Ella
“Cora tell me what happened.” I demand, crossing my skinny arms over my chest. I’m eight years old, glaring down at my surrogate sister with a stern expression. It’s always been this way between us.
She’s a year older, but I’ve always had the dominant personality. “It was nothing.” She insists, averting her gaze from my own. “You’re lying.” I counter stubbornly. “I can always tell, you know.”
“No, you think you always know.” Cora answers sullenly, though we both know I’m right. I can read my sister like a book.
“Would you just tell me?” I press, sighing with exasperation. “Fine, it’s not even a big deal, it was just some of the big kids being jerks.” She explains gravely.
“Which ones?” I respond immediately. “Point them out.” It could be anyone, considering the fact that even children our own age tend to be bigger than us. It seems like the orphanage physician labels us undersized and undernourished every year, though nothing ever changes.
Reluctantly, Cora points toward a familiar gang of kids, ranging from age eleven to fourteen. The ringleader is a beefy thirteen year old who always wears a cruel leer as if he’s ever on the lookout for someone to bully to tears – just for the fun of it. “
You see, there’s nothing we can do about it- they run this place.” “I beg to differ.” I answer, tilting my chin up defiantly. “We don’t have to be bigger than them just smarter. Now tell me what they said to you?”
Cora’s voice is so low I almost can’t hear her speak. She stares at the ground, her shoulders slumped in defeat. “They called me a worthless gutter rat and said no one would ever adopt me cuz I’m too ugly.”
Protective fury boils up inside of me. This is the weak spot for any abandoned child. None of us know what it’s like to be wanted or unconditionally loved, and the only thing that keeps us going is the hope that we might get parents one day. As far as I’m concerned, targeting my sister’s biggest sensitivity deserves a serious punishment.
“I’ll kill them.”I seethe, my tiny hands closing into fists. “Ella no. “Cora argues, completely disheartened. “I mean, maybe they have a point. We’re getting old now, and you know how it is. Parents only ever want the babies. I mean you might have a chance – you’re so pretty… but I have to be realistic.”
“Cora, I want parents just as badly as you do, but I’m not gonna leave you for anything.”I vow. I’d like to see any grown up try to take me away from the orphanage without her. “We’re sisters.”
“It’s easy for you to say that.” Cora offers me a hesitant smile.”You adopt all the outcasts.” This isn’t the first time she’s said this to me. I do have a way of taking the most skittish and rejected of our peers under my wing, but it’s not as if I can just stand by and let them be mistreated, or leave them to fend for themselves. We all need each other.
“Everyone here is an outcast.” I remind her. “Why else do you think the big kids are so mean. They’re mad that no one ever picked them and they take it out on us cuz they think we might still have a chance.”
“Does that mean you’re going to let them off them hook?” She asks, arching a brow. “Of course not, I’m just gonna remind them that we’re in this together.” I answer reasonably, trying to calm my own ire. Cora’s teeth flash in a pearly grin. “And if they don’t listen?”
“Then I’ll kick them in the pants.” I sniff, turning on my heels to march up to the bullies in question. Cora trails along behind me, whispering anxiously about what a bad idea this is. I don’t listen, determined to defend her no matter the odds.
“Hey you, didn’t anyone ever teach you to pick on someone your own size?” I call while we’re still a few meters away. The older children turn around, then laugh when they see I’m the one who spoke. The ringleader rises to his feet, then scoffs, “Even if they did, that ain’t you, pipsqueak.”
“It is if you account for brains.” I bite back. “You shouldn’t be mean to Cora just cuz you’re unhappy. That isn’t fair and she doesn’t deserve it.”
“Oh yeah, and what are you gonna do about it, brat?” He stalks forward, looming over my small body with malicious intent. “A scrawny little thing like you? You’re even more useless than she is.”
He reaches out and shoves me, both of his hands slamming into my shoulders. At first I stumble back, but something is rising up inside me, something powerful and fearless. I snarl and pounce, scrabbling up the older boy’s body and attacking him tooth and nail, He screams and flails his arms. “What – hey! Get her off me!
What is this!” I don’t relent. Hands grab for me, but I dig my nails into his flesh, biting and scratching with all my strength. As I come back to the present, I realize how strange my behavior had been that day. Normal human girls don’t act like that – do they?
“You did that?” Sinclair asks, the corners of his mouth quirking upwards. I nod, “The way Cora tells it, that’s the day I became the de facto leader of the orphanage, just by being scrappy enough to take on the big kids. When it was over I tended his wounds, and from then on they were all loyal to me. My own little gang.”
“You made your own pack.” Sinclair observes, massaging my tense shoulders. His words sink into my mind slowly, but I gradually recognize the truth in them – not only the wolfish group I formed, but the fact I was able to wrangle the other children in the first place.
“It all makes sense now.” I muse aloud. “I was able to beat him because I’m a wolf.. I mean I’m sure I wouldn’t have been any match for a pup that wasn’t dormant, but the human kids still weren’t as strong. I never understood how I won before.”
“Strength isn’t everything – from the sounds of it you were a born leader, and that has nothing to do with being a wolf – not alone at least.” He praises, dipping his head to deposit a few lingering kisses on my neck. “My fierce Ella.”
“Yeah well, that was before.” I answer, my voice taking on a hollow quality I hate. Y”Before what?” Sinclair questions, his huge body going still beside mine.
I’shrug. “It was easy to be fierce before I knew how much there was in the world to fear.” I share hesitantly. “I didn’t know how much worse it could get back then. It reached a point where I couldn’t protect the other kids anymore.” I confess. “Or myself..”
I’m fidgeting now, unable to look Sinclair in the eye. “What Cora said about me being pretty… she didn’t come up with that on her own. She was just repeating what she heard from the grown ups. I mean, I know that’s not why.. ” I’m stumbling over my words now, changing tracks and not making any sense, but I can’t help it. “I know those things happen to lots of girls no matter what they look like.. but it’s what they always said when…” I shake my head, unable to finish the thought.
Unwanted images are flashing through my vision, and I force them away before they can consume me completely. A new thought occurs to me then, a revelation I hadn’t been able to focus on earlier, but which now makes our circumstances seem even more surreal. “Dominic, I’m not sure we’re on the right path with all this. I don’t think anyone was keeping track of me after I was given to the humans.”
“Why do you say that?” He inquires curiously, only seeming willing to be distracted because this is so important.
“Because if they’d been watching me… then they would have known everything that was going on in the orphan age.” I explain, “And I can’t believe they would have just stood by and let those things happen to a child they cared about.”
Sinclair is up on his elbow, looking down at me with a furrowed brow. His powerful hands are stroking my side, but I think he knows there isn’t anything he can do to make this better. “What things, sweetheart?”
I take a deep breath, but it comes out shaky and weak. I clench my eyes shut, and a stray tear escapes. “Im sorry, I don’t think I can do this.”
“You don’t have to if you aren’t ready, Ella.” He cuddles me closer, and I hiccup in thanks. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this. But for now, I’m here and you’re safe. I’m not going to let anything hurt you ever again.”
I lean into his warmth, stunned to realize I believe him. Even though the Prince and all his henchmen are out to kill me, I feel completely secure with Sinclair, and that’s not a feeling I ever expected to experience with any man. I’m overflowing with love as I smile up at the huge Alpha, “I know.”
