“Consider what I’m doing to you now as a warning.”
I could still feel his touch. I could still feel his fingers inside me, moving, feeling, hurting.
I need to wash it away.
I want to go back home.
“Avalyn.” Arms wrapped around me and I breathed in Eli’s familiar scent. My head rested against his chest and my hands fisted his t-shirt as tears burst out of my eyes.
He caressed my head. “What happened?”
I shook my head, not wanting to talk about it.
“God, you’re shivering so much.” He squeezed my against himself tighter and then rubbed my arms.
“I -I’m f-fi-fine.” My teeth were clattering. Nikolai was riding with way too much speed. And the ride here was a long one.
He took his t-shirt off and put it over my head and then brought my hands to his mouth and blew warm breath a couple of times, making me feel a little better. “Better?”
I nodded.
“Can you please tell me what happened?” He asked softly.
I opened my mouth to reply before I shut it again. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath. “I was sitting and I heard footsteps.” I said, my voice low enough that no one else would hear, “I thought it was you or Dimitri. But when no one replied, I knew I was in trouble. I started walking back. And the footsteps followed me.” I said quickly, wanting to get it all out as fast as possible. “I started running and he started running. I was weak so I couldn’t use my powers too much. I took a short break under this tree.” I gulped, motioning towards the canopy tree.
“Then what happened?” He coaxed.
“He caught me.” I whispered. “I thought it was Nikolai. Their smell is similar. But it was him. Adrik.” My mouth dried. “I screamed for help so he slapped me.”
Eli’s face hardened. He tucked the wet hair strands that were clinging to my face behind my ear and examined my face before his finger touched my jaw.
“That motherfucker.” He swore under his breath. “It’s bruised.”
“And then I screamed again. And he kicked me in the ribs.”
A snarl left his mouth and that’s when he noticed that I was holding my midsection. He pushed my hand away and touched my ribs, feeling around for cracks.
I winced.
“Two are broken, Avalyn.”
“I figured.” I murmured. “It hurts a lot.”
“And you still came here, on a fucking ATV?” He hissed before understanding dawned on him. “Nikolai!”
I nodded weakly.
“Then what happened? How did you escape?”
“He pulled me up and then-then he said some things.” I squeezed my eyes shut.
“What did he say?” He coaxed me.
I looked around. No one was looking at us. No one was overhearing our conversation.
I whispered in a voice low enough for only Eli to hear. “He was friends with Emilio. And- And he- he had-”
“This is fucking messed up.” He pulled his hair.
“I didn’t even know.” I let out a small breath. “How many people… how many people have…?” I covered my face with my hands as I tried to hide my tears.
He hugged me again, his arms going around mine. “I’m sorry it happened to you, Avalyn.”
“And then he gave me a warning.” I whispered against his chest. “He-he touched me.” Eli’s hold on me tightened. “And then told me to stop the search for him or it’ll be worse next time.”
He didn’t tell me it was going to be okay. He didn’t tell me that I’d be fine. He didn’t tell me that I’ll be better in some time.
Because he knew that none of those things helped. He knew because he had gone through it all too. And he has grown into a strong man now, unlike myself. I’m still weak. So weak. I still can’t protect myself when it matters. What’s the use of all these powers then?
“Does it hurt?” He asked.
I nodded. “I want to take a shower. Please take me back, Eli.” A whimper escaped my lips.
Eli released his hold on me, turned around and whistled loudly, making everyone turn to look at us. “Lu- Avalyn needs rest. I’m going to take her back.”
I kept my gaze down, unable to look at anybody but I could feel everyone’s stares burning into my body.
“The ATV is my ride home.” Nikolai stated. He didn’t need a ride. He just wanted to punish me by making me walk back. He knew I was weak.
“You won’t need it for another couple of hours, Alpha.” Eli replied respectfully. “I’ll bring it back in an hour.”
“You will be held responsible if I don’t have it back by the time I need it.” Nikolai warned to which Eliyah replied with a ‘yes’ and then sat behind me and turned on the ATV.
He made a u-turn and started driving back to the palace. He was driving slow-slow enough that the wind wasn’t hitting me and that I didn’t feel the bumps too much either. But it took us an excruciatingly long time to reach to the palace. I told him to drive faster, I didn’t want him to be punished or something because of me, but Eli just shrugged it off.
When we reached the front gates of the palace, he got off and then helped me get off.
“You have,” Eli looked at the time on his phone, “twenty minutes to bring this to Alpha or he’s going to be pissed.” He told it to a guard standing by the door, making the poor guy’s eyes widen.
“Yes! Of course!” He bowed to us before he jumped on the ATV and sped out.
“Nikolai never said that I had to be the one to bring it back.” He winked at me and then turned his back to me before kneeling down. “Get on, I’ll take you back to your room.”
I climbed on his back and he ended up carrying me carefully to the west wing. When he stood in front of the door of the bedroom, I tightened my hold on him. “I don’t want to stay here anymore.” This is the room with the ugliest memory of my life. This is the room where Nikolai had rejected me.
“Where do you want to go then?”
“Anywhere else.” I whispered.
Eli ended up taking me to his room. “Stay here for the night. I don’t want you to be alone. I’ll get someone to change your room tomorrow, is that okay?”
“Yes, thank you.”