The Pride of a Slave

They laughed loud, full laughs at the celebration and both strained their ears saying the slaves were still calling and partying. I also told them about Becka, both genuinely happy for the girl.

"Who is the relative of yours that arrived." I asked curiously to Dimitri.

"My Aunt Isadorre. My father's little sister." He smiled and shrugged, "We haven't been acquainted as of yet."

Victor handed the letter back to me, "This explains why she suddenly appeared, she is one of your Guidance Counselors."

Dimitri looked at his father suddenly concerned, "They brought Aunt Isadorre here to be a counselor?"

Victor nodded, "I knew a few teachers had quit, transferring to another University further north, but I didn't understand what was happening until now."

I got the first bad feeling in my stomach when I heard this, "They left because I was accepted?"

Victor neither nodded nor shook his head, instead changing the subject, "When the old President of the University retired, Mariah and I went through many applications and settled on this particular immortal from the East. He was a bit more progressive in his thinking, but not so much as to rock the boat this much. My guess is he was left with little option considering the letter here says that he got recommendation letters from your teachers.

I looked at him puzzled and reread the letter, "That's weird, I didn't get a single recommendation from them, just from you and Mariah."

"Well apparently you had more people in your corner than you anticipated, it is comforting to see so many rally behind you."

I looked at Ryder who was avoiding my look, an entirely too smug look on his face. Victor and I both noticed and we narrowed our eyes at him.

"What did you do Ryder?" I accused and he looked at Dimitri who seemed to nod slightly out of the corner of my eye.

"We went around collecting recommendations, your teachers already had them filled out and sealed, they were just waiting for you to ask." Ryder boasted.

Dimitri crossed his arms, "It was your friend Becka, though, who put the most work in. I think she got everyone in your neighborhood to write letters of recommendations. In fact, by the time Ryder and I delivered all the recommendations with your applications I would have had to assume that there was a letter from every slave household."

My eyes watered and I touched my chest stunned, everyone had rallied behind me, when I had thought I was so much alone, they had pooled together silently to support me. Dimitri and Ryder laughed and each kissed my cheek, passing my letter between them before tucking it into my back pocket.

"Alright boys, each of you have a celebration that you are neglecting, and Seraphina is out far past her curfew. Seraphina, I ask that you come to the Palace before your interview, you will need an escort to go into the University, and my son might as well make himself useful since his interview is during the same time."

Dimitri smiled at me and winked before schooling his face and waving back to me wishing me a good night before getting into the car with his father and driving off. Ryder hugged me again and kissed my cheek again, "I'm so proud of you little sister. I wasn't sure what my life would be without you, in that scary university."

I laughed and shook my head, "You haven't been afraid of anything since Dimitri put a snake in your crib to get you over your phobia."

Ryder lifted his nose into the breeze and looked back to the border worried, "Hurry back to your home, don't dawdle. There isn't a guard to take you back and I'm worried about you going so late at night."

I shook my head, punching him in the arm, my fist stinging but knowing he barely felt it, "I'll be fine, I'll see you tomorrow at Dimitri's."

Ryder nodded and watched me walk through the border, his face worried as his glowing eyes followed me until I disappeared around the corner.

I walked quickly, being unable to run because of how dark it was. I knew I didn't have to worry about the guard, they all knew why I was pass curfew, but the silent, dark streets were frightening, none the less.

I had just passed the park when someone grabbed me and covered my mouth with a soft, large hand. I squirmed against the grip and felt myself dragged backwards until I was thrown down into the grass. I tried to get up and run but was soundly punched in the face and fell to my knees.

"That's the perfect position to start." I began to shake as I realized it was Joes voice. I gained my wits quickly as I heard his belt buckle and heard his zipper. I swallowed my gag reflex and waited.

"See, you are already ready for it. A whore, just like your mother." He came closer and I saw him in the darkness, and I punched my fist out as hard as I could, feeling my knuckled slam into the hot, sweaty flesh that had just been exposed.

He screamed and fell to the ground cursing. I tried to stand up but the world spun and I fell back down again with a groan, instead scurrying against a tree trunk. There were lights as two familiar guards ran quickly towards us. The lights flashed to Joe and they made a disgusted sound and then turned to me.

"Holy hell, we are all dead." I must have looked bad because both guards ignored Joe and instead knelt in front of me, holding my chin and looking at my head, hurting it as I looked into the light of their flash lights.

Joe finally recovered and was on his feet screaming, "I'm going to kill that worthless slave!"

He rushed me and the guards, landing a kick into my stomach soundly, a crack shattering my world into a thousand painful pieces, it was my rib again. The guard threw Joe off of me and smacked him in the gut with his small club, knocking the wind out of Joe.

"Do..you..know..who..I...am?" Joe gasped out holding his stomach.

"I do, and do you know who you just attacked?" The guard growled to Joe as the other one tried to figure out why I was gasping for breath.

"Yeah, that's Seraphina, from the slave block. She got her mating pair tonight."

"Where did you hear she got a mate from?" The guard pressed, he sounded agitated.

"I saw her walking with her letter, with my own eyes."

The guard grabbed the envelope that had fallen when I had gotten punched and shoved it into Joes face hissing at him, "She just got accepted to University, you imbecile."

Joe grew stunned, "She's going to the administrative program?"

I whispered softly to the guard next to me, "Academic program."

The guard gasped and jumped up, "She got accepted into the Academic Program, she ranks us all."

I groaned and the guard got onto the radio while the other guard grabbed Joe and flung him over pinning him down with a knee and hand cuffing him tightly before standing him up and marching him away, his pants still down around his ankles. The other guard spoke quickly into his radio and quickly I heard the sirens of an ambulance scream through the silent air. It stopped and I was quickly strapped to a bed and pulled in. The pain and exhaustion of the day got the better of me and I finally blacked out, my last thoughts of my mother, hoping she was alright.

******************

I felt a familiar presence smiled slightly and the person pressed his hot face against mine. I felt him inhale deeply and then turn and kiss my cheek and squeeze my hand briefly. I opened my eyes to see Ryder walk out Dimitri standing on my other side with a grim look on his face. He spotted me and grabbed my hand, squeezing it softly as well, his face not changing, something I spent four years insisting he never do on my account.

"Where is Ryder going?" I winced as I spoke but I shifted the pillows and sat up with much huffing and groaning, the pain in my rib not nearly as painful as that last time I broke a rib.

"He scented who it was that attacked you and he is reporting it to the police. It seems the Administrators want more evidence than two guards seeing the whole thing happen in front of them."

I sighed, it was commonly accepted that a werewolves nose in both human and wolf form was impeccable. So having a wolf state on record that they scented the person being accused on the victim as good as condemned the person, and with this wolf just happening to be the future Alpha, I was satisfied to know that Joe would get his rightful due.

Dimitri helped settle me into the bed and then pulled a chair to the bed and sat down, "Our three interviews got rescheduled for later tonight at the Palace. The University was worried that the attack on you had to do with your acceptance. Much to my horror I find out that this guy has been attacking you regularly and that this had nothing to do with your acceptance but rather a long, steady, pattern of abuse."

I winced at Dimitri's cold voice and looked down at my hands, "I didn't want to get you guys involved, you both get so hot headed so fast, I was handling it on my own, and I got in a good shot."

Dimitri sighed and put his head on the bed next to my hand. I ran my hand through his hair, softly scratching his scalp like he liked me to do whenever he was sick or very sad, like when his older brother had died. He just stayed there letting me soothe him, and I in turn felt soothed.

Finally he looked up and Ryder walked in his face pale and drawn. He saw me awake and grabbed the chair on the other side of my bed and sat down pressing the top of my hand to his forehead. I looked at my two friends sensing that they were very sad about something.

I couldn't quite place what they were so upset about and so I soothed both of them, "I'm really alright you two, I've had worse."

They both lifted their heads and looked at each other before Dimitri nodded. They grabbed my hands solidly and Dimitri cleared his throat, "Actually, Sera, it's about your mom."

My heart froze, everything in me froze. The very pale, tired, happy, face of my mother flashed into my head, that was how I last saw her, beaming happy when I left to see my friends. I began to clench down on my friends hands, my heart pounding in my ears, the rest of my muscles frozen.

"S...She passed away last night." Dimitri's voice was thick with emotion but I couldn't do anything but stare at him as the words he said stuck to my skin, refusing to sink in so I could understand them.

"What?" I said, my voice strangled and high pitched.

Ryder wrapped my hand with his other hand, his large hands engulfing my small ones, "She died last night, she's been sick a while Sera. Mother said that she was holding on just long enough to see that you were alright. She lived longer than anyone guessed she would."

"What?" My brain wasn't functioning, I heard everything they said, I felt everything they were feeling, but I simply couldn't understand. All I could see was the pale, exhausted, so very proudly happy face of my mother.

I felt the frenzy building as I realized that I wouldn't see her again. I would touch her, cuddle against her in our only bed, listen to her wisdom on how to handle my life, or hear her soft lecture about patience with the Princes, when I was so frustrated I could have killed them.

The feeling of guild hit first and I looked at Ryder, "I shouldn't have left..."

Ryder shook his head, and Dimitri recaptured my attention, "Sera, she died in her sleep, she didn't feel a thing. But the fact of the matter is, it was determined that she died minutes after you left, you couldn't have done anything."

I stared at Dimitri hearing this horrible gasping, screaming, sobbing sound in my ears and when I looked at his expression I realized the noise was coming from me. Ryder and me wrapped in his arms quickly and I fought against him, forgetting my rib or anything else. I punched and scratched at his arms, all the while sobbing. He held onto me until I quit struggling and then let me lay back down, only to be lying next to Dimitri, put into his arms.

I pressed my head into his shoulder and wept until I felt sick. A nurse came in and was quickly dismissed with a roar and a tray thrown at her by Ryder, who was sitting behind me and stroking my back as Dimitri cradled me. I began to calm down and shake, not from Dimitri's cold skin, the feeling soothing against face, but I pulled Ryder's hand and he laid down behind me throwing his large arm across me, eliciting a small protest as it fell onto Dimitri. I reprimanded them softly and fell asleep, feeling safe as I slept with my two friends as I had when I was small and my mother was away only because she had too big a heart, and too much determination.

I woke up a little while later with a ferocious pain in my side, realizing it was because I was laying on my rib in Dimitri's arms, and Ryder was snoring away in my ear, his hot arm pressing me into my hurt rib. When I opened my eyes, Dimitri's blue eyes were glowing brightly as he glared at Ryder until he saw my eyes and then the icy burn subsided.

"How can you sleep with all that racket." He murmured softly and I smiled at him.

"He is used to sleeping squished with everyone, its how a pack is. And it's always been comforting, Dimitri, some creatures need touch." I winced and I reached behind me and pinched Ryder's nose, the wolf instantly jumping up in defense, snorting and growling half asleep, "What's going on..."

"Sorry Ryder, I needed to get up." Ryder's face softened and he and Dimitri helped me resituate until I was alone, sitting up in the bed.

Dimitri had just started to straighten his slacks when the door burst open and a very grumpy doctor stormed in, glaring death at the two Princes.

"Good, I was prepared to start a war to get you out of that poor girl's bed. She needs rest and sleep, not whatever that was."

Dimitri stared at her coolly and Ryder just yawned and stretched, "Oh stuff it sis, what's the damage."

She pointed to Ryder, "Mom wants you home NOW, she said you shoulda been home an hour ago. Not to mention about three nurses saw your bonding sleep here, and all three of you are in trouble. But don't worry, Sera they are more mad at my idiot brother than anything else."

I smiled at the Theresa, she looked just like Mariah, but had lacked the strength, inner and outer, to be an Alpha, which was why Ryder's only older sibling was the head of the hospital, rather than the future Alpha.

Theresa pointed to Dimitri, "Your father wants to speak with you right now, he's in my office."

Both hesitated looking back at me worried, I sighed and nodded at them, "Go on."

"That's right, go on, I need to check her over and your big ole bodies are in my way. Out with the pair of you." Theresa shooed them out the door and slammed it closed, leaning against it and sighing.

"I'm glad they listen to someone. I was afraid they wouldn't leave."

"They're are just upset."

Theresa paused and nodded, "Yeah, we are all pretty upset over at the pack too. Your mom was very well liked by everyone. Mom is beside herself, she just won't let anyone see it. Now I need to take a look at your bruised rib, and black eye."

I hissed as she prodded, "I figured it was broken."

Theresa shook her head, "No no, just a good bruise, will feel worse because it feels like it takes longer to heal, but you can get up and move around now. In fact I would rather you do it now so that I don't have to worry about Di telling Ryder that you were forced out of bed limping and in pain and all of that."

I smiled and got out of the bed slowly, the doctor helping me stand and get my balance before walking. The bruised rib felt terrible but nothing I couldn't handle my head is what felt bad and I groaned holding it as I sat back down."

"Yeah, that idiot got you pretty good upside the head, you have little knot there but no big damage, just take it easy on the sports, and especially don't let Di and Ryder get you all riled, or else that headache will turn to nausea." the doctor wrote something down on her computer pad then grabbed my I.D. and swiped it, putting my medical instructions and prescription on my I.D. "Alright, you get a little something to help to sleep at night, and some basic pain medication for the head, I want you to use it sparingly."

I nodded only wincing softly, "I don't really think I'll use it."

"Good, that's the spirit. Alright, I'm dismissing you from the hospital with strict instruction that if you start seeing floaters or colored dots, or start vomiting regularly, you return, got it?"

"Got it." the doctor handed me my I.D. and walked out. I sat on the bed, feeling scared and confused. I had nowhere to go now. I didn't have a home now, the house was mother's, and when she died the house was reassigned to a new mated couple. If I had been mated or paired I would just go to my mate or pair early and live with them. But I was lost at what to do, even the University had said they were still working out my living accommodations. I was homeless and the realization that Mother was gone hit me again and I pulled my knees to my chest and cried into them.

I felt a cold hand on the back of my neck and looked up expecting to see Dimitri but was surprised to see a very worried looking Victor. He patted my back and stepped back, "I am truly sorry for you loss, Sera."

"I didn't get to say goodbye." I choked out.

Victor nodded and with an understanding that could only be had from losing someone you loved , said softly, "We never do. And even if we get the chance, it doesn't feel like enough."

I nodded wiping my tears from my cheeks and closing my eyes remembering her so happy, I pushed the sorrow away. Victor waited for a moment then seeing that I was composed put his hand on my shoulder, "The doctor has told me that you have been released."

I nodded and said softly, "Do you think the University knows where I will be staying yet?"

"I doubt it."

"I'm homeless, then."

Victor snorted and gave me a grave look, "Absolute nonsense, do you have any idea the amount of bickering I did with Mariah over you? I haven't bickered with that woman since she and I were sixteen."

I smiled thinking of the two of them as children fighting over toys as Dimitri and Ryder had.

"No you are not homeless, you will be staying with me in the Palace. I thought the arrangement of you having your own room would suit you a great deal better than sleeping in a den with arms and legs pressed against you at all times." His face was still a mask of perfect motionlessness but his voice held a tease in it that made me smile in response.

"Thank you, you were correct." I said with much relief.

He nodded and turned and strode out the door, Dimitri coming in as soon as he left. Dimitri didn't say anything as he watched me hobble to the bathroom with my clothes to change out of the hospital gear. I winced as I carefully brushed my chestnut, wavy, hair. I looked at the girl in the mirror, shaking my head at the reflection. My hair was wavy, stuck between curly and straight, and it landed down the middle of my back, very long by slave standards. I was also very willowy and small by slave standards as well. My mother had been short and I had only managed to become a five foot five by the end of my growth. I was willowy, mostly thanks to having to run to my house every single day and then not eating either due to poverty, or simply because I was too busy studying to eat.

My mother had said that I had a very appealing body in the fact that while I was slender, I was still full in the bust and the rear end, leaving me with a very beautiful body type. I slipped my pants on and shirt, hiding my body figure from view and slowly shuffling back out to the room.

Dimitri paused looking at me a strange look on his face, "I haven't seen you with your hair down since we were in basic primary school. It's really long and its really pretty Sera."

I thanked him and sat on the bed with my bag in my lap waiting for Dimitri to get the text that the car is ready. We sat next to each other and I leaned over and rested my head on his shoulder, my heart still in a great deal of pain. He leaned his head onto mine and sighed neither of us saying anything until his pocket rang with a soft beep. Without looking at it Dimitri stood up and walked slightly ahead of me, as we walked out the hospital and to the car.