CHAPTER 5

As my eyes open they felt like sandpaper, everything hurt, I was even finding it hard to breathe.

My body was covered in blood, sticking my clothes to my body as I push myself off the floor. I manage to open the back door before I fall, unable to walk.

I pull myself towards the forest, to tired and sore to care if anyone sees me. I needed to shift or I was sure that this time he would kill me and I wasn’t ready to die. It was dark outside, making it even harder to see with fuzzy vision. I must have lay there all day.

As I make it to the tree line I take a breath, laying on my back as I look to the tops of the trees. I wasn’t exactly sure how I shift but I was hoping my wolf did. I lay there for what felt like hours trying to breathe through the pain. If my wolf wasn’t coming tonight I really believe I wouldn't survive this beating.

“What the fuck did he do to you?”

A voice calls, making me jump as I look around to see who found me.

“It’s me lilly, your wolf, are you ok?”

I smile, closing my eyes as I try to see her.

“You won’t be able to see me until we shift, but seriously are you ok?”

I cough, spluttering as I roll to the side, wiping my blood from my mouth

“No, I’m really not”

I answer coughing again, I feel her worry for me, a warm feeling washing through us as I try to breathe through the pain.

“What’s your name!”

I say trying to distract myself

“Layla, my names Layla. I think we need to shift before you get any worse”

I nod my head

“Ok, I have no idea what to do”

“Don’t worry love, iv got this”

I feel this invisible force pushing through a barrier in my head, suddenly something pops, our mind becoming one as my entire body lurches forward.

I thought I would scream and cry as every bone in my body breaks and rearranges but I could hardly even feel it.

She moves my body forward as her own, stretching and breathing through each break, everything already hurt but this pain was different.

I feel as every broken bone in my body heals, setting back into its rightful place. My skin stretching to accommodate my new form, scratching at my insides as hair sprouts all over my body. My hands deforming and rearranging as paws, my nose stretching to become a muzzle.

Suddenly the pain was almost completely gone as Layla takes over, pulling us off the forest floor and shaking out our fur.

I look to my feet, my fur was a beautiful dirty blonde colour under the moonlight, the dirt under my feet makes me feel alive as she takes off through the trees, howling into the air. My body coming alive as I feel the wind flowing through my hair.

We run in silence for a long time, only stopping to drink some water from the stream.

“Your very quiet”

She whispers to me, I nod my head

“Yeah I think I’m still in shock. It’s like he tried to kill me this time”

I answer, my father was a monster. Iv always been his punching bag and it’s only got worse over the years but something he has never done is hit me in the face.

“I suspect that’s what he was trying to do too”

She answer, heading back towards the house

“No please, I don’t want to go home yet”

“I know, but we are meeting our mate in a few days and you need rest”

I blink at her in shock

“So It’s true then?”

“Yep, it’s true. The trauma opened a link to him. He doesn’t even know it’s happening. It’s his subconscious trying to keep us safe”

That makes sense, I wish he knew about me too but at least it’s true.

“Yep it’s true so we need to be ready for him and you need some sleep”

I snort rolling my eyes

“Yeah as if I will ever get a good nights sleep under that roof”

She growls as she runs, going back the way we came

“You will sleep because now you have me!”

I grin at her, I’d never had anyone have my back before and it felt good. We run home with steady conversation, making it to the house in good time. My clothes were shredded so we walked straight in, opening the door with our paws.

Layla’s nose shoots up as she sniffs the area, going to take away on the countertop. It was definitely fresh as she stuffs her nose into it, chewing the paper and ripping into it.

I giggle as she pulls it to the floor and she starts to eat it, my stomach already feeling better as she swallows it down. When she’s done she lifts the packaging and carefully Carry’s it into the living room where dad was passed out sleeping.

“What are you doing?”

I giggle

“I’m covering our tracks, he will think he ate it when he was drunk”

She chuckles amused as she pulls some fries and drops them all over his lap and chest, the sauce going everywhere as I giggle

“If he wakes up we are dead”

She shrugs, busy making it look like it fell of his lap and onto the ground

“I would love to have him try hit us now. Now we have each other he won’t touch us again”

She says confidently as she stands back and admires her handy work.

When she’s done we quietly make it upstairs, as we reach my door we shift so I can open the door and step inside locking it behind me.

“Wow my body feels so much better”

I tell her, stretching each limb to make sure I was put back together in the right way. She chuckles shaking her head, a person that looked like me appears in my head waving.

“Nice to finally see you”

I grin

“You need to go check out the bruising, I can heal some but not all”

I groan going to the bathroom, I had 2 large black eyes, my nose was bruised but thankfully it was back to the way it was before he broke it.

I was black and blue, it looked worse than yesterday morning but it felt better than I've ever felt before. Rolling my shoulders I grin, jumping into the shower and washing my body quickly.

I climb out and pull on fuzzy pyjamas, checking my phone after Having left in the room this morning.

‘Hey happy birthday queen! Love you and I hope you have an amazing day!’

I scroll to the next one

‘Hey you up yet? Are you ok?’

Then the next one

‘Seriously lilly are you ok? What did he do to you?’

Then I have a fresh message from only 10 minutes ago

‘Ok me and Matt are coming to your house if you don’t answer’

I quickly type out a reply not wanting to worry her.

‘I’m so sorry, I got up this morning and went straight to the forest. I spent all day running with Layla, she’s amazing and I just got home there now, he’s sleeping so I missed his wrath’

I add a winky face then I send her another

‘And thank you for wishing me happy birthday! I love you. Hope your having a blast’

I finish, she immediately starts to reply

“Oh thank the heavens I was so worried! Please text me before you go out running again so I know your not dead’

My stomach sinks as I shake my head

“It’s sad that, that’s where her mind went first”

Layla whispers gently, I nod my head

“Yep, but we only have a few days left then we can ditch this place”

She smiles at me

“Your right, now come, get some sleep I’ll watch over you”

I grin, curling into my blanket, yawning. Sleep came remarkably easy that night, feeling safe for the first time ever.