The Found One

Chapter 5

Izzy POV

The house had been in an uproar all morning; no one was stopping to explain it to her but something or someone important was coming, and for three days everyone had been put to work - including her. She had vacuumed, dusted, swept, peeled, chopped, folded, washed, and cooked right alongside Rey and Leia under the watchful eye of their mother Mindy and a few other equally intimidating and eagle-eyed women. And no one was exempt including Alpha Vance, who one afternoon Izzy was tasked to work beside to clean and organize his office, being sent back to the kitchens only after it passed Mindy's meticulous scrutiny. There she had picked up helping the two sisters to peel the barrels of apples they had been working on since breakfast, for the apparent truckload of pies they had been given the task to bake.

It had been ten days. Ten days waking up expecting to die, and ten days surviving to go to bed at night. She didn't understand how or why, but ten dawns had passed since she had met with Alpha Vance and had been handed a death sentence and yet, here she was: still alive, still breathing – throat fully intact.

Each night Izzy fell into bed so tired and exhausted she would nearly forget that it could be her last, and dawn could finally be the end – nearly. But then each morning she would be roused from her queen sized bed, in the room adjoined to the twins, and would be set to work, no mention of death, executions, or sentences.

Still, Izzy shied away from the men in the house, shrinking under the steady gaze of Kevin and other towering forms that rushed from room to room, arms loaded with laundry, bags of groceries or odds and ends, the Luna's barking orders trailing behind them, or who seemed to always be hovering around her, eyes watching her. Only with Vance did she manage any level of ease or comfort, and even then it was unsteady and weary. The first couple days she had tried to shy away from Rey and Leia, ignoring their friendly pestering, sullenly and terrifyingly trailing behind them as Alpha Vance had instructed, but they were having none of it. They were relentless, their friendlessness, their cheeriness, their laughter it was unstoppable and her scared bad mood was no match for the full weight of the Silva twins. After the first few days, they wore her down, good-naturedly pestering and prodding her until the three of them were giggling and gossiping, watching horrible rom coms and getting into food fights together as if they had been friends forever. Of course, it had helped when both girls had admitted they hadn't 'shifted' yet, and that they reminded Izzy of her little sister back home.

Now though, Izzy hovered in the doorway, awkwardly trying to decide whether to see what was happening inside the sitting room that had the twins in an uproar, or whether to turn tail and hide out in the sanctuary of her room until someone summoned her. Maybe they'd even forget about her while they were all distracted by whoever these new people were.

"Madeline there you are! Come in, come in."

Vance's voice shocked her out of her internal argument, her heart dropping in disappointment. Chiding herself for not making her escape when she still had the chance she looked up to meet the Alpha's gentle eyes. It was still weird for her, even after the days living with him and his family to see such tender and human emotions on his face.

Taking a small hesitant step forward Izzy felt her heart rate pick up as more and more eyes made their way to her. She felt small, weak, fragile – human.

"Oh Madeline, you have to come meet everyone!" Leia shouted, jumping up from where she had tackled some guy to the ground.

Izzy felt her head shaking, her foot stepping backwards, a pathetic attempt to escape and flee from the room, back to the safety and anonymity of the hall, away from all the questioning eyes.