Lidia and Stella had lived a comfortable life, they thrived as the best as they could. Lidia only lived for her daughter and nothing else, which only made her stronger. She took odd jobs in order to live. Her daughter was growing and took nothing from anyone at all. She was an alpha's daughter, that was for sure.
In school, children tried to pick on her, for her odd color hair. But she managed to outsmart them with her wit and charm. When it came to bullies, she really didn't have to do much. But look at them and they would fall over their own feet. She would also stand up for those who couldn't help themselves.
Lidia was proud of her daughter, but she was also fearful for her too. But in the end, she didn't have to worry at all. Stella knew she couldn't use her strength at school. She was nearly ten times stronger than a normal girl her own age. Which would cause people to ask questions about her being a werewolf.
Small towns like Colville, were okay for werewolf children to go to school with normal children. But going to bigger towns or cities like Spokane, it was not normal for a werewolf child to be there. But it was the only place Lidia knew to be, where she could hide in plain sight from other werewolves. She knew that they wouldn't dare to come into the city to find her. She was safe.
One day as she was working at the store, stocking the shelves. She heard someone in the next allie over saying. "Hey Frank, how are we to find Lidia and her daughter? Her mother had asked us to find her, but no one hasn't seen Lidia for years. And her father is dying…"
That caused Lidia to freeze, 'My father!' She stopped what she was doing and walked around the allies to find the men. "Frank," she asked, thinking it was one of the men from the town she grew up in. Along with the voice she knew too. "Hank?"
She blinked a couple of times and sure enough, it was the twins she knew. They turned towards her voice and their eyes were comical to say the least. "Lidia," they called to her in surprised voices. "I can't believe our luck," gasped Frank.
She glared at them, "What do you mean, my father is dying?"
Hank sighed, "It's his heart, Lidia. He went to a doctor last month and they said it is slowly going out on him. He doesn't have much time…"
Lidia wanted to be defiant, she had read the papers. Damen was doing good for himself. At least, that was what they had said. With three children, but it didn't say that he married her sister or not.
"Is there anything else I should know," she asked.
Frank fished out a letter from his pocket and gave it to her. "Your mother needs you home, Lidia." He looked at her, begging her to come back.
"I can't just pick everything up and leave. I have to talk things over with Stella," she told them.
"Stella," they asked in a union.
"My daughter," she told them with a glare.
Hank nodded his head, "Whatever you need, Lidia. Call us, we will be in town for a few days." He then turned on his heel. Tragging Frank with him.
When she turned around to go back to her job, she saw her manager glaring at her. "Who were they," he asked her.
"Just some guys from home, letting me know that my father is dying." She told him sadly.
The manager sighed, "Go, have the day off. Hell, have the week off. Let me know what you are going to do next." He waved her off.
Something told Lidia that she just bypassed a bullet and left. When she got home, she found Stella was already there. "Why are you home early," she asked her daughter.
"It's a half day, besides it's the start of summer," she reminded her.
At sixteen years of age, Stella had a mind of her own. Lidia was glad she did.
"The question is, why are you home early mom?"
Lidia sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out the letter she had been dreading to open. She did just that and read, Damen did have white fur children after you. Time to come home, we need you now. We are sorry for pushing you away.
It was all that was written from her mother, after sixteen years of nothing. Lidia through the letter onto the table. She had told Stella what happened years ago, on her fifteenth birthday. When she insisted why she didn't have a father or any other family. So when she grabbed the letter, Lidia didn't stop her.
"Do we have to go," Stella asked.
"I just found out your grandfather is dying," whispered Lidia. "As much as I may not want to go. I think it's best we go. I don't want to have regrets."
Stella nodded her head. "I understand, mother. But I won't be civil," she warned.
Lidia couldn't help but laugh, "No, I wouldn't imagine you would." She kissed her forehead. "Don't change, my daughter." She had gotten up and started making dinner for the two of them.
The next day, she had gotten ahold of Frank and Hank and let them know that they will be going to Colville with them. So with their help, they packed a few things and loaded up the truck. They sat in the backseat and they were heading back to Colville, after sixteen years being gone.
After an hour drive north, and the slow crawl of the old logging town with its charm rolled by. They were back where everything had ended for Lidia. The life she left behind. When they stopped outside her parents cabin, she knew she was home.
The door had opened to her mother coming out, with her head down. She looked defeated, something that Lidia had never seen before. She had gotten out of the truck, with Stella behind her. She walked up the short set of stairs to her mother.
"Moma," she whispered softly. Hoping that nothing else had happened.
Her mother looked up, with tears in her eyes, she wrapped her arms around her. "Oh, my baby girl, you're home at last."
Lidia wrapped her own arms around her, but she didn't cry. She just hugged her back. She knew she was back home, but yet, it didn't feel like home. Everything felt wrong to her somehow.
Stella was near her, she looked uncomfortable and she didn't blame her for feeling that way. When her mother let her go, she turned to look at Stella. "Oh, who is this," she asked.
"Stella, my daughter with Damen." Lidia felt hollow as she spoke those words. Knowing that Damen wasn't hers anymore. The man who ripped her heart out and stomped it. All for nothing.
"Stella," her mother smiled at the name. "My grandmother would have liked that. Come inside, I have dinner waiting for us." She ushered everyone inside. She thanked Frank and Hank, as they got the bags in the house.
Lidia sighed once she was inside, feeling a chill in the air. Something didn't feel right, "Mom?"
"Your father is in the hospital," her mother spoke softly. "He is fading."
Stella looked uncomfortable from the conversation, but there was no avoiding it. "When can we see him," Lidia asked.
"In the morning," stated her mother with sorrow.
Lidia nodded her head, she then helped her mother with dinner. For the rest of the night, nothing else was said. Except for where Lidia and Stella were to sleep. She found out that the house that she had once lived with Damen was still hers to use. So with a heavy heart, she led Stella to their old home.
When she opened the door, she was surprised to see how clean it was. Even the walls looked like it had a fresh coat of paint. She went into the bedrooms and they were updated recently. The crib was gone, only to be replaced with a single size bed. The characters she had placed on the walls were gone, painted over with light yellow walls.
Lidia went to her own room, only to see that she had gotten clean bedding and painting with new paint. She wondered if her mother had anything to do with it. Or someone else in her family, maybe her sister. She didn't care either way, she wasn't staying for long either way.
Lidia felt tired then. She changed out of her clothes and crashed on her bed. Wrapping herself in layers of blankets. Not realizing a shadow bypassed her window, who had watched her.