Back and Better by NighttShadee
Chapter 5

Chapter Five “One thousand four hundred and thirty eight”

The next morning I wake up at 6:15 and take a shower. Mornings have never been an issue for me.After showering and blow drying my hair I head to my closet to grab one of the three outfits Ibrought. Yeah, shopping is a must. It's a cute blue dress with a flare skirt that goes about mid-thigh.I pair it with black heels and a black jean jacket, and grab my Michael Kors backpack already filledwith my supplies, and head downstairs. To my surprise, both my brothers and Antha are already inthe kitchen. Checking my apple watch I see that it's only 6:45.

"Well hello, my favorite brothers” I say to the boys, pecking them all on their heads. When I get toAntha she actually pulls me onto her lap.

Yeah, we're that close. The table they sit at has an assortment of breakfast foods on it, and everyoneis enjoying themselves. “Who cooked?” I ask. “I did” Damon says. I must say I'm impressed. Thear abig yawn as my pathetic excuse of a fake brother walks in. He looks up and freezes when he seesme. “Mom? Dad?" He calls out. Why would fake mom and dad be in the packhouse? My dad rushesinto the kitchen, followed by my mom. My mom is holding a baby. Two months old, tops. “Oh, no” Iwhisper. Please don't let it be theirs. God, I wouldn't wish what I went through upon my worstenemy. “Sweetheart?” My mom asks: “Is she yours?” I ask. “Yeah” My father responds. — I get off ofSamantha's lap and walk over to them.

“Listen to me, and listen very well. What I went through drove me to suicide. Don't you dare let thathappen to this little girl. Give her attention, love, and care. Make her feel like you will trust anythingshe tells you. Do the opposite of what you did with me. As the daughter of Alpha Anatol, that is agod damn order. If I hear a peep about her not getting cared for, I'm taking her away from you. AmI clear?”

“Daughter of Anatol?” My mom whispers, rocking my screaming little sister. “Correct. And sister ofnext in line Alpha Damon.” Damon says, walking up to me.

“They adopted me. They're the family the goddess blessed me with after seeing how my bloodrelatives were not a family.”

My sister starts screaming louder, making my heart ache. I hold out my arms. “What's her name?”My mother passes her straight over. “Meda. Her name is Meda.”

As soon as Meda settles in my arms, she quiets and goes straight to sleep. I smile and feel a tear falldown my face.

God, the love I feel for this tiny human that I met a minute ago is vast. — “My beautiful little Meda.”I whisper. “How did you do that?” My dad asks. I wipe my tear on my shoulder and look at him.

“I let her feel the love I have for her. That's how. As a big sister, this little girl is now one of my toppriorities, like it or not. So regardless of what you want you are about to be seeing a lot more of me.Even if that means I take the two f*****g hour drive up here.”

"Sweetheart, why would we not want that?” My mother asks. “You sure never wanted to see me forthe first sixteen years of my life.” I comment. I see guilt pass over their

.. "Show me how to properly prepare a bottle.” I request. My dad goes to fetch the bottle andpowder, and shows me

the ratio. He goes to put the bottle in the microwave but I stop him.

“No. Run it under warm water.” My mother and I say in unison.

I glance at her, offering her a small smile. I quickly realize what I'm doing and carefully compose myface into a blank mask. I clear my throat.

“Hand me the bottle, please.” My dad does as asked.

Meda. She squirms a bit and I shush her lowly.

“It's okay, baby. Sissy’s got you. You have nothing to worry about.” The squirming stops, and Medapromptly starts her breakfast. “Alright. While the baby’s eating, who wants to feed me?” I ask theboys. Jason groans. “I'll do it.” He loads up a plate of pancakes and bacon, and baby feeds me bites.I pull back and giggle.

“This is hilarious. I'm feeding a baby while getting fed like a baby.” I comment, causing my realfamily to chuckle.

My parents look at me in shock. “You're letting someone feed you?” They ask.

I shrug. “When I trust someone enough to help me, and I need the help, I ask for it. In five minuteswe have a meeting and then school. If feeding my little sister means I need to be spoon fed, so beit.”

The energy in the room changes as Erebus walks in, and Meda stirs. “Shhhh, it's okay, baby. ignorethe big bad alpha, Mira’s got you.” Again, she calms down. As soon as Jason feeds me another bightI hear Erebus growl. “Mine!” he says, stepping towards me.

I manage to actually douse him with water by catching him off guard, watching with a satisfiedsmirk as he tries to shake it off.

“There is a child in the room. Shut the hell up” I hiss before taking another bite from the fork Jasonoffers. “The only man feeding you should be me! You're mine, damnit!” “Jason is my brother, Erebus.And either way, I am not yours. So brass off before I set your bum on fire!” “Excellent censoring”.Damon commands. — “I'm not swearing in front of a baby” I respond. Five minutes later everyone inthe room is done eating, including Meda and I. “Do you live in the packhouse?” I question. Myfather nods. “Brendon is third in command, and our house burned down about a year ago. So welive here.” I glance over at Brendon, who's been watching this whole thing silently.

“Fine. I'm going to pick up Meda at some point today and take her on a walk in the park. I'll text youwith at least a half hour heads up.”

arms, she starts crying.

“For the love, mother! Do you love her?!” My mother nods.

“Then center that love. Allow it to leak through your chest and into her tiny body. The energy yougive off is crucial!”

My mother takes a few deep breaths, and follows directions. Meda quiets down. She doesn't look aspeaceful as she was in my arms, but she doesn't look miserable, either.

“Brothers, Alpha, let's talk strategy. Is there an office we can go to?” Thirty minutes later we'vediscussed training times, places, and courses.

"Alright. Now that we have that out of the way, Antha and I are going to head to school. Later we'regoing to the mall, probably pick out a cute guy to fool around with for a few hours, and then comeback. Any objections?”

“Has anyone ever told you how annoying you are? You're ridiculously annoying. I am going to foolaround with whoever the f**k I want. You want to know why? Because I'm hot as f**k and guysthrow themselves at me. Hell, I'm picky as s**t and I still always have a guy available. Get it throughyour skull, Erebus. I slit my wrists because of you and your pack bullies. If Damon hadn't found me,I'd be dead. If he hadn't adopted me, I'd be dead. My new family, real family, have given me theconfidence I've lacked yet always deserved. So do everyone a favor and go mark a pack slut.Hopefully

that'll get you off of my back.”

Erebus’s eyes darken. “I will never mark or touch a woman that isn't you. You are mine, and 1 willhave you. That's a promise.”

"Alright, both of you shut the f**k up. Erebus, if you hurt my sister, I'll kill you and have one of mybrothers replace you as Alpha. Mira, if you fool around with a guy I don't approve of, I'll make youwatch while I break most of his bones. Are we clear?”

I gulp. There's a reason Damon's known as a ruthless Alpha. “Clear as day” I squeak out. “Good.”With those words Damon lifts me up, throws me over his shoulder, and walks out of the room."What the f**k, Damon!?” “You were pissing me off. When you piss me off, I piss you off.”

“Ouch” I hear Brendon say in the distance. Damon sets me down, and I see Brendon at the end ofthe hallway we're walking down.

"Was I really that bad?” He asks. “One thousand, four hundred, and thirty eight.” I say. “What?” Heasks, confused.

“That's the amount of times you hit me. All of the kicks, punches, slaps, scratches, cuts- add up toone thousand four hundred and thirty eight. Out of that I have forty five scars. Forty eight times youhurt me enough that I scarred. Even as a wolf.”

Brendon looks down. “You counted?” He whispers. “Yes. Every single time you beat me, I countedeach hit. I kept a tally in my journal.” “I hit you that many times?” “Yes. And every time you hit me itleft a mark. Thank god only forty eight marks remain.” “And you never once hit me back” he says,remembering.

I walk right up to him. “That's right. Because despite my wish that I wasn't related to you, you'reblood. You're technically family. And it is against my morals to hurt family.”

“It's against any good person's morals to hurt their own. Your sister was so beaten down when myfamily adopted her that we were scared she couldn't be built back up. It was her little spurts of sassthat kept us encouraged that if we

Has dozens of modeling contracts offered on a regular basis. Top of every class, everybody'sfavorite. A f*****g white wolf. You could have been there for all of that. You should have been there.But instead of the love she deserved to be shown by you, she was hit 1,438 times.” Damon says.There are tears threatening to fall, but I hold them back. My fake brother doesn't deserve to becried over.

"Amira, I know I f****d up egregiously. The moment I saw the letter, I freaked out. Despiteeverything, I love you... So much. What I did was unacceptable, and I scold myself every single dayfor it. S**t, mom and dad scold me every single day. And despite whether or not you give me achance, I will make up for hose 1,438 hits. And the hundreds of times ! treated you poorly. I'll provemyself to be a brother worthy of someone as incredible as you.”

Inod. “I would wish you good luck, but that would insinuate you have a chance. f**k you. If youweren't blood, I'd beat the living s**t on you, and then set your ass on fire. But we came from thesame parents, and I will not hurt blood, or family. Count your lucky stars that one of us has morals.“You hit her over fourteen hundred times?!” I hear my dads voice roar from behind me. I see thathe's holding Meda.

“Put the baby away if you're going to have it out with the son you failed to raise” I say beforegrabbing Jason and Derick's arms, and walking away with my real brothers.