A Warrior's Love

The sun was warm on Becky Monroe’s head as she sat in her front yard. She was busy playing with her favorite doll Betty and didn’t know her mommy was there until she spoke.

“Becky dear, it’s time to go. Daddy says we need to leave now, or we won’t get to our vacation cabin before dark.”

Becky looked up then and squinted, trying to make out her mommy’s face in the glare of the sun. All she could see though was the outline of Mommy’s head where she now stood between Becky and the sun.

“Okay Mommy,” Becky said.

Then jumping up, her doll Betty held securely in her arms, she ran toward the car.

Her daddy stood there waiting, her door held open for her.

“Thank you, Daddy,” Becky said politely as she climbed inside.

“You’re welcome, Becky. Remember, a gentleman always opens the door for a lady,” Daddy told her with a wink.

Becky giggled and asked, “So when I meet MY gentleman, he will open doors for me, as you do for me and Mommy?”

“He better!” Daddy said, with a frown, strapping her into her car seat. He gave her a kiss on the cheek then as he added, “If he doesn’t treat you like a lady, then he doesn’t’ deserve you, Becky. Then I’ll have to run him off right quick like!”

Then closing her door, Daddy opened Mommy’s door and kissed her cheek before she got in. After Mommy was seated, he closed the door and walked around the car to get in his side.

“Mommy?” Becky began, “Do you think I’ll find a man who loves me as much as Daddy does you one day?”

Mommy turned slightly in her seat to give Becky a smile. She then answered, “Of course, you will Becky, and when you do, he will love you so very much because you are a very lovely girl.”

Becky smiled then as her mommy turned to face the front again. She then drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.

Becky was awakened by her mommy’s scream and the feeling of the car flipping over. Her own scream joined Mommy’s as she hung upside down for a minute. Then, the car flipped once more, bouncing as it landed once more on its tires.

The car stopped moving and Mommy stopped screaming.

“Mo-mommy?” Becky wailed. “My leg hurts Mommy and there is blood all over it! MOMMY!

Mommy didn’t answer.

Taking her eyes off her leg, Becky looked at the front seat where her mommy had been sitting. She saw her mommy flopped forward, her head laying on the dash of the car. She was worried about her mommy.

Calling out, Becky said, “Da-da-daddy? I think something is wrong with Mommy.”

Becky then turned to look at the seat where her daddy should be but didn’t see him in the car at all.

Where did Daddy go?

Becky began screaming for him, begging him to come back for her and Mommy, to not leave them here. Her screaming for her daddy only stopped when she heard a sound from next to her.

Then her door was ripped from the car.

“Daddy!” Becky cried, excitedly as she turned, only to stop as she gazed at a strange man. Swallowing hard in fear, she whispered, “You... you aren’t my daddy.”

“No, sweetheart, I’m not. I’m here to help you though if you will let me,” the man said gently as he knelt down next to the car.

Becky looked him over carefully. He was really big, a lot bigger than her daddy, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt, so she could see he had a furry chest. His hair was brown like her daddy’s, but it was his eyes that held her attention the longest. They were brown, yet they seemed to almost glow as he watched her and waited for her answer.

Somehow, looking at those eyes, Becky knew he would never hurt her, so she nodded. Then, giving a sniffle as she wiped her nose on her hand, she said, “My leg hurts badly mister. My daddy is gone, and my mommy won’t answer me.”

Now, Becky might be only eight, but she wasn’t stupid. Her mommy hadn’t moved the whole time she’d been screaming for her daddy, so she was sure Mommy was dead. Somehow though, she thought if she denied it long enough maybe it wouldn’t be true.

The man glanced at her mommy before looking back at her. He then said, “I’m so sorry sweetheart, there isn’t anything I can do for your mommy.”

“My... my daddy?” Becky whimpered out.

The man just shook his head and Becky knew her daddy was dead too. The man must have seen him if he knew this. As she began to wail in her grief, he picked her up in his arms.

“Sir, what do you want me to do?” A man softly asked from close by.

“Call the authorities about the accident since they’re human. I’ll take the girl if...” he stopped talking for a moment and pulled back. He then asked, “Sweetheart, what’s your name?”

“Becky Monroe.”

“Do you have any other family besides your parents? Aunts, uncles, or maybe grandparents? Someone who would take you in?” He asked.

Becky quickly shook her head no.

“Okay,” he murmured. He then turned back to the other man to say, “I’ll take her with me. Get any evidence of her out of the car, so no questions will be asked. I’ll take Becky to the pack doctor; her leg doesn’t look too good.”

“Yes sir,” the other man said. Then with a slight bow, he left.

The big man turned to gaze into her eyes once more as he said, “Okay sweetheart, I’m going to pick you up now. I know it will hurt, but I’ll be as gentle as I can.”

“Where are we going?” Becky asked, sniffling again.

“I’m going to take you to my doctor and he will have you fixed up in no time,” he said, giving her a smile. Then he slowly lifted her up out of the seat.

It hurt so badly to be moved that Becky started to scream. As the pain became too much, she felt darkness take her.

“I see you finally decided to join us.”

Becky turned her head toward where the voice was coming from. Opening her eyes fully, she saw the big man who had saved her.

He reached out and brushed her hair off her forehead with a smile.

“Where am I?” Becky asked in a whisper.

He handed her some water to drink as he answered, saying, “You’re at a medical facility. You have been asleep for three days with a really bad fever.”

Becky drank her water, then felt tears well up in her eyes as she remembered everything.

He sighed, looking sad as he sat down on the edge of the bed. He then picked up her hand as he began to speak again. In a whisper, he explained, “Becky, the doctor had to cut off part of your leg. It was too badly damaged to repair by the time I got you here. I’m so sorry sweetheart.”

Becky looked down at her legs, seeing how one stopped a few inches below her knee. She felt her lips began to tremble, tears overflowing her eyes and flooding her face. She then looked up at the man as she whispered, “Who will want me now? My mommy and Daddy are gone and I’m... I’m broken. Who will love me now?”

“Oh sweetheart,” the big man said as tears ran down his own cheeks. He then said, “If you will let me, I will love you as my own.”

“You will?”

He nodded.

“Then will you h-hold me? I’m so c-cold,” Becky told him as she began to shiver.

Standing up, he picked her up, blankets and all. He then moved to a rocking chair that was next to the bed.

Becky snuggled into his chest as he began to rock, and slowly she felt his warmth chase away the chills.

“Mister, why are you so warm? My daddy was never as warm as you are,” Becky asked him.

He stiffened, and she glanced up thinking she’d said something wrong.

“It’s because I’m different then you sweetheart,” he told her.

“How?”

“Well, you see, I’m a werewolf, and because of my wolf I stay really warm.”

Becky gazed up at him in awe as she said, “You don’t look like a wolf.”

He chuckled, saying, “No. Right now, I’m a man, but I can change into a big wolf. My whole family is that way, and I live with a lot of other people who can shift into wolves also. We are called the Bannon Pack, and we have an Alpha who tells us what to do.”

“An Alpha? Is he like a boss? My daddy had a boss. Sometimes, Daddy would come home and tell Mommy about the dumb things the boss wanted him to do,” she told him.

“Uh... well... sort of I suppose.”

“Okay,” Becky told him, unconcerned about any of it. She then lay her head back down on his chest and was soon sound asleep once more.

Becky woke up again sometime later, shivering in bed once more. The big wolfman was gone, so she sat up and began looking around. That’s when she noticed a boy sitting in the rocking chair and playing with a hand-held gadget of some kind.

“Ex-excuse me,” Becky said, her teeth chattering.

The boy looked up, his eyes wide. Without a word to her, he jumped up from the chair and ran for the door. Once he had the door open, he yelled, “Mom, Mom, she’s awake!”

A lady soon came in and Becky just stared at her. She was so tiny, and blonde, and pretty!

Becky just had to ask, “Are you a fairy princess?”

The lady laughed and said, “Oh no, just a very small werewolf. My name is Julie and the wild child who just left screaming is my son Jeff. You’ve met my husband Gary already.”

Becky nodded, remembering the big wolfman as she said, “Yes ma’am, he’s very big.”

“Yes, he is,” Julie agreed. She then said, “Now let’s get you a bath and some food, shall we?”

Becky nodded.

Julie picked Becky up then and carried her to the bathroom.

Once there, Becky was scrubbed clean and dressed in a pink gown with white flowers on it.

Julie then laid Becky back on the bed and placed a tray of food in front of her. She then said, “Now eat.”

Becky did as she was told, eating until her belly was full. Once her belly was full, she became sleepy and soon fell asleep.

Becky awakened a little later being stared at. She jerked back, slightly scared.

Jeff tilted his head as he said, “I don’t bite, at least not yet.”

“What do you mean not yet?” Becky asked him, feeling a bit more scared now.

Jeff shrugged before saying, “I won’t shift into my wolf until I’m fifteen, I’m only thirteen.”

Becky nodded in understanding. She then began to shiver, so she asked, “Jeff, even though you haven’t shifted, are you warm like your daddy?”

He frowned, saying, “I suppose I am, why?”

“Because I’m cold,” Becky explained.

“What do you expect me to do about that? I don’t see any more blankets here to cover you with,” Jeff muttered as he looked around.

“Hold me please,” she begged him.

It was Jeff’s turn to stare open-mouthed at her. He then stuttered, “Oh, no, I am not snuggling with a girl!”

She poked her lip out in a pout saying, “But then I’d be warm again. Please!”

“I told Dad it was a mistake to take in a girl. I can see already you’re going to be trouble and you’re only how old?” He asked in a grumpy voice.

“Eight,” she told him through chattering teeth. “Mommy says I’m small for my age though, that’s why I’m so little.”

“Harrumph!” Jeff mumbled as he crawled up on the bed with her. He then wrapped his skinny arms around her as he mumbled, “If the guys hear about this, I will never hear the end of it!”

Becky didn’t care about any of that, all she cared about was the fact that he was slowly warming her up. So, snuggling closer she told him, “I’ve never been so co-cold before. I don’t know what is wrong with me to make me cold, but since I woke up here, I’ve been cold. Well, except for when your daddy holds me. You make me warm too, is that weird?”

“I don’t know, maybe you’re just weird,” Jeff suggested to her, but he had a smile on his face. He snickered then as he said, “I guess that means I’m gonna have a weird sister.”

“I suppose it does,” Becky agreed with a quiet giggle, snuggling closer to him.

And that’s was how Becky Monroe, the small human girl ended up handicapped and living with a werewolf family.