Her Forever

Theon’s POV

The taunting was making my b***d boil. Feeling Thaddeus’ anger was fueling into mine. He was trying his best to stay calm, but even I was having trouble. Thaddeus and his growls did not affect the group leader, Josiah, but the rest were about to piss their pants.

They couldn’t even look us in the eyes as they started to back away.

Trinity was holding her own; she didn’t falter in any of her steps even when Elijah’s heart started racing. Once Trinity gave the final blow, saying no to a damn dinner with the sick prick, that was when I lost it. I was a hypocrite, and I knew it.

Thaddeus reeled in his anger and never got too close, he threatened and even taunted these guys, but he still didn’t launch himself onto them. Gods, I did, though. The thought of Josiah trying to take what was our made me livid. For the first time in my life, I felt the rage turn my eyes red.

I turned without thinking; my claws scraped the sidewalk, causing a small shrill in my ear. Thaddeus was already yelling in my head to stop, but I was on a mission. To protect my mate from this tool. My growls echoed through the air as the world slowed down. My wolf hearing heard her spin around as I caught the scent of her hair twisting in the wind.

Slow, calculated heartbeats thumped through my chest as I saw one of the goons pull out a gun. Couldn’t even take a wolf bare-handed, and they called themselves skilled hunters. I licked my teeth, anticipating the bite of nothing but b***d and muscle on my maw. This gun couldn’t do a thing to me; mere metal, hell even silver couldn’t do much to an alpha.

My jaw widened, ready to take his arm when Trinity’s leg came into view as she kicked the gun out of his hand. Afraid I would take a bite of Trinity, I ducted down low and watched in my peripheral as she single-handed took the gunmans’ hand and pulled it behind his back, hearing a crack. Her foot pushes into his back as he falls to the cement. No one moves as the slow-motion around us speeds up, and the gunman rolls on the ground.

Everyone is silent, except for the tiny cries from the child laying on the ground and Trinity’s heavying breathing.

“Don’t touch my babies,” she growled out. Elijah gripped her arm, and for once, I could be thankful that he touched her. The fire in her eyes glowed as bright as dragons while Elijah pulled her away. Thaddeus was still growling, snapping his jaws, making sure no one followed as we all ran down the sidewalk. Josiah cursed the situation and punched the guy to his right.

If he was a werewolf, this would be an everyday thing, but it is a prick thing to do when a human does. They can’t heal fast.

“The hell was that, Trinity?!” My thoughts are interrupted as Elijah finally lets go of her arm. We were standing outside of the book shop while Trinity rubbed her arm. “What were you thinking? You could have gotten shot! And for what? To save a dog?” I growled, but Trinity got on her knees to pet me.

“They aren’t dogs,” she snapped. “They are my babies, and I adopted them, and I’m going to protect them. Josiah and his squad of losers weren’t going to touch him. They had it coming.”

“You’ve painted a target on your back,” Elijah ran his hand through his hair as he paced the sidewalk. “You’ve really done it; now Josiah won’t let you go. He likes a challenge, and you, missy, are a challenge. Where did this all come from?” Elijah stopped in front of Trinity as she continued to hold onto us.

“Where is the quiet, innocent girl from the past three months? You got these dogs, and I have seen more of you in two days than I ever would have imagined!”

“Wolves,” she corrected. “And I don’t know. Caring for someone other than myself made me,” she sighed, “protective of them. I just love them to pieces, and I won’t let anything happen to them.” Trinity sniffed as she buried her head in Thaddeus’ neck.

“She loves us,” he linked, but I rolled my eyes.

“Like pets, you i***t not really love us. She doesn’t know us.”

Elijah got on the ground, seeing Trinity’s eyes begin to water. “Who are you, Trinity? And no more hiding and lying. I’m not an i***t. I’ve seen your damn car that has bullet holes all in it,” Elijah’s voice raised, and I immediately stepped forward to warn him.

“I can’t tell you, not now anyway,” Trinity wiped away a tear. “It would just put you in danger. Besides, I’ll be moving soon,” a small smile crept up her face. Elijah’s eyebrows furrowed.

“What, why? You can’t leave. Stacy and I really like you.”

“And that is why I will have to go because I like you both too.”

Standing up, she dusted herself off. “You can’t know me, who I am or why I am here. Everyone in this town, their lives could be in danger, and I can’t have that. Now with Josiah causing a scene, I’ve got no choice in the matter. I’ll be gone at the end of the week.”

Elijah’s confused face went to anger. “You can’t do that; we are your friends Trinity, we can help you. Is it that ex-boyfriend deal? I can f**k him up if you want. Stacy and I both will!” Elijah slammed his hand on the glass window while Trinity chuckled.

“It isn’t an ex-boyfriend,” she trailed off. Her gears turning in her head. Would she confide in this guy? Knowing he would ask Stacy out calmed me down, but I didn’t want her confiding in some guy. I wanted her to confide in Thaddeus and me.

Trinity let out a heavy sigh as those dangerous tears threatened to fall. She held onto this so long; she wanted to talk to someone; we couldn’t blame her for that, couldn’t blame her for anything.

“Fine,” she breathed. Let’s tell Stacy at the same time, so I don’t repeat myself. Just know I’m not staying. Once you know everything, you will understand. Elijah nodded hesitantly and pulled out his phone.

….

Thaddeus and I curled up next to Trinity, sitting in a bean bag chair by the fire. Stacy arrived, and Elijah was having his private conversation while they made some coffee concoction. It looked like it was going well as Stacy’s eyes lit up, and she squealed while jumping up and down.

“Aw isn’t that cute,” Trinity cooed as she laid her head on my shoulder. I’d give anything to make Trinity jump up and down in excitement. If she only knew about bonds and mates, I hope she would have that same reaction when she finally met us.

Us, there was an us, but just her as a human and us as her pets. I was becoming impatient, and that wasn’t like me. I wanted to hold her in my arms and tell her we would protect her from her father and that douche Josiah. Growling deeply, I fell Trinity pet my chest. “Still riled up about earlier big boy?” Trinity whispered as she leaned against me.

“Yeah, me too. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a gun pulled like that. I almost had a flashback myself.” Thaddeus put his large head in Trinity’s lap while he whimpered. “It’s almost like you guys understand me, huh?” She scratches the top of my head while I purr into it. Giggling, she looks up at two amused friends.

“Gather ’round children, I’ve got a story to tell.” Trinity sat up straight and pulled her hair back with a tie as they all sat down across from her. Crossing her legs, she put both hands on her knees.

“My father,” she paused. “Is the Don of the Italian mafia.” With all seriousness in her face, Thaddeus and I stared at her in awe.

“The f**k is a mafia?” Thaddeus questioned me while I shrugged my shoulders. Elijah and Stacy’s mouths went from shock to laugher as Trinity kept her serious face.

“No, no, that isn’t true,” Stacy waved her hand around. “No way!”

“You have an Irish accent!” Elijah countered. Trinity blew out a breath as she rubbed her eyebrow.

“Just shut up and listen. If you don’t believe me, I don’t care, but I’m leaving either way after Stacy’s party. Nothing else I can do about it.” Her friends sat silently, feeling guilty for the outburst, and Trinity continued on with her story.

“My mother was Irish, the one person I spent the most time with. I can speak both Italian and Irish. How my parents met, I don’t know their story because, needless to say, their relationship was always strained. Father was gone a lot and made my mom travel with him sometimes but would always come home, telling him that I needed her. I’m the baby of the family, born 15 years after my two older siblings. My oldest brother, Antonio, will be inheriting the mafia business in a few years while my sister Amelia was married off to build alliances with another mafia.” Trinity stared into the fire while Thaddeus continued to try and figure out what the hell a mafia was.

“After my sister was married off for political reasons, my mom had me trained when my father wasn’t around. Self-defense, gun training, fighting, combat, you name it. She didn’t want me to suffer the same fate as my sister.” Stacy covered her mouth as she leaned on Elijah.

“I was kept pure, I was homeschooled, didn’t have any friends but maids and butlers if you could call them friends. I didn’t get to experience the world, but my mom made sure to teach me everything I needed to know if I was to survive outside my father’s mansion.

I was never told what my father really did, just that he was a businessman and he had to have bodyguards around. I accepted it because they were my parents. They were supposed to be honest with me,” Trinity scoffed.

“There was an explosion at one of his warehouses that was experimenting with a new type of weapon. Some biotech sprays that could knock people out, lethally without having to release a single bullet. Once the warehouse was destroyed, my father lost billions, and that was when I came into play. Their ‘oops’ pregnancy turned into a business deal, and I was to be married off to someone that would rebuild my father’s empire.” A few stray tears rolled down her cheeks as I licked her face. Laughing, she rubbed my maw together and kissed my nose.

“Mother eventually told me what was going on and realized that my time was short. We went to go ‘shopping’ for dresses to meet my new husband-to-be. Luckily, my father had no idea what she planned to do, and she drove me all the way to Ireland, her home country. Unfortunately, father’s men caught up to us. She was shot in the chest and forced me to go on without her. That was the hardest thing I could ever do, was to leave,” a heavy sob wracked through her. Stacy ran over and hugged her tightly. Trinity’s grip tightened around Stacy’s jacket as she held back another sob.

Trinity’s POV

I couldn’t tell them the whole story. My friends would feel even more pity as I explained every detail. I tried to keep my account as light-hearted as possible. Still, in the end, my heart was exceedingly heavy as the memory flashed before me.

“I need you to go, Trinity, go now,” my mother’s Irish accent was thicker than I have ever heard it. Her rasps caused the b***d to spatter across her lips.

“I won’t leave you; we are so close!” The whisp of another bullet zoomed through the air as we hid on the tarmac. Mother rubbed her leg as b***d seeped through her jeans. Our private jet was just twenty yards away, just enough for us both to make the run.

“I won’t make it, Trinity. You need to be fast, run, and don’t look back!” Another rattle went through her chest as she coughed, spilling the dark matter from her mouth. It was too dark, too dark to really see anything. Bullets were flying at blind targets as we heard the men yelling for flashlights.

The entire airport was dark, except for the lights on the small jet. The pilot had been given enough money to help his sick wife to be cured of her cancer. He wasn’t going anywhere until one of them boarded that plane. Yells from the pilot to hurry and frantic waves only made my heart panic.

“Trinity, I love you. You need to go; this is where we part ways,” mother’s sigh was heavy as she slung the bag from her shoulder.

“Take this. It’s enough to get you to where you need to go, far away from here.”

I gripped the collar of my mother’s coat. “We can do this, I pull you and..” another bullet zipped by.

Mother cupped my face with her hand. “Rith mo ghaiscíoch. Faigh do chinniúint.” Her hand dropped as her eyes gently closed.

“No, no!” I whispered as I shook her. Her heart still beat, but I knew I couldn’t carry dead weight. Her Irish tongue only fueled me to continue. She had said it countless times as trainers trained me in the dank basement of our home. Many times I had questioned those stupid lessons; I would be forever grateful for why she did.

I grabbed the bag and kissed her forehead one last time, almost hoping she would pass in her sleep so she wouldn’t have to deal with the devil of my father.

The plane rose to the air with cars now scattered around the private runway. My father took one look as our plane finally ascended into the air. Taking one puff of his cigar, he pointed his finger at me as we flew away.