My Personal Hell by D. Richardson (easy to read books for adults list txt) 📕

“No, not yet. We have to make sure before we…” he trailed off not quite knowing how to finish the sentence.

“Break her?” I supplied.

“That’s a bit overly dramatic. It’s only school, it’s obvious that she isn’t lacking in education. She could live perfectly fine with what she has for the rest of her life,” Tom snapped. I leveled my gaze on him. He swallowed hard. He may have the ear and trust of the pack alpha, but I wasn’t pack. And I was alpha.

By pack law he could challenge me. I wasn’t a member of the pack. I couldn’t be a member of any pack, thanks to my lovely title of lone wolf. I couldn’t give orders. Well, I could and any lower ranked wolf would be compelled to obey, but they could shake it off. Simply because I wasn’t their alpha.

But since I didn’t belong to the pack, they could, at any time, challenge me to leave. If a challenge was issued and I lost, the pack alpha would decide whether or not I was forced to leave the territory. Even if I was allowed to stay my status and treatment would drop dramatically. I would no longer receive the respect and well wishes that I had at the moment. Sure some wouldn’t change the way they treated me, but the majority would.

I had no doubt that Tom would issue a challenge to me if he could. He debated heavily with Drake against keeping me on the territory to begin with. Almost like he had managed to get rid of me, just for me to move closer. His only problem was that legally he could not issue the challenge until I came of age, and by then I was at the top of my class in my training. I was an alpha in my prime, and his prime had been over for quite a while. It was not unheard of for a wolf to die from a challenge for rank. Normally, from injuries after the fight was done.

I turned back to Drake. “So what exactly is it that you want me to do?” He sighed. It was then that I noticed that he hated what he was doing. Which meant he was only doing it because he felt he needed to in order to insure the safety of his people. That meant there was still hope that he would eventually change his mind.

“Just stick as closely as you can to her. If she leaves, offer to keep her company. If she’s bored keep her entertained. Anything to keep her calm and at least marginally satisfied. Until the time comes for us to drop the bomb on her.” I nodded and left the office without another word. I couldn’t go back to Ailith, not yet.

I was far too upset, and she was far too observant. She would know something was wrong, and it’s possible that she might put it together that it had something to do with her. And a part of me was a coward. I didn’t want to face her knowing that they were about to take the only thing she wanted in the world, and flush it down a disease ridden toilet.

So I spent a couple extra minutes in the hallway. I could hear her talking to the human girls. The way she was with them, there was no way she was dangerous. They were worried about nothing, and she was going to pay the price for it. But maybe I could help keep her happy until then. I took a deep breath to compose myself and made my way back to her.

She gave me a happy smile when I walked in, and it just made me feel like a shitty person. She was finally coming around towards me, and I was going to help them destroy her.

Ailith

Another week passed. It was agonizingly slow, but I found I really appreciated Sadler’s company. He would play cards with me when the girls were busy doing their own things. They were starting to gain a life outside of me, and I was happy for them. But it was kind of lonely.

A few times Sadler even went window shopping with me. It was a lot of fun, especially when we could make fun of the horribly dressed manikins. When that was over we would go back to the house and just sit and talk until I was too tired to keep going.

But I was confused as to why he invested so much time with me. I was hardly an interesting person. So one night we were alone sitting across the kitchen table from one another. We had just gotten done laughing about something inconsequential, and I felt it was time to ask.

“So, why do you spend so much time with me?” I asked, absently taking a drink of my soda, yet another lost and regained desire. A look passed over his features, but it was too quick for me to analyze, and he shrugged.

“Maybe I like spending time with you. Maybe I like you a little too much,” He raised a brow and I chuckled.

“Yeah, or you could tell me the truth,” I answered, the idea that he could see more than friendship in me was laughable. I was a seventeen year old girl, and he was a twenty two year old man. Why would he be interested in a girl when he could obviously have a woman. He put a hand over his heart with mock hurt.

“Ouch,” He said and we both laughed until he looked up at the clock with a sigh. “It’s late, I need to be going,” he stood and I stood with him. I needed to be getting to bed anyway, so I followed him into the hallway. We paused briefly in front of the door.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I supplied and turned to go to my room. I vaguely heard the door open and close, and I knew he was gone. I also noticed that he never answered my question.

The next day I was on pins and needles. It was the open house for school. A day where we could get our schedules and meet our teachers. It was also a perfect opportunity to try to figure out our way around the place.

Jen, Camilla, Aaron, and Bailey wouldn’t be going. They knew all of the teachers and how to get around. And Aden had graduated the year before. So it was just the three of us while Adrian offered to drive us, and Sadler tagged along. As odd as it was for me I found his company reassuring.

We dropped Kadi off first. They discouraged parents attending with their kids. Apparently it reinforced their dependency on them, and made it harder for the children to adjust to the new environment. She was scared but she walked into the building with her head held high, and a smile on her face. I had never been more proud of her.

Next it was mine and Lori’s turn. Adrian stayed with the car, and Sadler joined us throughout the building. It turned out he knew the place remarkably well. It seemed he made his money being a tutor. The school allowed him to use their facilities and provided him with his own hour per student. So he was actually on the roster as a part time teacher. I was impressed, I couldn’t help it.

Lori stuck to me, so as we looked for our classes and lockers we just went to all of the rooms together. We had two classes together and we were both relieved that we would at least have someone we knew in there with us on the first day.

When we were done we piled back into the car, and went to pick up Kadi. We still had a few minutes before they let the little kids out. So we all just stood on the outside of the car in front of the building to wait. About ten minutes later she walked out of the building with two other kids flanking her. Two little kids that I thought I would never see again.

The little boy was blonde with dark blue eyes that would sparkle when he laughed. His naturally pale skin shown in the bright sunlight as he turned his head to say something to his sister. She was only a year and a half younger than him, but was a huge contrast in appearance. Her brown hair was so light that if she spent enough time outside it would be more on the blonde side. But her eyes were brown and contrary to her brother she had a tan.

I flashed back to memories I had suppressed for over a year. A little boy that would crawl into my bed when he had a nightmare, and a baby girl that used to sleep in a playpen in my room. She would always throw her bottle at me when she woke up in the middle of the night.

Jake turned to Kadi and said something that had both little girls laughing. Arielle said something back and Kadi giggled harder. Then she spotted me and said something to them right before she ran to me. She hugged me around the waist and I glanced down at her before looking back up at the other two. They had seen me and stood staring.

“Ally look, I made new friends already.” I scanned the crowd of parents there to pick up their kids. I didn’t see the ones I was looking for and looked down at Kadi.

“That’s great sweets. Why don’t you tell Lori all about it?” I said transferring her to Lori’s waiting arms and looked back at the other two. They each took a step towards me, and it was all the encouragement I needed.

I ran to the two and they met me halfway. I dropped to my knees taking them both into my arms. I buried my face in their hair, and I could feel them shaking. I pulled back to get a better look at them up close. I checked them over as quickly as I could then looked into their eyes. They had tears running down their faces and I hurriedly wiped them away. We didn’t have much time.

“Oh I’ve missed you two so much,” I whispered having to wipe my own tears away.

“Sissy, where did you go?” Ari asked with a whisper.

“Daddy said that you had to go away because you didn’t get along,” Jake supplied.

“I had to go live with someone else. I didn’t want to.” They both nodded in understanding.

“We know. We’re just so glad you’re okay,” Jake said giving me another hug. I leveled my gaze on him. I knew he remembered more than Ari could and I knew he would understand my questions better than she would.

“Are you okay?” I asked, he knew what I meant and his little face went serious.

“Yes, he’s nice to us now,” I nodded and glanced around. I knew the open house was a two day affair, but the second day was optional.

“Are you coming back here tomorrow?” I asked quickly, and they nodded. “Okay, I’ll try to come see you again, but you can’t tell mommy and