Fighting by Anaya Phoenix (black books to read txt) 📕

“Can they be trusted? Fully, can the fully be trusted?” A fox woman asked, clutching her cub close to her chest. I looked at her and nodded slightly.

“I trust them all with my life, which means that I trust them with all your lives.” She looekd down quickly ad walked fnto the crowd. I looked back to Ashley and…. Merrick. With a wide smile I opened my arms and putting on an Irish brogue I jeered him.

“Well come on then, lassie, get yer ass over here and gimme a smooch!!” He grinned and hugged me, lifting meoff my feet and twirling.

“It’s been ages.” He responded and I giggle.

“Ya aren’t lying there.” He crinkled his nose and let me down.

“I’d wager that’s yer mate over there, all brooding and angry. Ya sure know how to pick ‘em Lily Girl.”

“Not my choosing there, all my body’s choice.” I out my hands on hip and brought myself forth. A hard look crossed his face before he stepped bac next to Ashley.

“You all can take the rooms down, not up. Whichever room you’d like is all yours.”

“By room do you mean hole in the Earth.”

“Well… I thought that was obvious.”

    After gettin them settled I ran to my parent’s room, watching as they slowly packed away what little they could grab. I watched as my mother lovingly stroked the picture of their wedding. She and dad were smiling lovingly at each other while their brats were making a mess of things. I was five when they officially got married, they hadn’t yet had Libby or most of the youngest. She held me and dad held Jesse and Alissa on his lap. We had cake and, hopefully,chocolate all along our mouths. We were happy, we were a family. They hadn’t yet found out what we were, my mother worked in a daycare and my dad continued his construction business. Everything was fine.

“Don’t you dare.” She said softly, turning around. The tears were in her eyes and on her cheeks.

“Don’t you dare blame yourself. This was all bound to happen-”

“But maybe there’s something I could’ve done, some way I could’ve stopped it.” My heart squeezed and my nose burned. Tears were gonna come and soon, I had to get away. Suddenly I was enveloped in warmth, the smell of family and love allaround me.

“You’re my little girl and you did the best you could.” Dad whispered, hugging me close and kissing the top of my head. Mom hugged the both of us. Before I could help it, I sniffled and then it was over. Sob after sob wrenched through me, shaking my whole body and providing more tears than I’d ever cried.

“Shhh, shh little pup. Y’know whn you were younger yo wouldn’t really cry. You’d judt holler an holler until somebody came. You would yell and screech until me or your mom came and picked you up; or rubbed your belly. Always so strong, Rose. Always a little fighter, you were, you wouldn’t ever give in.” Dad said sftly.

“And definitely not now. You’re not gonna give in now. You were born for somethin’ special, and you’ve always been somethin’ special Luna girl. But now, it’s time to take off your granny panties, put on that thong, slide on your leather pants and fuck up some people. Do it for me, kick their ass and don’t be broken…. we’ve already lost our homes, we can’t lose our kids too.” Mom whispered before kissing my ear. I still cried, curling into my father’s chest. Together they walked me to their bed and laid me down before sandwiching me between them. My mind whirred to a night fifteen years ago.

*Fifteen years ago, Dallas*

The thunder clapped around me and I let out a tiny screech. The sky was falling apart and the light spread aross the sky in frightening streaks. I ran into my parents room where mom was already sitting up. Her hair was brown and it was everywhere, but she had her arms open and waiting. I ran into them, wrapping everything around her and inhaling her scent.

“Hey, hey it’s only lightning and thunder baby. You’re safe, as long as you’re with me.” She laughed, and kissed my forhead. She began rocking back and forth until a soft growl hit our ears. Dad peeked one eye open, his eyes a bright amber.

“What’s wrong puppy?” He grumbled, grabbing me from moms grasp. He tucked me into his body, efetively crushing me. I giggled unntil thunder hit again.

“Hey now, it’s only the mighty roar of Mother Moon. Something is bothering her, so he screams her fury.” I sniffled and smiled as mom laid next to me and dad, effectively enasing me in warmth and love.

“What about the light?” My tiny voice asked.

“The promise of something better, and beautiful, in the morning when we wake up. Now go to sleep, puppy.” Surrounded by love and warmth, the sound of fear quickly went away  and I went to sleep.

* Present

I let out a whimper and my dad quirked a lip before grabing my side and tucking me beside him. My mom scooted closer and put her chin on my shoulder while wrapping her arm around my waist.

And, just like that, the fear went away.

“Luna!!” I shot up, my heart beating fast and fire blazing from my fists.

“We’ve got a problem.” Alissa said, breathing heavy. She took in my appearance and calmed down slightly. I sat up straighter and scooted out of the now deserted bed and stood. I walked past her, not wanting to shine light on the fact that I slept with my parents like I was still a pup.

“And what’s wrong?” I asked, trying to blink the grogginess out of my eyes and setting my mind to a place where I was still asleep and nothing was wrong…. so basically, to another life.

“Isabel and her family is here.” I stopped in my tracks, dread and fear flooding me.

“What?” My voice was hollow as my mind raced. Was it a joke, something to wake me up. Was she finally getting me back for putting hot sauc in her cheerios.

“She snuck in through the portal somehow, one of them that were located in another ghetto. There’s about to be a bloodshed on the main level and she’s in the middle of it.”

“And you didn’t think to wake me up earlier?!” I yelled and bolted, running fast and hard cursing whatever god and goddess that brought her here.

    Yelling and screaming greeted me as I skidded onto the main level, Izzy held her siblings close to her but she kept her stature strong. I cursed mentally and brought air to me, I flew above them  and moved to stand in front of Izzy.

“Back. Off!” Most quieted but still glared at Izzy through me. They were scared, mothers held their childre and males held their mates.

“I can handle it.” Izzy mumbled, but I ignored her and took a step forward.

“I understand the fear, it’s both reasonable and perfectly acceptable. But she… she’s safe. Been with me since birth. She’s not like the others-”

“They’ll find her!” A mother hissed, cradling her baby close to her chest, her eyes bright with fear and loathing. “They’ll find her, then find us and all of this is for what?”

“If you claim this is for our safety, if this is meant to save us… give her up.” I stared at them all and crossed my arms.

“Never, have I ever had more faith in the humans than I had in you. We always kept our humanity intact. So, tell me, how do you propose that I give her up. I’m sure you don’t mean that I pop her back up there? No, you all want to kill her and her family. You all want to rip her open and tear her apart, limb from limb, just like she shredded your lives apart. You want revenge, and you’ll take that from her and her family…. And what does that say about you all? How much of your humanity will you have left after that? How much better will you be? In this moment, in this exact instant you all disgust me. She stays, her family stays. And if any of you lay one finger, spell, or element at her family you’ll be met by me.” I turned to face Izzy and glared, she looked down. I looked to her oungest sibling, Zena nd winked.

“Stay out of trouble.” I walked through the crowd and sniffed my way to the main food hall.

    Izzy ran after grabbing my arm and spinning me around, I kept my temper down and crossed my arms.

“It’s not my fault, they wanted us to come here. They felt like we would be safer with you guys than with them.”

“Your parents sent you here, and you came willingly? Are you fucking crazy!?”

“It gave us a chance, Luna. You see that, right? Please don’t be mad.”

“You want me to just take this sitting down? You were about to create an uprising, they need to be united now more than ever. You coming here, all of you coming here…. you’re stirring things up and everything is pretty stirred up already.”

“Because we’re human? MY family has been loyal from the beginning!”

“That’s not the point, Izzy!” I growled, grabbing her and moving further down the corridor, away from ears that might hear.

“There’s a fucking war coming, do you get that Izzy?”

“Yeah, but-”

“No, no, no there’s no but’s. Now is the time where I have to choose. Save one or the other, and right now those lines are muddling for them and me. They don’t know who to trust, I don’t know where to turn to, and here you are adding spice to a soup. This isn’t a fucking sleepover, this isn’t pretend, this isn’t like when we were younger and you came to us to be somebody else. You are Izzy the Human in a place where humans are not very welcome. I cannot protect you and them without hurting one of you. So I’m gonna need you to grow the fuck up, and realize that shit is about to get real. Protect your family, and I’ll protect mine. Don’t start anything and stay off the radar.” I let her go, pushing her away slightly. She looked hurt but I couldn’t focus on that. Too many things were buzzing around in my head when a thought hit me.

“Does he know that you’re here?” She looked down guiltily and I groaned.

“You need to go find him, tell him. Having a shifter on your side, more than me, might help. Beware the nasty stares though, it’ll take more time than we have for them to come around.” And with that I walked away, knowing that the battle with Izzy the Human wasn’t over yet.

    I went to the food hall and was overwhelmed. I always knew that there were a lot of shifters, but to have them all in one place was mighty surreal. They were a loud bunch, they always had been, and rowdy when it came to food. There were clumps of them surrounding the tables and the serve your self bar. Everything here was provided by the Gods, they