to him instead of what my guts told me. Chose to believe his words over my own fears, told myself I was being irrational because if Levi said nothing was wrong, then nothing was wrong. Because I could trust Levi.

It turned out that I couldn’t trust him at all. The fact hurting almost as much as everything else that had been dumped upon me without mercy. Levi had lied too and that made the tears build as I sobbed quietly in this dark, empty room that was unfamiliar and unwelcoming.

I felt cracked.

I’d managed to build an image of what my life would be like, created a picture that seemed to be so right I didn’t prepare myself for a reality where it was anything but my reality. So things had begun to fall apart, pieces of this life breaking away bit by bit until I was left with nothing but me. But I didn’t know what I was without being alpha, didn’t know who I was without my family and I didn’t want to know. Because so far, that person seemed to be weak.

Cracked. Mangled. Broken.

I pull my hands away, looking down with wet eyes at my shaking hands. My body trembling in a way a few weeks ago, I would’ve never thought myself capable of, but I was now. I was weak and so completely and undeniably lost that I could hardly cope.

The bonging of a clock signals midnight and I pull myself further up the bed with a heavy heart. I curl into myself, the tears still streaming as my hands held my body tight in the cold room.

Happy Birthday Damon – Theo whispers when the bonging finally stops.

I close my eyes and let sleep pull at me, wanting to escape more than anything.

I dream of my family.

Dream of them walking me up by all jumping on me like we usually did on birthdays. They would sing me happy birthday and then all pile back on top for another hug.

They’d pull me downstairs, to the dining room where everyone would be waiting with gifts and food. We’d eat happily, the family and all our closest friends happy on this day. I’d be happy too.

I let myself indulge in this dream, knowing that when I open my eyes, I’d be undeniably alone.

Happy Birthday to me…

—————————–

DAMON!!! YOU POOR THING, JESUS WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS TO YOU?!

lol, thoughts??

Will will make it all better. If you ever meet him, lol. Eight chapters in and nothing – this author man.

Anyways, vote and comment.

HOPE YOU ENJOY THE NEXT CHAPTER