The Blind Werewolf Princess (1st book of Werewolf Series)

Chapter 15

There was a knock on the door, and the four of us looked at it. No one said a word as there was another knock on the door. This knock was sharper than the last, as if the person didn't like being ignored.

"Who is it?" I asked, speaking first. I shifted on my bed and placed a foot down on the floor. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to sense who was there and why they were knocking at my door.

"It's Caden," the male said, not opening the door. "I heard that you wanted to talk to me about your friends at the orphanage. May I come in?"

"You may," I said, feeling slightly relaxed that it was someone that I had some contact with. I sat back more comfortably on the bed and listened to the sound of the door opening, still keeping my eyes closed. I didn't hear the male step into the room, and I had a feeling that he was wondering why there were three men in bed with me.

"We were bonding, Sir," Valen said. "She's our sister, so we wanted to get to know her."

"She caught Valen and I trying to do something in her room," Vallum said, and Valen hit him. "Ow, what was that for?"

"You didn't have to tell him that," he hissed, and I rolled my eyes and scowled.

"Yes, bu-"

"Why don't you sit down, Sir," I said, gesturing in the direction that Max and said that a desk sat. "If that is ok with you."

"It is, thank you," Caden said. He walked over to the desk and pulled out the chair. "Please, call me Caden," he said, sitting down all the way. "What were you two doing?" he asked. "And do not lie. I will be able to tell if you do."

"Carley would have been able to tell if we were lying," Valen said, and Vallum nodded. "So, we weren't going to lie in fears of... Carley doing something back to us."

"Like..?" Caden asked, and I could tell that he was raising an eyebrow and looking at me.

I shrugged my shoulder. "Haven't decided yet," I replied. "Can we talk about the other orphans?" I asked, changing the subject. "It's been almost a day, and I don't want them to stay any longer without them there."

"How bad is it?" Caden asked. "The living conditions?"

"For me and the others like me, it's crap," I replied. "We are barely fed, and the food we eat is is stale or maybe even moldy. Sometimes we don't eat for days, and when that happens, I had to leave and steal stuff."

"Seriously?" Caden asked, and I nodded. "Have you ever been caught?"

"A couple of times," I replied. I paused and licked my lips, hesitating on what I should tell him. I knew that there were things that I couldn't explain, couldn't tell him, like meeting those two men and knowing about Werewolves. I didn't want him to be suspicious of me, thinking that I was some spy when I wasn't.

"The more you tell me, the more I can help," Caden said. "If not, then there is a chance that I will not be able to help you."

I set my jaw, not liking what he had said. I knew that I had to tell him stuff, but there were things that I could not talk about. There were things that I had been through that I didn't trust him fully to know, and him saying that made it harder for me to tell him.

"I think that... she should get to trust you first before she does say a lot, Sir," Max, said probably catching my look. He cleared his throat and shifted in the bed, feeling his hard gaze. "And, there could be things that had happened to her that she herself is not fully ready to discuss."

"And, you know this... how?" Caden asked, his tone a little darker. "Has she told you anything?"

"Not a lot, but what I have gathered is that it is shitty." He looked at me, and I had a feeling that he wanted to share what little I shared with him. "She didn't have a bed," Max said. "All she had was a thin blanket, not even a pillow, even during the winters."

"We didn't have any heat during the winters, at least that part of the house didn't," I added. "Most if not all of the orphans got sick during the winter months."

"Did you?" Caden asked, and I shook my head, no. "Why not?"

"I didn't have time," I replied. "I had to help raise everyone and take care of everything that happened to them."

"What about the other girls? Were they taken care of?"

"The orphans that were considered adoptable?" I asked. I nodded. "Yes, they were. They had been able to eat. They got new clothes and were made to look more presentable than us. They got beds to sleep in that weren't the small cots we received. They got everything they wanted and needed, some, if not most, of it at our own expense."

"Meaning..?"

"The money for us for clothes or food goes to them," I replied. I shrugged my shoulder. "I don't know. I know that there are clothes that we should have received but didn't. There were times when we were left at the house while the others were shopping or eating out somewhere with the fridge and door locked."

"And no one helped?" Caden asked, and I shook my head, no. "Why not?"

"Don't know," I replied. "But, even if they did help, I don't know if it would have done us any good." I paused and licked my lips, hesitating. "I am just... hoping that telling you that our living conditions sucked is enough to have you look into it. I need to get them out of there. They will kill them." My hands started to shake, and it started to feel harder to breathe. I was panicking, worried that they would kill them because I wasn't there to stop them. I had no idea what they were facing and prayed that I wasn't too late.

"They won't," Caden said, seeing me start to panic. His voice was soothing and calm, but it didn't stop me from panicking. "I will see what I can do and will get them out. They will never have to face the treatment that they had faced ever again. I promise."

I hesitated and nodded my head, leaning on my new brother as he put his arm around me. "Ok," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "I trust you." I paused. "Just don't make me regret it, please."

"You won't." He cleared his throat and stood. "Excuse me," he said finally. "I have some work to do. I will get them out as soon as possible," he promised. And with that, he left, gently closing the door behind him.