Daughter Dearest...Why Is There A Werewolf In Your Bed...?

I stopped struggling for a moment and felt my eyes widen as I felt my heart skipped a few beats. Then I struggled against his grip with more force. I imagined those words. I never heard them come out of his mouth, but I couldn’t trick my own mind and I felt the tears fall from my eyes as I let out bursts of pained screams whenever I tried to squirm out of his hold.

“Rayne! Stop!”

“Let me go!”

“What’s wrong?” He stared at me bewildered as I slumped in his arms and beat my fists against his chest, I just wanted to leave.

“Please!” Miles loosened his grip, but instead of going to the house, I ran for the forest and kicked off my shoes. The pain seemed to be eased with each step I took, each breath of the air filled with the scent of wood. The musky smell I was used to from when I was a child, walking through there before I knew how to fly.

Running seemed to let some of the angry energy out of me, but I wasn’t going to go to Shylah’s tonight. It felt like something that I had to figure out and get rid of on my own or else it would keep weighing me down like this.

I stepped on stick and fell as it punctured the arch of my foot. A strangled cry escaped my throat when I threw out my hands to save my head from whiplash. I carefully flipped over and sat pulling my foot toward myself to look at the damage. My luck was nonexistent today. There was just no hope in making it any better.

The stick looked about two inches long, from what I could gather when I accidentally flexed my foot. About half of that was in my skin. I touched the end and pulled my hand back quickly, rocking back and forth as I strangled a scream of pain.

The stick came out of my flesh easily, but the pain didn’t leave me. I leaned up against a tree and pounded my fists into the ground as I blinked rapidly to get rid of the newly forming tears. The ground seemed to swallow some of my sadness and anxiety, leaving me to keep taking deep breaths and staring at the sky.

Very little light from the newly born stars in the sky, filtered down to the forest floor, making me feel like I was in a room. A calming, cool room that made me feel rooted. I evened out my breathing so that I wouldn’t hyperventilate and closed my eyes, only concentrating on the sounds coming from the trees.

A rush of wind opened my eyes. I looked around as far as I could see and then I saw it. A glint of silver further off in the trees.

“Miles I don’t want to talk right now,” I spoke as loud as I could without my voice cracking. I flinched as I moved my foot the wrong way, reigniting the pain in the arch.

I heard a sharp intake of air come from Miles’ direction. I glanced up and saw that he had moved closer judging from the fact that his eyes seemed closer.

“Yeah, well it doesn’t hurt that much. As soon as I can concentrate hard enough I’ll heal it.” I glanced up and saw him move. It seemed as if he had a limp.

“Miles are you–”

“Rayne?!” My mother’s voice cut clear through the air “Rayne where are you?” I heard her footfalls get closer until she emerged from the trees.

She was wearing a white dress, apparently we were going to have dinner with company. She only wears that dress with a low back for when people were going to join us. It was just in case she disliked them, she could call out her wings and escape. My father thought that it was a better idea than to have her at the table with company and all of the sudden her wings rip out of the back of her cocktail dress.

“Mom, what are you doing here?”

“Well, Miles ran into the castle telling us how you flipped out and I came out here–”

“Yeah well Miles beat you to it,” I muttered.

“What?” My mother cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brow.

“He’s right there.” I pointed in the direction of the eyes.

My mother whipped her head around so fast, her hair floating around her before it settled over her shoulder. Her frozen posture made me immediately uneasy. My mother was the kind of person who fidgeted at dinner when it was too quiet. She was never that still.

I quickly healed my foot before standing next to my mother.

“Ah, so it’s the bitch and her daughter.” The eyes seemed to squint in a smile as they came forward.

“And if it isn’t the mongrel who couldn’t,” my mother quipped back. Starlight flickered over red hair and my breath caught.

Cian stepped from the shadows with a good-natured smile on his face.

“Your tongue is as sharp as ever, Winry.”

“All the better to puncture your ego with, butt-pirate.”