The drive back was quiet. My gaze was locked in direction of the window, watching the houses and mansions passing by, the occasional palm beach in the distance breaking the pattern.

He held the front door open for me as I entered, blocking my way with his arm when I headed for the stairs. I sent him a puzzled look. He rubbed his neck awkwardly, gesturing his head to the left.

"I sort of told them to set up in the dining room for us this morning. I don't know why, I just guess that I figured that you wouldn't mind, you know, after seeing the psychologist," he shrugged, pink spots spreading along his neck and cheeks.

With a deep breath, I shook my head. "No no, it's fine, dinner together sounds... nice," I smiled, pulling at my shoulders.

A big-ass smile spread on his face, as he gestured for me to go into the dining room. I walked in, my heart soaring just a bit a the sight of the lit candles on the table.

Cut it off, Paige. He didn't set the table, the maids did. I reminded myself, before going up to the closest chair in front of which a plate had been placed. I pulled it out from the table, Alpha Allen suddenly appearing behind me. "Here... let me," said, pulling the chair out for me, pushing it in once I'd sitten down.

He sat down opposite me, handing me the platter full of some curry dish. I scooped up a god portion, my stomach growling at the scent. Alpha Allen's brows had furrowed when I looked back up at him. "Didn't you say that you had eaten today?"

I shrugged, picking up my fork and taking a bite of my food. This is good. I dug in, my hunger taking over me.

"Love, may I ask... why'd you leave the school all out of sudden? And just disappear like that? Did someone bother you?"

I shook my head, taking in another bite of food as an excuse not to talk. He patiently looked at me as I chewed. I shrugged. "Some people were just saying things and I... I don't know,"

Eh put his cutlery down next to his plate, his eyebrows furrowing. "Were they saying things about me?"

I nodded. Turning my eyes back at my food. I kept my eyes locked don my plate even as I heard his chair move. I saw him out of the corner of my eye, pulling the chair next to me out. I tilted my head up a bit. "Come on, tell me, what bullshit were they letting out?"

"They said that you kill the girls you... sleep with, and that you killed a classmate, and... your sister,"

He chuckled. "And you believed that shit?"

I pursed my lips, shrugging, turning my head in the other direction, just doing everything to avoid his gaze.

"I've never killed a woman I've had sex with. I don't know where that rumor came from, I have never... I don't understand. I... I mean the worst thing that's ever happened was that once, once a girl hit her head on the corner of my nightstand...I mean, I drove her to the hospital afterwards, so maybe that's where it started... you know what, it doesn't matter." he smiled at me... a smile that made my stomach feel uncomfortably heavy.

"A regarding killing my sister..." he rolled his eyes. "The sister I supposedly killed was Lila, who you met earlier today. So I doubt those claims would hold up in court. You know why people think I killed one of my sisters?" he asked, his head tilting to the side, rolling his eyes with a smile.

I shook my head. He smiled again, tugging a strand of my hair behind my ear. "When I was five I had this play car- you know, one of those electric once kids can drive around the yard? Yeah, and that's what I was doing- driving it around in the backyard. While my little sister, two years old, was playing around in the grass. I'm driving around, enjoying myself, and then I hear a really loud scream. Scary loud. I get out of that dumbass car, and there is Lila, in the grass, screaming her lungs out. I've driven over her leg and broken it, but she was fine. I told that story once in... middle school or something, and then it's evolved into me raping her, brutally murdering her, then raping her corpse, cutting her up, and cooking her body parts in various ways and using them for various satanist rituals," he laughed a little to himself.

He became quiet, for the first time taking his eyes off me, staring at the floor. "And the dead classmate... it wasn't a classmate, it was a teacher, and I technically only beat him half to death- my dad finished him off,"

A cold shiver went down my back. He smiled, taking my hand in his, a sigh leaving him. "I'm 14 years old, and in the door comes my younger sisters, my dad just picked them up from school. My youngest sister, Emmely whos seven fucking years old comes up to me and sits on my lap. I ask her what she did today- if she had a nice day, all that. You know the drill.

And she smiles and tells me that she helped Mr.Harper alphabetize some of their assignments during recess. I think it's a little weird- why do they need to be alphabetized, he's just grading them, right? So I ask her, and she tells me that Mr. Harper told her that it was actually really important and that he really needed her help. I think that's it weird, and ask her if he did anything weird, or said anything.

And she looks at me and says... she's seven years old and she's telling me that he said, that he thought she had chickenpox and that... he'd... he'd asked her to take off her shirt and pants so he could check," he made his voice high-pitched,

"'But he said was healthy as a happy little horse, and he helped me put my clothes back on'," his voice went back to normal. "And I ask her if he said anything else, and she giggles, and tells me that he told her not to tell her family... because they'd get mad at her if she told them, and then she goes, 'but I know I can tell you because you never get mad at me'...

I told her that 'of course I wasn't mad' and to go play with her sisters, and I head straight for my dad's office. I tell him... what she said. I don't think I've ever seen him that pissed. He tells me to get in the car.

We drove up to the disgusting bastard's house and my dad broke down the door. We... I was so angry, I wanted to kill him, I was so furious that I... I had my first full shift. I almost ripped him to pieces, I would've if my dad hadn't told me to calm down and go back to the car.

When he came out again he was all bloody and ripped up... we told the police that my dad had come to ask him about what Emmely had said, just all friends and that the bastard had jumped him and almost killed him- and that my dad had killed him in self-defense..." he shook his head with a sigh, before looking back up at me. "Sorry for scaring you, I just wanted you to know the truth," he shrugged, before getting up from the chair, getting back in his seat where his plate was.

I shook my head, getting up from my chair. "I think I'll go upstairs now, I've lost my appetite," I whispered.

"No, please love, you need to eat. If not here with me, then take your plate with you- I can't stand you starving yourself, it's so painful for me to watch,"

Sighing, I picked up my plate and headed for the door.

"Uhm, Love, I know this may be a bad time, given the circumstances, but..."

I stopped in the doorway and turned around. Alpha Allen took a deep breath. "My parents... they've asked, or well, more demanded coming over for dinner tomorrow- they really want to meet you, my mother especially, so... yeah, they will be coming over tomorrow so you guys can meet,"

Ice ran through my veins, and my muscles locked in place at his words, just for a second, before I took a step forward, a scream leaving me as I did. When I looked down on my foot, small sharts of white porcelain were embedded in my skin, blood running out and staining my white ankle socks. "Shit," I whispered, hopping backward, away from the shattered plate and chicken curry on the floor. I hadn't even realized that I'd dropped it in the first place.

Before I could even get a chance to look up, I was swept off the floor, suddenly finding myself surrounded by white tiles, a sink, and a toilet. I was gently placed on the bathroom cabinet, Alpha Allen running his eyes all over my body, examining me.

Fear covered his entire face before his eyes finally settled on mine. He nodded to himself, before falling to his knees and opening up the cabinet, pulling out a rectangular white box, and getting up to a standing position again. He opened it up, revealing a myriad of bandaids, gazes, disinfectant wipes, one time thermometers- those kinds of things.

"Can I see your foot?" he asked. I nodded silently, still mostly frozen in place. He pulled my socks off my foot, his brows furrowing at the sight of the blood. He sat down on the toilet in front of me, gently examine my foot. He raised his eyes. "Mind handing me the tweezers? I gotta get the glass pieces out,"

Finally breaking free of m frozen state, I shifted through the bandaids and gaze, before handing it to him. He smiled at me before returning his attention to my food, spending the next few minutes carefully removing each tiny piece of porcelain from my foot, dropping them in the tiny trash bin next to the toilet. When he finished, he threw the tweezers in the bin too and asked for some cotton and gaze.

He shook his head as he slowly wrapped the gaze around my food. "How come you keep on finding ways of scaring me half to death? Either you run away, or almost get hit by a bike or you step on glass," he chuckled a little to himself, before looking back up at me. "What's it with you today? You trying to give me a heart attack?" He smiled, before putting the leftover gaze back in the first aid kit, and stuffing it back into the cabinet.

He shook his head, carefully reaching out for my hands. A smile spread on his face when I didn't move them away. He looked back up at me, his eyes s soft they reminded me of a cup of nice hot chocolate- making a blush creep up my neck, spreading all the way up to my ears.

He sighed, rubbing my hands which he held in his with his thumbs. "I know that this is a lot for you and that you don't want to meet them, but, and I know you probably don't give a fuck about it... it would mean so much to me if you'd please just meet them, eat dinner with us. My parents would never hurt you, hell, my mom's basically just waiting for us to start making her grandkids," he laughed, looking back down at my hands. The seconds passed by before he looked back up at me. "And talking about parents, I was thinking that since mine are coming over tomorrow, then perhaps yours can come by on Wednesday? I noticed that they liked lasagna in the hospital, we could have lasagna?" he asked.

My heart starting beating faster. I'd completely forgotten that he'd promised me that I'd get to see them. I suddenly hate dr. Shrink a little less now- it's not her fault she's been brainwashed, anyways.

"Uh, I'll have to call them and ask them if they can get time off, but if they can't..." I shrugged, my heart suddenly falling down to my stomach again.

He let go of one of my hands, nudging my head up a bit, a playful smile playing on his lips. "Trust me, I'll make sure that they can get their time off, Love. I promised you that you'd see your parents twice a week, you'll be seeing them twice a week," he said, leaving no place for argumentation. He wrinkled his nose for a bit. "Uhm, Love, I'll have to talk to you later, you can go freshen up in you room or whatever you wanna do, but I gotta talk to you about something... a few things actually, but just... go relax, I'll have someone bring a new plate of food to your room so you can eat in peace,"

***

A knock drew my attention to the door, and I couldn't help but sit up a little straighter as I croaked out a quiet 'come on in'. Alpha Allen poked his head in, his usual smile absent. He went up to me asking me if he could take a seat on the couch next to me, to which I nodded silently.

He braided his fingers into a ball, resting them on his knee. Slowly nodding to himself. "Love, first off, I'd like to tell you that this is in no way my decision or idea, and I really, really hate doing this, because I know that you're not going to be comfortable with it, but I'll do my absolute best to make the experience as tolerable for you as possible, okay?"

I pulled my knees up to my chest, hugging them close to me before nodding.

"Love, Friday is... Friday's the full moon, the first full moon after the two of us have met and, well, I'm going to have to ask you to do something that you won't like, but it's for your safety and comfort, alright?"

A shiver passed through me as I nodded once again, my hands clenching around the fabric of the sweatpants I'd put on after getting back to my room before I'd dug into the plate of chicken curry someone had placed on the coffee table while I'd been in the bathroom chancing.

"Paige, my love, I'll have to ask you to spend the night of the full moon with me, in my bed," he whispered, his eyes saddening at the pure horror undoubtedly taking over my face.

I shook my head from side to side. "No, no I don't want to, you can't force me, I don't want to, please don't make me, please,"

He reached his hands out but stopped them mid-air, but you ould tell from his face that he was desperate to touch me, comfort me somehow. "I'm so sorry Paige, but it's for your own comfort, if yo-"

A laugh broke through my gritted teeth. "My comfort? My comfort? How the hell can sleeping in your creepy ass beast arms be for my comfort?" I hissed, tears beginning to travel down my cheeks.

Alpha Allens eyes flared yellow for a second before he closed them and bent his head, breathing deeply. When he opened them again, they had hardened. "During the full moon, it becomes impossible for me to contain my more... primal side, and he is a lot more insistent than I am. Don't get me wrong, he would never force himself on you, or hurt you, never, but he will try to make your stay by force, and the best way to do that would be... to mark you, forcibly, if he deems it necessary," he shrugged, sadness returning to his eyes.

I shook my head. "You're... saying that like it's some sort of other person..."

He chuckled, nodding his head to the side. "It sort of is. It's... my wolf, he is in my head all the time, talking. I know I may sound insane but, every werewolf has one, it's the embodiment of our primal side. And he's... very protective of you, and possessive, and on the night of the full moon I won't be able to control him like I'm doing right now, he'll be able to do what he wants, and the best way to avoid him marking you without your consent is to be close to him, so he knows that you're not leaving us," he paused, looking at the grey fabric of the couch for a good minute, before returning his eyes to me.

"I know that this makes you anxious, scared even, but I could never hurt you, and neither could my wolf. The literal goal of our life is to protect and love you, like, that's the only reason I exist- to take care of you. And this is the best way I can do it, and I promise I'll do my very best to make it as comfortable for you as lycanly possible,"

Silence fell over the room as I processed his words. Alpha Allen gave me a quick nod, before heading towards the door. The word 'wait' flew out of my mouth without me really knowing why.

"What is it, Love?" he asked, stopping dead in his tracks.

I sighed, fiddling with my sweatpants, trying to avoid eye contact at all costs. "The shrink I talked to... she told me to talk to you about something but..."

He nodded, and turned around, sitting down in the armchair, waiting patiently for me to say something.

Breathing deeply, I closed my eyes. "I'm... really scared of you, like, really really scared, terrified," I rushed out, so fast that I doubted he'd actually be able to understand what I was saying.

"I know,"

Pressing my lips together, I looked back up at him. "It's just... really confusing, I..." Deep breath, Paige. "All my life, I've been told stories about how it was when a wolf chooses you as their mate, how... they would tie you up and rape you over and over and over until you got pregnant, and then once you'd given birth they'd start the process right over again until it was physically possible to give birth any more times, and then they'd kill you because they had no use of you anymore," my hands began shaking at my own words.

Alpha Allen nodded. "I suppose that explains a lot, but... I would never to that, ever. I don't think any wolf in their right sense would even be physically able to do that, even the thought about forcing myself onto you... it makes me sick like I have to throw up,"

I shrugged, pulling my legs closer. "I just... those stories are all I've ever known, and then... you were so... respectful and ... you let me see my parents, and you... fucking hell, you don't even force me to eat dinner with you... I don't know. It's like... I don't have any reason... not to trust you, but I also don't have any reason to trust you, you know?"

He smiled, nodding his head. "I get it, you need some more time to feel safe with me. That's alright. All I want is for you to trust me and feel safe, take all of the time you need, it's not like I'll be running anywhere,"

Getting up from the chair, he glanced at the clock. "Perhaps you should take a bath, you still smell like that awful laundry place- no offense. I prefer your natural scent over eu-de-vinegar. Why where you even hiding in that awful spot?"

"I just knew where it was, used to spent a lot of time there as a kid, I-" shrugging, I shook my head. "It just felt like a good place to hide,"

His brows furrowed. "You spent time there? Why?"

"I had to watch that the laundry didn't get stolen," I stated.

He shook his head confusion taking over his face at my words. "But, Love, that place... it can't possibly be up to code, there were cracks in all of the walls, it stank, I was afraid it was gonna fall apart with us inside- how hasn't it been torn down a long time ago?"

"I don't know.. none of the building in the slu- the HSA are in all that good condition, they haven't been for a lot of years, that's just how it is,"

He shook his head, opening the door. "That can't be, right? I mean, how can they force people to live like that?"

I shrugged once again. "You tell me,"

Nodding to himself, he left the room and closed the door behind him.

I grabbed a lock of my hair and sniffed it. He's right- I really do need a bath.

A/N

First off, I'd like to just thank you all for the immense amount of positive feedback I got on my last post (that was really good for my ego- I needed that)

Secondly... I'm sorry if this chapter sucked. I don't know, I just didn't know how to write it, like, it was really hard to write down the message I wanted to send in a way that would make it enjoyable for you guys to read.

Okay, a question for you guys (something I forgot in chapter 14- I apologize) what are some of the movies that you've watched that made an impression you, not your favorite movie, but some that made you think and/or realize something?

Mine are:

The Pianist, great WWII film that shows the discrimination Jews faced from the late 30's, the horror of the Jewish ghettos in Poland and the general life of a jew in hiding, and how much