Page 35 of Escaping Wildfire
I ate my chicken silently as I watched their interaction. I hated Wildfire, but I had to admit that they had good food. I reached out for the saltshaker, but my short arms didn’t quite let me reach.
“Here, I’ll help.” Luna Clarissa reached out for the salt and passed it to me, but not before I noticed the scar on her wrist. She discreetly pulled her sleeve back down, and I looked away. It made me want to know more about her. I had only been here a few weeks, but she had been here decades, what all had she endured while here at Wildfire?
Luna Clarissa suddenly dropped her fork and closed her eyes as she took in a sharp breath.
“Luna Clarissa…is it the Alpha again?”
She looked over at Sheila and just nodded. “Stay here, I’ll bring you your tea.” Sheila rushed inside, and Rory moved closer to her mother.
“Mom, do you need anything? Is there anything I can do?”
“No, Rory, it’ll pass. It always does.” She looked at Rory with watery eyes as she reached out to smooth Rory’s hair. “I’m sorry you have to see me like this. Don’t worry, though, the pain gets easier to handle every time, and it usually doesn’t last long.”
“I know, Mom, I just hate that you have to go through this…that he does this to you.”
Sheila came back and set a cup in front of Luna Clarissa and sat back down. “Thank you,” Luna Clarissa said as she picked up the cup and drank quickly.
Rory turned to Sheila, “How often has this been happening, is it still every day?”
Sheila shifted her gaze between Rory and Luna Clarissa, seemingly warring between answering Rory or keeping Luna Clarissa’s confidence. The former won out, though. “Yes.”
“Mom, he can’t keep doing this to you. Does Larkin know?”
“No, Rory, I’ll be fine. The tea helps. I promise you, I’ll be fine, just leave it alone.”
Rory had a fire in her eyes I had never seen in her before, and I listened to their conversation with rapt attention.
“Let’s just finish our lunch. They have the cookies you like. How about you go get some for us?”
Rory nodded before going off into the house.
“I’m sorry you had to see all of that. I just get pain sometimes, but it never lasts long.” Luna Clarissa smiled at me unconvincingly, but I just nodded, not wanting to embarrass her.
We finished our meal without any more issues, and Rory walked me back to my room.
“Thank you for eating with us. Would you mind if I asked that you not tell Larkin about my mom?”
“The pain your mom gets…is it because your dad is going against the mate bond?”
Rory’s face flushed, but she nodded, “If Larkin finds out that my father is still at it, he’ll flip, and last time he confronted my father…” Her eyes welled up with tears and she trailed off not wanting to say more.
“I won’t say anything to him. Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry we didn’t get to finish the tour, but maybe my father will let us do this again, and I’ll ask about swimming.”
“That would be nice, thank you.”
I walked back into my room. Rory hadn’t shown me anything on the tour that could help me with escaping. If anything, this afternoon showed me how trapped I really was. If he was capable of discarding his fated mate that easily, what hope did the rest of us have?
Despite their devil father, Rory and Larkin seemed to have good in them. My next hope was to befriend them and maybe they would be my ticket out of here.
16 The Plan
NOAH - Age 12 (Flashback)
“Last one down gets dinner duty for the next week!” Cristian yelled out as he cannonballed into the water below.
“Hey, no fair, it’s my first time jumping, and you do this all the time!” Gema yelled out to him as he swam up to the surface, and he shrugged back at her not caring.