Love Is Pain

Dirty Little Secrets

"So how's the soulmate thing working out for you?" Dylan laughed.

Ryan gave me a confused look. I explained the whole soumate thing to him.

"And you think that Arrow is this soulmate of yours?" he asked skeptically.

"I know she is," I said without hesitation.

"She's not going to like this," he told me seriously.

When he saw my confused look he sighed.

"She's taken care of me like she has because she thinks that it's her fault that I am as I am. But that's beside the point. In other words, she just got out of a terrible relationship and she hates being told what to do," Ryan said, shaking his head.

A sharp pain shot through me and a loud string of profanities erupted from the kitchen. Ryan jumped in fear, rushing into the kitchen with me following close behind. Arrow was sitting on the floor, one hand on her head, the other covered in blood.

"What happened? You weren't attacked were you?" Ryan asked.

"No, I just slipped and... Hi Ryan! When did you feel light headed?" Arrow mumbled, not making any sense.

"Tanya!" I screamed.

I picked Arrow up and rushed into the main living room.

"What happened?" Tanya asked, coming into the room.

"She slipped and hit her head, it's bleeding pretty bad," I explained.

Tanya moved around me to look at Arrow's head.

"I can stich this easy. She's just going to have a serious headache for the next few days," Tanya said, getting straight to work.

Arrow's face scrunched up in pain and a pitiful whimper escaped her lips. The wolf in me growled at Tanya, causing her to stop in fear and honor of me being the Alpha.

"Look here! I don't care if you're my Alpha or not! Go ahead and kill me for speaking out but that is my sister so leave the nurse lady do her job!" Ryan growled in response.

I stopped in shock. No one in my pack had ever stood up to me, even if it had been needed. I nodded and knelt next to the couch, holding onto Arrow's hand.

"I should check her back," Tanya said when she had finished.

I looked at her curiously, trying to figure out what she was up to.

"If she slipped she may have hurt her back. I just want to check to make sure that she's okay," Tanya said, careful to keep me calm.

I couldn't help it, Arrow's my soulmate and I will keep her safe. I stood Arrow up and held her to me while Tany lifted the back of Arrow's shirt.

"What's this?" she asked, taking a hand gun from the waist of Arrow's pants.

"Nothing," Ryan said quickly.

He took the gun and put it in his own waist band.

"Why does she have a gun?" I demanded as Tanya finished checking Arrow's back.

"The same reason she isn't ready for a relationship," he said, picking up his sister from my grasp and laying her on the couch.

"Arrow, wake up little sister," he whispered in her ear.

Arrow sat up slowly and stretched before looking from Ryan to me and back again as Tanya left.

"Where's my gun?" she asked softly.

Ryan handed it back to her silently, almost sorrowfully.

"So... Let's go on this tour," she said in fake happiness.

I gave them a tour of the house and took them outside to see the grounds.

"As you can see we have a pool, a training house, and plenty of grounds for relaxing and running," I said.

"I'm gonna go check out the training house! I'll see you later sis!" Ryan called as he ran off.

(ARROW'S POINT OF VIEW)

Ryan ran off, leaving me with the jerk.

"Come on, I'll show you the gardens," Josh offered, leading the way around the back of the house.

He closed the small gate behind us. We sat down on a bench in an awkward silence. I HATE awkward silences.

"So why are you carrying a gun?" he asked.

I froze, trying to fight back the memories.

"Arrow?" Josh whispered.

"Why do you care?" I demanded, putting my cold front back up.

I refused to break down in front of this jerk.

"That's something I'll explain later. But if you being here endangers my pack then I need to know so that I can protect everyone," he said.

"Trust me, if he shows up I'll take care of the problem," I said, standing up.

I saw anger and..... jealousy? flash through Josh's eyes.

"He? So who is he? Father? Old friend? Boyfriend?" he demanded, the last word dripping with hate and anger.

"Ex-boyfriend! Not that it's any of your business!" I snapped, storming off.

He grabbed my arm and turned me to face him.

"You're living with my pack! That makes it my business!" he growled.

Fear flashed through me but I pushed it away.

"Fine! You want to know why I carry a gun? Why I'm scared to death to be alone in the dark?! My ex is the one who changed my brother! He was going to kill me becase I told my brother about how he abused me and raped me! It's my fault that my brother's gone through all of this and I'll never deserve his forgiveness! It's my fault my brother did what he did! There is blood on my hands because of my ex and it scares the hell out of me that my ex swore he wouldn't stop until I was dead!" I snapped, tears streaming down my face.

I had never broken down in front of anyone before. I felt ashamed for being so weak. I hated myself for showing my weakness. He reached out to touch me but I turned on my heel and ran off into the woods. I pushed myself, letting both the emotional and physical pain push me on. All I could think about was him and how he had ruined my life. A stream came into view and I fell in it. I sat there for an hour or so, crying before forcing myself to wade down stream. I came to a beautiful clearing after what felt like hours. I laid down, completely exhausted, in a patch of sunlight to rest, slowly drifting off to sleep.