Laws of Nature

It was three days later when Amelia and her mate came to the house. Rurik had left early that morning to make sure he caught the flight on time and since Rurik wasn't occupying the living room Lillian decided it would be the perfect time to watch a movie.

The end credits had just began to roll when the door opened and the woman called out, “DARRYN! I'm home!”

There was a thump from Darryn's office before he burst out the door like a little kid at Christmas time. He rushed Amelia and hugged her, “Stop! You're squishing me!”

Lillian watched the whole ordeal and couldn't help but smile a little, it was obvious the Alpha loved his sister. She inched her way towards the stairs when a very large males eyes shifted to her and he asked, “Who are you?”

Darryn looked behind him and saw her, “Oh, Lillian come here.” Lillian did as she was asked and stood by the Alpha as he introduced her. “This is Lillian our new pack mate.”

Amelia smiled, “I'm Amelia but I'm sure you already know and Mr. Glare-At-Everything is my mate, Kale. He's usually in a better mood but he's cranky from the flight.”

“It's nice to finally meet the both of you.” Lillian said quietly, it was awkward finally meeting the couple, mostly because Kale continued to glare. “I um... I'd better go.”

“Kale stop it,” Amelia said slapping his arm. “You're scaring her.” She looked back to Lillian. “Don't go. I would like to know more about you, like how you got involved with my brother's pack.”

Lillian looked at Kale and saw that he was now looking away from her, quietly conversing with Darryn. She looked back at Amelia and said, “Yeah, sure.”

“Great, want to come help me unpack? We can talk while we're doing it and I promise you won't see anything disgusting or anything.”

She couldn't help but laugh, “Alright.”

Lillian followed her up the stairs and to the bedroom that she never saw anyone open or enter. She tossed her bags onto the bed with a grunt before unzipping one. “I shouldn't have a lot of things that aren't clothes. I made sure to send a lot of them back here to Darryn so that I didn't bring home thirty bags. Kale was already irked that I had three of them.” Grabbing a stack of shirts and turned towards the dresser. “So how'd you get here?”

“I had a car accident a few miles away and wandered into the woods because I didn't want someone to see me and call and ambulance. I passed out and the next thing I knew I was awake and it was the Inquisition.”

Amelia laughed, “That's Darryn for you. He takes his Alpha position a bit to seriously but I love him all the same. He likes to know what he's getting into before he allows someone to join the pack, get to know them at least a little bit to make sure that they wouldn't cause trouble with the other pack members.”

Lillian shrugged as she handed a pile of jeans and shorts to Amelia. “I wouldn't know, he just asked me if I had anywhere to stay and said that I would be staying here.”

She rolled her eyes, “Sounds like him. Where were you coming from?”

“Canada.”

“Why? You don't sound Canadian.”

“I'm American but my pack was in Canada.”

Amelia looked at her, “And..?”

“They kicked me out of the pack for being different.” When Lillian saw the confused look on the other woman's face she supplied. “I'm half-werewolf, which is why I think your mate was glaring at me the way he was. Not that I blame him, most people can't stand me.”

“I'll make sure to give him a punch or two when I see him.” She told her before saying, “As far as I can tell, I can stand you. Your scent makes my nose tickle but other than that you're like everyone else as far as I'm concerned.”

Lillian felt over joyed at her words, “You mean that?”

“I don't ever say what I don't mean.”

“It's nice hearing that from someone. I mean, this pack is the only one that knew outright what I am and it makes me happy that I don't have to hide it. I can actually be myself,” her hand went to touch her hair, maybe she would let it go back to her natural color. She had always loved her hair as a child and young girl, but when she had to start moving around she couldn't let anyone see it.

They finished putting all the clothes away and Amelia put the bags into the closet, “So, how did you keep what you are hidden?”

She shrugged, “Never told anyone, stayed my distance. I worked with humans so no one would really question me about my scent.”

“What about your parents? Why aren't you with them?”

A pain went through her chest at the mention of her parents, “They're dead.”

“I'm so sorry. I wouldn't have asked if I had known.” Amelia sat down on the bed and patted the spot next to her and Lillian sat down. “What happened?”

Lillian sat down and looked at the floor, “My dad was killed by his Beta because of my mother and I. He called my father weak for loving a human and not having the guts to kill the disgusting thing he called his daughter.” Her words came out bitter and angry. “The Beta would have killed my mother and me too but my father kept him away from us. My mother died a few months later of grief. She had stopped eating and all but lived inside her own body.”

“How old were you?”

“Sixteen,” sighing Lillian twisted her hands together. “I knew that by the ugliness I saw as a child that I couldn't let anyone know what I was because I can't stand how I get treated because of it. I remember that when I was little everyone always called me ugly and stupid and defective. I saw ugliness every day as a child and I swore that I wouldn't let my so--” Lillian caught herself before she told Amelia she had a child. No way was she going to let anyone here know. “I swore I wouldn't let myself be put in that situation again.”

“I'm sorry for asking, I can tell it makes you sad talking about it.” Amelia then perked up, “So how about that weather, huh? I love how I can actually go outside without a jacket.”

Lillian couldn't help but smile, “Its nice but it gets really cold in the winter. I was here a few years ago for a month or two in January and my toes are still defrosting.”

Amelia laughed, “I know, I'm going to have to get use to the whole freezing in winter thing. We were running around so much I never had the chance to be cold.”

“So you're going to stay with the pack long enough for winter to come again?”

“Yeah,” she glanced at the door, as if making sure no one was listening. “Don't say anything but Kale and I have been talking and both of us think its a good idea to stay settle here. We're hesitant because of Rurik but I want to be with my brother and Kale wants me to be happy.”

“Why would the beta make you hesitant to be with your pack?”

Running a hand through her hair she sighed, “We had some problems before I left. He wanted to be my mate but I wanted Kale. That type of thing. I don't think he's over it yet and I don't want Kale and him fighting because then Darryn will have no choice but to kick the two of them out and god knows I'd go with my mate if that happened.”

Lillian looked at her and asked with all seriousness. “Should I avoid him then? I don't want problems and if he decides to transfer his--”

“No don't avoid him.” Amelia interrupted. “He's a great man, really. He just displaced his emotions and assumed I liked him more than I actually did. Please don't avoid him because of what I've said, I would love to be friends with Rick again but that won't happen.”

She nodded, “He seems alright, but he doesn't speak to me. He looks and stares but he doesn't say anything to me. His brother does though, he's a very nice man except he's a constant flirt.”

Amelia rolled her eyes, “Ah, Adrik. Ever the man-whore. I'd tell you he'd stop eventually but he won't. Its like flirting is encoded into his DNA or something.”

Lillian laughed but immediately stopped when the door opened and Kale came into the room, looking as large and intimidating as the moment she'd seen him. When she tensed up Amelia set a reassuring hand on her arm, “Kale say hi to Lillian.”

Kale gave an annoyed look to Amelia, “I'm not a child, 'Lia.”

“Yeah but you're acting like a grumpy old man. Be nice, and give her a smile at least.”

Sighing, he looked back to Lillian. “Hi.” It was short and curt and didn't help ease her uneasiness around him.

Getting onto her feet, Amelia stomped over to Kale and grabbed his shirt collar. Yanking him down to her level she whispered something in his ear that made his eyes widen. She let go and stepped away from him, “Now you know the consequences of not playing nice.”

“You can't do that 'Lia. It's cruel.”

“I can and I will,” she told him, her tone dead serious.

Kale looked at her his face less menacing. “Sorry for being rude. I'm having a very bad day and being here isn't making it any better. You being here is just the cherry on top of the proverbial sundae.”

Lillian tried to hide the fact that his words offended her, “Oh, well I'll leave then. I didn't mean to offend you by my presence.” She went to side step them to get to the door but Amelia stopped her, when she went to open her mouth Lillian stopped her. “Don't apologize for him. I know I'm repulsive to some people.”

She walked out then, leaving the two of them behind only to hear Amelia yelling at him as she walked away. She was already causing fights within the pack, between a mated pair no less. Maybe it was a bad idea to stay where she obviously wasn't wanted.

Going down the stairs, she walked past Darryn's open study to walk out the sliding glass doors. It was times like this she could shift without sapping her energy. She wished she could just run miles and miles without looking back through the woods as a wolf, not having to worry about the world beyond the woods.

She started to wander towards the woods when someone called her name, she turned to see Darryn running out of the house and towards her. “Where are you going?”

“For a walk.”

“Alone?”

Frowning she looked away from him, “Yeah, alone.”

“Why? I thought you were inside helping Amelia unpack.”

She continued to walk and Darryn followed her, she couldn't help but become even more sad by his question. “Her mate doesn't like me.”

“What? Who told you that?”

“He did. He said me being here made his bad day worse.” She quickly dashed away a tear that fell from her eye before he saw. “When I get back I'm going to pack and leave.”

“No your not.” He told her sternly, grabbing her arm and spinning her to face him. “You aren't leaving.”

“You promised that if I wanted to leave you wouldn't stand in my way.” She snapped at him, “I'm already causing dispute in the pack and I will not be the cause of its destruction.”

Darryn gave her a serious look, “Its just Kale. He's an ass and I've known it since the day I met him. His opinion doesn't matter. Amelia likes you. Rurik and Adrik like you. I like you. The other pack members like you. Its just Kale that has a problem and you shouldn't care what he thinks. He's just another person in the world who shuns anything that's not like him.”

She tried to hold in her emotions, trying her hardest not to let the tears fall. Though her chin quivered and tears blurred her vision. “I won't cry.” She whispered, trying to turn from him but he stopped her.

“Why? Why won't you cry?”

“Because crying doesn't help anything. It only gives people more of a reason to hate me. If they know that their insults hurt me then they continue to take jabs at me and who I am.” Taking a deep breath she trying to calm herself down she pulled away from him. “Could you leave me alone for a little bit?”

“I won't leave you out here alone to wander off and get lost. You don't know the area.”

“I won't go any farther. Please just let me be alone for a little while,” she pleaded.

A quiet fell over the two of them as he walked away, back towards the house. When he was out of sight Lillian felt more tears come to her eyes, “I will not cry.” she told herself in a whisper. “I am a beautiful person. I am perfect the way I am and I'm beautiful. I am beautiful on the inside and out and no matter what anyone says that won't change.”

As she repeated that over and over again to herself she didn't realize that Darryn was lurking just about of sight, listening to her chanting to herself. And as he listened he couldn't help but agree silently, she was a beautiful person, inside and out and he was going to rip apart anyone who told her otherwise.