Chapter 14: Annabelle

The ride from the pack house to their house is maybe twenty minutes, but to Annabelle the ride felt like hours. She could see her mother's knuckles turning white from how hard she was gripping the steering wheel, and every few minutes she would look back at Annabelle then away again.

Pulling up to their house Poppy helped Bill inside while Mary and Annabelle stayed in the car.

"This isn't going to end well." Annabelle stated, looking at her house with dread.

"Hey," Mary put her hand on her shoulder, "everything will be fine. She might not like that you and Fenris are mates, but she can't do anything about it." she said.

Annabelle looked at her big sister with tears in her eyes. "I feel the mate bond with Fenris, I do. And I like Fenris, she's smart, kind and many other amazing things. But," she sighed, "we don't have a mate mark. Wolves always get their mark when they first shake hands or hug, some sort of contact, but us, nothing." she finished, tears filling her eyes at the thought.

"Hey, you have to remember something, Fenris is a hybrid. She's half wolf and half something with wings." Mary said, exaggerating the 'wings' part to get a smile on her sister's face, when Annabelle did smile at Mary's remark she continued. "We don't know why you don't have a mark, but I'm guessing it has something to do with her genetics or something. I've only known her for a week, but I bet Fenris will do everything she can to figure out how you guys get your mark. I saw the way she looked at you, to her it looked like you hung the moon and stars, to her you were brighter than the sun. Fenris cares about you, I could see it.'' Mary finished her speech by hugging her sister, who had silent tears running down her face.

Annabelle nodded her head and pulled away from her sister, whipping away her tears she opened the car door. "Come on let's get this over with." she said.

Walking to the front door Annabelle took a deep breath and then walked in with Mary right behind her. The house was a simple house with only one floor and little furniture, and even though they just moved in a little less than a week ago Annabelle knew it was going to stay like this.

"Annabelle, come into the living room." Poppy called out.

Slowly Annabelle walked the short distance to the living room, Mary still right behind her. Walking in she saw Bill sitting in the recliner next to the fireplace, Poppy was standing slightly in front of him and the coffee table that was in front of the two couches.

"Mary go to your room. Your father and I need to speak to Annabelle alone."

Mary went to argue, wanting to be there for her sister, but her mom shot her a glare making her falter. Shaking her head of the stare Mary went to argue again, but Annabelle shook her head at Mary, telling her to go. Reluctantly Mary turned around and walked towards her room down the hall, but not before Annabelle grabbed Mary's hand and squeezed it for reassurance before she left.

Once Mary closed her bedroom door Poppy looked at her. "Sit."

Annabelle sat down, keeping the coffee table in between her and her mother. She looked over at her dad and he was leaning back in the chair with his eyes closed still disoriented from when Fenris threw him.

"Annabelle, you and that girl are not mates." Poppy stated, getting right to the point.

"Mom I feel the connection with her. Even before we became mates I felt some sort of connection with her." Annabelle said, wanting to sound confident but her voice came out as a whisper.

"You have no mate mark. She. Is. Not Your. Mate. You are not a homosexual or whatever it was you said."

Annabelle looked down at her hands and took a deep breath, "Mom, I'm bisexual, I like guys and girls. It just so happens that my mate is a girl. I don't know why we don't have a mate mark, but Fenris said she'd figure it out." she finished, looking at her dad she saw he was staring at her with a sad smile.

Turning to look at her mom Annabelle was surprised when she saw her mom was standing on her right. Before she could say anything else, her head was whipped to the side and she felt a stinging pain in her left cheek. Putting a hand to her cheek Annabelle quickly realized what had happened, [She slapped me. My own mother slapped me.]

"Poppy!" Her father yelled getting up to go check on Annabelle.

"No." Poppy stopped Bill from getting close, putting a hand on his chest to keep him away. "Annabelle you don't like girls."

"Yes I do." she replied looking her mother in the eyes. This time she saw the hit coming and tried to get away, but she was too slow. Poppy had hit her in the stomach, hard. Annabelle could feel the air from her body leave her as she curled up on the floor holding her stomach.

"Annabelle you don't like girls." Poppy said again standing behind Annabelle curled form on the floor.

Looking up at her mother with tears in her eyes, "Yes I do." she said.

Poppy kicked her in the back causing Annabelle to cry out from the pain. She could swear she heard something crack.

"Poppy stop this. She's our daughter." Bill pleaded trying to reason with his mate for the sake of his pup, but Poppy ignored him.

While Bill had Poppy distracted Annabelle looked down the hall towards Mary's room, waiting for her sister to rush out the door and help her, but she never did. [Why isn't she coming? There's no way she didn't hear my scream!] That's when Annabelle remembered, Mary had told her all the rooms in the house are soundproof, and because werewolves had built it they most likely made it soundproof for even them. There was no way Mary would be able to hear her scream for help.

Poppy moved Annabelle so she was laying on her back and looked down at her, emotionless. "Annabelle you don't like girls."

Looking at her father she pleaded for help with her eyes, but he looked away from her, tears falling down his face. Closing her eyes, "Yes I do." she whispered.

Agony was what came next. Poppy lifted her foot and stomped on Annabelle's stomach, causing the girl's eyes to fly open and start coughing violently from the force. Burning, throbbing pain radiated throughout her entire body.

"Annabelle you don't like girls." Poppy said, coldly.

[I can't take this pain anymore. I went from my old pack abusing me to my parents abusing me, but this time I can get it to stop. I'm sorry Fenris.] A tear slid down her face as Annabelle looked up at her mom. "I don't like girls." she said through clenched teeth.

Poppy smiled and bent down. "Good." Grabbing Annabelle's chin she forced her to look at her. "You and Fenris are not mates. You don't have a mark and neither does she. Understand?" she questioned, squeezing her hand on Annabelle's chin with each word, to the point Annabelle knew without a doubt it would bruise.

"Say it." Poppy growled.

"Fenris, and I, are not mates." Annabelle said, tears now a constant stream down her face.

Poppy looked at her a little longer and then stood up. "Now that you understand that, go to your room and take care of yourself. Be prepared, I will make sure that fact sticks in your head." she said then walked away.

Bill looked down at his beaten daughter ashamed. Ashamed by the fact that his own mate did this but more so that he didn't stick up for her himself, but he can't go against his mate, he never could. [I'm sorry my pup. I'm just too weak.] He thought as he followed Poppy to their room.

Once Annabelle was sure everyone was gone she crawled to her room. Inside she closed the door and locked it before she crawled to the adjoining bathroom. There she used the counter as support to help her stand, her body protesting through the entire process making whimpers and cries of pain escape her lips.

Finally standing Annabelle slowly unbuttoned her plaid shirt, thankful she wore it so she wouldn't have to lift her arms over her head, she got a look at her bruised torso. The shirt hit the ground and Annabelle could fully see the bruises that were already starting to form on her stomach and chin, her left cheek was red and swelling. Turning around she could see the spot where her mother had kicked her.

Tears came to Annabelle's eyes as she looked at what her mother did to her. Never before had Poppy struck her in such away that was outside of training, and never to this extent. Annabelle had many swirling emotions running through her, but the most prominent one as she thought about what happened was anger. She was angry at her mother for hitting her for who she loved, and she was angry at her father for just watching. Annabelle always figured her mother was the more dominant in her parents relationship, but she didn't realize how overpowering she was until now.

Taking off the rest of her clothes Annabelle grabbed a towel and soaked it in water so she could clean herself, not thinking she could stand the water hitting her body right now but wanting to clean up. When she was done she limped into her room and grabbed an oversized shirt and managed to get that on before she slowly got in bed.

[Why am I so weak. I wish it could be different, but my mind and body can't take the physical pain.]

Tears slid down her face again as she drifted off to sleep, red and gold eyes flashing through her mind and following her to dreamland where she was safe in the arms of the person those eyes belonged to.