The Alpha Wants Everything Book 1 The King's Queen
Chapter 67: Can we come out from behind the couch now?

Though Dax rarely hears Carl’s voice anymore, the words he spoke to her still run through her mind. Most days they’re just a hushed whisper, but when she found out who Damon was to her, they began to scream. We deserve a brother like Damon! You like Damon? He’s a good guy! He feels like comfort! She heard a loud clatter outside her room door and her breath caught in her throat. What was that? I don’t know! What do we do? Hide! Hiding’s good! Dax ducked down behind the couch in the far corner of the room. Though her back protested the movement she bit back the pain and covered her mouth to muffle the whimper. Kane will be back soon, Kane will be back soon! She thought over and over. Another clatter had her jumping and suppressing a scream. Then she heard muffled voices her heart rate picked up and her body started to shake. Oh god he’s here and I’m gonna die! If it’s the one cutting off ears, he’ll just take you! Not helping!

With her free hand she started running her fingers over the scar on her ear, something else she hasn’t done in a while. The voices in the hall had gone quiet, and she sat behind the couch silently listening for anything, she couldn’t hear much over the beating of her heart. She was about to peek over the couch when a knock came to the door. Her ass hit the floor and she pushed herself back further into the corner. Pain ripped through her body, but she was too focused on the crippling fear she felt. Would the bad guy knock? Yes, yes they would. Then the stupid unsuspecting woman opens the door and he kills her! So you’re just going to ignore the door! Yes, whoever it is will go away! But they know you’re here! No they don’t! Yes they do! Shut up! No they don’t! She started rocking back and forth. Go away! Go away, I’m not here! Go away, go away, go away! The knock came again, louder this time. She closed her eyes tight. Please go away! When she heard the door knob twist her eyes shot open. Did you lock the door? Even her wolf’s voice sounded more concerned. She held her breath praying whoever it was would just go away, but when the door slowly creaked open, tears slipped down her cheeks.

“Feisty pants?” When Dax heard Damon’s voice, she breathed a huge shaky sigh of relief.

“Over here” her voice was small and laced with tears. Damon crossed the room and peeked over the back of the couch.

“What are you doing behind the couch?” He asked, concern rising in his voice. She didn’t look at him, but he could see the tears falling down her cheeks. “Are you hiding?” He asked,

“Don’t laugh at me!” She whispered, looking away from him. His heart broke for her, he could see her body trembling and he could smell her fear, it radiated off of her. Instead of telling her to get out from behind the couch, or telling her it’s ok, he got behind the couch with her.

“I would never laugh at you, not over this, you’re scared” he said.

“Scared? No scared was the warehouse when I read his name on the pill bottles. I am freaking the fuck out. Have been since the ears in the box, every time I close my eyes I see them. He did that to people and I’m to blame for it, that was before I was hit by a car. The smallest noise has me jumping and thinking someone is coming to get me, my hands won’t stop shaking, and I am hiding behind a couch. I am at the farthest point in the medical ward, there are only two doors to get in, one is through a house full of werewolves and the second is far enough away that should somebody make it to them they won’t make it much farther than that. I am safe as safe can be, but I am terrified. I am terrified to leave this room, I’m terrified to leave the property. Kane mentioned heading up the Art Festival and just thinking about being out in the open damn near gave me a panic attack, even knowing Kane would have an army around me. I told him that wasn’t a good idea. I am so far past scared that terrified isn’t a strong enough word for what I am feeling, I don’t think there is one.”

Damon listened to every word she spoke, watched her hands shake uncontrollably even after they were clenched into little fists to try and control it. Her tears continued to spill down her cheeks seemingly unstoppable, her heart rate was erratic and her breath was coming in quick puffs. His anger started to flare up, she was the strongest person he ever met and she was hiding behind a couch terrified that some boogeyman was going to get her. This was not right, not right at all, she has been through enough. He pulled her across his lap wrapping his arms around her shoulders. Dax found comfort in his embrace, but not just any comfort, the comfort that only family can bring.

“It’s ok lil sis, I got you. Nothings gonna happen to you. I just found you and no one is taking you away from me.” Damon whispered into her head. His need to protect her, to keep her safe was growing stronger. He held her close to him, while she calmed down. When her breathing evened out and her body stopped trembling he still continued to hold her.

After some time had passed he broke the silence in the room.

“Can we come out from behind the couch now? I’m a little big and it’s a little cramped back here!” He asked. He heard the small giggle she made and was a little relieved when she nodded her head. Helping her over the couch first, he climbed over after.

“Do you always hide in small spaces when you’re scared?” Damon asked, he was curious.

“Sometimes, it doesn’t seem so scary, or the world doesn’t feel as big when the space is smaller.” She answered, sitting on the couch, huddled in a ball. A crooked grin played on his face as he took a seat beside her.

“When I was younger, I used to hide in a cupboard when Bruno and Eliza went at it and yeah I was small enough to hide in a cupboard. They would scream at each other something fierce and if I was present they would turn on me, so I would hide in the cupboard, if they couldn’t replace me they couldn’t scream at me. Eventually I outgrew it, but they also stopped yelling at me.” Damon said,

“You outgrew hiding?” She asked,

“No, I outgrew the cupboard. I shot up like 4 feet and towered over them.” Damon replied with a laugh.

“Do you still hide?” She asked. He sat quietly for a moment, before he spoke.

“If you tell anyone this, I’ll deny it, but sometimes when I feel overwhelmed I sit in my closet. It’s easier to focus on a single thought when the world isn’t moving around you.” He was a bit surprised when she didn’t laugh at him, but then he also found her hiding behind the couch, and a few days ago she was hiding under Kane’s desk watching Scooby Doo.

“When I found out yesterday you were my sister, I was excited but then a million thoughts flooded my head. I never thought to look for siblings, I knew Bruno wasn’t faithful, but he was also only working with one bullet in the chamber and that wasn’t guaranteed to fire. Yet here you are, and I couldn’t help but feel I let you down. And how disappointed you must be.” He looked down at his hands in his lap.

“I know something about feeling like you disappointed people. A day or two after I got here Kane found me in the closet crying” She said,

“What did he do?” He couldn’t help the flare up of anger he felt, thinking Kane did something to make her cry.

“Nothing, I was crying because I couldn’t get my shirt on. The bed is 4 feet off the ground and I’m only 4’11 and a half. I fell out of it the morning before and I guess I hit my back on the way down. I broke three ribs, one in two places, but I couldn’t get my shirt on, and if I couldn’t get my shirt on then I couldn’t go to work, and I couldn’t contribute like everyone else and I would disappoint everyone.” She explained.

“Bruno rejected me, so I never thought to look for anyone else. Thinking they might reject me as well.” He owed her the truth as to why he never looked for her.

“I found the woman that gave birth to us when I was 14. I spent a lot of time in that house alone and I would sneak to the cyber cafe. So I came up with this idea that she would see me and realize she made this huge mistake. Except she took one look at me and said she didn’t want me then, she doesn’t want me now. Nobody would want a freak like me. I tried to run, but Carl called the police and reported me missing. They found me on a bus. I don’t remember where I was going, but they brought me back. He choked me until I blacked out and I woke back up in the house. Never left again. At least when I was a baby, I didn’t know what rejection felt like, I didn’t want to try and replace anyone for the same reason.” She owed him the truth as well.

“Aren’t we quite the pair?” Damon said with a half laugh. “Took me an hour to talk myself into knocking on the door. I almost didn’t, it was Titan telling me to grow a pair and talk to our sister. I was worried….” He began,

“That you would realize you didn’t like me, or we had nothing in common, or nothing to talk about” She finished for him, her own smile playing on her lips, he nodded.

“Had that conversation too?” Damon laughed,

“Yup, then you knocked on the door and I thought you were a killer and only stupid people answer the door so I hid behind the couch.” She answered with a very straight face. “Yes I know how crazy that sounds, but I was assured it’s not paranoia if people are actually trying to get you.”

He sat there staring at her, trying to fight the urge to laugh. His shoulders started to shake, as the smile on her face got bigger.

“No, it’s not crazy at all, it’s a perfectly rational sane thought.” She started laughing, causing him to laugh, the more she thought about it the funnier it was.

“You’re talking to her?” Damon asked, after the laughter died down.

“Yes, I’ve always talked to her I guess, she was all I had for a long time. Knowing what I know now, some things make a lot more sense. I don’t think people have full blown conversations with their subconscious. Or get talked into throwing paper weights at people, or hitting them with napkin dispensers, or not hitting them with napkin dispensers.” Damon shook his head.

“I’m sorry, did you say throwing paper weights at people,” Damon asked, eyes wide.

“Yeah! I threw them at Kane, after I punched Johnny in the throat when he scared me. It was just after we met. We got off to a rocky start.” Damon cracked up laughing again.

“That would have been entertaining to see,” she laughed along with him.

“He hit the ground hard and hid behind a desk, I think I still hit him though.” Damon just howled harder.

“You are something else!” He said, when he calmed down enough. “Do you want to watch a movie or something?” He asked,

“Oh, I have been told I am absolutely horrible to watch movies with, I talk through them. It’s not my intention, but it just happens. I think I have only actually watched one movie and I watched it peeking through my fingers the entire time. When it was over I was grateful the tooth fairy never came to visit me.” She replied,

“Lydia hates watching movies with me as well, for the same reason, or I fall asleep through them. She put on the Notebook once and I fell asleep through it. I woke up at the credits and she asked me how I liked it. I said it was great, she asked me about the part with the aliens and I said it was great. Slightly intrigued I watched it by myself, let me give you a hint, there’s no fucking aliens in it.” She broke out laughing again.

“Kane hooked up all the bells and whistles on that, and the only thing I can do is turn the tv on.” She motioned towards the tv hanging on the wall in the room.

“I don’t watch a lot of movies either, not as many as people seem to think I do anyway.” He admitted,

“What do you do then?” She asked,

“I actually read a lot.” He confessed, he waited for her to laugh at him, he was used to it. Everybody either laughed at him, or thought he was kidding, but her reply shocked him.

“What do you read?” She was intrigued, though she couldn’t sit silently through a movie for longer than a few minutes, she could spend hours lost in a book not saying a word.

“Everything, except history, I can’t stand history, I know it’s important but it’s like they found…..” he started,

“The most boring writers on the planet telling them to write about some dead guy or event in the most lifeless unimaginative way possible.” Again she finished for him.

“Yeah, exactly!” Damon agreed. “I will admit I like a good murder mystery.” He added,

“I think I will pass on the murder mysteries for a while, I no longer wonder how I would react in some of those situations, cause apparently I would freak the fuck out and hide behind the couch. But I have read a few good ones. One had me staying away from farmer fields and scarecrows for a long time.” She admitted,

“Deadly Harvest, by Heather Graham right? I read that one, I avoided scarecrows for a bit.” He asked,

“Yeah! Freaked me out, and scarecrows are already freaky” She replied. Ask him about a rule book!

“What?” He looked at her with his head tilted to the side. She pointed at her head and he nodded in understanding.

“She wants to know if there’s a rule book.” She told him,

“A rule book? Not that I know of, we have laws, but I don’t think that’s what you’re after.” Damon replied, scratching his chin.

“No, Kane told me that a bite from an Alpha can wake her up. But there is probably a risk that it couldn’t work and end up killing me instead, and that would destroy him, and be bad for everyone, so I wa….we were wondering if there was another way to wake her up and we have some catching up to do.” She explained,

“I’ll see what I can replace, I have a few books you could read, but what if an Alpha’s bite is the only way?” Damon asked,

“We discussed it and though she deserves to be more than just a voice in my head, the risk is too great. Too many people would suffer.” She answered. One life can not be more important than the lives of many others!

“Have you asked her her name?” Damon asked again. I have a name? It would make sense that you would! What is it? Um….I think you’re supposed to tell me! I don’t know! Ok then!

“She doesn’t know!” She replied,

“Well that’s a place to start, figuring out her name would help give her an identity. Once she has an identity it may help her remember who she is.” Damon stated. I knew I liked him!

“What about eye colour?” She asked,

“What about it?” He asked in return,

“Is there an order for it or is it unique to the wolf? How do I turn it on? Maybe if she sees herself or her eye colour anyway, it’ll help her with her name and then she can wake up” Damon’s eyes widened, he opened his mouth to say something then closed it again. He wasn’t even sure where to start with that one.

“Ok, um….the eye colour is unique to the wolf, there’s no order to it. And it’s not a light switch, the human side can’t turn it on, only the wolf side can. They push and you let them, you give in so they can come forth. They have a physical presence in your head. Look at it as two beings sharing one body, one soul and one mind, not only can you see each other but you feel each other like when you hug somebody. You hear what they hear and the things they think, feel what they feel, see what they see and vice versa.” Damon explained.

“Oh!” She felt deflated after that.

“It’s not a bad idea though, when you got back from the warehouse the doctor shined light in your eyes….they lit up!” Damon told her. “That wasn’t the first time though” he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone looking through his photos he found the one he wanted and pulled it up.

“Do you remember Sunday night in the office? You were sitting with Kane, you told Kenneth to go to the ballet.” He asked her,

“I remember!” She replied, he showed her the photo and her eyes widened.

“You were in some weird trance drawing a ballerina on that folder and when you were done, you snapped out of it, grabbed the phone from Kane and told Kenneth to go to the ballet and to stay in his chair. That was the night Kenneth found his mate, but your eyes did that just before.” Damon told her.

“I don’t remember that!” She said, shaking her head. I don’t remember that either!

“Why is it just the amethyst part of my eyes? Kane’s whole eye changes colour and light’s up, does yours?” She asked, looking at the photo some more.

When she looked up from the photo, green glowing eyes stared back at her.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Titan?” She asked,

“He just wanted a better look, he’s been annoying me since we got here. And now I’m an asshole!” He said, his eyes changing back to their normal dark hazel colour. “Titan thinks you have a duo eye colour because the second colour belongs to your wolf. It sits on the surface because she’s going to be powerful when she wakes up. He thinks she’ll always sit just on the surface at the ready, like Ky does.” Damon added.

“Thank you Titan! Does he have an idea how to wake her up that doesn’t involve me being bit. What’s with all the biting? What ever happened to liking someone and putting a ring on it?” She asked with a hint of exasperation in her voice. Damon just chuckled.

“We like biting, it’s more….permanent. A ring can be lost, or stolen. Not so much for a bite.” He replied. She thought about that, she guessed it was true, can’t lose a bite, no one could steal it.

“Can one be removed?” She asked,

“You can reject your mate before you bite them, but it only severs the bond entirely if the other accepts and rejects them back and they have to accept. Which is where I screwed up, I accepted my first mate’s rejection but I didn’t reject her back. If it’s only a one sided rejection then only one feels the pain while the other is free to fuck anything on two legs. The pull to be with them is still strong and the bond is still there, but when I found and claimed Lydia my bond to Kimberly broke completely and I was free to be with her. I owe that to you.” She sat there listening intently to what he was saying. She knew a bit about rejecting a mate, not much though.

“Pack law states that a mate’s bite is a binding contract between the two wolves. That being said, the bond between the two can break. If one pushes hard enough against the other they can sever the bond between them and then reject them. Sometimes the two just drift apart and the bond disappears. The mark they wear will fade until it completely vanishes. Only under dire circumstances like abuse or chronic infidelity will an Alpha step in and sever the bond. He will cut the mark on both necks and with his blood he can abolish it. It’s painful as hell for both, but sometimes it has to be done.” Damon continued.

“Can Lydia talk to Titan? Can her wolf? And it would work both ways right?”

“Yes I can talk to hers, she can talk to mine and they can talk to each other. Have you tried talking to Ky? Has she?” Damon asked,

“Truthfully I haven’t figured out how the link between Kane and I works yet. I keep hoping for a rule book, but now I think an instruction manual would be better” She huffed,

“I can tell you right now, there’s no youtube video” Damon laughed again,

“Well fuck! Learn lots from youtube!” She laughed with him.

“Why did you want to know if a mark could be removed?” Damon asked after the laughter died down. She touched the mark on her neck and bit her lip,

“If Magnus gets his wish, what if he cuts it off? Would that sever my bond to Kane?” She asked,

“He can’t see it, he’s human so it’s invisible to him. Only werewolves can see it. It’s a warning, it lets them know you are spoken for, the more intricate the mark the more powerful the mate is. And yours is pretty fucking intricate” Damon responded reassuring her. She nodded her head, releasing a deep breath.

“Ok, you must have been terrified when you were younger, how did you cope with it?” Damon asked,

“I don’t know I drew a lot, I guess.” She answered,

“What did you draw?” Damon asked another question.

“The things that scared me. Mostly the monster in my head, why?” She asked,

“Cause maybe doing that now, will help ease your fear” Damon replied,

“I have a sketchbook in the loft. I put the things that scare me in so I don’t have to look at them all the time. Do you think it would work?” She said,

“I don’t know, but it’s worth a shot. If it works that’s great, it also might feel good to draw again and help remind you who you are. Your feisty pants, a throat punching badass, who uses napkin dispensers as weapons, you might be tiny in size, but you got a temperament the size of King Kong.” Damon said, trying to encourage her.

“Maybe you’re right, it might feel good to draw again. Kane said he would stop by the loft, and I guess we never did grab the stuff from Thursday. I just had to make him a list.” She thought about that, it made sense this whole thing came down around her and she seemed to have forgotten who she was. How is she supposed to help her wolf to remember when she’s forgotten herself?

“I think it’s time for music, lighten the mood a little” Damon said, taking out his phone to turn on some.

“You do have your own!” She exclaimed,

“Of course I do, I just like seeing what everybody else listens to. Music choice says a lot about a person.” Damon explained. She just smiled. “Except you, yours is all over the map”

“I like listening to music that suits my mood. If I’m happy I don’t want to listen to angry music or sappy music. If I’m angry then I really don’t want to listen to sappy music.” She countered,

“Don’t have to explain to me little sis, we have more in common than I thought we would.” She snatched his phone off the table and started looking through his playlists.

“Hey! Give that back.” He demanded, but she ignored him. Like her, he had his playlists organized by mood as opposed to genre.

“Fucking pissed off! That’s a playlist?” She said laughing,

“I’m not always sunshine and rainbows.” He defended his title choice. “You shouldn’t be laughing at me, you can be a tornado in a fucking hurricane sometimes” he added, she was about to protest, but even she had to admit that was a pretty accurate description of her.

“I’ve been informed I have anger issues. But don’t fucking bark, if you can’t fucking bite!” He cracked up laughing when he heard that.

“I want that on a sign!” He exclaimed, still laughing.

“Well maybe I’ll give it to you for your birthday.” She responded,

“It’ll have to wait till next year, my birthday was a few months ago on April 27.” He countered,

“Gives me time to plan” she was still going through all his playlists. He had a lot of the same music she did.

“When is your birthday?” He asked,

“I don’t celebrate it, but August 27….what?” She grew concerned when she saw the look on his face.

“Nothing, I just don’t have a lot of time to get you a gift that’s all.” Damon replied,

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it, like I said I don’t celebrate.” She said.

They talked and laughed, the conversation never seemed to lull even for a second, there was always something else to talk about.

“Did you always want to be an artist?” Damon asked,

“Yes and no. It was never my intention to sell it though. I just wanted to create pieces that brought beauty or enrichment to someone’s life when they needed it the most. But a girl has to eat, so I keep my prices down as much as I can. Art shouldn’t be expensive, just valuable. It’s the only time you get to see how someone else thinks and feels. It can also be quite delicate, one brush stroke can turn love to hate, joy to pain, and so on. That was a long winded answer, I’m sorry” he shook his head.

“Don’t be! That was actually the best answer to a question like that, that I have ever heard. Most people just answer yes and then leave it at that. You talk about art with passion” Damon replied,

“Did you always want to be a werewolf?” She asked, granted she was joking but his answer shocked her.

“No! For a time there I wanted to be a fireman. Help people, run into burning buildings and shit, you know be a hero. But sirens drive Titan crazy so that wouldn’t have worked out well for me. Especially if he ripped the truck apart.” Damon answered, laughing.

“No, that wouldn’t have worked well at all,” she giggled.

“At 13 I got a crazy idea of being a cowboy. So Johnny, Kane and I watched the farmers for weeks herd the cattle from one field to the other. They would use the dogs to keep them in line. Kane said we could do that with no problems. Kane at the time was the only one that could shift, so he got the honour of being the dog.” Damon started telling her the story

“Uh oh” she said,

“Wait, it gets better! So we took the fence down, and Kane shifted and we went walking into the field, the cows freaked out, because though we are canine we’re also wolves and predators and they can apparently sense that. But we were stupid and Kane started chasing the cows trying to round them up like the dogs did. It caused a stampede. I remember Kane hauling ass across the field trying to get his pants back on yelling at us to run as he was being chased by this bull. Johnny and I booked it and Kane got this idea to coral them in the school till we could figure out what to do. We pretty much spent half the summer cleaning the school and the bar.” Damon continued,

“The bar?” She asked,

“Yeah, we got the cows in the school no problem, but we forgot about the bull, it chased us into the bar.” She cracked up laughing.

“Safe to say we got into some shit when we were younger, Johnny dyed half the town blue” Her eyes went wide. Damon proceeded to tell her the story.

“We had one of the smart kids from school set up a time delay system that would release it into the pool through the filtration system. We failed to read the warning about it coming in contact with skin. And our math wasn’t exactly sound, we used three containers of fabric dye. Big pool we thought needed lots. Nobody seemed to notice at first then we started seeing blue people getting out of the pool and we realized we fucked up. There were blue people running around the town and pack house for weeks. Kane called Lacey Smurfette for two months.” Damon was laughing.

“Lacey” was the only thing she could choke out. She was laughing so hard, tears were streaming down her cheeks, Damon could only nod, unable to say anything.

“Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun when you were younger.” She said when the laughter subsided.

“We kept Odin and Edward on their toes, that’s for sure. I think the worst thing we did though, had to be sinking the police car in the lake.” Damon replied, her eyes went wide and she waited for him to tell the story.

“We were in the town square walking around. I saw the car sitting there. And we’ve ridden in the back of one, but got us wondering what it was like to ride in the front of one. No one was around and they left the keys in the car, we didn’t see the harm in taking it for a spin.” He began.

“I had my licence and Kane called shotgun, so Johnny still ended up in the backseat, so we borrowed it and took it for a spin. Somehow we ended up at the lake, and I thought the parking brake was on. We were trying to figure out how we were going to get it back to town without anyone noticing, when it started rolling down the embankment towards the dock. Kane runs after it, grabbing a hold of the back bumper and starts digging his heels in. Johnny and I tried to get the doors open, but somehow we locked them with the keys in the car.” She can see this happening and was trying to hold off her laughter so he can finish the story.

“We can hear the car groaning and Kane is yelling at us to hurry the fuck up and we were trying our best. I finally got one of the doors open, in time for the bumper to come off the back. Kane hit the mud and the door ripped from my hand as the car lurched forward and hit the dock breaking it free from the bank. Kane sat in the mud and Johnny and I stood there watching the car float out into the lake. Johnny asked what we were gonna do, I was like we’ll just rope it and pull it back. The dock flipped and the car fell in and the cops showed up in time to see it sinking. When Odin showed up Kane was still holding the bumper and the first words out of his mouth were ‘Dad, I can explain’ followed by ‘It’s not what it looks like.’ Still far better than what I said ‘That wasn’t supposed to happen.’” Her shoulders were shaking, and she could no longer control her laughter.

“I bet that won him over?” she asked howling,

“Won me huge brownie points. We sat in the office that night hearing lecture after lecture, from not only Odin, but Edward. They took my licence and Johnny and Kane weren’t allowed to get theirs until we started to show that we could be more responsible and gave us a curfew. Put a damper on dating, let me tell you. Had to be driven everywhere and be home by 9 pm.” Damon replied, laughing.

He was about to ask if she had any stories like that, but stopped himself. A tinge of sadness hit him, she never got the childhood she should have.

“Don’t!” She said, looking at him.

“Don’t what?” He looked at her confused.

“Don’t feel bad or guilty. I might not have had the life you can sit around laughing about, but I like to think there was a purpose to it.” She responded,

“What purpose is that?” He asked,

“So no one else had to go through it.” He sat there truly in awe of her. This tiny little thing went through hell for no reason and she gave it meaning.

“You truly are remarkable, you know that” he said,

“People keep telling me that.” She replied,

“Maybe one day you’ll start to believe it.” he countered,

“Maybe! I’m starving!” She didn’t eat her pancakes this morning, she was too distracted by what she was told that her appetite vanished. But now it was back with a vengeance.

“Me too! What do you want? I’ll go make us something” Damon offered,

“You can cook?” She asked,

“There’s still a lot you don’t know about me” Damon grinned,

“Lydia won’t be upset that you’re spending the day with me?” She asked a little worried that she was taking up all his time.

“She knows who you are and where I am. It was her idea and said she’d come join us later. Why would you ask if she’d be upset?” Damon answered.

“I have just been taking up a lot of everyone’s time lately, and I don’t want to….” He cut her off there

“Did Lacey say something to you?” He knew the others didn’t mind, he spoke to Lydia about it. In fact they wanted to help as much as possible. Plus there was what Carter said about Lacey not really being her friend running through his mind and the look he saw Lacey give her this morning. That wasn’t the first time he saw that look either, he was just now beginning to understand it. That bitch was jealous that there was someone in the house that shined brighter than her. At this point he dared Lacey to say anything to her.

“No, she hasn’t really said anything to me, I don’t think she’s intentionally ignoring me. Truthfully, I haven’t really spoken to her since the bar on Sunday and this morning was the first time I have seen her. I asked her if she wanted to hang out a few times but she’s either busy or doesn’t pick up. The other day Kane suggested I should invite her to watch movies in the room, so I called her in the morning to see if she wanted to later but she said she was busy. I can’t help but think she’s mad at me for something but I don’t know what I did. I’ve spent a lot of time either unconscious or hiding under a desk, so how much trouble could I have possibly gotten into? Or maybe she just really is busy, I can’t imagine it’s easy being pregnant. Probably has a lot to do to get ready for the baby.” Dax explained, by the end she was flabbergasted. He knew a couple of the days Lacey made plans with Lydia and them, but he really couldn’t say what she was busy doing every other time.

“Do you want me to talk to her?” Damon asked, he was trying to control his anger, he didn’t want her to see how upset this was making him. Carter’s words were now screaming in his ears. He’s seen Lacey do this to people, and now she’s doing this to his sister.

“No, it’s ok. I’ll figure it out, but thanks though, I’m sure it’s nothing.” She looked down at her fingers, he would ask Lydia what was going on.

“Ok, I’ll be back with food.” She just nodded, and watched him walk out the door.

Pulling a blanket around her, she looked around the stark room. I should be used to being alone, spent my whole life that way! She thought. It was easy to be excited by the thought of having friends! Looks like it’s just us again cause somehow I screwed it up! But what did we do? You didn’t do anything, I did this! We’re in this together! You are truly my only friend! Makes me the best friend! Makes me the worst one! Don’t say that! Truth hurts. Better a small shot now, then continue lying to myself and get smashed with it later! Fuck her! And anybody else that doesn’t want to be our friend. We’re awesome! Yet we sit alone in the medical ward. Our brother went to get us food! I bet Kane asked him to keep an eye on me! He would have shown up even if he didn’t! How do you know? Because he truly cares for us, they all do, if they didn’t they wouldn’t be doing any of this for us! I guess! No more self doubt, we’re awesome. We have a fire in our soul, I can feel it burning can you? She closed her eyes, breathing in deep. A warmth spread through her, it started small and began to grow, spreading through her. Do you feel it? Yes! We are strong! We’re strong! We are remarkable! We’re remarkable! We are deserving! We’re deserving! We are awesome! We’re awesome! Feeling the fire burning within her, she stood up and moved towards the door. No more hiding! No more hiding! Let’s get the hell out of this room! No more hiding! We are brave! We’re brave! She reached for the door, as something clattered on the other side of it. She jumped back, eyes wide, staring at it. What the fuck was that? I don’t know! We can be brave tomorrow! Yup! Couch? Couch! She nodded and went back to hiding behind the couch, until Damon showed up again. Better safe than sorry! Yup! Even queens have doubts! Thanks!