Faithfully Fractured: Shattered Series, #2

Like the ones who lead us this way,

Eventually we succumb to hate,

Not that it’s our chosen goal,

but that’s just how our story unfolds.

Drastic?

At the least.

Maybe we’ll find the missing peace,

To put us on a different path,

May we have solace at last?

Unless these two paths clash....

-Nicole Minuck

Chapter One

Adalyn

Slamming the paint bucket down on the floor in my bedroom, I let out a grunt. It is time to get rid of this hideous purple color, it’s too bright and cheery, and it reminds me of Sam. Popping the lid off the can, I begin mixing. I want to erase it all. Sam, Jackson, my old life, all of it. It isn’t my life anymore. Now my life consists only of darkness.

I pour the paint into the tray and dip in my roller. Once covered in paint, I begin the process of erasing it all.

Gray? Jess raises her brow in disapproval while carrying in a box and setting it on the floor. Were they all out of black? she asks sarcastically.

Haha. I roll my eyes at her. I need a change. Besides, gray goes with all different kinds of décor; you’ll see.

As long as you’re not turning into one of those goth chicks. Her face scrunches up.

No way. I wrinkle my nose.

Have you talked to Miah yet?

No. I haven’t spoken to any of them since the night Luca’s crazy mother tried to kill me. They hadn’t come back to school or even graduated. But Miah has made several attempts at contacting me; I don’t want to talk to her or any of them. They’d lied to me, and I almost died because of it.

I thought I saw her, Logan, and Sebastian outside the apartment a couple of times. Since coming home a couple of days ago to help Jess move back into my old house, I know I’ve seen them. And I know exactly what they are doing, protecting me, on Luca’s order.

Luca and his friends came into my life when I was at my lowest. We built a bond; we got close. I was beginning to heal, to live again and to be happy. He even stole the one thing no one else has been able to have, my heart. Then he demolished it. When Jess and I saw his house on fire that night, I was terrified I lost him. My world stopped. I couldn’t breathe. He meant everything to me, yet he didn’t have the common decency to let me know he was okay.

I think gray is a great color. Caleb walks in smiling. Damn Lycanthrope hearing. To think of the things they must overhear on a daily basis is disturbing.

Grab a brush. You can help with the trim. I laugh tossing one at him.

Caleb is the only one I am talking to, and we never talk about Lycans or my old friends. I had caught him outside my dorm room building a little over a month ago, and he’d confessed he was on watch. Since then we’ve been hanging out. It’s nice to have a friend, and Caleb has never lied to me, on the contrary, sometimes he is too honest.

Jess rolls her eyes and shakes her head. I’ll be unpacking downstairs if you need me.

I dip my roller back in the paint and smash it onto my wall. Yup.

So, painting it is. Caleb picks up the brush I threw at him and rolls up his sleeves, revealing his muscular arms.

You don’t have to help, Caleb; if you have other plans, you can go. I’m always trying to give him a way out, to go off and do something other than protect me. I don’t want him to feel obligated to me. I don’t think he does, maybe in the beginning he did, but we’ve become close since then. I’m more of a friend than an inconvenience; at least I hope that’s the case. 

Plans? He arches a brow. Painting is the best thing I’ve got going right now.

You look tired; have you had any sleep yet today? I watch him from the corner of my eye. His body tightens up at the mention of sleep.

Nope, not since I got here last night. I’m fine, he says coolly, but the dark circles around his eyes and the sloppy movement of the paintbrush tell me otherwise. He’s exhausted.

All this is unnecessary. I don’t need everyone going out of their way to watch me. I’m not a child. Though the thought that Sienna can come for me at any moment terrifies me, I still hate the feeling of being babysat.

No you’re not, but you’re also not as strong as a Lycanthrope, are you?

No, I huff. I hate that I can’t protect myself.

Caleb pulls a joint from his pocket and lights it.

Caleb! I run over to my bedroom door and close it, then I move to open the window. At least try to hide it while my aunt’s here.

Caleb shrugs his shoulders. You want some?

No, thanks. I shake my head. You’re such a bad influence. I laugh.

Hey, someone’s got to help you have fun. He smiles half-heartedly. I tried smoking once, and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. The whole time I felt like I wasn’t in control and I never want to feel like that again. Especially not right now. I need control, or else I’ll lose it. But Caleb doesn’t smoke to get high and have fun; it’s to help him stay calm and sleep. I don’t know what he’s seen in his life, but it has to be pretty bad. Half the time when he gets to sleep, he looks worse when he wakes up. It’s as if sleep hurts him more than staying awake for several days at a time does. With the night terrors I’ve been having, I can relate.

I take the brush from his hand. Why don’t you get some rest, you look exhausted. I’ll finish up here.

Are you sure? He runs his hand through his hair. I don’t mind helping. His voice conveys his uneasiness.

Caleb, I’m fine. Now go. I point to my bed.

Caleb huffs. Kicking off his huge boots, he falls onto my bed, burying his face into my pillow. His feet hang off the end of the bed, and I laugh. Caleb is so tall and built that my bed looks tiny under him. Jess laughs when she sees us walking next to each other. He towers over me and truly looks like a bodyguard. Minutes later, he is snoring and I return to painting.

After about an hour, I finish painting the entire room. I decide to help Jess and let Caleb get some undisturbed rest, not that I had woken him. Seeing the dark rings under his eyes fills me with so much guilt, knowing it’s because of me. Where’s Caleb? Jess asks when I enter the living room. We didn’t have much stuff to bring to the house but what we did have she already unpacked.

Sleeping. I plop down on the couch. I was going to see if you needed any help, but I guess not. I motion to the clean room.

Nope, all done. She smiles. I’m glad we did this.

Me too. I’m happy that she’s managed to get everything cleaned up that’d been destroyed when Kieran and his gang ransacked the place. She made sure of it before she let us move in. The doorbell ringing pulls me from my thoughts.

I’ll get it. I jump up not wanting the noise to wake Caleb. I pull open the heavy door, and like a reflex I’ve recently acquired, I slam it shut. How many times will I do this before I finally give in and hear her out?

Who was that? Caleb asks as he descends the stairs. I should have expected he wouldn’t sleep for long.

Miah. I walk down the hall into the kitchen.

Wordlessly, he follows me and leans against the counter. You know you should cut her some slack. He narrows his eyes. She obviously misses you. He sits on one of the stools at the counter, holding his head in his hands.

She should have told me the truth. I fill a glass with water and offer one to Caleb, who waves it away.

You know there’s more to it than that. Caleb slaps his hand on the counter, clearly annoyed.

Seems pretty cut and dry to me, I mumble.

I set the now empty glass on the counter harder than necessary. I guess I can understand not telling me about you guys being Lycans. I understand protecting yourselves and everything. What I can’t understand is how they all saw me grieve for my parents and not one of them said anything. They all knew what Sienna did, or had done, but they didn’t tell me. Tears fill my eyes, but I pull them back. That is why I’m upset. I point my finger at him as if to will it into his mind.

You still talk to me, he says evenly as he looks down at his hands.

Yes, but you haven’t lied to me.

His eyes meet mine, confidence shining in them. But I would’ve when the time came. I know he is right; he would have lied to me. He just never got the chance.

I cross my arms over my chest, lifting my chin in a challenge. Would you lie to me now? I already know the answer, but I need to prove my point.

He’s quiet for a moment while he rubs his chin between his thumb and finger. No, I don’t think I would.

See, I smile and poke him in the chest, that’s why we’re friends.

Miah wouldn’t either. Not now. His eyes find mine again. You already know everything.

I do not want to have this debate with him. Mostly because he’s right, but I am too angry and hurt to believe it.

Are you hungry? I move toward the cupboard and open it.

I have to go. I wrinkle my face displeased. I like Caleb’s company. It keeps my mind from thinking about all the other things that should be plaguing me.

See you tomorrow? I turn to face him.

Yes, ma’am. He winks before exiting out the door in the kitchen.

I continue to search through the cupboards before moving to the pantry. Jess still hasn’t done much shopping, and the options are limited. My stomach growls, I’m beginning to feel ravenous. If Jess doesn’t fill these cupboards by the next time I come home, I’m going to have to make it my job to do the shopping from now on. I swear, the woman can live on milk, bread, and coffee if need be. Not me, I love food.

Did Caleb leave? Jess asks walking into the kitchen.

You just missed him, I say closing the pantry door.

Poor guy looks like he could use a break. Luca’s had him watching you around the clock. Her brow creases with concern.

Yes, he has. I slump against the counter top. I don’t want Luca to have other people looking out for me, I rather it was him. I still can’t believe he hasn’t tried to reach out to me to make things right. Or apologize. I guess he meant more to me than I meant to him.

He should give poor Caleb a night off and let someone else step in. I wonder why he hasn’t. Maybe it’s because he knows you’ll turn the others away. She looks at me, eyes narrowed, daring me to challenge her. She’s right, that is probably one of his reasons. I’d chased the others away when we lived in the apartment, but it was also, I guess, because they are spread so thin. Luca only has a couple of people to watch out for Sienna and watch me. Since I only let Caleb in my house, he is probably having the others look for her. I shudder at the thought of Sienna; she terrifies me. As much as I hate Luca having others protect me, I am also grateful. I saw Miah walking away from our house. It looked like she was crying. Jess puts her hands on her hips and narrows her eyes some more. She’s hoping to make me feel guilty, and it works. As upset as I am, it is not my goal to hurt her.

Do you really have to slam the door in her face? She lets out a heavy sigh. I shrug my shoulders. I know you’ve been hurt a lot this year, and some of that came from your supposed ‘best friend,’ but Addy, Miah is not Sam.

Sam had been my best friend since we were little. On the night of the accident—no, not an accident, murder—I found Sam in the woods with my boyfriend Jackson, having sex. Turns out, she’d secretly loathed me all this time. In the end, she did me a favor; I got to see them for who they truly were.

After I’d seen them together, I called my parents to come get me. On our way home we crashed, my parents died. Sienna, Luca’s mother, accused my father of being responsible for her husband’s death and caused my parents’ crash. Aiden Brooks was helping my father, who was creating a cloaking cell to hide the Lycanthrope gene. My father wanted to help the Lycans, not hurt them.

As for who killed Aiden, that is still a mystery. It makes me angry that anyone could think my father was capable of murder. Even Luca considered it. He probably still does. I never got the chance to show him the files that proved our fathers’ alliance and my father’s innocence.

I know she’s not, but Sam and I were friends for a very long time and look what she did to me. How am I supposed to trust Miah after she withheld things from me? How do I know it won’t be hard for Miah to hurt me like Sam?

Jess squares her shoulders and says, Loyalty. I raise my brow waiting for her to continue. Sam was never loyal to you. She was envious and secretly loathed you. Miah may have not told you about the accident, but that doesn’t mean she’s not a loyal friend. You have to understand that every Lycan answers to its pack. Every pack has an Alpha, and every Alpha gives his, or her, orders. Miah wasn’t allowed to tell you, not that she didn’t want to. It’s not like you and I, she gestures between us, –disobeying and doing whatever we want. We have freedom. In a pack, you don’t.

But Luca disobeyed his mother; he tried to stop the others from causing the crash, I argue.

Look what that got him, Addy! Excommunication and a war with his former pack. Jess’s brows draw together and her mouth frowns. She’s right, again. Maybe I have been too hard on Miah.

I get it.

You do? Her voice goes an octave higher, and her brows shoot up. She must not have expected to get through to me. I can be stubborn at times, but I also know when to admit I am wrong.

Yes, I do.

Well... okay then. The corner of her mouth curves. Now that that’s settled... pizza for dinner?

I laugh at her ability to jump topics so quickly. Sounds delicious. I’m going to go take a hot bath and try to get some of this paint off me. I pick at the gray paint stuck to my fingers. Let me know when it gets here. I head for the stairs, and I swear I hear her say, "Victory," when I’m halfway down the hall.

∞

I’ll give him one thing, though, he picked himself a hot little thing, and you’re feisty. I like feisty. He licks my cheek.

Get off of me! I scratch at his face, but he holds my wrists tighter. I am going to enjoy ruining you. Luca will never want you again, no human will. His hand slides up my thigh. That’s if I decide to let you live, which I most likely won’t. His hand pulls at the top of my dress...

A bloodcurdling scream erupts from my throat as I shriek, Get off of me! My eyes fly open, and so does my bedroom door.

Adalyn! Jess holds my head tightly against her chest. It’s just a dream. Shh. It’s okay. She rocks back and forth. My breathing is ragged, it’s hard to take a full breath of air. My heart pounds in my ears. I close my eyes to calm myself. It’s just a dream, Jess coos.

But it’s not just a dream, it happened. Now it plagues my dreams most nights and those nights I wake up terrified. While Sienna scares me, I am glad James is dead; he terrifies me compared to her. I will never be able to understand the darkness in him; and now, even in death, he still haunts me.

I’m okay. The words come out hoarse and uneven.

No, you’re not, Addy. No matter how hard you try to convince us otherwise, you’re not. A sob leaves her, and it’s all I can do to hug her. I haven’t been okay for a long time, and she knows it. I don’t know how I should feel about it. Relieved maybe? At least I don’t have to pretend anymore.

I’ll be okay, I promise. You won’t lose me again. I know what scares her when she sees me like this, but I’ll never let myself get that low again. I’m trying to deal with it the best I can. I started summer classes at college, I made friends. Well, two friends. I’m doing what any person should do to move on with their life. It’s just taking me a lot longer to actually do the ‘moving on’ part with Sienna still out there, hell-bent on killing me.

Chapter Two

Adalyn

H ow long will it be before you can come home again? Jess asks as I put the last suitcase in my new black Jeep Wrangler. Jess insisted that I use some of my inheritance money to buy a vehicle that is safe so I can come see her more often. Thille University is only two hours away, but without a vehicle, I’d only be able to come home on long breaks. Jess refuses to let that happen. Since starting the summer program, I’ve come home almost every weekend.

Summer classes end in two weeks then I’m all yours again, but only for three weeks. Then I officially start my freshman year of college. I hug her then climb into the driver’s seat.

Is Caleb meeting you there? Jess asks.

I think so. I usually don’t see him when he’s on watch. That’s the point. He watches me from afar. She rolls her eyes, and I can’t help laughing; mocking her is always fun. "Plus the separation is good. I don’t know if I can handle