A Christmas Wish

CHAPTER 13: PUNISHMENT.

I watched as David berated Louisa and her two friends, who I learned were called Kelly and Trisha. He looked absolutely furious, but I had a feeling that his anger wasn't really aimed at them. It brought me no joy, even though their humiliation was well deserved. I knew that it was nothing that they hadn't tried to have done to me, and I had expected to enjoy this moment, but instead, my mind was filled with questions. What had I done to piss Louisa off? What kind of assholes would go along with something like this? Was my brother behind this, too? Why did he seem to hate me so much? I looked around, hoping to see a few supportive faces, but most people just looked amused by the whole thing. "The three of you will spend today cleaning up all the mess that you made. You will not stop until it is done. Do you understand?" he shouted at them. They nodded meekly. Trisha stared angrily at the ground while Kelly's brown hair stuck to her face, which was wet with the tears she was quietly sobbing. "I said, do you understand?" David shouted louder when none of them spoke to answer him. "Yes, Alpha!" they all answered at once. Louisa looked totally unfazed by any of it. "Well, wait, are you waiting for? Get to it!" David commanded them.

The crowd began to disperse as David turned to ask, "Don't you lot have something else to do?" I hadn't moved yet. "Shouldn't you be getting to the kitchens? You are still on double shifts," he said, turning to look at me. I noticed that Luke wasn't in attendance this morning. "I was just wondering where Luke is? I wanted to ask him why he hadn't passed on my message to you last night," I explained. David's face was red with anger. "How is it your business where my beta is? Get to f*****g work!" he yelled. I did as I was told, not wanting to draw his anger any further.

Reaching the kitchens, Mrs Bury greeted me warmly as always. "Well done, sweetheart," she said with a smile. I thanked her and quickly threw on my uniform and got to work. I still had to find Charlie later and make sure that things were good between us. I didn't want to lose one of the only true friends that I had, and especially not over someone like Louisa. Speaking of whom, I dreaded to think what the ballroom would look like when they were done supposedly cleaning up their mess. I hoped that they at least actually washed the curtains again. That was something I would need to deal with later. For now, though, I needed to focus on getting my work done.

It was a long, hard day again today, but I had made it through. I was slightly surprised that Louisa hadn't tried to take some sort of revenge against me yet. Though I was sure that I still had that to come. Charlie hadn't been in to the kitchens today, so I hadn't had the chance to speak to him yet. I was heading home and decided to check in on the ballroom. I figured that I might aswell see what they had actually done in there. I noticed the lights on and began to worry. There's no way that those three would still be there, not for any good reason anyway. Though surely they wouldn't be stupid enough to pull the same s**t two nights in a row, would they?

I got closer and could hear voices drifting towards me on the evening air. "Trisha, you missed a bit over on that wall," I recognised my mother's voice. Peeping in, I saw her sitting in a chair with a book, watching them work. The curtains were spotless and already hanging at the windows. The floor was completely cleared of rubbish, and Louisa was scowling as she mopped it. "Hello Dawn," my mother said, noticing me in the doorway. "Aren't they doing a good job?" she asked retorically. I nodded, still not quite believing what I was seeing. "Did David make you stay in here all day to watch them?" I asked, shocked that my brother was actually making them go through with their punishment properly. She shook her head sadly. I had a feeling that she knew that David was onboard with these girls, making my life a living hell. "I thought that it would be a good idea if they were supervised. So that the job was done properly," she said. I just stood there staring at her. She reached out and squeezed my hand. "They need to learn not to mess with my daughter," she said loudly so they could all hear it. I smiled at her gratefully. This was the nicest thing that she had ever done for me.

"Now you run along. These three are going to be here a while yet," she said, letting go of my hand. Louisa gave me a dirty look as I headed for the door. I just gave her a smile. All the dirty looks in the world weren't going to bring me down right now. Instead of going home, I decided to go back to the kitchen and make my mum a pot of tea and a sandwich. I wanted to show her that I appreciated what she was doing. She had given up her entire day. A few short years ago, I wouldn't have imagined her giving up more than a minute for me. I put everything on a tray and headed for the back door. I was still in the back hallway when I heard the door between the dining hall and kitchen open and close. "Let's talk in here. No one will be around at this time. So, did you speak to Michael directly, like I told you to?" I heard a man say in a hushed tone. Curiosity getting the better of me, I crept closer to see who it was. "I did, Alpha. I told him everything that you wanted me to say," Luke replied to David. "And..... What did he say? Are The Blood Moon Pack still our allies? Did you tell him that we would send dawn away if he wanted?" David asked. My heart sank again. My brother was willing to leave me homeless and alone to stay allied with the man who had broken my heart. I gave myself a shake, of course he was. David didn't give a crap about me. I didn't want to hear what Michael had answered. I was afraid of being hurt more. So I left, I wanted to get the tray to my mother before the tea went cold.