Chapter 8

Alex's eyes shot open. She sat up quickly, clutching her chest. Her heart hammered inside. Her breath was shallow. Her eyes darted around the dark room. She reached over to her nightstand to turn on the lamp. Her eyes squinted as the bright light illuminated her bedroom. Her bedroom. She was safe at home in her own bed.

Images from her dream flashed through her mind. She brought her fingers up to her temples, gently massaging them. Her breath began to even out, but her stomach was still twisted in knots. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand; 4:23 am. After throwing the covers off her body, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and planted her feet on the carpet. Quietly, she made her way downstairs, grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator, and pulled herself onto one of the island stools. She took a sip of the water, letting the cold liquid coat her dry throat.

Her head whipped towards the sound of approaching footsteps. Her tense muscles relaxed slightly when saw Justin descending the stairs. His eyebrows burrowed and his face contorted with concern when he saw his sister. "Hey, what are you doing up?"

"Just needed some water." She whispered as she held up the bottle. "Did I wake you?"

"No, no. I was thirsty myself." He said as he pulled open the fridge and grabbed himself a water bottle. "Are you okay?"

She nodded her head, but failed to meet his eyes. "I just had a nightmare."

He frowned. "What was it about?"

"I'd rather not talk about it." Alex said as she brought her hand up to push her hair behind her ear.

Justin's eyes widened as he caught sight of the bruise on her wrist. He walked over to the island across from where she was sitting. "What is on your wrist?"

Alex froze for a moment. She had been wearing long sleeves ever since Mason left that mark on her four days ago, but her pajama top was short sleeved, easily exposing his damage. "I just bumped it into the banister."

Justin reached across the island to take her hand in his. He turned her hand over to examine the hues of blue and purple painted over her delicate skin. "Alex, the truth please. Did someone do this to you?"

She met her brother's concerned eyes and she felt her own bubble with tears. "H-he cornered me at school the other day."

"Mason?" Justin asked, although he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

Alex nodded. "I went to the bathroom right before class started and he was there when I came out and then the bell rang and nobody was around."

Justin was trying to remain calm for the sake of his sister, but his blood was boiling. "What did he do to you?"

"Nothing." She muttered.

"Alex, this is not nothing." He pointed at her wrist furiously. "What did he do to you?"

Alex hesitated, shifting in her seat. "He grabbed me and pushed me into the lockers and he…"

"He what?" Justin encouraged her to continue when her voice trailed off.

"Kissed my neck." She mumbled as she inspected her cuticles.

Justin slammed his fist on the island. He regretting his act of fury when he saw it startled Alex. His featured softened. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. He has to stay away from you. We have to do something."

"There's nothing to do." She whispered dejectedly. "Go back to bed. I didn't mean to keep you up."

"No, I'm not going to just leave you here. Especially that you're upset."

"Justin, I do this every night. I'm used to it."

His heart sank. "You have bruises. That's proof to get him in trouble and…"

"Stop." She interjected sternly. "There's no proof, okay? Nobody will believe me and even if they did, he'll just turn himself in a werewolf."

"There has to be something we can do to keep him away from you. Maybe some kind of spell or something." Justin was determined to keep her safe; he couldn't let her get hurt again.

"There isn't." She hissed.

Justin burrowed his eyebrows as he looked at Alex with disbelief. "Where's the girl who never gave up, who never backed down from a fight?"

"She's gone, Justin!" Her voice cracked and her eyes glistened. She swallowed the lump in the back of her throat.

Silence fell between the two siblings. Justin couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that this was happening; that this was happening to them. This was something you saw on TV, in the movies, on the news, not to them. He wanted to go back in time. He wanted to stop Alex from ever dating Mason in the first place. He knew Mason was up to no good the day Alex introduced him to the family. His suspicions were only confirmed when Mason confessed his love for Juliet and then went on to practically attack them. He had been relieved when Mason was turned into a wolf. Alex's heart was broken, but she would move on and find someone she deserved so much more than Mason. He was devastated when they found Mason and Alex took him back, but she was happy until she temporarily dropped out of the wizard competition and they were forced to be friends. And then Dean returned and Mason's possessive and dangerous behavior made a return. When he attacked Dean, Alex distanced herself from him especially as her relationship grew stronger with Dean. Mason was furious when Alex announced she was back together with Dean and that's when she ended her friendship with Mason. He had shown so many signs that he was no good, but Justin failed to see just how dangerous he was.

"You're going to be okay." Justin told her, although part of it was to convince himself. He pointed at the bruise on her wrist. "Does Dean know about this?"

Alex shook her head. "I'd rather him not know. I try not to tell him when he bothers me because I'm afraid Dean is going to go after him."

Justin didn't doubt Alex's fear. Dean was just as protective over Alex as he was and they both were out for blood. Her words replayed in his head. When he bothers me. Was this not just an occasional circumstance? "He bothers you? As in more than once?"

Alex pinched the bridge of her nose. What had she done? "No…I mean yes, but not like that."

"Like what then? What does he do?" Justin shifted his weight.

"Do we have to do this now? It's four in the morning." She changed the subject; she didn't want to talk about this anymore. She hadn't wanted to talk about it at all, but she knew Justin wouldn't stop until he received answers.

"Yes we have to do this now." He replied sternly. "I don't care what time it is. This is important. What does he do to you?"

She swallowed thickly, focusing her eyes on her water bottle that stood on the island. "It's not usually as bad as the time in hall. I'm not usually alone so he knows he can't touch me then. He usually just gets close or makes comments. Mostly when Harper is around instead of Dean."

"Usually?" Justin asked as his eyebrows rose to his hairline.

Alex hesitated. She hated that he was asking so many questions. "I'm not usually alone, but besides this time there have been a few times he's caught me alone. He'll grab my wrist or shoulder and try to touch me, but he's never taken it as far as he did when he gave me the bruise. The bell rang that day and there was no one around."

Justin inhaled deeply in attempt to control the anger rising in his chest. "And what kind of comments does he make?"

"Justin…" Alex sighed with annoyance.

"No, I need to know." He demanded.

She was too exhausted to fight. "He tells me I'm weak and powerless, that I'm a slut, that nobody would ever believe me. He brings up…that night a lot and tells me that we had fun and that I…that I wanted it."

She choked out the last words and Justin's shoulder dropped when he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. "You know that's not true, right?"

When her eyes met his, they told him she was unconvinced by his words. She hadn't wanted it, she knew that, but she couldn't help but think that she made him believe she wanted it. There must have been something she did to lead him on. She shouldn't have gone to that party. She shouldn't have fought with Dean. She should have worn a shirt that wasn't low. She should have kept her eyes glued to her drink the entire time. There were so many things she could have done to avoid this. There were so many things that she could have done differently that may not have led to the same outcome. And yet she did go to that party, she did fight with Dean, she did wear a low cut shirt, she did take her eyes off her drink; so how was she not at fault for what happened?

Alex sat on the couch, her knees drawn up on the couch with a fleece blanket resting over her legs and waist. She flipped through the channels in an attempt to find something to watch that would distract her dangerous thoughts. She peeled her eyes off the screen at the sound of approaching footsteps. A small smile found her lips when she saw Dean appear at the top of the steps. "Hey."

"Hello beautiful." He smiled as he walked towards the couch. He bent down to press a kiss to her lips before sitting beside her. "I saw Justin in the Sub Station. He told me you didn't sleep well last night."

Alex shrugged. "It's not like it's anything new."

"You haven't been sleeping well?" He asked.

"Not since…that night." She whispered, failing to meet his eyes.

Dean frowned. He reached over to intertwine his fingers with hers. "You get nightmares?"

Alex nodded her head. She dreaded sleep every night because it meant reliving the worst experience of her life. The dreams haunted her every night and she often woke up in a panic, forcing herself to realize that she wasn't actually in that awful bedroom again.

"Justin also said you had something to tell me." Dean mentioned casually. He attempted to get the information out of Justin himself, but Justin didn't want to betray Alex's trust.

"I'm going to kill him." Alex muttered through clenched teeth. She hesitated before meeting Dean's concerned eyes. "I'll tell you, but promise you won't get mad."

He squeezed her hand gently. "I promise."

Alex bit her lower lip as she pulled her hand away from Dean's grasp. She slid the sleeve of her sweatshirt to her forearm, revealing the deep blue and purple welts painted on her wrist.

Dean inhaled sharply as he moved closer to examine the marks on her wrist. He was hoping, wishing that she had fallen on it or bumped it into something, but the hand shaped bruise was telling him that someone gave her that mark. "What happened?"

"M-Mason caught me in the hallway alone a few days ago." She whispered shakily, watching as Dean gently ran his thumb over her wrist.

"That son of a bitch." He growled furiously as he clenched his jaw. "I'm going to kill…"

"You promised me you wouldn't get mad." Alex interjected.

Dean took in a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. He slid his hand so it was resting on her leg. "I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at Mason. Mad that he did this to you, that he hurt you and continues to do so."

"I just don't want you to do anything stupid like go after him. It'll only make things worse." She said. Tears shone in her eyes. "I wouldn't be able to handle if anything happened to you."

Dean's features softened. "That's how I feel about you except something already happened. But I want you to know that you can come to me with anything. I might get mad or upset, but I'm not going to just run off on you or do anything you don't want me to do."

She swung her legs over the edge of the couch to shift her body closer to Dean. She reached up to connect her lips with his. He leaned into the kiss as his hand came up to entwine in her soft curls. She gazed into his eyes as the kiss ended. "Can I ask you something that you'll answer completely honestly?"

He nodded his head as he pushed her hair behind her ear. "Of course."

"Do you…do you still love me even after everything that's happened?"

"Of course I still love you."

"I don't want you to think you have to be with me because of everything going on."

"Alex, I'm not with you because I pity you or feel like I have to. I love you." He rested his hand on her cheek, the pad of his thumb gently caressing her skin. He looked into her deep chocolate eyes; the eyes he got lost in every time he looked into them. "I love you so much that it hurts and nothing has or will ever change that."

She nodded against his hand. Her vision blurred with unshed tears. "Good because I don't know what I would do without you."

He leaned forward to capture her lips with his once again. He inhaled her sweet, vanilla scent as his fingers danced in her curls. His stomach fluttered and his heart swelled. He wanted to live in this moment forever; her in his arms with their lips attached.

"You don't have to because I'm not going anywhere." He smiled. "You look exhausted, why don't you take a nap?"

"I'm…I'm afraid I'll have a nightmare." She whispered.

"I'll be right here and if I see you having one, I'll wake you up."

Alex looked at him hesitantly before eventually nodding. Dean kicked his shoes off and swung his legs onto the couch. He held his arms open and Alex laid down, molding herself into his body. She pulled the blanket over their bodies before resting her head on his chest. Dean wrapped his arms around her and pressed a ginger kiss to the top of her head. She suddenly felt safe in his arms with his strong muscles embracing her. She felt as though no harm could reach her in his arms. She closed her eyes as he gently stroked her curls, lulling her to sleep.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed. Mason causes some more trouble next chapter. Review!