Artem

I let Chay go back to her room then as I started toward the stairs. When I got downstairs I saw that Kent was already waiting for me. He was wearing a pair of worn out jeans and an old t-shirt. He and I almost matched in that aspect.

"Took you long enough." He looked at me with an impatient set to his face and body.

"I ran into Chay on my way down."

"And?" He actually looked curious about what my sister had said.

"I found out the trashy bitch's name."

"What unfortunate name did they give her? Broomhilda, ugly stepsister one, Freakshow?" I couldn't help but laugh at his words.

"Oddly enough they gave her a normal name. She's such a shame to Lisa's everywhere."

"Seriously, her name is Lisa? Nothing to do with trash, unwanted things, nothing?"

"Nope. It's crazy isn't it."

"I can't believe someone with such a normal name was able to stink up my car like that. Seriously, I might need to burn the damn thing for insurance money if that stench doesn't come out of the trunk." I chuckled again.

Kent was a funny guy. He used jokes in a variety of situations. When he was in a good mood, when he was in a bad mood, when he felt vulnerable. They were his go to thing. He would crack a joke and make others smile so that they were happy like him or to hide what it was he was actually feeling. They were both his weapon and his shield. Sometimes it made it hard to know what Kent was really thinking, but I like to think I know him well enough that I could see through his mechanisms.

Right now, Kent was nervous. He had not taken a life, but he had helped me rescue the kids that had been held prisoner and so that meant he had hurt people. The thing is, hurting someone and killing someone were two completely different things and he knew it.

"Come on, let's go." I told him as I walked toward the door. I knew full well that I was planning to do all the dirty work so that I could spare my friend's psyche. Normally he wasn't so delicate, but he was still mourning his brother so I could understand the way he was feeling.

We walked silently as we made our way toward where Kent had secured our prisoner. With every step I took that brought me closer to that piece of trash I felt my nose wrinkle a little more. Her scent was so strong and so putrid that I honestly couldn't believe it. What the hell was wrong with those people? The only added benefit was that I could tell when they were near.

As I walked closer to her, moving silently through the trees I took the time to look around at my surroundings, at the trees, the grass, the shrubbery of the forest. How was it that the disgusting smell of her didn't affect the area around her. I half expected the grass that she touched to have turned black, the leaves to fall from the trees, or at least poisonous mushrooms to pop up in her wake that would decimate the local animal population. Seriously, she had to have some sort of effect on the world with how vile she was.

"Oh look, it's the would be ALPHA!" The trash sneered at me, practically yelling the last part. Just looking at her turned my stomach, her usual appearance wasn't pleasant and she now also had a bloody hole in her face where Star had stabbed her. I was glad that my mate had fought back, it made me proud.

"Come to yell at me before you send me off on my merry way." She laughed then, acting like she wasn't afraid of us. Oh, I was going to have fun bringing out the fear in her.

"What makes you think you will be leaving here at all, Lisa?" I sneered as well, particularly on her name. That seemed to make her flinch. Was it from the words themselves or the way I said it? Guess I will never know in all honesty.

"So, you know my name, big deal." She was trying to sound tough, unbothered, by my words.

"I could have done this without knowing anything about you except that you were one of the ones who had tormented my Star."

"She's not your Star, she's Howie's!" The trash was yelling at me now, and she was trying to deny me what was mine.

"No, bitch, she doesn't belong to him, she is mine and always will be." I watched at the anger and fear warred across her face, fighting for which emotion would be dominant in her eyes. Right now it looked like the anger was winning out over the fear. She really was pissed at me.

The thing is, was she so mad because I had stopped her earlier, because we had her tied up out here in the woods, or because we had made it clear that Star was never going back to their fucking house of sick freaking horrors? No matter what the reason was, I would soon see the fear take the lead once more and it would stay there until there was nothing left in those eyes.

"Howie is the head of our family! Howie gets to decide what happens to her because she belongs to us!" Her voice was full of loathsome rage as she screamed these words at me at the top of her lungs, spittle flying from her lips as she flapped those putrid lips of hers. "She will only ever belong to Howie because that is what he wants. I don't want her with him anymore than you do but it's what he wants so it's what he will get." Oh look, a new emotion was taking anger's place, jealousy.

"You love that putrid piece of fucking pond scum, don't you?"

"Don't you dare call him that. He is a great man, a wonderful man. He is handsome and strong and perfect and just the best man there ever was."

"Goddess, you two fucking deserve each other." Kent almost sounded like he was going to gag after having to listen to that nonsense. "If you love that fucking piece of trash so much why didn't you become his fucking bitch? Huh?"

"You think I didn't try?!" She screamed at Kent, her eyes and cheeks both turning red, one out of embarrassment the other with unshed tears. "When that fucking piece of shit Omega first turned she flaunted it for everyone to see. When she turned back she was lying there, sprawled on the ground for the world to see her goods. Howie fell for her then and has vowed to have her ever since."

"That's fucking disgusting. She was fucking thirteen when she shifted, and how old was your Howie then, huh, twenty five, thirty? He's a sick fucking freak." I felt my stomach recoil when I heard her tell me that he was planning to have my Star since she was thirteen.

"You love her now too, though, don't you?"

"There's one difference here for me though, I am not twice her fucking age. I am only five years older than her, and I am waiting for her to love me back before I do anything with my mate. Your precious Howie, wouldn't have given her a fraction of that love and care."

"He wouldn't have had to, she would have wanted him, she will want him, when she turns eighteen."

"Shut up." I snapped at her, losing my patience at her continued support of that monster.