The drive home was quiet. Sean kept driving the car silently, allowing me a few minutes to gather my thoughts

I saw him staring at me from the rear view mirror occasionally but he did not utter a word.

I hated the fact that after keeping everything to myself for so long, someone had heard my plight and overheard a discussion that was supposed to be private.

I hated the fact that a stranger now knew stuff about my life that I had not even told in detail to my

parents yet.

I kept looking outside the window of the car as Sean drove the car silently. Our eyes met once or twice through the rear view mirror but he knew better than to open his mouth.

When we reached our territory, the guards opened the gate swiftly and Sean stopped the car outside the garage.

I stepped outside the car and closed the door, hovering near the driver’s seat for a second.

“Can I request you one thing?” I asked after failing to come up with a proper request.

Sean answered, “That I should keep my altercation with Julian and everything else that happened tonight a secret?”

I nodded, fidgeting with my fingers.

“Rest assured, Anastasia. Your secret is safe with me

“I am sorry that you had to take a beating because of me. Please, clean up and if required we can go to the pack doctor now itself.”

I checked the watch. It was a little over 1 am but pack doctors were always around to handle emergencies.

Sean shook his head and stepped out of the car.

“There is no need for that. These injuries will be gone by tomorrow morning.”

I nodded and began to walk towards home but he stopped me.

“Anastasia” He called out and I turned back.

“I will not comment much on what happened today but I wanted to apologize for

my

behavior as

14

30:40 Mon, Aug 26

Chapter 36

well I just got carried away and was not thinking straight.”

I gave him a hesitant smile.

“Let us forget about it already”

I turned around but he called me again.

“Wait”

He jogged towards me and added, “I don’t think you want to discuss anything with me right now. But I just wanted to let you know that if you ever need a friend to talk to, I am here.”

“I will keep that in mind”

He wanted to say some more but I did not have it in me to receive anybody’s pity. I did not want to look into his eyes and see him feeling sorry for me.

So I wished him goodnight and walked into my room to see Lea sleeping quietly. I went towards her and caressed her face, ensuring she was tucked properly before went through the motions of taking off my sandals and changing my dress to put on my pajamas.

I washed my face and stared at the reflection. My eyes were a little red and I recalled how bruised Julian was.

In a matter of a week since my return, I had seen him injured and bruised twice already.

And no matter how much I denied it, a part of me still hated the fact that I cared about him. I had forced myself to look him in the eye while blood kept trickling down his face and body, I did not offer him support while he limped or winced.

But a part of me wanted to. I coiled my fingers into fists and held so hard that my nails dug into my palms.

Warm blood oozed out of the wounds and I welcomed it. It distracted me from the other myriad of emotions swirling inside of my head.

Returning to the werewolf world had been a huge mistake.

I needed to get away from this life, from the reminders of my past and the hurt every second of being here brought along.

I gently pulled Lea close to me and snuggled with her, trying to hold onto the fact that even if everything else went to dust, I had her.

She was my life and the reason I was still alive and kicking.

I promised myself to never let anything hurt her and to do my best to bring her up in a nice,

2/4

24 75%

supportive environmenu

1 tried sleeping bun sleep kept evading me so I scrolled mindlessly through my phone. That is when I recalled the parents‘ teachers meeting

I looked at the calendar and realized it was just the day after tomorrow.

Relief Blooded my heart. Dad would not have allowed me to go back but this sounded like a valid

excuse.

1 could take her to the human city again and she would be happy to go back to her school and mingle with her friends again.

Her education was suffering because of my issues with her biological father.

Now that I had a shell of a plan in mind, my heart seemed to relax a bit and I told myself that it was going to be alright.

It took me a long time but finally sleep graced me with its presence and I drifted off to a troubled sleep.

A few hours later, I was woken up by the sun rays shining on my eyes. I rubbed my eyes and stifled ayawn, my hand reaching for the side of the bed on instinct.

When I did not feel Lea’s warm body curled up beside mine, I shot up my bed and looked around worriedly.

“Lea!! Lea! Where are you?” I screamed and hastily got out of the bed. I ran outside my room and soon enough I heard her giggling.

I went by the window to see her playing outside, chasing butterflies, and going up and down on the

seesaw.

Sean was with her, playing with her and making her laugh.

I relaxed and leaned on the window frame while I saw Sean tickle Lea who laughed uncontrollably.

A smile appeared on my lips to see her giggle and Sean waved at me so I waved back. I made my way towards the small play ground for kids where there were slides and other stuff as Sean helped Lea go up the slide by lifting her up in his hands and saw that she did not accidentally hurt her.

“Hey” I greeted him and he greeted back.

“Hey you, got some sleep?”

I nodded, “A little”

I studied his face that still had a few scars but most of the wounds from yesterday had healed.

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10:41 Mon, Aug 26 G.

Chapter 36

“See mummy, look at my speed.”

Sean cheered for her as she went down the slide and plucked her up before she changed her mind and pointed at the swing.

“I want to swing”

5

“On it, princess” Sean lifted her and placed her on his shoulders while running around, making her cackle before placing her on the swing.

It was nice to see her smile and laugh so much. At least, she was happy.

I looked at the watch. It was well past 10 am.

“Enough play. Come on, Lea. You have to study a bit and have breakfast.”

But she clutched the ropes of the swing and shook her head, “No, I want to play a bit more.”

Sean interrupted before I could answer her.

“Let her play a bit, Anastasia. I will help her out in study later.”

Lea clapped her hands enthusiastically.

“Oh yes. And mummy, can he come to my PTA as my dad?”

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