𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐍✔️

SIXTEEN|WANT

  "HOW ON EARTH did you manage to convince Kaden to let you go out unsupervised?" Lumen smirked as she ushered me into the warmth of the pack house.

"I'm not unsupervised," I replied, " — I'm with you."

She rolled her eyes and gestured to her chest, "Yes, because I'm definitely a responsible adult." She laughed, voice dripping with sarcasm.

I had never given a thought to her age before, though she certainly looked old enough to be a responsible adult, not that it mattered much. "How old are you, anyway?" I asked.

Kaden was twenty-four, and the first time I'd ever met Lumen, she'd referred to Kaden as 'baby brother' so she had to be older than him, yet Lumen didn't look a day over twenty, but then again, neither did Kaden. A wolf trait no doubt.

"I'm twenty-four — older than Kaden by six minutes."

The shock and surprise at the knowledge that Karen and Lumen were twins must have been evident on my face.

"We're twins," She said, " — But not identical twins."

That much was obvious, though they had certain similarities I would never go so far as to call them identical. Kaden had darker, dirty blonde hair, whereas Lumen's hair was a sun-kissed, radiant blonde. However, the most notable similarity between them was their unique eyes. Their striking blue eyes. Eyes like the ocean. Eyes that could swallow you whole. That encapsulated you into their oblivion and drown you without a second thought.

We passed several pack members as we moved through the pack-house in the direction of the kitchen. Their eyes always seemed to linger on me for a moment longer than my liking, taking in my appearance with their hungry stares.

Their eyes judged me, I could feel it.

They judged me upon my marred skin, upon the pale white scars that littered the little visible skin on my arms.

They saw a broken girl, one who was abused and defeated. They looked at me as if I were some sort of kicked puppy, and I hated it.

An acrid feeling within me balled inside my chest, filling me with the intense need to scream. I wanted to scream until my voice shattered under the pressure and no worse could ever be found again and the deafening silence would be forced upon me.

The feeling frightened me, there was no need for it, and yet that didn't make it any less real.

I couldn't hide the physical scars from my past, even Kaden must have seen them. I could see it in his eyes, and in the way his muscles always seemed to tense ever so slightly, whenever he looked too close.

Even though I could not hide my physical state from prying eyes, I could hide the true extent of my unstable mind. I was forever stained blood-red with images of that beast. Images that were permanently tattooed into every crevice of my mind, spreading like a hideous virus and tainting everything it touched with the same deadly darkness.

"— Arden? Are you listening to me?" Lumen clicked her fingers in front of my face a few times, snapping me out of my daze.

I mumbled, "Sorry."

"It's okay," She laughed, "I just asked what you wanted to eat."

"I don't really mind, whatever's easiest for you."

I pulled out a stool and sat at the marble island, as Lumen walked over to one of the cupboards and started pulling out ingredients and placing them on the counter.

It was still strange to me, to be able to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Before I would only be fed once every few days, only ever small portions, always just enough to keep me alive, to survive.