Preparing for Harpo

As Shawna awoke early one morning she noticed that the sky was still dark. She rolled over and saw that the clock on the nightstand read 5:25am. She had nearly overslept, as her mate's alarm was set to go off in five minutes. She had grown accustomed to getting up at least twenty minutes before her mate's alarm. He was accustomed and insisted that she have breakfast ready for him when he awoke each morning for work. Her heart started to pound thinking about what happened when he didn't wake up to breakfast on the table. Harpo, her true mate was prone to fits of rage at any given time. The last time Shawna overslept with them both being awakened by his alarm, her rolled over her to turn off her alarm,yet rolled into Shawna. When he awoke, and noticed Shawna sitting up shaking and looking down at him. He smugly rose into a sitting position, to look down on her with lust in his eyes. The next thing he noticed, when he sniffed the air. was that he didn't smell any breakfast coming from the kitchen. That realization turned his lustful looks into a menacing one. Shawna was looking up at her mate one moment and the next, she was looking down at the cream carpeted floor she landed face first on. Harpo backhanded her so hard, she flew from the bed two feet above the ground and landed with a hard thud on her nose.

When she slowly arose, still with her head down, she saw that her blood was making a small puddle on the carpet. Harpo calmly arose from the bed and hovered over Shawna, daring her to look back at him. She was so scared, and confused, she dared not move another inch. After several cold moments in this position, Harpo grunted stepped over her and made his way to their adjoining bathroom.

Shawna started weeping furiously once she heard the shower come on. She had been so tired from working around the house all day yesterday, that when she went to bed last night she was out. However, it didn't matter to Harpo how tired she was, as long as she did as she was told he was contempt with her. Yet, any time she made any small misstep, he would strike her down as if she had broken one of the customary laws. Today was starting out to be no different. And there didn't seem to be anyone that could save her from her fate. No one would believe her anyhow, as it is believed to be unheard of for a true mate to harm another. Yet after three years of abuse from her mate, Shawna knew that wasn't the case. She often wondered if Harpo was her true mate, or if he had somehow found a way to make her think that he was. After this morning's beating she knew he had to.

"There is no way my true mate would treat me this way. If he harmed me, he's supposed to feel the pain, too. Oh Moon Goddess please! You are the only one who knows for certain. Please send me a sign that I am right and Harpo is not my true mate. Please Moon Goddess, help me out of this horrid mating!" She quietly prayed up to the sky, whimpering after each sentence. Just then the shower turned off. Shawna knew it was only a matter of time before Harpo would emerge from the bathroom to finish getting ready for work. "I should have known better that this silence was short lived." She quickly wiped up the tears and blood with the hem of her nightgown, as Harpo would also be enraged if he stepped into any mess he created. She then rushed out of the room, down the small hallway to the right and rounded the corner to the kitchen. Shawna went into the fridge and pulled out the sausage links, honey smoked bacon, egg, and small baby potatoes. She hurriedly placed them on the wooden island behind her, and then loudly gathered two frying pans from under the sink. She took out the canola oil from the cabinet above the sink and quickly emptied the remaining oil into the pans, turning both on four as she went back to the island to prep the food. Three minutes later there were five strips of bacon and four eggs cooking. She heard the bathroom door open and knew from Harpo's routine that he would be dressed and on his way to the kitchen for his breakfast in the next five minutes. She took out the cooked bacon from the left frying pan and placed the five strips onto a ceramic white plate.

Shawna then went back to the stove and, placed the first frying pan back onto the burner, before gathering up the scrambled aggs and placing them beside the bacon. Then she added some butter to the pan before placing it back onto the stove on the right burner so that it would melt nicely before adding the baby potatoes into that pan, and doing the same to the left. She briskly went to the bread box on top of the fridge and took out two slices of white bread, went back over to the stove plopping them into the left pan with freshly melted butter. Shawna heard her bedroom door open and Harpo's huge feet stomping on the ground, coming towards the kitchen."Oh Goddess, what am I forgetting? His juice!" Shawna loudly whispered to herself. With that she turned back to the fridge and grabbed the cranberry juice. Closed the fridge door and grabbed a glass from the left of the fridge, over the sink. As she was pouring Harpo's juice, he was turning the corner appeased with himself and the smell of breakfast in the air. "That's more like it." He barreled out with his dead raspy voice. "Good morning wife." He said to Shawna with a cheesy grin on his face. Shawna bowed her head slightly and responded back "Good morning husband." Once Harpo made his way around the opposite side of the island, he sauntered over to sit at the kitchen table by the bay window, Shawna obediently followed behind him with his juice in hand. As he sat down at the right end of the table, Shawna shakly placed his juice in front of him before hurrying back to get the toast and potatoes before they burned. Harpo liked his food crisp-- but never-ever burnt.

As she retrieved the remaining cooked food from their pans, and placed them like so onto the same ceramic plate of Harpo's choosing, she then opened the drawer closest to Harpo and took out a fork. She meekly went over and placed the dish in front of him. "Here you are, husband." She squeaked out. Harpo didn't even acknowledge her as he began digging in. Shawna backed away from the table, observing her mate eating like an animal. She was disgusted watching him and made a slight snarl with her lips. Harpo paused with his dining and looked up at Shawna. She quickly fixed her face, turned away to busy herself with cleaning up the dishes and rolled her eyes when he looked away from her. Those were the little victories she could savor. Her way of sticking it to her man, without actually doing anything meaningful. If not for Harpo she would still be at her parents house. Most females in the Night pack couldn't wait to get out from under their parents'thumb, but Shawna was not one of them. Back home, she was loved and cared for. There were never any instances of wrongful abuse and fear. Her mother and father adored each other and their five children. Even though they were Omegas, they were happy with their roles within the pack and fortunate for their family.

Harpo Jenkins was supposedly a step up in ranking for her. His family were all warriors. Big, strong and brutish. There was no loving nature about any of them. They showed compassion by not breaking the other's body. But Shawna never once saw them hug, or kiss or have polite conversations. Everything about them screamed wild animals. Nothing affectionate or nurturing like her own family. The only woman in the family, Debra, was arrogant and selfish. She wanted to exude more power and importance than she actually had. She often did this by her tacky animal print clothing and oversized jewelry. Harpo's father and younger brothers were all the manly-man type. They spoke in burly gruff voices, and thick stubble on their faces, boorish looks and always seemed to have either ripped or dirty or a combination of clothing. Shawna wasn't even sure that any of them owned a suit jacket, collared shirt or tie. Above all else they were very stupid.

Harpo had been interested in Shawna since she was about thirteen, and he was twenty. Shawna always had an odd feeling when she was near him, but was told by others that it was just the first twinges of being around a possible mate. Harpo was sweet whilst they were courting. He always brought her flowers, kissed her hand each time he said hello or goodbye. He called her his little Omega and would tell her how pretty she was.

The night Shawna turned sixteen and shifted for the first time, that odd feeling transformed into a warm and pleasant feeling. Harpo was by her side that night of the transformation ceremony that every sixteen year old had for the first shift. He beamed with pride when he saw Shawna in here lupine form. Although both her parents were Omegas, she had the size and power of a Beta. Her dark brown fur shined bright under the fool moon and she stood only three or four inches shorter than the Alpha's middle son who was taking part in his first shift also. Everyone was in awe of her size and the power that radiated off of her. Shawna was bashful about the amount of attention she was getting, and wanted nothing more than to leave the ceremony and hide. When all the newly shifted werewolves were set free to run for the first time in their werewolf form, Harpo was right beside her as he quickly undressed behind a tree and returned in full black fur with a white half-crest moon on his back. There was no doubt that he was all warrior. In his human form he was all rugged bulging muscles like a pro-heavyweight MMA fighter. in his lupine form, that hadn't changed either. He stood just as tall as the Alpha's son and stood with his head held high. Shawna always loved seeing him in every form, but wouldn't say that out loud. As they took off towards the right side of their lands, in the woods Shawna's wolf was full of excitement and energy. She played tag with Harpo, who although thought of himself as too old for the game, obliged his mate by playing along. They ran and chased each other for hours, before Harpo led them over to the creek on the edge of their lands. He bent down to lap up some water. Shawna was getting a bit tired, but still felt ready to explore. She gave a little yip after a few laps of water, to let Harpo know she was ready to continue on. Only this time he ignored her and laid down on the bank. Shawna went over and playfully nipped him on his tail and out of the blue he lunged for her, teeth barred and snarling angrily. Shawna was so frightened of her mate for the first time, but her wolf didn't show it. Instead she looked Harpo's wolf in the eye and tilted her head to the side and let her tongue lop out in amusement. Seeing that he was not intimidating her wolf one bit, Harpo huffed out the last of his growl and turned his back to her, and laid on the bank again. Taking that to mean he no longer wanted to play and explore, Shawna slowly walked over to Harpo, placed her muzzle against his and laid down quietly until she fell asleep.

She awoke the next morning in her bedroom. Not knowing how she got there, and was dressed in her nightgown, she got up and made her way to the kitchen where her newfound keen senses told her everyone was, and her stomach informed her that she needed to get there fast. Upon entering the tiny kitchen of their tiny shack, she was met by Harpo seated at the head of the table. He was laughing whisk fully with her parents whilst eating breakfast. "Say Shawna what do you think?" Her father Jim asked. "What do I think about what?" Shawna responded confused by the whole situation in front of her. "About having your mating ceremony tomorrow night? It is the next full moon and as Harpo here has told us, you finally scented him as your mate once you shifted last night. You two have been getting closer and closer -- well as close can get for two unmated folks of the opposite sex. Harpo has known you were his mate for a few years now. We don't see any reason to hold off on making it official, do you?" Jim stated as if this wasn't the biggest and possibly most life changing moment in his eldest child's life. Shawna just looked out over everyone astonished that this was even happening. Sure she had feelings for Harpo and she did scent him as her mate last night. But there was something off about the scent. She couldn't put her finger on it last night, but after mulling over it in her sleep and now, she was starting to believe it wasn't right. No one else knew about this of course, and her hesitation seemed more like shock because it was all happening so fast. "Oh now dear, don't pressure her. This is a lot for a young lady to consider. I mean after all this is one of the most pivotal moments in a girl's life. I think Shawna feels like it might be too soon. I mean I certainly do." Her mother Liza stated. Her father went to rebuttal but was cut short by her mother who continued with "And don't you dare say it's because she is my first born and I am just weary about letting her go. It nothing to do with it." Jim gave his wife a knowing look. "Well ok. Maybe it has a little to do with it, but I mean come on Harpo, even you have to admit it's a bit sudden." She rallied to Harpo. "Well as you stated Mrs. Lee, this is the biggest moment in a girl's life. If I recall correctly many a young girl would have already planned out their big day years ago. And I am sure Shawna is no different. So, no. I don't think it is too soon. I think it is perfect timing. After all many folks do it like this, especially if one mate has been awaiting the other for awhile, like I have. Heck some of them get mated the same night, of their mates first shift." Liza went to volley back with him but caught herself, knowing he was right. Shawna was still feeling unsure about the whole situation but was too afraid of voicing that worry, as it may seem rude and accusatory. Instead she looked over at Harpo and gave a single nod, yes. For his part Harpo grinned toothy, as if he had just won a prize at the fair.

That was the beginning of the end for Shawna's happiness. Since their mating ceremony, Harpo had become less and less attentive and polite, and more and more abusive and prudent.