Charlie’s POV
When I came around, I could only open one of my eyes, I used the bed to pull myself to my feet with one arm, the other one wouldn’t move and from what I could see with my one good eye, it was also swollen. Staggering into my bathroom, I look at myself in the mirror, my left eye was swollen shut and a deep purple bruise was already forming. Dried blood was smeared across my chin and out of my nose, the clothes I was wearing had been torn, pain erupted from my ribs as I tried to move and I groaned in pain.
I had been hit before but this was different, I had never been beaten into unconsciousness by my father before, this was going to be impossible to hide and not only that, my escape money had completely gone. I didn’t normally cry, usually I would shut down but I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.
I crawled into my bed and messaged Sam on my ridiculously old phone telling him I was ill, I never rang in ill as I always found a way to cover up the marks. He replied back and hoped I would get better soon. I thanked him and closed my one good eye, trying to go back to sleep when a pair of hands grab my ankles and drag me out of my bed. I hit the floor with a dull thud and the pain I was feeling begins radiating through me.
“Get up bitch, you have work to do” His stale breath was close to me and made me urge. I whimper as he grips the arm that wont move and he pulls it hard
“Please” I beg and he cackles at me
“Stupid girl, we should just throw you out”
I keep my mouth shut and clamber onto my feet, swaying as the room spins and struggling to keep my balance, I couldn’t contain it anymore and puked all over my father’s feet, he was livid and hit me again. I yelled out in pain as everything went black.
When the room came back into focus, I was once again on my own, I moved as quick as I could towards my door and slammed it shut, locking every lock I could. A part of me wants to call the police but I will probably be killed before they get here. I don’t know what to do, one of my eyes is swollen shut and I can barely move without excruciating pain searing through my body.
I fish the phone out of my pillow case, loads of texts and missed calls from Sam, I don’t understand why. I had already let him know that I wouldn’t be in. I read through the texts, one caught my eye ‘Prince Alexander is looking for you’ I panic, why would he be looking for me, had his family got food poisoning and he wanted to blame me. I keep reading all the messages until I get to the final one
‘I gave him your address, he should be around in about twenty minutes’
I freeze and check the time it was sent, Alexander will be here any minute, no sooner than I thought it, the door bell went. Although my bedroom was at the top of the house, it was still above the front door. I move over to the window that would allow me to see below, the window was slightly open and I couldn’t hear anything, which either meant my parents had passed out again or I was home alone.
I keep still and quiet behind the curtain when he looks directly up at my window, it looks like he is frowning. How does he know I am even up here, Alexander rings the door bell twice more before walking back down the drive and climbing into a shiny range rover.
I sigh and shuffle back to my bed, I didn’t even have any paracetamol on me to help with the pain. A knock at the window scares the crap out of me and a foot starts coming in through the open window. His scent hits me and I know its Alexander, I don’t try to hide, where would I go, I have no where and no one.
He stands there staring at me, taking in the state of me “Oh Charlie” and he steps towards me. I don’t know why but I feel oddly safe with him and I let him take my hands and wince as he pulls up my obvious broken arm.
I yelp “I’m so sorry Charlie” he sounded genuine but could I trust him. “We need to get you to a hospital”.
I pulled my hands away from him “No, they will kill me” he looked sad and when I thought he was going to take me anyway, he surprised me by asking when I was eighteen “Uh, next Saturday” he nodded his head “Only six days, come and stay with me until then”
With a painful shake of my head, “I, I can’t do that. They will only find me and drag me back”
“Are you forgetting who my parents are?” I must of looked confused because he continued to tell me that no harm would come to me under his parents protection. Alexander gently cupped my face “Charlie, you are not safe here”
“The money is gone” the words barely come out as the swelling spreads in my face.
“You are coming with me, whether you like it or not” He climbs out the window again and comes back moments later with a large suitcase “Where are your thing’s? I will pack them” I point towards the drawers and he moves towards them and starts with the bottom one. He pulls it out and then moves on to the next one, what I failed to mention was that I only had a small amount of clothing in the top drawer.
He says nothing and moves my clothes from the drawer to the suitcase, he grabs the crappy coat that’s hanging on my bed post and goes into the bathroom and gets my essentials. I watch as Alexander loads my things into the suitcase, it barely takes up half the suitcase. He closes it and takes it along with my school bag to the window, I wondered how he was getting in and out, it was a long drop and there were no trees near to my house.
As he goes to climb back into my bedroom, my father was banging on my bedroom door once again.
“You better get your ass out here Charlotte” I didn’t answer “Open this door now, I know you have a guy in there, I can smell him”.
To my complete horror, Alexander walks across my room and opens the door to my very drunk father, I had never seen my father’s eyes so dark. Is this what the drugs and alcohol were doing to him.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” My father roared at Alexander
Alexander said nothing and brushed his ash blonde hair out of his face whilst my father continued to shout, my father actually looked quite small in comparison to Alexander, it was only now I was noticing how broad Alexander was, his muscles visible under the black shirt he was wearing.
“I will be taking Charlie with me, you are not to have any contact with her or you will hear from my lawyer”
I couldn’t believe how casual this guy was being with the man that had beaten me to a pulp. My father put his fist through the wall in anger but once again Alexander just ignored it and walked back to me, carefully picking me up he murmurs, “Lets get you checked out”.
As he carried me towards the doorway, my father surprisingly moved out of the way and did not even try to put up a fight. Alexander carried me out the house and carefully put me in the passenger side and pulled out his phone which reminded me I had forgotten mine “My phone” I say quietly.
Alexander carefully places his hand on my leg “We will get you a new one” he then begins talking into his phone, giving my details and a description of me before hanging up
“Please, no hospitals” I plead with Alexander
He sighs “It won’t be, it’s a Doctor that is a friend of the families and it is not the main hospital we are going to” He takes one final look at me and starts up the car “Get some sleep, it will be a long drive”. Alexander puts some music on and I’m grateful that I can finally get some sleep and rest my head against the cold leather of the seat.
Alexander’s POV Charlie was covered in cuts, bruises and swellings. I’m certain she had broke something. I was willing to kill her father on the spot but hearing Charlie’s cries made me stop, my wolf just wanted to attend to her needs. Instead I threatened him, it was obvious he knew I was a wolf as he screwed his nose up at me, sniffing me, he knew I did not mean a lawyer. As I slipped my arms carefully under Charlie’s body, I felt every little bit of pain she was feeling, I wish she was healing but the long term effects of wolfsbane meant it could take years for it to leave her system. I held her close to me and charged towards the man everyone once new as Damon Blackheart. He did not hesitate to move out of the way as I carried my mate towards him, allowing us to pass without even challenging me. Moving down the stairs carefully I noticed how the house stank, stale beer, cigarette smoke and urine. I could not understand how my mate had put up with it for s
Max’s POV When my parents returned without my brother, I was not surprised, he had probably found a girl to follow after, what shocked me was when my mother announced Alexander had actually found a girl he really liked- his mate. They announced that Alexander had stayed behind whilst they had been called back for some urgent pack business. He wanted to keep an eye on her as she was not yet eighteen and therefore had no clue she was his mate. No doubt he would try and rub it in my face. My mother looked at me expectantly “It will be your turn soon” I shake my head at her “You know I do not believe in being mated to someone” My parents had been trying to help us find our mates since we turned sixteen and whilst my father had given up after the hundredth time of telling him I did not believe in destined mates, my mother still hoped that one day it would happen. Why she could not just be happy that I was one of the youngest doctors ever I do not k
Charlie’s POV Pain radiated through every inch of me and I struggled to sleep, groaning every time we hit a pot hole or a bump in the road, Alexander apologised each time he heard me. I tried to sleep, instead my thoughts drifted, a part of me felt guilty for leaving my parents behind. Yes my father would beat me, but I wondered how they would cope without me, I did so much for them to ensure they stayed alive. It was like Alexander could read my thoughts “You do not need to feel guilty” I could feel him looking at me “They are cruel to you, they do not deserve you”. I finally open my eyes at his comment and frown at him “They gave me a home, they could have kicked me out” “Charlie, your father almost killed you” He pulled the car in “No he wouldn't, I would have been fine” I was fighting back the tears now, some part of me knew Alexander might be right but it did not change how I felt. His bright green eyes had a darkness to them. “If
Alexander’s POVAfter continuously nagging Max, he finally allowed me to take Charlie home after she had spent one night in the hospital, he said he would need to check on her and make sure she was healing and I didn’t care, I just wanted her to be close to me at all times. Max did protest a little suggesting that she would be better off in hospital because of the type of injuries, but that was no way to treat my future mate.Charlie would be staying in my room, I set up a pull-out bed for myself and let her have the large king sized bed to herself, plus it would minimise any movement to her and hopefully allow her to heal quicker. Max did not have a clue how long the effects of the wolfsbane would last and we were basically treating her like a human healing.She did not stir when I moved her nor did her eyes flicker open and I thoroughly enjoyed holding her close to me and feel her warmth. I prayed to the Moon Goddess and requested that she let Char
Charlie’s POV I sunk into silence as Alexander flitted in and out of the bedroom, sometimes with snacks other times just to check on me. I was lost in my own thoughts, mulling over my life with my parents. My birth mother died just before my tenth birthday and from what I know and remember, my father did not take long to remarry. Memories of my birth mother were fading and i was finding it harder and harder to remember everything about her, her scent, her fashion sense even how she looked. I'm not sure I even had a clear image of her anymore. When my father remarried, I was the last thing on his mind, I was always a burden to them and honestly I did wonder why they kept me around, they could have quite easily given me up to the system but I guess it was to always clean up after them. “Do you really think he would have killed me?” Alexander has come back in the room to find me out of bed once again. I was sat in his bay window looking out on to the lar
Charlie’s POV When I opened my eyes again, I was still in the dining room, only I was laid on the floor, with a very soft cushion under my head. A groan leaves my lips, what had happened and as I try to sit up, I am met once again with Alexander’s silky smooth voice “Steady, you should really stay laid down until the doctor can see you” “Nonsense Alexander, a good cup of tea is perfect for shock” the Queen and Alexander were standing either side of me. I blinked a few times as an image of my father came back into my head “Did he…. Did my dad…. What happened?” Alexander stared at his mother as I continued to blink away the floaters that had formed in my vision. “Oh my goodness dear, you gave us all a fright, you fell off your chair and bumped your head quite hard on the oak table” the Queen began fussing and poured a cup of tea as Alexander helped me to my feet. Glancing around the room, everything appeared to be in its correct place, including the doo
Max’s POVCharlie had still been out cold every time I had visited her to change her bandages or her fluids bag and each time I saw her, the emotions I felt were overwhelming, the sparks that flew when I touched her skin were electric, it was like we were somehow already connected but she had yet to meet me.My mother stopped by the hospital and asked if I would join them for a family dinner, letting me know that Charlie had woken and she would be joining them too. Everything inside me told me to go including my wolf Ripper, he was desperate to be near his mate, but how could we go if she was already mated to my brother?!.I politely declined my mother and she looked disappointed, I knew exactly why she wanted me to go, to show off the future Alpha and the youngest doctor as well as to show Charlie who had helped save her.Ripper was literally shouting at me and it was taking a lot to shut him up, he hated the fact I had been so against believing in
Charlie’s POV“He is locked up here?, in your house?”“Not exactly in the house, he is in the dungeons”I just did not know what to say as I stared at Alexander open mouthed. “dungeons?” I mutter quietly to myself“Well yes, all packs have some sort of dungeon” he shrugs and stands looking out of one of the bedroom windows.Alexander did not seem to understand that this was a lot of information to take in for someone that had been kept out of the loop for the last seven nearly eight years of her life.“Why can I not remember?”Alexander leans against the wall and crosses hi muscly arms across his chest “That we do not know”My head was banging and I started to feel sick, pain radiating from my lower stomach “I think I need to see the doctor”Alexander clears the room quickly and looks closely at me “Are you okay?”