BABY PATRICK

VALERIE I walk out of my room and see Doreen coming out of another room. "Where is Patrick?" I ask her smiling. "He's sleeping Alpha." She tells me and I give her a pointed look. I look around to see whether anyone has heard her and luckily, there's no one around. "Sorry" She says guiltily. "Um... He's sleeping." I have grown very fond of Patrick in these past six years. He is such a cute child and I love him to bits. He calls me his 'girlfriend'. I train him to fight and I'm not tough with him as Nelson is with me. Though just eight years old now, he looks like a ten year old. Veronica says that it's because I saved his life that day that his body is growing so fast. Even Evie and Nathan say that they feel much stronger after I saved their lives. I had just transferred my energy into them. Maybe the energy transferred not only saved their lives but also gave them some strength. "Okay. Just don't call me that again." I say playfully narrowing my eyes at her and head to Evie's room. I look at Evie who is lying on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. "Wake up dear, we're going to visit the attack scene and get your camera because we may need to take some pictures too." I tell her enthusiastically. She's still lying on the bed. "Evie?" I call again and she wakes up slowly and gives me a sheepish smile. "What is it?" I ask her and she replies with a small 'nothing' while shrugging and getting off the bed. I won't pester her because I know she will tell me if she wants to. "Exactly how bad was he with you?" she asks me and I know that she's referring to my brother Jasper who's now her mate. "You are not judging him by what you have heard from me." I tell her sternly. "Just answer me." She retorts. I sighed simply. "Look Evie, he may have not been that good as a brother but he may be a great mate. Who knows?" I tell her sharply. "Right." She mutters mockingly. "What is that supposed to mean?" I ask her, frowning. "You are his sister...his own sister and he couldn't look after you...." She starts saying but I cut her off before she finishes. "Look after me? He is just a year older than me!" I tell her. "I was not done talking!" She says, scowling at me. I sigh and let her continue. "Okay. So you are his little sister and there are guys bullying you. What does your brother do? Huh? He goes and joins them instead of kicking their asses for hurting his sister." She says and grits her teeth at the last sentence. "So you think he will do the same to his mate?" I ask her, raising a brow. "I don't..." she replies and closes her eyes shut. "It's just; he wasn't there for his family, do you think he will be there for me?" "You are his mate Evie." I insist and she rolls her eyes. "Don't remind me." She mutters, plopping down on the bed. "What I meant to say is that this is different. Give him a chance." "So you are giving Rhino a chance?" she asks curiously while looking at me. I look away because thinking of Shawn and about what just happened makes a shiver run through my body. "He didn't ask for one." I reply, giving her a small smile. "Do you want to?" "I don't know." I say, because that is the truth. But my wolf is all set to be with her mate. "I'll try." Evie says and I smile at her. 'We've been waiting for the past ten minutes! Where are you?" I hear Ivan's voice in my head. Crap! I totally forgot about visiting the attack scene! 'We're coming.' I reply quickly. Just be careful, there are guests waiting for you downstairs.' Edith warns me and before I can ask her what she means, she blocks me out of her mind. When I'm walking downstairs along with Evie, I understand what Edith meant. Stupid female, couldn't warn me that my so called family is here! I would have just jumped out of the window instead of facing them! I look at them, my mother, my father and my brother Jasper. Only Sheila is missing from this family reunion. When I'm on the last staircase, I'm enveloped in a bone crushing hug by my mother. She never hugged me like this when I needed her, why now when I don't need it? So, I don't hug her back and instead I keep my hands to my side in clenched fists. There are growls coming and I notice Nathan and Oscar growling at mother. "Where have you been? Why did you leave?" she asks while sobbing. Seriously, she is asking me that like she doesn't know why I left! "It's okay. Now that you are back let's forget about it. Come home, you have to tell me everything." She begins blabbing and my wolf can't take it. Come home? I will not step to that hell again. I get hold of her arms and part her away from me. I look at her eyes and she seems to be shocked by my behavior. "When did you shift?" she asks me, her eyes still watery. So this is what this is all about, huh? Now that I am a wolf, I meet her demands of a perfect family? I drop my hands from her arms and walk past her. She grabs my elbow and tries to stop me. "Valerie, just come home, I swear nobody is going to say anything to you!" Amelia says. She's ticking my nerves now and so I turn to glare at her. "Take your hands off me, now!" I command her through gritted teeth and clenched fists. She gulps loudly and I notice the fear in her eyes. "She is your mother Valerie." Idris tells me. Ha, the man was quiet until now. I don't reply but I just growl at him. "You will respect her, no matter what!" He continues with that strict tone of his, which I was scared shitless when he used it on me in the past. But now, I don't even blink an eye when he speaks like that instead, I growl louder than before. "Let's get out of here!" I hear Evie saying behind me. "They are not worth it." she adds tugging my hand and she starts dragging me out. "Now, listen here young lady-" father begins but stops when Jasper growls at him. That seems like a shock to him because he shuts his mouth immediately. "Valerie..." I hear mother calling but I don't turn to look at her. I remember how I would call her every time when I was whipped by father, just so that she could apply some medicine on me. But no, she would just close the door shut on my face. I make my way towards my car and look at the members of Silverstone Moon Pack staring at me. It feels like I am being exhibited. All are staring at me with their mouths open. Suddenly, there's a flash of camera and I look at Evie who's smiling. "What? The look in their faces was worth it." she says, chuckling. "Yeah. They act like they have never seen a girl before." Oscar says and gives a look of disdain at them. "Point of correction. They've never seen such a hot girl before!" Ivan says and places his hands on my shoulder, giving me a wink. "Okay guys, in case you were wondering, her name is Valerie" Nathan says loud enough for everyone to hear while pointing at me "and she belongs to my Pack." Then points a finger to his chest. There are loud cheers coming from my Pack at that last sentence and I smile at that. "I am driving." Evie says and takes the keys from me without waiting for my reply. Huh, she really is my best friend. "Why does she get to drive it and I don't?" Ivan asks, pouting. "It?" I ask him, offended. "His name is Arrogant." I say frowning at Ivan who just rolls his eyes at my outrage. "That's because I don't have sex with a random girl in the backseat of her car." Evie points out to Ben and he sticks his tongue out at her. Yep. That's right, he did it in Evie's car and Ivan had to not only wash the car but also change its seat and paint. But Evie being Evie , she wasn't satisfied with any of it so she destroyed her own car using a baseball bat. So now I never let him drive my Arrogant because I don't want to do that to my baby. We drive towards the attack scene where we are being guided by Abed and Jasper, who for every one minute would turn and either stare at me or his mate. I get out of the car when we approached the attack scene and look at a tree that has fallen down. "The piece was found here." Nathan tells us. "Two of our guards were also killed along with six children." Jasper says sadly. Where is Shawn? He should be here! I look around but he's nowhere to be seen. "Uh... He's out in the woods." Jasper says giving me a small smile. "I am not looking for him." I mutter and walk away from there. "Sure, you are not" he mutters and I give him a nasty glare. Walking ahead, I look at a tree branch that has blood on it. There are few leaves here and there too which have drops of blood on them. The fallen dried leaves on the ground too has blood on them. "How were the bodies?" Oscar asks my brother. "Ripped." He answers and I suppress a growl. This is deadly. Killing young children like that who haven't even shifted! Anyway, what else should I expect from Mark Ambrose Hunter? "How old were they?" I ask him. "All close to the age of shifting. You knew most of them" he tells me in a solemn tone. Closing my eyes, so that I won't flip at anyone, I started taking deep breaths. When I finally open my eyes, I look at a tree and immediately recognise it. All I can see are those trees around me. I'm staring at one tree after the other and my head is aching badly. I remember playing here as a kid but this is different. I remember it from somewhere else. Looking at the trees close by me, I remember all of them too. I look around and remember all these trees. They are thick and might have been there for almost hundred plus years. But the trees are still strong! I close my eyes again and try to recall something, anything that can help me. "What is happening to her?" I hear Jasper asking. "Val?" that's Evie calling me but her voice is faint to me. There are many voices around until everything becomes silent for once. This time when I open my eyes and look around me, I see the thief Hunter running in an inhuman speed and the statue in his hand with Mr. Austin and others following him. The thief is running in the woods and I notice him getting past all those trees. The trees that I feel are familiar. "Valerie" I hear someone shouting my name loudly and I snap out of it. When I open my eyes, I see a pair of brown eyes staring at me. I see Oscar standing in front of me, concern written in his eyes. "What happened?" Evie asks me in a whisper. "You scared us for a minute there." Oscar says while holding my arms. There's a loud growl and I turn to see a large black wolf standing near the tree and growling at Oscar. The wolf looks ready to kill. The wolf walks closer until he's standing in front of me, forcing Oscar to step away. Looking at the blue eyes of the wolf, I immediately recognise it. Shawn! "Valerie," I hear someone calling me again but I choose to ignore it. I even block my mind from everyone. There is something in this. Mark wanted me here, so he would definitely keep something for me here. "Did they attack the temple?" I ask and I get a no as a reply. "Where was the piece kept?" I ask to no one in particular. No one replies for a minute. "It was kept upon a dead body of a guard." Abed replies and I don't miss the confused expression written in everyone's face. That annoys me and I growl at them. I'm mad now. I could've found out what was happening if I wasn't disturbed. 'You disturbed me.' I growl at everyone in my Pack angrily and walk towards my car. When I reach the Pack House, I get out of the car and start making my way towards my room. "Is that Valerie?" I hear someone asking and I look only to see some people sitting in the living room in my peripheral vision but I'm not in the mood for a chit-chat now. The day is too much! First, I'm mad at Silverstone Moon Pack and now I'm mad at my own Pack for interrupting my concentration. Well, I cannot blame them because they didn't know I was concentrating. The day was filled with a lot of drama. Entering the old Pack, finding a mate, meeting my so called family and also unable to find Mark's surprise. It's already dark and I need some rest which I'm lacking ever since I got a call from Silverstone Moon Pack. So I open the door to my room and switch on the lights because there are some scents in my room which do not belong to anyone in my Pack. In the mood I'm in, the sight in front of me is like waving a red flag in front of the bull. I grit my teeth and a loud ferocious growl comes from my chest. The more I look at what is in front of me, the more loudly I growl. I've only one urge and that's to destroy the damn room!