Forgotten Ch. 04

"WHATEVER!" Shell yelled, "You jumped the part I was waiting for, the romance and anticipation and the worst part is I had no choice in the matter!"

"You consented," he argued.

"I was ignorant of what you proposed ergo, non-consensual," she struggled out of his grasp, "and now I'm expected to just pop out children?" she watched him ready to correct her again but was silenced by her glare. "Don't you dare correct me again. I don't give a fuck what your excuse is, you could have eased me into this yet you didn't. It has cheapened everything and left me feeling like nothing more than a mail-order bride whose job is to satisfy your wants and needs with no care for my own."

She hopped off the bed and began to pace rapidly around the room. Michael wanted to calm her down, to hold her however with every attempt to do so she fought him off, "Shell you are going to hurt yourself."

She let out a laugh that chilled Michael to the bone, "I don't care at least it will be honest and not a lie." She laughed again, "a physical pain to match the emotional one, how can that be wrong?"

"Sweetie please calm down," he begged rushing to her side to calm her, "you're tired and your hormones are ..."

"Done lecture me about hormones," she stopped and glared at him again, "I have a doctorate in Genetics and a masters in Biology."

Michael wrapped his arms around her, "I'm sorry I have been a complete arse, forgive me please."

Michelle convulsed and broke down again weeping in despair. "Just leave me alone," she sobbed. The Beta sighed sadly removing his embrace from her and retreated to the door. With a backward glance he saw his beloved mate collapse to the bed and cry and he had no power to comfort her let alone understand what she was feeling. She was thinking like a human acting like a human. With a heavy heart he left their room and made his way to his former bedroom.

@}-,-'-

Shell heard the door close, her mind was racing at a million mile an hour. A part of her never wanted to see that man again for ruining her life but the other part of her wanted nothing more than to remain in the safety of his arms. How was she to work this out? Her stomach ached from hunger again and the rest of her body ached for Michael.

She wanted to cry harder she wanted to scream and shout and kick and punch yet no energy to do any of it. She needed to get out of there but Michael would only track her down again, she felt trapped.

With a deep sigh she inhaled the faint scent from the previous night, the smell of their sex attacked her senses showing no mercy. Her blood began to boil with the carnal memories of what the man of both her dreams and now nightmares did to her. The lustful thoughts only caused more confusion, she needed to clear her head.

Sitting up slowly Michelle made her way over to the adjoining bathroom and began to run a hot bath, the first bath since she was a little girl. Wanting to feel clean she added some of the pungent rose scented bubble bath to the hot water and found a natural loofer and more rose scented products like body wash shampoo conditioner and body lotion.

She slipped into the tub before she finished filling it. The warmth soaked into her with ease yet did nothing to calm the turmoil of her mind. She tried hard to just sit there and relax however the memory of Michael's hands caressing her body refused to go. Taking the loofer in her hand she added some of the body wash and began to clean where she could still feel his touch. When the sensations did not fade she scrubbed harder determined to remove it.

The feeling of Michael's touch spread over her body as though he were actually touching her. Shell began to panic scrubbing harder and harder her skin now looking raw and bleeding in places, this did not stop her as the feeling was still there.

How long she scrubbed for Michelle did not know. With the water now cooling and with the pink tint of her blood staining it she decided to get out angry that the sensation of Michael's touch had not gone. She had at least got his smell off her skin replacing it with the rose scent of the body wash. "Hopefully he will see that I am not his now," she thought aloud.

The memory of the bite mark on her shoulder would be harder to take care of. Standing in front of the mirror she looked at the extent of the bite and tried to determine whether it would scar. It was still bruised and where the teeth had punctured her skin were thick scabs.

"I wonder if I can get that fixed," she mused tracing her fingers over the wound. She decided to take a trip into town the following day to get a referral for a plastic surgeon to have the bite stitched up and with any luck it will not be visible anymore. Now she just had to get out of this place long enough to get it sorted.

She paused for the moment as a wave of guilt passed over her. She should at the very least leave Michael a note telling him that she was leaving. She mulled it over in her head and figured she probably would still be writing by the time he came to check on her so she decided against it.

Heading back to the bedroom she dressed again in the same clothes she had worn for the past few days, not knowing how they came back into her possession. She really did not feel comfortable here, she wanted her own bed with her own things and most of all she wanted to go back to work and try to incubate those devil embryos that had been delivered to the university that day. Upon noticing the break of a new day she corrected her thoughts and left the room again hopefully for the last time.

It was quiet with only the odd person moving about. She refused to make eye contact with any of them as she retraced her earlier escape. A few of the people wandering about would stop in their tracks and bow their heads in her direction, she ignored this and continued.

Outside the early morning dew still clung to the foliage of the trees and blades of grass giving the garden a crystalline appearance in the dull grey of the morning. Shivering in the cool breeze that blew gently she decided to pick up the pace so she would not freeze.

"Mrs Patterson," one of the omegas called to her as he trimmed the topiary, "where are you going?"

Shell refused to acknowledge the address as far as she was concerned she was still Michelle Achermann and that was not changing any time soon.

"MRS PATTERSON!" the man called again dropping the hedge trimmer and running over to her pulling her around to look at him, "Where are you going?"

Michelle struggled, "let go of me!" she snarled wrenching out of his grip, "And I am most definitely not Mrs Patterson!" she began to walk away.

"You must stay," the man begged, "Mrs Patterson!"

"That is not my name so please will you cease calling me such," she had stopped and glared at him, "My name is Dr Michelle Achermann, I am not married nor do I wish to be. I live alone and plan to do so for the foreseeable future. Now I wish to go home and sleep in MY bed in MY bedroom at MY house where everything is peaceful and normal. I wish to spend some time caring for my two dogs and get on with my life like I had never been to this god forsaken place!" She gave a dramatic gesture to the compound and turned away for the gate which was locked once again.

"I cannot let you leave," the man insisted, "Orders from the Alpha."

She stared at the man in the eye, "see this look?" she pointed to her eyes, "this is the look of me not giving a shit what your Alpha says, he has no control over me."

"Please," the man pleaded reaching for her arm again which she swatted away, "Why must you leave? Did something happen?"

Michelle laughed, "I don't know you," she cried, "Why would I divulge such information with someone I do not know?"

"Jay," he shook her hand in a hurried greeting, "Okay, now why must you leave?"

"You're one of them aren't you," Shell stated coolly, "one of those creatures."

Jay cocked his eyebrow in confusion, "Creatures?"

"A werewolf," Shell continued in frustration, "a monster."

Jay took offence at the slur, "Now wait one minute Mrs Patterson," he received a slap to the face for that, "What was that for?"

My name," she repeated, "is Michelle Achermann. I am not nor will I ever be Mrs Patterson, is that clear?"

He nodded, "Michelle," he corrected himself, "We are not monsters you are not a monster none of us are monsters. We are werewolves and we are like every other person out there only we change into a lupine form whilst mating hunting or fighting."

"Yes," she snorted, "Information I could have done with earlier." She folded her arms in agitation, "I wish to leave so I may continue with my life as though nothing happened. I will not tell anyone about you or the others as I wish to forget the whole incident."

"You don't understand," he began only to be cut off.

"Nor do I wish to," her eyes were hard as the burrowed into his. Jay lowered in submission.

"But you accepted his proposal," her repeated the words that Michaels sister had said the previous day and pointed to the moonstone ring she still wore on her finger.

"Then let me fix this," she yanked the ring off and threw it into the garden, "There, problem solved."

Jay was horrified, if his mate had done what Michelle had just done it would have killed him. Shell stomped off towards the gate when a red sports car pulled up out the front and the gates began to open. She took her chance for freedom and raced out through them.

As she passed the car a smooth Italian voice called to her, "Where is the beautiful Michelle Achermann going this early in the morning?" It was Andrae from the restaurant.

"Home," she said as she passed.

"Would you like a lift?" he offered gesturing to the seat next to him.

"Yeah fine, whatever," she opened the door and got in fastening her seatbelt.

They pulled away and Jay ran to the now closed gates yelling for them to return but the loud rumble of the car's engine drowned out his pleas.

Jay sank down with fear filling him. He could be punished severely for letting Michelle escape and he shivered at the possibility.

@}-,-'-

"So the magnificent Michael Patterson failed to win the heart of such a beautiful woman?" Andrae asked Shell as she stared out the window, "I must say I am surprised, the look in your eyes the other night spoke volumes of love for him. May I ask what went wrong?"

"The list is too long to mention," she huffed, "But I do not wish to talk about it."

"Suit yourself," the olive skinned man sighed, "Mike must have done something quite bad to warrant such a response from his intended mate."

"I am not his mate," she said more to convince herself that responding to the man next to her.

"It is a shame that he did not succeed," Andrae reached out to her and brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear, "Then again," he began to smile, "that means you are free to try with me if you wish."

Michelle looked at the handsome man beside her, "you really think I'm beautiful don't you." When he nodded she felt the tears well in her eyes again. "I am flattered but this is all to much for me." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands, "You are sweet but I need some time to deal with what I have at the moment."

"Then time I will give you," Andrae smiled warmly at her.

They fell into an awkward silence. Michelle's mind returned to the bite on her shoulder and the fears that came with it prompting her to talk again. "what's it like to turn into a wolf?"

Andrae hit the breaks bringing the car to a sudden stop, he looked at her with shock in his eyes, "Do you not know?"

"Why would I?" she asked, "I only found out about your kind yesterday."

"Impossible," he uttered, "you are a wolf how could this be new to you?"

"I don't know," she hung her head as though she was confessing a crime, "All I know is that everything has gone to shit and I have no idea what to do." Andrae reached to pull her shirt aside to check for a bite mark, his suspicions that more was going on than he knew had to be confirmed. Michelle jumped away from his hand, "please give me time to accept what you are," she pleaded fearfully with him.

"As you wish," he pulled back and resumed their journey into town.

The rest of the trip was quiet with the exception of directions that Michelle gave him so she would not have to walk so far home.

"Beautiful Michelle," Andrae kissed her hand softly and slipped his card into her hand, "call me when you are ready."

"Thanks," she replied nervously and watched him leave. She walked the final block to her house and gasped at the damage she saw her front door had been kicked in and her bookcase smashed with her books sprawled all over the place.

She ran inside, "Tala? Fenrir?" she called, the panic beginning to rise within her as her two companions were nowhere to be seen. The entrance seemed to be the only place where damage had occurred.

Wasting no time she called the police to investigate the breaking and called the dog pound to see if her two dogs had been picked up.

@}-,-'-

William was still sound asleep with Mollie securely in his arms. The four newest members of their family huddled in-between them also slept. Mollie sighed as one of her daughters kicked her while she slept, dreaming no doubt. But the disturbance was enough to wake the Alpha female and she intended to wake everyone now. "Bill," she prodded him in the chest, "Bill, you awake?"

The Alpha groaned, "I am now," he yawned lazily and propped himself up on his elbows, "what can I get for you my beloved mate?" Mollie loved it when he called her that, her stomach fluttered like the first time she met him. Yes she loved this man of hers. "Well?"

His mate giggled, "Alice kicked me."

"You woke me because of that?" he grumbled playfully.

"No," she smirked, "I woke you because I would like to remove the pups back to the nursery so we could have some alone time." She wiggled her eyebrow to emphasise her intentions.

"Right," he grinned back at her, carefully sitting up to collect the girls into his arms and carry them to their room that was next to theirs. As he returned he saw one of the omegas talking frantically with Mollie as she sat semi-naked on their bed, she was nodding to what the man said.

Bill felt a wave of jealousy wash over him but calmed himself quickly, clearly the nature of the conversation was urgent as Mollie made no attempt to cover up.

"Mollie?" he called, startling both.

"Oh Bill," she leapt into his arms, "Michelle's gone again!" she struggled to hold back her tears, "she has thrown Michael's ring away and left with Andrae!"

Fury burned inside of him, "Does Michael know?" he asked struggling to control his temper.

"I don't think so," Jay replied, "I knocked on his door and I heard nothing so I assumed he was still asleep."

The Alpha nodded, "you have my permission to enter my son's room to wake him and inform him of the situation." Jay raced off in the direction of the Michael's room.

"Bill," Mollie began to cry, "Why is this happening?"

"She was unconscious for most of the night," he pulled his mate close for a final hug before they dressed, "I did not have the opportunity to discuss what Tala and Fenrir had to say yesterday." He punched the wall, "This is my fault! I should have waited with her."

"William," Mollie rested her hand in his, "You were not to know this would happen."

"I should have known she would run," the Alpha led his mate out to their son's room. "I hoped that she would stay."

"My love," The Alpha's mate cooed as they walked from their room towards their son's, "after learning that Michelle did not know she was a wolf, perhaps we should give her time to adjust." Bill looked at Mollie apprehensively, "We should do this the old fashioned way, slowly introduce her to the pack the same way we do with humans."

"What if she rejects him Moll?" the Alpha's concern evident with the pain in his voice. "What if she decides to leave and never return?"

Mollie chuckled, "We both know that will never happen. In the end they will be happy it is all just a matter of time."

Feeling a lot better William relaxed as they made their way.

@}-,-'-

Michael's old room felt alien to him even though he had moved out of it just three days ago. His old bed was not a comfortable as the new one he had shared with his mate.

The night had brought back all the dreams he had whilst waiting to make a move on Michelle, one of his favourites was sharing a bath with her. Slowly massaging the suds over her naked body was something he had yet to experience with her, perhaps tonight she will be more open to the thought.

He dressed in a simple pair of faded blue jeans and a faded black t-shirt hoping the relaxed attire would please his mate, making a mental note to try to find out more about Michelle and her tastes.

He made his way out to the garden next to harvest a dozen red and pink roses to show the sincerity of his love for her. This romancing thing was not something he was use to, werewolf romance usually involved copious amounts of sex, hunting and food. He doubted that Michelle would be up for hunting and the sex would be out of the question.

Approaching his marital bedroom he noticed Jay and his parents standing worriedly discussing something. "Mum? Dad? What's going on?"

Mollie's eyes showed relief, "You didn't follow her?" she asked calmly.

Mike stopped, "What has happened?" he gripped the flowers and raced into the bedroom to see it empty with the strong scent of rose body wash and the fainted hint of blood. "No, not again," he whined dropping the flowers on the floor which Jay picked up and searched for a vase.

"Son why weren't you in here last night?" Bill asked as a parent would interrogating a misbehaving child.

"She asked for some time alone," He sighed, angry at himself for not seeing what she would do.

"And like a caring mate you gave her what she wanted," his mother said, "why don't you go find her?"

Michael looked up at his parents, "She has left me for a second time, what if she doesn't want me?"

"Don't give up on her," Molly took her son in her arms and held him in a motherly embrace. A thought occurred to her that could help her little boy, "Why don't you go stay with her at her house."

"Molly don't be silly," William began but was silenced by a stern glance.

"Sweetie," Molly continued, "her life has been turned up side down, maybe staying with her and living like the scientists you are and go back to work. Get some normality back in her life."

The Alpha figured out what his beloved mate was saying, "it is something to consider, son. She only found out that she was a wolf a day ago. That's a pretty big deal for someone who thought she was human."

After a moment to think about the suggestion he nodded, "I will go to her and woo her like I should have years ago."

"That's my boy," Bill slapped him on his back, "go win her heart and get me some grandchildren."

@}-,-'-

I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. I am surprised that my fingers don't cramp up with how much I type.