*** ONE HOUR BEFORE THE ATTACK ***

Hope fled Alaric's office with tears almost blinding her. She felt sick. Her stomach was twisting in knots, but she kept moving on instinct, not really caring where her feet took her.

How could I be so STUPID? She thought.

What had she done wrong? What?

She had been sure he would reciprocate her feelings. She had been catching him looking at her breasts for the last few months now.

Hope remembered that she used to hug him and Caroline all the time when she was smaller. Every time she would learn something new. Hug. Every time she did the right thing. Hug. She overheard them once saying they wanted to reinforce her connection with humanity. It was fine, because she needed it.

She needed that connection because she couldn't be in the same city as her father. He wouldn't see her or even talk to her. Hope remembered how alone she had been.

She had always been able to go to Caroline and Alaric. She always felt so loved when Caroline would hug her, or Alaric would pick her up and swing her around, just like he did with his real daughters.

But then, she had hit puberty. Everything had sucked after that. She remembered one of the boys making a comment about her "balloon boobs", and she had been mortified. She couldn't help but be self-conscious after that.

Soon, she saw that boys were reacting differently toward her. They were still afraid of her, but some of the more aggro boys made moves on her - which she rebuffed. Some tried to wheedle their way into her heart by pretending they were her friend and that they actually liked her, but she would always discover that all they wanted was to get their hands on her boobs.

Those that messed with her heart were rebuffed with extreme prejudice. Soon they stopped trying and just stayed scared. That was fine.

What wasn't fine was that the one person she thought she could go to also started acting weird.

She relished positive affirmation from Caroline, but she really, really treasured it from Alaric.

Ever since she hit puberty and filled out, he was less and less willing to be in physical contact with her. The hugs were very brief and hurried, with little physical contact. Like he couldn't wait to get away from her.

She felt gross and disgusting. Hope felt that it was him rejecting her. Especially when she would see him still handing out those long hugs to his two real daughters.

Inside, Hope knew that was part of the trouble with Lizzie and Josie. She had a chip on her shoulder because they got to have a real dad, and she didn't.

Alaric still praised her plenty, with words, but it used to mean so much when he would tousle her hair, or if they were all in a crowd he would place his hand on her back and she felt safe.

She remembered all the sports games that she didn't really like playing. She tried to do good because when they won she could jump into his arms and it wouldn't be strange for one brief moment. But then he always pulled away quick and it was over.

Eventually she started to turn inwards. Seeing Lizzie and Josie with their dad made her bitter and spiteful. So after one of Lizzie barbs one day she decided to just give in to the spitefulness.

She knew Lizzie was looking for a boyfriend, but even though the tall, leggy blonde looked like a model she scared away all the guys with her desperate attempts to jump right into the steady dating/engagement stage.

Hope had decided to steal attention from Lizzie by accentuating her cleavage and breasts in such a way that it didn't look like she was doing it on purpose. But if Lizzie was trying to attract attention, Hope would be there in a v-neck or something to make them pop out. Mission accomplished

It was petty. So, so petty. But she couldn't help herself.

She kept it up for a long time, until one day when she was training with Alaric. She had been trying to perfect her spin-kick and she was looking for an opportunity to try it out on him.

Suddenly she saw his eyes widen, and she spun and flattened him with the kick. She had been so happy, but Alaric picked himself up off the ground and in a terse voice said they should call it.

Her elation evaporated immediately. Had she hurt his pride? Why was he not happy for her?

He told her that she did great and that she was really learning, but the words sounded empty. Without looking at her he told her he would see her next time, and then he hurried away from the dock without looking back once.

Hope felt like she had been crushed. What had she done?

She stood there, thinking about the moment when she had caught him with the kick. His eyes had widened. Had he seen something behind her?

No, she thought. He was looking right at me.

Then she corrected herself. NO. He wasn't looking at me, he was looking at…my CHEST.

She didn't want to believe it, but it made sense. It made sense.

Ugh, she had thought. Not him, too. Not him. He couldn't be like all the other guys. She actually had respect for Alaric.

But then, she thought some more. He wasn't quite like the other guys, was he?

He hadn't actually wanted to look at her breasts. He got distracted, then she kicked him, and he was upset at the reason he had been distracted, not because she had beaten him.

She thought back about everything between them. The distance, the lack of contact, the missing hugs.

He wasn't repulsed by her, he just didn't want to objectify or think of her in that way. He really did think of her as a daughter. It's just that it wasn't as instinctive with her as it was with his biological daughters. With her he had to work at it, and she had caught him off-guard.

She smiled and a sudden warmth flowed through her. All of her good feeling and respect for him had returned.

Unfortunately, something else was triggered. She had stood there on that dock, and thought about what a good man he was, she thought about how he took charge and kept hem safe.

Then she started thinking about those hugs, and how his sculpted chest felt when she pressed herself into it. She thought about how it felt when those strong arms were around her. She started to feel a lot of warmth in her groin.

Hope remembered gathering her things and heading back to her room to furiously masturbate to the thought of Alaric fucking her rough and hard.

She had been wearing two sports bras that day at the dock. From that point on any time they sparred she only wore one. It annoyed her to be bouncing all over the place, but it was always worth it to see the expression on his face as he tried not to look.

When she had just hugged him in his office, she had felt that same hardened chest pressed against her boobs. It felt so good. And then she had felt his rock hard cock as she squeezed him tighter. Once she felt that she had lost control. She just started grinding her groin into him for all she was worth until he came in his pants.

She had wanted so badly to get at that dick, but he had pushed her away. What was going to happen now? Would he kick her out of the school?

Shaking her head, Hope brought herself back to the present. She was on the upstairs balcony looking down at the few kids that were up this late hanging out.

She wiped away her remaining tears and watched them. They were so lucky. They got to be just kids. Sure, they all had some minor tragedy in their lives, but her life was like an opera of tragedy. She envied and resented them their carefree lives.

Looking closer, she saw that one of the groups was actually Josie, Rafael, MG, Lizzie and…Landon.

Landon, she thought. The memory was also painful.

He had lied to her, then made it look like she was the bad guy, so everyone was on his side. He had told her he loved her, and would do anything for her, but one night it turned out he wouldn't do anything. And then she became a pariah. Or at least more than she was already.

And Lizzie. What a bitch. She focused her hearing, and from that distance she could just make out her name being spoken many times. Lizzie was animated, so no doubt they were discussing the fight.

Lizzie thought Hope took everything from her, but Hope knew she hadn't. She actually very much wanted what Lizzie had. A stable family and friends.

And now, she and Lizzie were literally fighting over Kyle. Lizzie was desperate for a boyfriend, and Hope had to admit she was desperate for someone, too. Someone to be her friend and be on her side and someone she could confide in.

But she had ruined the possibility of that with Kyle by blasting him across the dock and scaring him with her wolf form. What the hell had she been thinking? She wanted to impress him enough to keep him from Lizzie, but instead she had terrified an already traumatized boy. She guessed Lizzie would actually get him now, and Hope would remain alone.

Then she got angry.

NO! She thought. Lizzie's not going to get him. I never get what I want!

She thought about her family. A family so powerful and yet it took minor miracles for any of them to get what they wanted.

Hope decided she needed to be like them. She needed to step up and TAKE what she wanted.

Dammit, someone was going to love her.

She whirled and power-walked toward the back grounds where she had the fight with Lizzie. She thought Kyle might still be around there. She was going to do whatever she had to do to get him on her side and against Lizzie. She knew it wasn't mature, but she was beyond that now. This night and Alaric's rejection had flipped another switch somehow in her. She was done playing around.

When she got back to the spot, she had frozen for a second. Kyle was being attacked. The creature!

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" She shouted!