Chapter 12

• After taking a shower and getting ready for bed that evening, I sat at my bedroom desk and browsed through all of the pictures on my phone of my friends from my dad's pack. I could not risk calling them, and I knew they wouldn't risk speaking to me now. I wasn't going to do that to them because it would only make them angry with my father. Although I really wanted to contact them to check on their well-being or hear their voices, I knew it wouldn't be worth the trouble. However, I was beginning to miss them—miss my previous life in every way. I was beginning to miss my life in general. I was missing simple things like going to school, graduating, and preparing for college the following year. Suddenly, everything that I used to refer to as "crap" didn't seem like crap anymore. In a way I hadn't previously recognized, it was freedom, structure, and normalcy.
• Now, however, everything was different. I'm now confined to a packhouse with strangers around me because I'm too scared to approach a pack of which I am now the Luna. Despite knowing I was running out of excuses to avoid them, I was still afraid. And I was aware that attending college was now totally out of the question. As soon as I got here, that dream had silently slipped through my fingers. I am unable to leave the territory. Not right now, especially since there's a very real chance that my father is keeping an eye on the area and waiting for any opportunity to exploit me. Most likely, all he's waiting for is the chance to bring me back and reclaim what he believes is still his.
• I was still sitting there when Ethan finally entered my room and took a seat on the foot of my bed. His tone was calm and inquisitive as he asked me what I was doing. After I showed him my phone, he began to browse the pictures I had been looking at for what seemed like an eternity. I was filled with memories of happiness, laughter, and the carefree youth I had previously overlooked.