Raleigh! Raleigh! Get down from there!”

“No!” I giggle in defiance as I stretch my limbs in order to grab hold of higher branches. “Raleigh please, I’m begging you, let’s just go home. You know we aren’t supposed to be here.” Kai moans in desperation, his neck twisting around, checking to see if we had any company.

I stop climbing and glare down at my accomplice even though he isn’t being much of an accomplice right now. “We’ve already come this far and I am not losing a bet to Peter Klumb.” Kai moans some more at my comment but I ignore him and keep climbing.

In Kai’s defense, we shouldn’t actually be here. Here being the memorial garden erected in honor of our late Luna – Michelle Burns. It is a sacred area completely off limits to all Moon Lotus Pack members except our Alpha – Brayden Burns. If we are caught here, we’d be in so much trouble, myself especially since I currently happen to be mid-air in the Elm tree Luna Michelle was buried under. But I stand by what I said earlier, a bet is a bet and there is no way I’m losing to the disgusting likes of Peter Klumb.

“Could you at least climb faster?” Kai hisses in frustration. “Almost there.” I groan as I continue I hoist myself higher and higher. Peter was going to regret ever doubting me in his miserable cretin life. I can see it now me shoving my victory in his face and watching as the condescending expression he usually reserved for me twists into embarrassment.

So what if I couldn’t shift? Not having a wolf never stopped anyone from entering restricted areas, climbing sacred trees and knotting your hair ribbon around the topmost branch as proof of your conquest.

“Oh my God, we’re going to get into so much trouble.” Kai again. “Hey! If you’re not going to help me out like you said you would then maybe you should leave. The last thing I need is you constantly nagging at me.” I glare at him some more. In response, he simply huffs, flips his beautiful curly chestnut brown hair and pouts his pretty lips. For a second, I forget about the dare, about the fact that we’re in forbidden territory, about how I was hanging from Michelle’s Elm because I was trying to prove something. I forget everything and just stare at him, like an idiot .

I stare at him and notice some changes, like how he looks taller now, stronger too, he also looked more alert like he could hear everything, smell everything, I guess him shifting a month ago definitely has something to do with it. Albeit, I also notice that some things haven’t changed. His baby blue eyes, his symmetrical face, how he’s still too much of a scaredy cat and how no matter what he’ll always be by my side…like right now.

Kai’s features changes in what feels like a second and his beautiful blue eyes suddenly fill with fear. “Raleigh for real. Get down from there!”

I roll my eyes, at this point I’m just going to focus completely on my dare and avoid all distractions, no matter how good looking they may be. “I’m being serious Ray. Get down! Now!” He yells some more, his voice frantic, his arms swinging wildly as he waved me down. “Oh my God, you sound like a broken record.” I tsk, untie the pink ribbon holding my long raven black hair in a french plait.

I wrap the piece of cloth around a tree branch. “See? Almost done, once I’m done we can leave.” “Too late.” I hear the shiver in Kai’s voice and I stop mid knot, there was only one person my best friend was this frightened by. I do a slow twirl and come face to face with the stone cold scowl I was expecting. “Father” I mumble, gulping down mouthfuls of air in the process.

Amadeus Marius stares me down and I shrivel up inside, his features scrunching up some more in disgust. “I’m not even going to bother asking what you’re doing in an area you very well know is off limits, neither am I going to ask you why you are clinging on to the tree meant to honor your great Luna, may her beautiful soul rest in perfect peace. I am simply going to ask you to climb down, the same way you climbed up or so help me God. “ He growls, his voice booming like thunder, every word dripping with malice.

I open my mouth to offer some sort of explanation but think better of it and simply obey his command. The air is filled with tension as I quickly maneuver my way through the branches of the huge Elm I had just peaked. My father and Kai watched me in unbearable silence as I swung and scampered, one trembling and the other nearly holding himself together.

Just as I am about to jump safely to the ground, my father grabs my arm in a vice like grip and drags me down the rest of the way, spraining my left ankle in the process and I in perfect reaction to all this scream out in pain.

“Beta Marius.” Kai gasps in shock. “Quiet.” My father sneers, his deep brown hate filled gaze laser focused on my now tear-soaked face. “Father please.” I plead whilst I tried to pull my arm from his grip. “Boy. You will go home and report yourself to your father, don’t omit a single detail.”

Kai stares at me, his eyes filling with tears and pity. I immediately look away, I don’t want his pity, I don’t need anyone to pity me. “Now boy!” Father’s voice rises to a roar and Kai whimpers in submission, he looks at me one more before shifting into a medium sized brown wolf and dashing away.

I squeeze my eyes shut knowing what’s to come now that Father has no one watching him and what he’ll do next. “You’re a disgrace.” He fumes and shoves me away. I somehow manage to keep myself from falling into a pathetic heap on the ground. I look up at him and catch the look of disgust he constantly has on his face whenever I’m in his presence.

“It’s one embarrassment or the other with you. We haven’t even solved the issue of you beating up three boys to a bloody pulp.” “They deserved it." I yell in my defense. And they did, they underestimated me, mocked me, called me weak because unlike them I hadn’t turned yet. The stigma that came with a werewolf not being able to turn into a wolf was horrible, but the stigma that came from being from the Beta Marius family was completely unbearable and I learned early enough not to let anyone push me around, I was a Marius after all.

“You should be proud of me.” I whisper but my father is a wolf and of course, he hears me. “Proud? Proud of what? The fact that you beat three boys up? Is that something to take pride in? I’m sure you feel like you defended yourself perfectly but let me educate you daughter.” He reaches for me and drags me to himself effortlessly, his voice dropping until it was cold enough to send shivers down my spine. “You’re weak. If you could turn like any normal wolf child, no one would have the audacity to stand before you and challenge you. You invited trouble and then welcomed trouble with more trouble. You’re a stain on the family legacy, now when people talk about the Marius family, they don’t talk about the great Beta family of Moon Lotus Pack, they talk about the wolfless daughter.” He sneers and pushes me away once again and this time I fall woefully like the weak embarrassing child he says I am.

“I expect you back home in an hour, once you are back you will go to your room, lock yourself up and start writing the most wonderful apology letter you can craft. Although an apology hardly fixes anything does it?” He glares at me a bit more before he shifts into his powerful gray colored wolf. Once he transforms, his wolf stares me down with murderous eyes and growls at me before sniffing the air and trotting away.

Thinking about how this all happened when I was twelve, six years is pretty ridiculous. My father has never treated me like a daughter, hell he has never treated me like a werewolf and I thought over time I’d get used to it but I was wrong.