Chapter 2

Rowan's POV

"Mommy, when are we gonna get there?"

"Soon Gigi, soon." I tried to calm my overly-excited daughter, but had no luck. Angel was always hyper, and very perceptive of the things around her. I glanced in the mirror to try and see what she was doing, and nearly had a heart attack when I saw her sticking her head out one of the back seat windows.

"Angel Marie Loghan!! Get your head in this car now!!" Angel quickly pulled her head inside, and I rolled up the windows and put them on lock. This car may have cost a lot, but at least I'll be able to keep my kid inside when I need her inside, I thought. I have been raising that child on my own since the day she was born. I didn't want her to know who her father was, who his family was, or what he did for a living. I didn't want her to even know he existed. Kaleb was never my husband, and I thank the gods for that every day. He was a cruel person, and I should've never trusted him. He only brought me sorrow and pain. The only good thing that I got out of that mistake was my daughter. And she doesn't have one speck of him in her. She has my eyes, my hair, and my bone structure, my everything. And she is my everything. I have done everything in my power to keep her away from the life that I left behind six years ago, after she was born. I had to cut all relations with my family, my friends, everyone I had ever known in my life. And I would do it all again for her. Angel was my angel, and I'll protect her for the rest of my days. Kaleb wasn't too happy with me when I told him that my daughter would not grow into his family's business, and she would not be a part of his life. I wouldn't be able to handle it, and I didn't want to be with him; and this was not something you would say to a man who could have someone kill you in an instant, or do it himself.

I had once thought Kaleb to be the perfect man for me. Kind, caring, and strong. But I was hugely mistaken. He was mean, cruel, and heartless. He was everything my own mother had warned me against. A type of man who uses you as game, or sport, and nothing more. During those first few days after he started beating me, I would wonder if he had done this to other women. If he had tricked other women, beat other women, and then got them pregnant. But a lot of it was my mistake. I was only seventeen when I had Angel, and Kaleb was twenty-two. That should've been a clue for me in the beginning. What would a man want with a high school girl? He could have fresh college girls, or business women. But I was too blind to see what he really wanted. After a year of us "dating," that's when the beatings began. I had just moved in with him after my graduation; of course my mother had tried arguing with me, and tried telling me what would happen, but I didn't listen; and he just came back from "work" one day, pissed off at the world for doing him wrong. And I was the target that he would release his anger on. I could've protected myself, I knew how, I had been taught since I was young, but I was too shocked to do anything. He had told me he loved me. That was the night I got pregnant, and that was the year I left him. I stayed long enough to get some money, get a car, and get a way out. And it worked. I had successfully disappeared off the face of the earth.

My daughter and I have been driving for three days now, all the way from the small town of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, to where our new home was: Forks, Washington. I don't choose to live in the larger cities, because, despite their size, it's much easier to find someone there. Everybody in the big cities will give information for some cash, and Kaleb had plenty of that. I had been searching online for houses for sale in the north-western regions (I liked to somewhat zigzag through the country), when I saw that a young man had put up a small, two bedroom house for sale. I didn't hesitate to call after I saw the price of the house, and where it was located. Apparently the young woman she had called was a close friend to the owner of the house, and she was the one who had convinced him to move out after his father, the house owner's, had died. It was sort of twisted in a way, but the young man's father couldn't have died at a better time.

After four more hours of driving, I decided it was time to stop and sleep. Angel was already knocked out in the back, and she was growing even more tired, by each passing minute.

Rowan spotted an old motel, that was in her price range, and grabbed a room. She told the person at the front desk, that a one bedded room was fine with her, and that her daughter would've ended up crawling into her bed later in the night anyways. Angel had been having some strange dreams lately, and I was beginning to become concerned. Children had weird dreams, yes, but not ones that they would end up crying over, when they would wake up. And it wasn't for herself that she would cry, but for a young boy that was so sad it made her cry. That was just weird. And then, the dreams would always change, but have the same young boy in them. It was extremely weird to me, and I hope that it will end soon.

That night I didn't get much sleep in the small, uncomfortable bed, and when I did I dreamed of a howling wolf, and a crying man.