Big Bad Alphas

Walking up to Caroline and Olivia's house, the two of us get inside as I try to remove the pass situation from my memory. Did he romantically lift my chin up to embarrass me in front of the pack, because that is sure how I feel. I cannot deny that at first, my heart did beat hard enough that I could hear the pounding in my ears, but it was not a serious act. Eric was only messing with me.

   I never pictured my future being filled with the perfect mate and perfect family, I have never been that type of girl, the girl who strolls through her life where everything falls perfectly into place. That dream ended when a guard came knocking on our door, telling us that daddy had died. I still remember my mother's intense sobbing and cries as if it happened yesterday. That night I held onto Kendra for dear life.

"You okay?" Caroline asks me as we reach the top of the stairs.

"Yeah, everything is fine."

She scans over my face, analyzing my expression. "Don't tell me you're still embarrassed. It was just a little joke."

I immediately disagree. "I'm not embarrassed, and it was not a funny joke. It may have been funny to everyone else, b-but—"

"But what?" She asks bluntly, not fazed by my failure to defend myself. "Relax Isabella; no one suddenly looks down on you now. I'm sure most of the girls watching were wishing they were in your position, which is very weird for me to say about my own brother."

"But I don't want that; I could care less about girls being jealous or people looking down on me."

"Then what's the problem?" Caroline questions, probably confused, but not as much as I am.

I do have a secret, don't I? Maybe it does not fit the definition of a secret, but I do not know what else to call it, maybe an insecurity. It began when my father died when my mother fell into depression. Every day I saw how upset she was, how helpless she looked with the darkness and emptiness in her eyes. Our family was broken. Kendra refused to go to school, and I had to walk her every day as she threw fits. She barely slept for the first few weeks after, saying that she could not stop thinking about daddy. I went to school, came home, cared for Kendra and my mother, then went to bed. Someone had to be strong.

"You're right; it's not a big deal. Let's just deal with Olivia. Did you talk to Evangeline about the party?"

and she thinks it is a great idea, though she also said my dad and Eric would have a hard time agreeing. That's okay, though, you can talk to Eric and..." Her voice faded

the corner of the crown molding

The girls at school, well what we called school, knew that my father had passed. Most of them were kind and understood why I might be acting differently, but one girl, the Alphas daughter, was not so compassionate. I remember it

me, almost like a bully, but I am not one to complain about the mean kids at school. The past is the past, and I hope she is happy now, but it is what she said that particular day. Talia did not care that my father died,

maid for me when I find my mate; you can clean our house. No guy will ever need you, so you can watch your

of the day she taunted me, making me believe that no boy will ever want to be with me, that the moon goddess did not grant me

  I have not thought

   "Isabella," I hear Caroline calling softly.

I brush my hair from my

She pushes open the door and inside, in the blackness, we see Olivia laying on her bed. Light seeps through the cracks not covered by curtains, exposing the tiny particles

climbed into my bed and flung the covers over my head, keeping myself hidden from the empty room. Tears sprung from my eyes, and I tried to be as quiet

my mate, and even that I would be a virgin forever, which is a silly thing to cry about at the age of twelve. No matter how silly it was, I believed it until the thoughts

   "Should we wake her?" I ask Caroline, and she

  "I'll make her food, and we'll wait

   Obviously I found my mate, which proved Talia wrong, though I was not thinking about it at the time. I am sure she has found her mate already, not thinking about the trouble she caused for me. I would never have thought that

the food, but she only tells me to go rest in

chin up to amuse himself, because why would any guy want me, right? That is what Talia would want me to believe. Damn twelve-year-old Isabella for

to myself while looking down at