Fairytale Shifters by Alexa Riley

Author:Alexa Riley [Riley, Alexa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-09-23T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 3

Winnie

Lying back on my bed, I stare at the wooden ceiling of the attic. How many nights have I lain here, wanting Stone to notice me? Every single one of them. It’s stupid. I should embrace this. It’s what I’ve always wanted, but now it just feels tarnished.

My memory floods with all the times he’s pushed me away over the years. Like I was unwanted. Like I was a stray, as my stepsisters like to call me. It didn’t help that I wasn’t subtle with my crush for the first few years. Anyone with eyes in their head could see I followed him around like a lovesick puppy. If only I was a puppy. Then maybe things would’ve been different.

He only wants me because nature made it so. I wasn’t so much as a blip on his radar before today. I was just someone who got bossed around and was made to follow orders, no matter what I wanted. Stone, my stepsisters, and my stepmother. They were the worst. I thought it was bad when my stepfather was here. But when he died two years ago, things only got worse. I hate it here.

The bitter reality of it all is that if I did become Stone’s mate, I’d be stuck in a pack that never truly wanted me. I’d only be accepted because my pack-mates were made to. My stepsisters have made my life hell. It didn’t help that they got their friends to join in on their little taunts as they picked on me in school.

It seemed like each day that ticked by, my bear retreated more and more inside me. Now I don’t even feel her. At first she clawed at me to have a family, to try to fit in, and to be a part of a den. I craved it, just like I’d craved Stone.

For the past four years I’ve been here, all I’ve ever felt was that I was being tolerated. The only true friend I had at any point was Gwen, and sometimes I wondered if she just pitied me. Maybe she felt I needed a friend more than she wanted to be my friend. Not that Gwen isn’t good to me. She is. She’s been there for me when I’ve had no one else, but I still question it. I can’t stop myself.

I roll over and punch the pillow next to me. Pity party for one, anyone?

When I hear the door to my room open, I inwardly cringe, knowing who’s coming up the stairs. Now I really wish it was just a pity party for one.

“Look who it is,” Trish snaps as she stomps up the stairs. I don’t even wonder why she’s in a bad mood. She always seems to have a reason to direct some kind of hostility at me. Over the years I’ve learned to let it roll off me. There wasn’t a hateful thing they hadn’t hurled at me before.

And there’s nothing I can do about it. Stone’s the alpha, and he put me here.

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