~~

Star

~~

It had been a couple hours now since Chay had showed me everything that she had bought me and then helped me to put it all away. Chay also wanted to help me get the room perfect, however I wanted it, so we had spent some time rearranging the room as well. She had called Morgan and Toby to help. Toby was the other Gamma for the Alpha.

With the help of the two strong men we moved the furniture around the room so that it was more pleasing to me. My main thing was that I wanted the bed to not get blinded by the light in the morning, and have the couch closer to the window for more natural light. I thought it would be good to sit there when I started to read those wonderful books Chay brought me.

The problem, however, was after the room had been reorganized it had to be cleaned.

“Go on, time to get out of here.” Chay was ushering me out of the room. “It’s my job to clean this right now so you go explore. There is a library on the second floor, I think you will like it in there.” She shoved something into my hand and shut the door.

She had given me my notepad and pen before shutting me out. Probably because I had talked to her but not the guys when they came into the room to help. What was I supposed to do now? I didn’t know my way around here.

I sighed heavily then started walking down the hallway. I remember when I had gone to the clinic with Doc, he had taken me to the stairs and down to the second floor.

‘Ok, I can do this.’ I thought to myself as I walked along. I didn’t meet anyone in the hall on my way down. But when I got to the second floor I didn’t know which was to go. Where was the library anyway?

I was standing there, at a loss, when someone came up behind me, having come from a higher floor than the second.

“Hi there.” His voice was calm, soothing even, but it still made me jump. I gasped and spun around. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” When I looked at him, actually took the time to smell him, I noticed he was the man that I had run into the night I tried to run away that last time, the night I broke my leg.

[I’m sorry] I wrote the words carefully and showed them to him.

“What are you sorry for? I should be sorry. I scared you.”

[Many things] But he didn’t seem to understand and just looked at me with confusion, so I had to add more. [Running into you the other night. Running away from you Being afraid of you Being in your way now]

“You’re not in my way. And I can understand why you ran that night. You didn’t know who you could trust.” He smiled at me gently. “My name is Kent, I’m Artem’s Beta.”

[Beta?] I asked, confused about the ranks. [Second?]

“Yes, that makes me second in command.” There must have been fear that shone brightly in my eyes because he seemed to become very apologetic and afraid at the same time. “No, please don’t be scared. We’re not bad like they told you. Not all packs think like this one and not everyone in the pack thinks like that either. Artem and I only want to help everyone. My brother was treated the same way by my grandfather. He was locked up and abused and I wanted to save him. I never want you or the others to be afraid of us.” He looked at me pleadingly, like he was desperate.

[The others?] I asked him, confused.

“The others that we’ve saved. There are some boys of varying ages, would you like to meet them?”

I contemplated his words for a moment then nodded my head.

[Yes] I wrote just to confirm it even more.

“Great, follow me, I’ll take you to them, they’re in the library.” I guess I was still going to the library after all. I smiled at him and nodded as he led me down the hall, to the right from the stairs.

It didn’t take us long to reach the library. It was about halfway down the hall, and I would definitely remember how to get there. I wanted to get a chance to read the books hidden in the library.

When Kent opened the door I saw that there were about eight people in the room, maybe ten. There were a couple really young boys in the room, as well as some that were closer to my age. The boys were at different tables based on age it seemed and there was an adult at each table.

[What’s this?] I wrote my question out for Kent to read.

“The boys we’ve saved are not well educated. We’re teaching them to read and write so we can get them educated and help them to enter society.”

[They were like me?] My heart broke looking at them.

“Yes, they were held captive like you, they were beaten and abused by their families just like you. And like you, our Alpha, Artem, saved them.”

[Why is he saving them?] I was shocked and perplexed by his words and what I saw before me.

“I think I will let Artemis tell you his true story, but he’s not like the Alpha’s that have run this pack in the past. He took this pack by force to change things.”

[Force?] The word scared me.

“Yes, he took over the pack, he didn’t inherit it, he usurped it.”

[How?] I saw the apprehension in Kent’s eyes.

“He killed the previous Alpha so that he could rescue people like you.” I felt my heart stop then begin to beat again at double time. I knew my eyes had to be wide with shock and fear.

[He killed him?]

“The former Alpha was not a nice person, but Artem gave him the chance to step down. When he refused Artem had no choice.”

[Does life have to be so hard?]

“I don’t know what to tell you. But Artem is trying to save you all.” I just nodded at his words, barely listening now as I stared at the boys in the room. “Do you want to meet them? They can tell you what their life was like, maybe you can help each other to heal.”

Kent’s words had merit. It would be nice to learn what they had been through. To let them know they weren’t alone and to know that I wasn’t alone.

I let Kent lead me into the room and to an empty table. I sat down while he looked around the room.

“Hey everyone.” He greeted them and the boys all looked over at him with a smile. They stayed in their seats and didn’t get up but they were happy to see him. “How are you guys doing today?” He had a smile on his face when he asked them this question.

“Good.”

“Great.”

“We’re good.” A chorus of cheery responses answered him.

“That’s good. I’m glad you’re all doing good.” The look in Kent’s eyes was a mixed one. It held both happiness and joy but also sadness and heartache. “I have someone new here to meet you all. This is Star, and she was just like you guys. We saved her the other day.”

The boys all rose to their feet and hurried over, their chairs scraping the floor and almost toppling over in their rush to get to me. I admit, it frightened me a little, causing me to flinch.

“Hi Star, I’m Cohen.” A little boy who looked so small and so young ran to me first. “I’m seven.”

“Hello Star, I am Leslie, I’m twelve.”

“I’m Julian, fifteen, nice to meet you.”

“I’m Dalton, and I’m six.”

“Flint, thirteen.”

“I’m Benton and I’m eight.”

All the boys introduced themselves after rushing over to me. I waved at them and wrote on my notepad.

[I’m Star] I showed them the message with a smile.

“I can read that.” Benton said happily. “How old are you, Star?”

[17]

“Seventeen? You’re the oldest of all of us. They haven’t saved someone that had been there for that long before. You’re lucky.” Julian, one of the oldest, told me this information.

“Did they hurt you too?” Cohen, one of the youngest boys asked me. I nodded to answer him as I wrote one word.

[Yes]

“I’m sorry.” Dalton grabbed my hand. “We will all get better together, Star. You’re one of us. Will you come to play with us too?”

[Play?]

“What’s that say?” Dalton asked.

“She’s asking how you play, Dalton. She’s new here, remember.”

“Oh.” Dalton laughed. “We learn how to read and write and lots of other fun things. We play games and sing and dance. It’s really fun. Will you come with us?”

[I know a lot of that stuff already but I will come spend time with you]

“I can’t read that yet.” Dalton hung his head.

“You’re still learning buddy, don’t worry. I’ll read it for you.” Kent smiled at him. “She says she knows a lot of that stuff, but she will still come spend time with you all.”

“She knows how to read and write even though she was like us?” Flint didn’t seem to understand that.

[I had some cousins who helped me learn]

“She had some family that wasn’t like the others, they helped.” Kent relayed the message.

I spent most of the afternoon with the boys. It was fun seeing them and I was starting to like it here in this house. I was still uneasy, but I was starting to see that things weren’t how I thought they were.