Helanie:
"Who are you picking?" My father lood over , towering above a small six-year-old. Every ti he asked this question, it felt like I was committing a cri just by thinking about choosing.
"I don’t want to be without Mommy," I whimpered, clutching my teddy bear tightly.
"Helanie! You’re not a child anymore." My father snatched the teddy bear from my hands, trying to force an answer from .
"Now look at and tell , who do you pick?" he demanded, his intense gaze piercing into mine.
"Mommy!" I whispered, barely audible, choosing my mother for what felt like the hundredth ti that week. And once again, his hand struck my cheek.
"You’ll never be loved like this. If you can’t choose your father, you don’t deserve to be a daughter. I’ve given you everything—even this stupid teddy bear. I work day and night for you and your mother, and yet you still choose her?" His voice shook as he yelled, making curl up tightly, sobbing uncontrollably.
"That’s enough!" my mother’s voice broke through, saving as she walked into the room and saw what he was doing.
"She doesn’t want to go! Why are you forcing her?" she shouted, cradling as I lted into her arms.
"Since you cheated, Alpha Diaz allowed to keep her until our rejection is finalized on the full moon. So back off!" My mother held tightly, and for the first ti, I felt safe in her embrace. I never told her that every ti my father forced to choose, I always picked her.
Dad had made it clear that if I chose my mother, he would be harsh with whenever I ca to stay with him. And I didn’t want my father to be cruel.
"Fine! Take her all you want, but one day, she’ll make a choice and she will choose ," he said, his voice echoing through the air, claiming that I’d eventually have to make my choice—though he ignored the truth. I had already chosen. I had chosen my mom.
"Helanie!"
A familiar voice began to break through my dream. My mother’s presence blurred as I slowly opened my eyes, finding myself surrounded by doctors. It took a mont, but I rembered what had happened the previous night.
However, I was shocked to see my stepbrother beside . This place was unfamiliar, and I could have sworn that I’d died last night.
"Did you... save ?" I could barely string together a full sentence. Kaye was sitting in the chair beside my bed, his expression unreadable.
He stared at for a mont before answering, "I did."
I was stunned. How was he always the one to find ? The one to save ?
"Why—and how did you find ?" My voice was barely a whisper. I wasn’t hurt or crying from the assault last night; I was mortified that soone had to see like this.
"I don’t know... But tell what happened last night, Helanie. I need you to tell everything," he insisted, his gaze narrowing as he spoke. The intensity in his voice made freeze for a mont before I swallowed hard.
"Don’t think about anything else, just about last night," he added, noticing that my mind was wandering.
"The people who did this... they belong to prestigious packs. I don’t think anyone would believe . And even if I said their nas, they’d just bully more, if I ever made it to the academy—" I stopped, rembering why that dream might no longer be possible.
"Academy," I repeated, attempting to sit up, but Kaye held down.
"Hey, you’re not supposed to get up," he said firmly, his steady gaze stopping from moving and injuring myself further.
Why did he care so much?
"No! I can’t miss the exam. I have this one goal, this one chance, and—oh no! I’m going to miss it!" I gave up trying to leave the bed, throwing myself back onto the pillow and crying out loud for the first ti. The academy was my only focus, my reason to keep going, and now it felt like that had been stolen from .
"Helanie! I’ll have the damn exam postponed until you’re healed, do you hear ?" He grabbed my arms, leaning over and yelling until my crying softened and I looked back at him, stunned.
"What?"
I felt confused. What did he just say?
"You would... postpone the exam?" I asked, swallowing hard. The words felt like needles in my throat.
"I will," he replied, removing his hands from my arms as he sat back down, while I leaned against the bed, almost sitting up.
"But why? Don’t you want out of the list? Isn’t that what your brothers want?" I recalled how Norman and Maximus seed determined to see fail these tests.
"No! I’m not like my brothers," he said sharply. Then, almost to himself, he murmured under his breath, "At least, not for you."
It was so quiet that I couldn’t be sure I’d heard it correctly.
"Now, as for the ones who hurt you—you really think I’m not capable of punishing a couple of so-called elites? Helanie, your..." he paused, clearly struggling with the words, "your stepbrother..." He practically groaned at the label, as though it pained him to describe himself that way.
So, he was still having trouble accepting a connection with . Then why did he care so much?
"Your stepbrother is very powerful. Now, just start from the beginning, and watch how I deal with those bastards," he said, allowing the faintest smile. For a mont, the ache I felt faded.
"It was Lamar and Sydney. I didn’t do anything. I was starving, so I went to the kitchen—and I found them... hooking up. But they got so angry. She didn’t want any rumors spreading, so she persuaded Lamar to beat up and dump sowhere far away, so I couldn’t make it to the exam. They wanted out, and now they’ve won." Just talking about the academy brought a painful lump to my throat. I felt like I’d never cared about anything as much as I did about reaching my goal.
"You didn’t lose, and they didn’t win anything. I don’t give a damn about our academy’s reputation. I care about justice, and the exam will be postponed until you’re strong enough to join it. I’ll make sure you are taken to the testing grounds myself," he said firmly. Then, unexpectedly, he placed his hand on my forehead, gently stroking it.
What had happened to him?
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