What Big Teeth You Have My Dear

I paced around the room I was staying in at the pack house. It was right down the hall from Max, but it was also down the hall from Oli. I didn't get any sleep the night before. I couldn't. I just couldn't. My brain wouldn't stop. It just kept going. I kept thinking of every possible thing that could happen and all the things that I wanted to forget.

Being in this house gave me the chills. I wasn't made for living with other wolves. I wasn't made for walking right past my mate and knowing that it will never be the way that either of us hoped.

I imagined what it would be like when I found my mate. I'm a girl. I think about these kinds of things. I used to picture that he would be tall, dark, and handsome, and we would get a house in the woods where we could run for miles and miles and not have to worry about anything. Well, my mate is dark and handsome, he does of a house in the middle of the woods, but I could never be around him comfortably anymore.

There was a knock at my door. I stopped my pacing long enough to see it was Sarah's bright smile on the other side.

"Lunch is ready, and you didn't eat breakfast or dinner last night. So, you have to come eat with us." She said with her true alpha blood showing.

"Um, yeah, sure. Who's going to be there?" I asked. I have only been here for two days, but I was going to avoid almost everyone at all costs.

"Just the ones that weren't at breakfast. Max and Ronnie went out for a run earlier, and they aren't back yet."

"Yeah, they went running." I mumbled, but she could hear it and let out a couple of chuckles. Those two had grown pretty close since I left. Closer than I thought they would in that short amount of time.

We walked to the kitchen where she already had lunch set up at the table. They only ate dinner in the dining hall, and anyone else at any other type of day ate at the round table in the kitchen.

There wasn't very many people, just that chick with the pink hair, the girl Max attacked, the guy who was mated with the orange haired kid, and much to my unlike Oli was there as well.

I awkwardly sat in the only open seat next to Sarah and scabbed girl. She snarled when I sat next to her, but I honestly don't give a shit if she likes me. I don't like her. Anyone who makes Max attack them, then you deserve it because you are a bad person. Max doesn't just attack anyone.

"Linda, haven't seen your face around here in a while. What have you been up to?" The guy asked. What was his name again? It was something like Shane or Shawn or something like that.

"Visiting the southern pack house. Didn't think the pack's territory spread that far south." I replied messing with the food on my plate. I haven't felt up to eating in a couple of days.

"Well, we have the greatest pack in the world. Our territory actually is like all over the state thanks to Oli over here. He nearly doubled it since he became alpha." Pink headed girl stated. He name was like Cathy, Catherine, or maybe Crystal. It started with a c, that's all I remember.

"Seems like you spent a lot of time in battle for this land." I said monotone looking over to Oliver who just shrugged. He probably didn't want to talk about how many wolves he killed for a few more feet of land that he could put his name on.

"Well, we would do anything for our alpha. A few battles won't kill us." Scabbed girl boasted. I remember her name was Tulip. She was the one who started all this mess. You don't forget a name that ruins your life.

"I wouldn't want to do any more fighting than necessary." I stated.

"Really? You? You seem like the girl who would pick a fight just for the thrill." Shawn said.

"I don't enjoy it as much as everyone thinks, but if you mess with something a care about I'll fight you on it." I replied. Tulip let out a chuckle that was the type you used when you were mocking someone.

"What do you care about? You're heartless." She said. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck raise. It was an instinct of all rogues to sense when a fight was brewing. Well, maybe it wasn't a rogue thing more than a battered child thing.

"Tulip, you shouldn't things like that." Sarah piped up.

"Why? We all know it's true, including her." Tulip said.

"Tulip-" Oli started.

"No, it's all right. Let the girl speak her mind. It is a free country after all." I interjected. Oliver got a look on his face that said he could sense the fight coming too.

He looked over at the others who were finished eating and now just watching the show, and they all immediately got up to leave. There was no one left at the table but me, him, and Tulip. Let the games begin.

"So, let's here all this crap you've been saying behind my back then." I said crossing my arms on the table and tilting my head in her direction.

"I never said them behind your back. I was never afraid to say them to your face. You just weren't here to listen to them with your cowardly escape and all." She said.

"Oh, that's the way it is. Okay, I can take that. It probably wasn't the best move to leave the city just to get away from my problems, but then again what would you know about problems? From what I hear you have everyone's support on everything." I said glancing over at Oliver who was studying the table.

"I have plenty of problems, but I stay and face them. You don't."

"Oh, I'm sure you have problems like what to wear today or how much of a bitch you are going to be to your guests, but unlike you I have real problems."

"And, what are these real problems? Because all I know is that you got rejected by a boy, so you ran away." Tulip smirked. I leaned back in my chair and then stood up. It would look like I was crying if you were looking from their direction, but I wasn't crying. I was laughing.

"My problems are things so bad you couldn't comprehend them, little girl." I said turning back around putting my hands on the table looking her dead in the eye.

"Oh, I doubt it. I'm sure I could name problems worse than yours." I smiled at this. This could be entertaining.

"Okay, please tell me do you have problems worse than be getting beat with in an inch of your life every night for years by your own flesh and blood? Do you have problems worse than having a mother who went mentally insane and who threw you to the wolves to save her own skin? Do you have problems worse than having to live on the streets in the dead of winter with people trying to kill you and knowing there is a price on your head?"

Her face was one of shock. She took a breath to start but I put my hand up to stop her.

"I'm not done. Do you have problems worse than having to leave every single place you every lived in because someone found out your secret? Do you have problems worse than having to figure out what the fuck was happening to you the first time you turned into a wolf because no one explained to you what was going to happen? Do you have scars all over your body from trying to protect your own flesh and blood? Do you know what it feels like to have everyone betray you and stab you in the back? Do you know what it feels like to know the one person who is supposed to love you the second the see you not love you? Do you know what it is like knowing you will be alone for your entire life and no matter how hard you try you will never love someone because in the back of your head that little voice will forever be there saying that they will stab you in the back and laugh in your face?"

There was a silence where I could tell she was taking all this in. So, I continued.

"No, you don't. So, please tell me all the things that are worse than that because you haven't even heard the beginning of my war stories. I have seen things, heard things so terrible that even the devil himself would run away scared. So, I'm sorry if you think I'm a heartless bitch who is trying to steal your boyfriend, but please tell me if you went through everything that I went through how you wouldn't be anything but that. Soul less."

"I-I didn't know." She whispered.

"No, you didn't. No one does. That's why I'm still alive because I know everyone is only working for their own personal gain. When I met you guys, I was waiting for the day when you would feed me to the sharks, but I thought I had to wait a little longer than a few weeks."

I didn't give anyone time to reply to that. I walked out of the room, out of house, out off the porch. I just wanted to get out. I needed to get out.

"Linda! Wait!" I heard someone shout right before I made it to the lining of the trees.

"What do you want Oliver?" I asked not turning to look at him. The trees were easier to deal with than him.

"I . . . I wanted to talk to you."

"So, talk. No one is stopping you." I said reaching out and touching the bark of a tree. It was rough, like armor. Unbreakable it would stand.

"I wanted you to know that. . . . I wanted you to know that there will always be a place for you here. No matter what, even if I have to give you my room and sleep outside. There will always be a place. We don't turn our backs on our own, and you our own now. Even if you don't think you are." He said.

"Well, I hope you don't sleep outside forever because I won't be taking you up on that offer." I replied turning around. His face was pained that I would say such things to him like that.

"Why do you do that?" He asked.

"Do what?"

"Pretend that all of the things I say don't matter. That no matter what anyone says to convince you, you'll just blow it off and pretend that what they offered you was nothing more than a piece of dirt on your shoe."

"Because what ever you say doesn't matter. I'll never change Oliver. You need to get that in your head. Some people are just too broken to ever be put back together."

"Well, what if you don't need to be put back together all the way? What if all I need to do is put the pieces in the right order and then tape it together?"

"I didn't think you were such an optimist."

"Only with you. Do you know what my first thought about you was?"

"No."

"I thought you were the most beautiful woman to ever walk the planet, but I also thought that you would be a lot prettier if you smiled more."

"You want to know what my first thought about you was, Oliver?" I asked. He nodded.

"I thought my life was never going to be the same if I ever let my feelings for you be anything more than hate." I said.

"Are they anything more then?" He asked.

"They're so much more than you can even imagine, and it scares the living daylights out of me." I said, and he smiled.

"I can fix that." He said before walking up to me.

Then, he kissed me. It wasn't like the kiss before. It was a real kiss. It was passionate, and loving, and entirely different from what I ever felt before. It was scary, honestly. That he was kissing me, and I liked it. But, what scared me more was that I actually kissed back.