Broken Together

Chapter One: Hope

~Aurora~

For as long as I can remember, I have been in pain. Everything hurts, everything always hurts. I miss my mom. I miss my life before all of this. I still dream of those six years with her. Six years without him. My mom was kind and beautiful. It has never made sense to me, how she could love a man like him. A man she left me with. A man she had to leave me with. When I was six, my mom died in a car accident. She went to pick up my birthday cake from the bakery. She said she would be right back. The next thing I knew, policemen were at our door, trying to convince me that she was gone and that she would not be coming back. They told me, that they were sorry for my loss. I have wondered for years If she saw it coming. If she felt pain. If she felt anything at all. Every time he hits me, I think of her pain. How mine could be nothing compared to hers. So I take it because I have to. Because I know nothing else. 

I am brought out of my thoughts when I hear Tom yelling at me and see him storming towards me. Chills run through my body and I freeze.

"Where the fuck is my beer? I fucking told you to bring me my beer and here you are doing nothing like you always do!" His hand raises and I flinch.

"Weak, just like your mother." He backhands me, sending me back a few steps as I hold my cheek with my hand. 

He storms off back to the living room, muttering harshly at me."Fucking waste of space bitch."I wince as I turned to go get his beer from the fridge. My ribs are sore from last night. I lift my shirt a little to see my skin bruised dark purple. I did not cook his steak like he wanted. Even if I had, I am sure he would have still hurt me.

At first, when my mom died, he was just angry. Always drinking, and storming around the house, breaking things. One day his anger was put on me. I remember how unreal it felt. He grabbed my arm roughly and pushed me on the floor. He told me how he wished it was me in that car. Then it got worse. When I did anything wrong, sometimes even if I just spoke, he would hit me. When he gets bored of hitting me in the face, he will kick me in my stomach. When he gets bored of that, he will hold my face to the wall by my neck until I can no longer breathe. 

Remembering that he is waiting for me, I hurry to the fridge, grab his beer, and pop off the top. I quickly walk to the living room. He is sitting in his recliner watching TV. I do not say a word. I normally try not to. I hand him the beer and he scuffs. I take that as his sign to leave. I go and grab my stuff for school and wait outside for the bus. I did not have time to change, so I had the same thing on as I did yesterday. A big grey hoodie, and black leggings. I pull the hood up over my head and try to cover my bruised face with makeup. It worked enough. No one ever really looked at me to take notice of it anyway.

 I just wanted it to end. It has been almost twelve years. I was not sure I could make it to thirteen. I look down at my watch. It was my mom's. The bus must be running late today. I can feel the air change, and the rain starts to come down. Great. Now I will look even worse than I already do.
I stand there, cold, and wet. My hair is dripping a bit and my face is red and puffy.
I just stand there, thinking about my life, and how I just feel numb. How I want to feel nothing at all.

~Xavier~

Rogues have been sneaking onto my land for years now. When I kill rogues, all I see in their eyes is fear. Fear of who I am, and fear of what I am. They know of my reputation. Wherever I go, I can always tell who knows of me. It was that look of fear that made everyone the same. Even my parents look at me differently. My father looks at me as some fucking puppet he can use for his own gains. My mother, my mother just looks at me as if she does not know who I am most of the time. Sometimes I even think she is afraid of me too.

 A knock on the door brings me out of my thoughts.

"Alpha, we need to get going, the meeting is across town, and we are already behind schedule."Chase, my beta says. 

As much of a friend he is, he is still equally as afraid of me. I expected nothing else. I let out a sigh, along with the blatant frown on my face. I fucking hated these meetings. Pointless counsel bullshit.

We had a rogue attack last night. I handled it. They are dead, ripped to pieces. The counsel had no reason for this meeting. The only thing that they were concerned about was me. I was dangerous. At least I kept the pack safe. At least I was good at that.
"Fine." I stand up from my desk and head downstairs.

I see my mother cooking in the kitchen and walk over to her.
"I'm headed out. Let father know."

 My mother and father aren't normally here but since the rogue attacks increased, they are staying with me from time to time. They will be gone in a few days, fortunately.

"You know, one day you will need to speak with him yourself." 

She says, putting her spatula down and facing me.

"Not happening," I say with a grunt. He wanted to arrange a marriage with a local pack. I refused. If I couldn't have a mate, I wouldn't be forced to be with someone I'd never love. Never care for.
We will wait for our mate. My wolf, Daemon, says to me. My wolf always says to wait for our mate. I am sure at this point that my darkness doesn't deserve a light. The moon goddess will know of my demons and will know I'm undeserving of a mate. That's what I had been told by many seeking my power. I did not blame them for thinking such things. Killed them for it, yes. Blamed them, no.

"Oh honey, one day you will see he only meant to help."

"He meant to help the damn pack, not his son. It doesn't matter. I will not do it, end of discussion." I say as I walk out of the kitchen to the car.

I step into the car, with my beta in the driver's seat.

"We should be there in twenty minutes Alpha." I just grunt back. He doesn't dare talk any more than he has too. He can sense my frustration. 

We are halfway there when I smell something...a deep vanilla scent. The smell is strong and delicious. It is making my wolf go crazy. I look around at the area we were in. It is raining pretty hard. The windshield wipers weren't helping all that much. I narrow my eyes on our surroundings. That's when the wonderful smell is singled in on one thing. A girl. She is standing, soaked, in the rain wearing a big hoodie.

I can't see her face completely. But I don't have to. She is beautiful. I know, and my wolf knows, without a doubt in our mind, who she was. 

Mate!

I feel something I never knew I could. Hope.