AN: Well hello again! I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a long, long time - life caught up with me. This whole FF thing was so much easier when I was a kid writing it in High School! Here is chapter number nine and I hope that you guys enjoy! This chapter is from Seth's POV
"We'll get through this. You're a strong, warrior women." He whispered reassuringly.
Seth POV
Howling – distinctly pack howling. I scanned my apartment lazily, my gaze moving slowly and eyes still tired. Lorelei was cuddled up to Rebecca, a frown on her face and a dried path of tears still visible on her cheeks. I felt a sob make its way up my tightened throat but now was not the time to cry for her – I needed to be her rock, her pillar of strength, her imprint.
I stood up groggily and quietly made my way to the window, seeing my pack waiting at the edge of the forest that surrounds my apartment complex. I checked my phone – 2am. They were obviously waiting for me to make my way down and explain why I hadn't been in contact for over 24 hours. Had it really only been 24 hours? I shook my head and turned away from the window, quietly making my way out the front door. There was so much to go over, so much to explain and mourn. My best friend and imprint was violated so horrifically, other members of our community had been violated, and all by someone who didn't have the least bit of regret or remorse. Then there was Rebecca's situation to discuss. Jacob's own big sister owning and hiding out in one of our favorite hangouts yet we never noticed? I approached the pack and felt the familiar tremble of transformation and my human body ripped to pieces.
"Seth, what the hell were you thinking? We couldn't get in contact with you for over –"Sam paused, his alpha voice echoing in the minds of my surrounding brothers.
I unleashed everything that I'd been holding within my mind since the last time I phased. Images of the little metaphysical shop, of John's possessive stare, of a multitude of police officers crowded around Lorelei and Rebecca, of Lorelei clutching herself and sobbing. I heard whimpers and growling scatter through the pack, each wolf taking the information in and reacting to it immediately.
"What the fuck is all of this?"
"We're killing this monster right? He's a threat to society!"
"Holy fuck! Where are Lorelei and Rebecca? What the fuck?"
"Rebecca?"
The pack mind attacked me all at once, their voices melting together on one mess of rage and confusion. I scanned the eyes of my brothers; some had tears in their eyes while others held anger.
"As you saw, the police have him in their custody. From what we know, this isn't the first time this has happened and they're been after him for a long time." I thought, showing them John in handcuffs.
"Seth, you handled the situation well. I'm honestly shocked that you didn't phase and take him down right there in the shop. I think any of us wouldn't have been able to control ourselves." Jacob said, his mind running through the images of Rebecca holding Lorelei. I could tell he was confused and wanted to address that situation but his mind finally settled, realizing family matters could wait.
"I don't know how I did it to be completely honest. I knew something was wrong and Rebecca's calls only confirmed it. I didn't know what happened at first but I knew it was bad…really bad. In that moment, I only saw Lorelei and how broken she looked. It wasn't my place to tear the piece of shit to shreds; I needed to be there for her." I replied, shuddering as the pack's collective mind went back to the image of me busting into the shop and running right for Lorelei. In that moment, I was so glad that Lorelei wasn't a wolf and didn't have to relieve her trauma through the pack mind – it was agonizing.
Jacob looked at me sympathetically, knowing that all I wanted to do was to go back to my mate and be there for her.
"Seth, you can go and we'll figure out patrol for the rest of the week." Jacob stated, everyone humming in agreement. "Please tell Rebecca that I'm not mad at her and that I would really love to see her. I'm sure that she knows I'm aware of the situation and…it would mean a lot to me if we could meet up."
"I'll let her know, Jacob." I promised before phasing back into my human form and getting dressed. The pack faded into the thick brush of the woods and I jogged back into my apartment. Once back in my apartment, I found the girls in the same position that I had left them in. I felt my heart sink as I studied Lorelei's face, fresh tears collected in her eyelashes. I knelt down by her sleeping form and folded myself around her, feeling her melt into me like that's what she'd been waiting for this whole time.
I laid there wide awake, not being able to sleep after reliving the incident again and again through the pack mind. A couple months ago, I was so desperate to meet my imprint and start my life with them. I was sure that I would meet 'the one', quickly become friends, get married and live happily ever after at least in six months. Fast time line but a lot of relationships when it comes to imprinting tend to move rather quickly – when you know for sure that your soul mate is your soul mate, what's the use in waiting? Then I met Lorelei and everything was different. I wanted to take things slow and learn everything that I absolutely could about her. I wanted to take the time to learn her favorite color, favorite music, favorite things to do when there's nothing to do. Each little piece of information she gave me, each precious memory she let me into or piece of her life she so graciously offered, I fell more and more in love with just being her friend. Of course I saw a romantic relationship in our future and I hoped that it was in the nearest future she felt comfortable with but right now, just knowing her is enough.
X
I woke up a few hours later to the sun beginning to shine through the windows. Both Lorelei and Rebecca were still asleep, slight snores escaping them. I smiled and made my way to the small kitchen to prepare breakfast for the three of us. One thing about Lorelei is that she adores breakfast. My mind flickered back to the first couple weeks we were in La Push together – we ate breakfast foods throughout the day for the majority of our meals. The local diner that we frequented didn't even need to take our order at some point; they just smiled and brought out the breakfast buffet. The thought made me smile as I pulled out eggs and bacon from the fridge. I tossed some bacon into a heated pan and scrambled some eggs with mushroom, tomato and cheese just like Lor likes them.
"That smells too good, Seth."
I turned to find Lorelei looking at the pan with swollen, hungry eyes.
"I figured that you'd be a little hungry." I said softly, giving her a bright smile.
"It's too early for that kind of smile, Seth! You're going to blind me!" She joked, covering her eyes with her small hands.
I laughed and poured her a glass of juice, peach to be exact. Once Lorelei decided to start hanging out at my apartment, I decided to stock it with all of her favorites just in case we decided to have "snack attacks" as she calls them. Luckily, I'm not too picky so it just looked like we had the same taste in food and not like I was creepily snagging all of her favorites specifically to please her.
Lorelei removed her hands from her face and tried her best to give me a smile, taking a sip of her juice. She set the glass down carefully and made her way over to me, hugging me from behind as I flipped the bacon.
"Thank you for everything, Seth…"She mumbled into my back.
I turned to her and held her face in my hands, her large sad eyes peering up at me.
"You have nothing to thank me for, Lorelei. I would do anything and everything for you. I need you to know that – you're my best friend." I stated, pulling her into me and wrapping my arms around her.
"You're mine as well, Seth. I'm so thankful that we found each other." She whispered.
We were both interrupted by the sound of my front door opening by a sheepish looking Rebecca.
"Sorry," She said with an embarrassed smile. "I was trying to leave without interrupting the moment."
Lorelei smiled shyly and pulled away from my embrace. I moved the cooked bacon to a plate and did the same with the eggs, laying them both on the counter.
"Are you leaving?" She asked, swiping a piece of bacon and munching on it delightedly.
"Yeah, I have some things to do at the shop and I should probably go home." She said with a sigh, eyeing the bacon sadly.
"Why don't you stay for breakfast?" I offered, chucking.
Rebecca shook her head but reached for a couple sliced of bacon.
"This will do just fine! Besides, I should get on with being an adult, you know? If you guys need anything, please let me know. I'm always right around the corner." She said, waving as the door closed behind her.
Lorelei shrugged and grabbed some breakfast for herself before heading to sit on the floor in front of the TV.
"Hey, I'll be right back, okay? I forgot to tell Rebecca something." I said quickly, running out the front door and chasing Rebecca into the parking lot.
"Rebecca!" I hollered, making my way over to her. "So, I met up with the pack this morning."
I watched as she groaned and rubbed her temples.
"So I'm guessing Jacob knows I've been hiding out here for a couple years?" She said.
"He does. He also wants you to know that he's not mad at you in the slightest, he just wants to meet up to talk." I said earnestly.
She nodded, opening the door to her taxi.
"Consider it added to the list of things to do today. It's been too long anyways, it was about time I revealed myself."
We waved goodbye to each other and I made my way back inside, coming to a stop when I didn't see Lorelei sitting in the living room. Her plate wasn't really touched and her juice was still mostly full – where did she go?
"Lor?" I called out, checking the kitchen and knocking on the bathroom door.
I heard a small, choked sob emerge from my bedroom and I bolted over to her. Opening the door, I saw Lorelei in the fetal position on my bed, her bright phone screen glaring as it sat in her trembling hand. I quickly moved onto the bed and pulled her to me.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong? Please talk to me." I urged, feeling her sobs rock against my chest.
She brought her phone to my face and I took it from her, eyes scanning over the screen. It seemed to be something from her business email.
"Dear Mrs. Lorelei Barnes,
I'm writing to you in reference to your accusation against my husband, John Townsend. Whether this communication is legal or not, as his wife it is my job to call you out on your fallacies and ask you to retract your lie about the assault you claim. How dare you accuse my husband of being some molester? It's obvious that you're attention starved and needed some drama to spice up your pathetic life. Mommy didn't give you enough attention as a child huh? Is that why you had to run away from home and start your life of deceit? Don't think I haven't researched you – you're some hippy kid who needs money and has no other way to do that then living off lies and preying on good people. From what I've seen, you're not even pretty enough for someone to lay their hands on like that. I suggest you call the police, admit you're wrong and performed this as some malicious, money-making scheme.
I'll be praying for you,
"
By the end of the email, I could barely read what was written due to my hand shaking so violently. I tried so hard so be calm during this whole situation but this was too much. I felt it; I felt the tremble as my insides started to twist. I couldn't hold it in any longer…the wolf was coming out to hunt.
AN: I promise there won't be too long of a wait until my next update! This chapter's ending was specifically set up so that I literally could not procrastinate haha! I'm trying to update my other stories as well today and I did delete one. The plot of Muddy Waters is one that I've been wanting to do for quite some time but I think I need more time to plan out the story. I posted it a bit prematurely and I think you could tell so I removed it for now! I've been debating setting up other stories to go into how Faye and Jacob met along with other imprints - would you be interested in reading? Let me know! I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter and, if you did, please leave a review!
To clarify : I've stated several times before that this story is based on my personal life experience and I want to let readers know that what happens in the future will not be based on my life. Yes, my abuser's wife did reach out, say I was attention starved and lied but I did not get an email asking me to retract my statement. From this point on in the story, everything will be fictional. I appreciate all of you for your understanding and kind words - you have no idea what it means to me. Thank you for being a part of my journey.
