2

As dawn stepped on the bus to go back to the school she felt a little lost. By the time she walked in her front door she wasn't sure why she came home at all. Her twin brother John was sitting on the couch flipping through the channels. He paused just long enough to look up in annoyance when greeted.

It wasn't that she wanted to greet him but she knew what would happen if she didn't. Immediately after putting her book bag on the kitchen table she began to clean the huge pile of trash John had managed to accumulate since he arrived home. Liam walked in and glared at his younger siblings.

Liam was was the oldest and had left to join the marines the day he graduated high-school. Now back, with ptsd from his service, he often shouted at John for his laziness.

"Move you stupid bitch! I'm trying to watch tv!" John snapped angrily as he launched a half full can of soda at her head and missed just barely. She felt the wind as it whizzed by her.

"ON YOUR FEET FILTHY MAGGOT!!!" Dawn flinched as Liam's voice boomed in the small space. "START CLEANING THIS MESS AND WHEN YOU'RE DONE YOU CAN VACUUM THIS WHOLE FUCKING HOUSE!! YOU WILL CLEAN THE BATHROOM TOP TO BOTTOM!!! IF I CANT SEE MY REFLECTION IN THE FUCKING TOILET SEAT YOU WILL DO IT ALL AGAIN!!!!"

"You can't mack me do that! It's women's work!" John protested loudly.

"I DONT KNOW BUT HEARD IT SAID, FAT LAZY DICKS DONT GET HEAD!!!" Liam chanted as he got in John's face. "SOUND OFF!!!"

"I won't do it!!" John whined. "Hey, fatso, it's your job to clean the house! Get started!!"

"You have three seconds then I'm going to put you in the fucking ground." Liam snarled quietly at John.

"I'm telling dad you threatened me!"

"Go ahead. He'll be right next to you in that grave. I'm not afraid of that coward." With that Liam took her hand and pulled her down to her room. "What are you doing here, Dawn?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about. I live here."

"No what are you doing Here? Why did you come back here? You should have stayed at the pack house where you're safe." Liam said earnestly. Liam was her half brother on her mother's side. When she got pregnant with a werewolfs' baby she had been forced to marry the first guy that came along. That was Earle Sanders.

"Because." She whimpered softly as she cast her eyes down.

"Because?"

"Because I was scared." Tears welled in her eyes as she finally looked at him. "I don't want to be like mom." Amelia Sanders had loved and cherished her oldest child. But had despised the twins she had conceived with her husband. At one point she had tried to drown a two year old Dawn in the bath tub. Thirteen year old Liam had stopped her. However Dawn was terrified of any body of water deep enough for one to submerge themselves in, and refused to take a bath.

Shortly after the incident with the bath Amelia committed suicide, not wanting another baby conceived in ****. She believed killing herself would end her suffering. Unfortunately it didn't stop Earle from taking out his anger on her children, especially Liam. If she ended up like her mother, Dawn would do the same thing. She wouldn't bother even trying.

"There is one major difference between moms situation and yours."

"What is it?"

"My dad was just a warrior, and not a very strong one. Your mate is an alpha." Liam wasn't bragging about the alpha being Dawn's mate, merely stating fact. "He can and will protect you. Think about it, for me."