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Chapter V

Rain

Jordan stayed in my room almost all night long. I don’t even remember how many times he kissed me. He even insisted on looking at my palms and knees to be sure I was healing correctly.

When I am about to leave my room to go to the dining room to prepare it for breakfast, I inhale deeply, still smelling Jordan’s scent. It relaxes me. That’s strange because until now, no other scent seemed to have this effect on me.

What is it about Jordan’s smell that relaxes me?

When I am in front of the dining hall with the cleaning supplies, I take a minute to prepare mentally before entering. I know from experience that the pack leaves a huge mess after a party. And it is always me that has to clean.

I count to ten and enter. And I instantly curse under my breath. It is messier than usual.

I am not sure how long I have been cleaning for when I smell lavender and peony–Ruth and Hannah; I am sure they came to punish me for 'ruining' Jordan’s birthday party.

I turn to face them, only to see they have blocked the front doors with a baseball bat. And both Hannah and Ruth have two more baseball bats in their hands. Crap!

Safia sends me an image of the word danger, letting me know that Ruth and Hannah want to harm me.

‘I know. Get ready to fight,’ I tell her.

“You are the worse thing that had happened to the pack or my family,” Ruth says with a tone full of anger. “My mother is so ashamed of you, she refuses to leave her room. She gets sick every time she remembers that my uncle and aunt are dead because of you! You should have never been born!”

Ruth’s mother, my aunt Ana, is my father's sister. They were twins, and from what I heard, they were very close. And, of course, my aunt blames me for the death of my father and mother.

“It is better if you died,” Ruth continues.

“Die?” I ask in disbelief.

“We are here to kill you,” Hannah says.

"You are crazy!" I say.

"We are not crazy. We are just going to do what the pack should have done a long time ago!" Ruth growls at me.

I take a step back, wanting to put as much distance between me and them as possible. Ruth is a Delta while Hannah is a Gamma, and both are stronger than me because while I spend my time cleaning, they train.

“You will get in trouble if you harm me,” I try to reason with them.

Ruth laughs, “Harm you? We are not going to just harm you, we are going to get rid of you. And no one in the pack will say anything about it, because everyone hates you.”

No, not everyone, I want to say. Mr. Smith doesn’t hate me.

Ruth is the first to launch at me, with the bat in the air ready to hit me in the head, but I duck. She changes her position and swings the bat at me, but I dodge her. I run towards the end of the dining room.

“Stop running, damn you!” Ruth says.

“I don’t think so!” I reply. “You want to kill me, then I won’t go down without a fight!”

“Honey-Bunny, don’t stand there and watch! Help me!” Ruth says.

Honey-fucking-Bunny, who until now was looking at Ruth and me, joins the ‘party.’

Both of them run after me. I knock a table down, hoping to slow them down, while I think about how I can get away from them.

The only way I can get out is to run around the dining hall, hoping I can make it to the doors.

I get to the back of the room, wait for them to get close to me before I dart to my left, hoping to reach the doors before they reach me.

"The mongrel is getting away!" I hear Ruth yell.

"Throw the ashtray at her!" Hannah yells.

Before I have a chance to dodge something hard hits me in the head and I fall to the ground. I try to get up but my head throbs with pain and I feel a little dizzy.

Safia wants to take control, but I force her back.

‘If we shift, they will also shift, and they will rip you apart! I can handle this!’

It takes only one second for Ruth and Hannah to attack me. I curl into a fetal position and put my hands around my head. My fingers get wet with my blood.

Ruth and Hannah hit me savagely. Firsts, they concentrate on my hands, but when I don’t take them away from my head, they hit my ribs. I am sure that at least two breaks under their assault and I can’t even scream because of the pain.

“Grab her legs,” I hear Ruth say.

Hannah grabs me, and I kick and thrash while I try to ignore the burning sensation that comes from my ribs.

Ruth uses her bat to hit one of my knees and I hear a loud crack, followed by a pain so intense I can’t stop screaming.

One of them grabs my hair and pulls hard, forcing me to look up. I get punched several times in the face, and I am pretty sure they broke my nose.

“Shut the fuck up! No one will come to save you! You are nothing! Just a piece of shit!” Ruth yells at me.

A fire that burns inside of me wants to break loose, to destroy those that are harming me, but I push it down, down, down.

Someone bangs in the doors, but they don’t open.

“Rain! What's going on? Open the doors!” a male shouts.

“We have to hurry before someone gets in!” Ruth says.

When they hit me in the head with the bats, I think I pass out because the next thing I smell more persons inside the dining hall. My head hurts a lot, and everything is blurry and I can’t even focus on the scents.

“What the fuck do you think you are doing?” a male growls very loud.

“We are doing a favor to the pack!”

“Killing a pack member is not a favor!” another male says, and by the voice, I think is Mr. Smith.

Someone touches me but the male that spoke first growls, “Don’t you fucking touch her!”

I am suddenly scooped up, and my ribs and knee scream in protest. A whimper escapes my lips.

“It will be all right,” the male says and when I smell oranges, I know it is Jordan. “If you even breathe or look in her direction again, I am going to personally throw you out of the pack! Do you hear me?” Jordan says in a tone full of anger.

I hear the two females whimper a 'yes’.

Then Jordan walks away, carrying me in his arms. I grab his t-shirt as pain ripples through me.

“It hurts,” I say between a wave of pain and another.

“I know, little black witch. Just a little more and we will arrive at the clinic. The doc will fix you.”

I want to snort and tell him I am not broken, but when I feel pain coming from all over my body, I think Jordan might be right.

“Doc!” Jordan yells when we enter the clinic. “Doc!” he yells a second later.

‘Doc’ aka Doctor Terri La Rue, enter the waiting room a few moments later.

“Where’s the fire?” she asks in a playful tone.

I guess she sees me because next moments her tone gets all serious, “Bring her over here. What happened?”

Jordan carries me in a treatment room and gently puts me on top of an examining table. When he takes a step back, I grab his hand and don’t let go.

“I will be right next to you,” Jordan says and gently squeezes my hand and I relax.

Doctor Terri touched my knee I scream from the pain.

"Hold her!" Doctor Terri says before I feel a sharp pain in my arm and everything turns black.

When I wake up I am in one of the clinic's rooms. My head stopped throbbing and I can finally see clearly. I also don't feel any more pain coming from my knee or ribs, a sign that they are healed.

My lungs fill with that addictive orange scent I look around the room and see Jordan sitting on a chair, close to the bed. He is looking at the screen of his phone, and his fingers move fast while he is writing something.

Safia sends me images telling me that we are fine and healing. And then a series of images in which I beat Ruth and Hannah.

'Karma is a bitch and one day they will pay for everything they did to me,' I tell her.

Jordan finally noticed that I woke up and puts his phone in his pocket.

"Little black witch, you are finally awake! How are you feeling?" he asks me.

"Fine. Thank you for saving me from Ruth and Hannah!" I reply.

He gives me a short nod, "They won't touch you again. And Doc says that you are healing very fast and tomorrow you can leave the clinic."

I would like to think that both Ruth and Hannah have been punished for what they did to me, but I know better.

"How long have I been in here for?"

"Two days. You have been sedated so that Safia could concentrate on healing you. Your knee and ribs are healed."

I am glad that I heal fast, but this made Ruth and Hannah hurt me a lot when I was younger, before I learned how to escape them. They always wanted to see how long it took me to heal from whatever wound they would inflict on me.

Jordan pickups a paper bag that was next to his chair. It is brown and doesn't have a logo on it so I can't guess what's inside.

"This is for you," he tells me and gives it to me.

I look at the bag, that sits on my lap like it is a poisonous snake ready to bite. Knowing Jordan maybe he did put one inside.

"What's inside?" I ask.

Jordan chuckles, "Open it and you will see."

When I keep staring at the bag without touching Jordan says, "You look at it like it will bite you."

"I don't know. Will it?"

While Jordan laughs I grab the bag and I open it. When I take out a box of an iPhone from the bag, I inhale sharply and look at Jordan.

"Is this for me?" I ask in a low voice and hold in a breath.

He nods, "I asked Kevin to buy it after what happened to you. I want to make sure I am always in contact with you."

I look back at the iPhone. I don't know much about mobiles because I never had one. And I always wanted one. And now to receive one as a gift– the first gift I remember receiving in my life. But why is Jordan suddenly treating me so nicely? I don't understand.

"I don't want it," I say and put the box inside the bag.

Goodbye, love. At least I can say I had an iPhone for about a minute.

"Why?"

"Because I don't understand why you suddenly changed how you treat me."

Jordan looks at me, or at least that's what I think, and talks, "Because I love your scent. And I can't get enough of your sweet mouth. And you are mine."

I snort but my heart skips a beat. Stupid heart!

No one ever claimed me as his or hers, and I want to belong to someone.

"Just like that?" I ask.

"Just like that, little black witch. Now, will you accept that phone?" Jordan asks and I look at the bag.

"I never had one before, so I don't know how to use it."

"It is very easy to learn. I will teach you," he says.

And for the next hour, Jordan explains to me how to use the phone he bought me. Every time I look at it I smile. My first gift.

"Thank you," I say to Jordan when he finished teaching me.

"I prefer a kiss instead of a 'thank you'," Jordan says and I shake my head, but deep inside I feel happy.

"I am still in great pain, and I am afraid that I can't kiss you," I say.

"Ah, but kisses speeds the healing," Jordan says and Safia shows me that Jordan is smirking.

"I never heard of such a thing," I say.

"Then let me show you."

Since when is Jordan flirting with me? And more importantly, why do I like it so much?

Jordan sits on my bed, next to me and I make room for him. He puts a finger under my chin and tills my head so that I can stare at him. I can't stop wondering what he looks like and what expression he has on his face. I can only see his hair, and it is a dark blonde.

He kisses my forehead, then my cheek, and finally my lips.

"Better?" Jordan asks me when he breaks the kiss.

"I don't know, my ribs still hurt," I say and Jordan chuckles.

"Then let me kiss you again," he says before he puts his lips against my mouth once more.

I feel like melting under his touch and my heart keeps beating very fast. What is this feeling?

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