~~

Star

~~

I still didn’t know what was going on. When the Alpha, Artem, had stopped me from running away, I knew he was mad. I could feel the pounding of his heart, the ragged, panting breath of his barely contained frustration. When he set me on my feet, off his lap, and turned me to face him he actually surprised me.

“Please don’t do that again.” His eyes were a light shade of teal green when I saw them this time. That was completely different from the dark green that I had seen when he was by the door. Did his eyes change color too? That was strange.

“What’s your name?” His face was calm and that was almost as bad as if he had looked at me with anger. It felt like the calm before the storm. “Look, my name is Artemis Cooper, but people call me Artem. I am the new Alpha of the Hidden Paw Wolf Pack.”

He was actually telling me what his rank was. Was he trying to intimidate me? Trying to make me more afraid of him than I already was? “There is something I need to tell you. When we were in the process of breaking you out, I discovered something about us.” He smiled like something good was happening. “My wolf smelled you and told me you are my mate. That we’re supposed to be together.”

I felt my heart stop beating, the constant thrum wasn’t needed to pump my blood anymore, the trembling in my body was enough to make that happen. I backed away from him then, I needed to get away before he did something to me like Uncle Howard had always wanted to. As I was backing away I tripped over a bump in the rug that I didn’t know was there. That didn’t stop me though. I just continued to back away until I hit the wall. That was when I pulled my legs into my chest and hugged them tight, fighting to hold in the tears that threatened to spill over.

“Please, don’t be scared. I’m not here to hurt you. Please, don’t be afraid.” He was inching closer to me, slowly and apprehensively. I couldn’t help my reaction, I just trembled in fear as he sighed, looking at the floor. “Look, I’m going to leave and send the doctor to check on you again. Then I will send someone in with some clean clothes and food. Please, don’t try to run again.” He hesitated for a moment before looking back up at me. “Can you please promise that you wouldn’t try to run?” I wanted to do whatever would be the easiest on me. I knew that this man, Artem, was fast and strong. He killed a man with one hand right in front of me. I nodded my head to get him to not be mad at me and agreed to not try to run again, for now anyway. He left after that.

I was still huddled against the wall when the door to the room opened again. The man that walked in was not one I had seen before, but when he spoke I recognized his voice. He was the doctor that took care of my injuries, but he didn’t know that I had heard what he said the night before.

“Hello there.” He smiled at me with kind eyes as he knelt in front of me. “My name is Jayr Ackerman, you can call me Jay or Doc. What’s your name?” I just looked at him, not speaking. He was on the Alpha’s side. “Can you talk?” He asked me, but still I just stared at him. “Can you write? I can get you something to write with.” To that I nodded, I wouldn’t speak, but I could still ‘talk’ to them. “Great.” He smiled and stood up.

I watched as Doc popped his head out into the hallway. He didn’t leave the room to talk to someone, which meant that there was probably someone guarding the door. If I looked out the window would there be a sentry out there too? Probably.

A few moments later he came back in with a pen and small pad of paper. The pad of paper was held together at the top with a spiral coil so the pages would flip. Other than that, it was simple with plain, unlined, white paper.

“Here.” Doc offered me the pen and paper and sat on the floor in front of me. “Can we talk a little?” He asked me. I didn’t need to write that answer, I just nodded my head. “Great, can you tell me your name?”

[Astraia Westbrook]

“Astraia?” He made it a question.

[Call me Star] I wrote in response.

“Star? Ok, it’s nice to meet you Star.” He smiled comfortingly. He did seem like a nice guy, but I couldn’t trust him, not yet. “So, Star, can you tell me how long the Peterson family had you locked up for?”

[Almost sixteen years]

“That long?” He looked shocked, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. “How old are you Star?”

[What’s the date today?] I wrote the question out for him.

“Today is April 27th, a Tuesday.”

[Then I am 17 years 11 months and 22 days old] I did the math quickly and told him my exact age. [Sorry I don’t know what time I was born so I can’t take that calculation any further]

“No, that was amazing.” He was grinning. “So, if my count is correct, you’ll be eighteen next week?” I nodded. “I am glad you didn’t have to celebrate that birthday as a prisoner.” He was smiling but I just looked at him.

[I’m still a prisoner] I wrote the words, but very small. He didn’t seem to notice them at all.

“Now, is it ok with you, Star, if I check on how your injuries are? I want to make sure you’re healing.”

[They’re already bandaged. Isn’t that good enough?]

“It’s a start, but I want to make sure they’re not infected and that leg of yours was in bad shape, I’d really like another x-ray of it.” He was trying to make sure I was fine. I understood that. But I didn’t know why?

[Would it matter if I were to get sick? Or be permanently hurt? No one wants or cares about me anyway]

“That’s not true Star, all of us here are here for you. I care that you’re healthy, as a fellow wolf and as a doctor. I can’t let someone suffer if I can help them, that’s just who I am.”

[It’ll all be in vain]

“I wouldn’t care. I want to make you better, then we can get you out of here and show you the world.” He laughed like it was something funny, seeing the world. He probably knew I would find it stupid for him to say that since I was a slave or prisoner or whatever else it was they wanted me for.

[Fine] I conceded. There wasn’t much I could do to fight them at the moment. I was still injured and the door and window were guarded.

Doc held out his hand to help me to my feet. I was hesitant at first but I took it and let him help me. It was easier than getting to my feet myself, with my leg injured and all.

“Come on.” He put an arm around my shoulder and guided me out of the room. When we were in the hallway I saw a man in his early twenties with blonde hair and orange eyes. He was tall too, shorter than Artem but still very tall, and he looked like the picture of an imp I had seen in the encyclopedia once. No exactly really, but the same mischievous look in his eyes.

“Morning.” He smiled at me.

“Morgan, this is Star.” Doc introduced me. I just nodded my head at him, remaining silent.

“It’s good to see you awake, Star. We were all worried about you.” I gave him a confused look before Doc guided me down the hallway.

The clinic that Doc led me to was on the second floor and the opposite side of the house. The house seemed to be shaped like the letter C, with one main wing on each of the six floors and a wing leading back at each end. They called them the main, north and south wings. The clinic was in the north wing while the room I had been in was in the south wing.

The clinic looked like some sort of fantasy room to me. I had read about things, had learned what doctors did through reading. But seeing the inside of a clinic or doctor’s office, that hadn’t happened since I was two.

“Have a seat.” Doc indicated a weird chair with paper stretched across it. “I’m going to check out that leg first, then we will check your bandages.” He was still smiling, he was always smiling when talking to me.

[Will any of this hurt?] I held the paper up for him to read before I sat down.

“It shouldn’t. If your leg is still a little tender it might be uncomfortable, but I will do my best to make sure it doesn’t hurt.” I nodded, hoping he was being honest, then I climbed awkwardly onto the chair thing.