~~

Star

~~

We departed then, they went in one direction and I went in another. It was now time to explore the house I had been staying in for the last few days.

I hadn’t seen much of the house, just Doc’s clinic and the library on the second floor, my room on the fifth floor, and the dining room on the first floor and all the stairs and hallways leading to them.

To say that the house was huge would have been an understatement. It was massive and seemed to almost go on forever. I quickly found the door at the front of the house and looked out the large glass window panes set in the wood. It looked so peaceful and serene outside but I was still scared of going out there alone. I didn’t want my family to find me when I was alone and vulnerable.

The main wing of the first floor had the dining room that we had eaten in which I had thought was large, but it was nothing compared to the other dining room I found. This room, filled with several tables and even more chairs, could seat at least two hundred people easily. There was also a room that had a beautifully unique decor. There was a large, ornate chandelier in the center of the ceiling with smaller similarly designed chandeliers stationed at symmetrical intervals. The floor was a beautiful, polished wooden surface that reflected the room around it. There were more tables and chairs in here all lining the edges of the room, there were decorative arches built into the wall with different statues standing under each of them. I wouldn’t have known it was a ballroom if it wasn’t for the plaque on the door that indicated what it was.

The north wing seemed to house several differently sized meeting rooms and offices. The south wing was full of storage and utility rooms. There were stairs that led up at three different points on each floor, in the middle of the main wing and the start of each of the side wings. When I went up to the second floor I found some recovery rooms, as they were labeled, that were near the clinic. There was a music room near the library that was filled with so many instruments that I had read about but had never seen before. I was fascinated with them and the idea of music. There were also some more empty rooms that looked a lot like classrooms. I had to force myself to stay out of the library though because I knew if I went in there I would never want to leave and I wanted to finish exploring for right now.

The third floor was divided with different offices, including the Alpha’s, some meeting rooms, and bedrooms. It seemed that the third floor was where the bedrooms had started. I found all the rescued boy’s names on the doors on the third floor. The fourth and fifth floors seemed to be entirely made up of bedrooms. It seemed that the pack house was meant to house a lot of different people but most of the rooms were unused. I wondered if they would ever be filled up.

I also saw that my room was indeed right across from the Alpha’s. Artem, Kent, Toby, Morgan, Chay, and me, those were the only occupied rooms on the fifth floor.

The sixth floor had a few bedrooms, but not as many as I was expecting. It seemed that most of the space up there was used for storage as well. There was a lot of extra furniture, things that could replace any broken bedroom, dining room, office, and sitting room furniture at any time. Did they break a lot of stuff around here?

There was one room that made me nervous before I even got to it. I was getting evil vibes from the room, something very angry and animalistic was coming from in there. I nervously approached the room and grabbed the handle, slowly turning the knob in my hand.

“Wait.” I heard someone’s hurried and panicked voice. I jumped and turned to see Kent running toward me. “I’m sorry, please don’t be scared.” He apologized as he hurried over to me. “I just didn’t want you getting scared or hurt.” He was next to me now and had put his hand on top of my hand, holding the door shut.

I tilted my head and knitted my brows together, effectively asking him what it was he had meant.

“I’m sorry Star, we should have warned you.” He hung his head and heaved a sigh. “Do you remember me telling you about my brother?” He looked up at me, his eyes sad. I nodded my head telling him that I did. I couldn’t write my answer as he was still holding my hand in place. “Well, my brother was the first boy we had gotten out of captivity. I can’t say we saved him, as much as I would have liked to.” I heard tears forming in his voice, the sadness was so thick.

When he looked at me next his eyes were red and brimming with tears. I felt my heart ache for him when I saw the raw emotion in them.

“My brother had a talisman placed on him when he was seven years old. He would be almost seventeen now. But, when we brought him here, got him to his new home, the first thing I did was attempt to break the talisman off of him. That was when we learned that we had to heal the children bit by bit first. My brother’s wolf took over as soon as the talisman was removed. It had been locked away most of his life, had never gotten the chance to shift. And that imprisonment had driven his wolf mad. It took control of his body, destroying his mind. My brother was lost to me forever that day. Even if he were to shift back to his human self he would just be an empty shell. But still, I can’t part with him yet.”

The tears had started to fall from his eyes now, his heart was broken and seeing him like that was breaking my heart too.

“My brother is in there. And his wolf is feral. I take care of him so the others don’t have to, he is my responsibility after all. But I don’t want him to hurt you. That’s why I stopped you. I’m sorry for scaring you.” I was about to cry, my emotions overflowing for the hurt he must be feeling right then. I still couldn’t write my words out but I needed to tell him what I was thinking.

“I’m sorry, Kent.” My rarely used voice was weak and thick with unshed tears. “I’m sorry to hear about your brother. But thank you for telling me.”

“Star? You’re talking” He was shocked, his jaw hanging open and his eyes wide. I grinned and blushed in embarrassment, looking to the side, just now remembering that he had been holding my hand for the last few minutes.

“I always could, but I can’t write right now, even if I wanted to.” I looked at his hand covering mine.

“Oh.” He looked away from me as he snatched his hand back. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok, you did it to protect me, right?”

“Yeah.” He still seemed flustered, like he didn’t know what to do.

“Can I see him, since you’re here to protect me?”

“You want to see my brother?” This seemed to surprise him.

“Yes. I want to see what could have become of me. If it weren’t for the rest of you that is.”

“Alright, but it might be scary.”

“I’ve lived my whole life being afraid. I need to start being more brave.”

“Ok.” He nodded his head as he put his hand on the now vacant door knob. “Stay behind me, if he charges I will slam the door shut. And feel free to hide behind me if you get too scared.”

“Alright.” I agreed with what he had to say.

“By the way, you have a pretty voice, you should talk more.” He smiled at me quickly before turning toward the door.

When he opened the door I was able to smell that malevolent scent more strongly. It was pouring off the giant wolf that was in the room like they were visible waves. The look in the animal’s eyes was one of pure anger and hatred. The beast in the room snarled quickly before running straight toward us.

Kent slammed the door shut quickly, holding it firmly in place when something large and heavy slammed into it from the other side.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized again.

“How can people do this to us? How could they cause this to happen and feel nothing?”

“I wish I knew.” The answer was filled with anger and sadness. “I wish I had an answer for you, but I don’t.”

“I wish they would all get some sort of payback.” The anger in my voice surprised even me as I said those words, and they caused Kent to look at me with curiosity.