A Wolf's Duty (8 page)

“I hear that you got quite
an interesting looking trinket, this week.”

“I don’t know what you’re
talking about. Look I just want to go home. It’s the weekend, now
let’s just leave it ok?”

“No, it’s not ok. What I
want I get and I want your bracelet,” she shrieked, tugging back
the sleeve on Alex’s shirt to reveal the offending item. “I heard
it’s platinum and judging from the shine of those stones, they’re
real and really expensive, so I want you to hand it
over.”

Snatching her arm back,
Alex glared at her. “You’re not serious.”

“Oh, but I am.”

Running her
fingers over the intricate carving, she felt her anger rising
becoming a living breathing thing, vicious in its desire to cause
her enemy harm. As her anger rose she felt the edges of her vision
become hazy before tinting red.
How dare
this spoilt brat demand my bracelet? There’s no way in hell that
she’s going to get it from me. Tobias gave this to me.
Her glare intensified as hatred filled her eyes
while her living anger struggled to find an outlet. “I’m serious
too, deadly in fact. If you think you can take this, then you’re in
for a world of pain.”

“I’m going to get it from
you one way or another,” Emily snarled, her eyes fixated on the
glittering gems of the wolf’s eyes.

Alex opened her mouth to
reply but the words stuck in her throat as she felt Tobias’
presence. She watched as though in slow motion as the double doors
of the building opened and he walked in smiling. Her anger
immediately dissipated and she felt the familiar heat that Tobias’
mere presence created, rush through her. “Xandria, I’ve been
looking for you.” Striding forward he easily parted the gathered
crowd. “I wanted to talk to you about something important, are you
finished for the day?”

She nodded dumbly while he
grasped her arm and manoeuvred her out of the building. “I thought
I’d walk you to work today,” he continued leading her onto the
street having apparently missed the tense situation between her and
Emily.

“Oh?” she replied
distracted.

“Yes. Why? Did I do
something wrong?”

Snapping out of her daze,
she smiled at him, silently thanking him for his silent
intervention. “No you didn’t do anything, don’t worry about it ok?”
He nodded. “What was it you wanted to talk to me about
then?”

“I have to go away for a
few days.”

Her smile faltered before
vanishing altogether and Tobias found himself wishing he had simply
told her the truth rather than this charade, but the path had been
laid and he saw no choice but to follow it now.

“Where are you
going?”

“Russia,” he
responded easily having now booked the plane tickets.
It’ll take me at least two days to run across
Europe at night by then I should be myself again.
“I’ll be back by Monday evening, ok?”

“Yeah sure, what’s in
Russia by the way?”

“Business.”

“You know, I’ve never
actually asked you what it is you do for a living.”

“True,” he replied,
continuing to stroll down the road towards the small coffee shop
where Alex worked.

“Well?” she
demanded.

“Well what?”

“What exactly do you
do?”

“I work for my family’s
business.”

“And what exactly is
that?” she pressed, jogging to keep up with his longer
stride.

I don’t want
to lie to my mate.
His inner wolf agreed
and he found his mouth answering her with a semi truth. “I
specialise in people management.”

Her smile returned when he
answered her question fully. “Now that wasn’t so hard now was
it?”

“I guess it wasn’t. Now
about Russia…” Her smile faltered. “Let’s say I get you something
special while I’m out there, yeah?”

“No.” Tobias smiled
knowingly, the tone of her voice telling him that he could wear her
down and eventually get her to accept the gift.

It’s amazing
what you can learn about someone in just a week of nights.
He smiled to himself breathing in deep to reassure
himself with her odd scent.
Then again,
it’s amazing what you can still not know after three years of being
inside someone’s head.

Chapter
Seven

The weekend had
crawled by without Tobias around. She had gone to work every day
until she’d exhausted herself and then proceeded to crawl home
where Fred had taken to staring at her for prolonged periods of
time. She briefly wondered if he’d found out that she’d snuck out
every night during the week to see Tobias before dismissing the
idea. If he’d found out she would have already received a beating,
Fred wasn’t known for his patience. Monday had finally rolled round
and Alex found herself grinning wildly as she awoke.
Tobias gets back tonight.
She allowed herself a small giggle as she clutched her pillow
close. Her laughter died as Fred flung open her bedroom door,
barrelling in, obviously displeased with something. His small eyes
flitted over the room before finding her curled on her
bed.

“Get up!” he screamed.
Reacting on instinct she quickly ejected herself from the bed,
standing before him dressed in her small pyjamas. “Did you know?”
he demanded, his tone expecting her to answer his vague question.
Confused as to what had occurred to put him into such a state, she
said nothing, allowing the silence to answer for her. “I asked you
a question girl, I damn well expect an answer. Did you know?” he
asked again, enunciating each word.

“I don’t know what you’re
talking about,” she replied.

His eyes left her and
became riveted on the fragile red and white orchid Tobias had given
her. “Where did you get that?” he demanded, inclining his head at
the flower. Again she let silence grow between them. “There are no
flowers in my house. I won’t have that bitch’s things in my house!”
he screamed moving towards the small table where the flower
resided.

Concern for her
delicate flower overcame her hard-learned instincts and she placed
herself between her rampaging father and the plant. “No,” she
muttered defiantly, meeting his gaze before scanning his face. The
vein on his head was engorged and throbbing.
Now I’m in for it, what on earth is wrong with me?

“How dare you speak to me
like that!” The slap came immediately, followed by the punching and
the kicking. She felt her eyes growing heavy as her mind tried to
distance her from the pain, but the fragile orchid was still safely
on the table and she felt a small smile grow on her face despite
her situation.

The beating continued, for
how long she couldn’t be sure but eventually she felt Fred’s hand
against her throat choking her as he pulled her up to stand on her
feet. She felt herself sway as her battered body pleaded with her
to fall to the ground, but she continued to stand, she at least
deserved to hear what had set him off.

“Your mother’s solicitor
left us a message yesterday.” Her bruised lip prevented her from
speaking and she suppressed the urge to spit the blood she knew was
in her mouth into his face. Instead she braced herself against the
pain and allowed him to continue his rant. “I didn’t even know she
had a lawyer, but apparently she did, and money, lots of money.
Money that I never saw a penny of. Money that if she had her way I
still wouldn’t see a penny of. She left the money for you.” Her
eyes widened at his statement but she remained silent allowing him
to continue. “Yeah, she left all of her money in trust for you once
you turned twenty one. The lawyer just thought we should know as
your birthday is in a few weeks. I’ll let you know now, that money
is rightfully mine and as soon as you get access to it, you’re
going to give it all to me. Get dressed and get out.” He turned and
left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Crumbling to the floor,
she choked back tears before crawling to her bed and retrieving the
picture of her and Natasha together. Turning the small frame over,
she unlocked it, removing the back and finding the last message her
mum had left her before taking her own life. Unfolding the small
piece of paper with trembling fingers, she reread the message,
understanding quickly dawning.

To my most
precious flower, my Alexandria,

Honey, we both
know that I’m not strong. This life has become too much for me to
bear but you have to continue for both of us. I want better for you
than I had in all aspects of the word. I know that this probably
isn’t the right time for me to do this, you’ve just started
university and you could probably do with some motherly advise but
I can’t continue to live like this. I want you to go and finish, do
well. There’s so much I haven’t had the chance to tell you about
yourself and with this I won’t be able to but I’m sure you’ll work
it all out, I managed to do it after all. Alex, if life with your
father gets to be too much don’t quit like I have, just make it to
twenty one and then you won’t need to be with him anymore, you can
escape unlike me. I’ll help you make it in the outside world. Just
remember that I’m always with you and you just have to go to our
special place to remember that.

I love you,
always.

Mum

Xxx

The tears that
she had been trying to hold back burst their dam and she found that
she couldn’t stop their onslaught.
I’ll
never give you that money. Mum left it for me so that I could be
free of you and I have every intention of escaping from this hell
and leaving you here to rot
. As the tears
continued, she felt the familiar warmth of Tobias’ mind flooding
her and enveloping her in its strength. Anger and determination
replaced the previous fear that Fred had inspired and she found
herself rising from the floor.
If I’m
going to do well at university I’d better show up,
she giggled.

She showered
quickly despite the numerous bruises that now covered her body,
bandaging her injured ribs with practiced ease. Dressing with
similar efficiency in loose clothing that hid her injured arms and
legs, she found that she could now move easier, and braced herself
for the day ahead. Gently touching the petals of her orchid, she
breathed in deep and found herself remembering her mother’s
garden.
You were right mum. I can feel you
right here.
Giving the flower a final
caress, she turned and headed for the door grabbing her bag along
the way.

She made it to
the university campus in good time considering her injuries,
smiling the entire way; overjoyed with the unexpected surprise her
mother had left for her. Checking her watch she realised that she
would be early once again for the second time in a week.
Couldn’t you have gotten me up later for a
beating Fred?
she sighed, but continued
limping ever closer to the college building, her arms still wrapped
around her injured ribs.
Almost a week
with no beatings and it’s as if I’ve forgotten what they were
like.
Chuckling to herself, she tried to
make light of the situation she had once again found herself in.
The forced laughter died instantly as she saw Emily waiting for her
at the entrance to the building she needed to enter for her
class.
Here we go again.
She thought to herself but continued on, head held
high in defiance.

“Alexandria.”

“Not now Emily. I’m not
dealing with you today.” Shoving past her, she successfully entered
the building only for Emily to quickly catch up.

“We still have unfinished
business from Friday.”

“We have absolutely
nothing to discuss Emily, nothing.” Striding forward she began to
walk up the stairs and along the empty corridor, with no particular
destination in mind. Emily’s hand on her injured shoulder once
again prevented her from moving; she winced as her nails began to
dig in before forcefully shrugging the hand off. The sudden
movement caused her ribs to protest and she sucked in a deep breath
unprepared to allow her enemy to witness her weakness.

“There’s no one to help
you now Alex, so why don’t we just skip right to the end where you
give me what I want?”

“Like I said on Friday,
there’s no way that’s going to happen, so I advise you to get over
yourself for once and stop acting like such a spoilt
brat.”

The slap came so suddenly
she didn’t have time to brace herself against it, Emily’s palm
caused the stinging in her face to return and she felt as though
the skin would tear under the pressure. Another slap came
immediately after and she staggered under Emily's onslaught.
“You’re going to give me what I want,” she laughed as her palms
continued their assault. Alex felt her eyes begin to water as the
pain increased, her arms ached from Fred’s earlier attack and she
couldn’t lift them to defend herself. A quick jab to the stomach
had her on the floor, curling up defensively.

“Well what do you know?”
Emily cackled, “It seems like you were all talk and no substance.”
Kneeling down, she began to work at the bracelet’s
clasp.