Chapter 3: Annabelle

"I can't wait to see Ray! Do you think his parents will like me? Oh my God! What if his pack doesn't like me? They'll never accept me as their new luna. Oh no oh no oh no!"

Annabelle quickly put her headphones in to drown out her sister's loud panicked outburst. Currently her and her family are in a u-haul on their way to her sister's mates' pack. Her dad, Bill, is driving with her mom, Poppy, in the passenger seat. Her and her sister Mary are in the back with her sitting behind her mom. The whole trip is about twelve hours, they are seven hours in and she doesn't think her sister has stopped talking for more than twenty minutes at a time.

She looked out the window and sighed. She just hoped this new pack was better than the other one, Ray the future alpha has been nothing but kind to her but what if the rest of the pack starts bullying her like her last one. The pack Annabelle grew up in was a very strong pack, most wolves born in the pack were fighters or trackers. It was uncommon for anything less, and that's what Annabelle was, less. She was the omega of the pack, the first one born in almost fifty years.

Annabelle was 17, 5'3" and had a curvy body, she wouldn't say she was fat but she wasn't skinny. Because of her omega status Annabelle and her wolf were weaker and smaller than normal wolves her age. But she loved her wolf, her wolf had the same light brown fur as her long hair with some black and white mixed in, and her green eyes turned into her wolf's brilliant gold. However, only her sister seemed to like her wolf, others tended to see it as an opportunity to bully her both verbally and physically. Even her own parents seemed to despise the fact that she was an omega.

On Annabelle's thirteenth birthday when she received her official pack rank, the elders told her she was an omega. After that her father could barely stand to look at her and her mother, who had been the pack trainer, made her practice till her paws would bleed. Annabelle believed her mom thought that if she became a warrior that her rank would increase to something besides omega. However the training's only ever ended with Annabelle getting beaten by the other wolves her age.

Mary would always try to help her and talk to their mother, but Annabelle wouldn't let her. She felt that if she could be a better fighter and do everything her mother said she would finally have her approval.

That never seemed to work though. Annabelle had realized at a young age that Poppy favored Mary more, always taking her for ice cream or buying her new clothes. Mary was stronger and faster, she was better and Poppy always told her that. Thankfully Mary loved her baby sister and would often times share her gifts with her.

The problem was Annabelle hated violence, she hated hurting others even in training and this would often anger Poppy to the extent of fighting Annabelle herself. Annabelle had felt first hand what it feels like to be struck with hate, and she didn't want to inflict that pain on anyone.

The last day her family was in their old pack some of her main bullies had cornered her and started hitting and kicking her. They had badly bruised her ribs and back, to the point Annabelle thought they had broken something.

When they were finally done with her Jacky, the head cheerleader, had bent over her and said, "Why don't you just kill yourself already. This pack didn't want you and your new pack won't want you either. Nobody will ever want you. You're a pathetic use of life and a waste of space." With that she got up and left. Annabelle had laid on the floor crying for hours, and not solely because of her beaten body. She was scared Jacky was right, who could ever want her. Annabelle had been tempted to end everything, she wanted the pain to stop, but she didn't. She didn't know if it was because she was strong or weak, but she just couldn't end it.

The physical abuse from her bullies hadn't happened that often due to the fact she made sure she was always around other people, but the verbal abuse was constant. Although the physical abuse left bruises all over her body and even left a few scars, it wasn't as bad as the verbal torture they would put her through. Annabelle's self esteem and once lively nature had been destroyed years ago. The teens of her pack had called her ugly, fat, piggy, whore, slut; they had even told her multiple times to just kill herself because even if she found her mate he'd never want her.

That had hurt more than anything else they'd said, that her mate would reject her. The one person who was born to love her unconditionally will reject her. The first time Annabelle heard that she had cried for days at the thought that it might be true. She was now scared of finding her mate, to love them at first sight only for them to reject her. The thought alone nearly shattered her heart

Before she could fall further into her depressed thoughts of being rejected her headphones are yanked out of her ears. She snaps her head over to her sister who is holding her headphones in her hand. "What!?"

Her sister looked at her annoyed, "Aren't you listening to me?"

Annabelle simply rolled her eyes, "No Mary, I haven't listened to you drone on and on about Ray for the past seven hours. Please, say again on how handsome and kind, charming and goofy he is. Please tell me I'm dying to hear it." she said with as much sarcasm as she could muster.

Mary looked down with a blush across her cheeks. She cleared her throat, "Well I wanted to tell you that I just got a text from Ray and he said that he told his best friend about us and he wants the both of us to meet her tomorrow."

"Her?"

Mary looked back at the text on her phone, "Yeah her. Why?"

"Nothing," she shrugged her shoulders, "It's just interesting that his best friend is a girl, most guys prefer to hang out with other guys. Did he tell you what she's like?" she asked.

Mary got a nervous look on her face, "Yeah, he said she can be scary and rude when you first meet her. In fact most people who meet her tend to be scared of her is what he said, but he said that it's just a facade she puts on and in reality she can be a sweetheart. But that doesn't help my nerves." Mary looks into Annabelle's eyes, "I mean who can be that intimidating that almost everybody who meets her is scared of her."

Annabelle gulped with nerves starting to course through her veins. She grabbed her headphones from Mary and turned back to the window. Looking up at the moon she prayed, [Goddess please let this new pack be a good one. I don't think I can't take anymore bullying. I just want peace and love.]

With that last thought Annabelle put her headphones in and closed her eyes to get some sleep before an exhausting day of unpacking and school tomorrow.