The mark on her neck felt hot suddenly like fire on her skin, snapping her out of her thoughts making her growl in pain.
The torturous moment lasted for only a split second but it had been so painful. When it was over, her chest was raising and falling while she blinked in confusion. Her burning gaze on the tiled floor.
‘That had never happened before,’ she thought as she threw her hand over the mark. It felt unnaturally warm against her palm.
It must have been her thoughts? That was why it must have happened.
How lost in thoughts had she been? Maybe that wasn’t the right question. How much of the bond had she allowed to consume her?
“Stop thinking you can leave this place, I won’t let it happen.”
She looked up at him immediately, his eyes were brewing with anger once again.
She processed his words slowly while his hand left hers on the door lock and he backed away like it was a difficult thing for him to do.
The distance between them made her think clearly now and her eyes widened when she finally processed the implication of his words.
“No!” Her voice cut through the room.
“I have to see them.” She cried out desperately. She didn’t know what it was. Maybe it was the frustration of knowing that what he said was true or the burning need for her to see her family one again. She didn’t know but whatever it was, went through every inch of her body and made her weak.
“No! I need… I need to see them.”
He stepped away from her and she followed after him. She was desperate now, whatever came over her, she didn’t know.
“Please, let me go to them. I can’t stay here. I need to see my daughter! I need to see the people I love.”
They were away from the door now and he had gone back to take the book. She cried after him, begging. When he tried to turn away, her hands clasped upon his arm. The move had been sloppy and although she was able to hold upon him she had fallen to her kneels. He stopped abruptly.
“Please. This can never work, we are not the same. Just let me go back to my family.” Tears rolled down her checks.
His hand reached for hers, rough against her own then he slowly loosened her grip on him and soon she wasn’t holding him anymore.
She stood up slowly, there was a wreaking weakness battling with her but she was done begging. She nodded in defeat while she strode back to bed but she never made it there. The weakness sent her crashing through the air. The last thing she remembered was someone holding her, the usual fire in her veins then a farmiliar darkness.
*****
“How much longer am I going to have to watch her like this?”
It had been a whole day since she fainted and from the looks of things, nothing was improving. They were back in the hospital again.
The King stood by the window, watching her chest raise and fall faintly.
“Was it the test? Did you run the test well?” He asked for the umpteenth time and Doctor Bruce shook his head.
“Definitely not the test. We have done everything medically possible. Her wolf is fine, I think the problem is just her.”
“Tell me what exactly is wrong.”
“She is caught up in a void that she has built up for herself, like a safe space. She is having a hard time adjusting to all these and now she has trapped herself in a dream. It is a sort of coping mechanism. Only rare werewolves have the ability to do this.” He repeated the words he had said a while ago.
The King nodded, he had hoped Doctor Bruce would say something different but it was just the same.
“Like I said, your Majesty, if she wanted to see her family so badly then maybe you shou…”
“No.” He growled in warning and Doctor Bruce kept his mouth shut.
The King fumbled with his robe once again before running a hand through his hair. He was tired and although he was a master at hiding what he felt, he was having trouble hiding this one.
Then he looked up at the doctor firmly.
“Do whatever you must to get her out of this state.”
“Yes, your Majesty.”
*****
It was safe in her head, safe in the dream she had trapped herself in. She was back in her pack with George and her daughter. It was a time before the war, before the uprising even started.
It was beautiful, it was safe.
But it didn’t last long because soon the images started vading away. She looked around in confusion, trying hard to grab upto the things that were disappearing. The first person to fade into the growing darkness was Aunt Alice, followed by everyone else.
“No, no, no! I said no! Stop!”
She felt herself falling into the very void of loss she was running away from. She could hear someone calling but that voice quickly became overshadowed with the noise of war.
It was that night again. The night when she was 14. She could see the vampires going round, sucking the life away from each werewolf they grabbed. She could feel her legs aching from running too much. She was trapped in this nightmare once again, reliving it all over again.
It wasn’t good in here.
Her head hurt and tears ran down her face. She saw her parents finally, those who sacrificed their lives for her so that she could get away. She watched them die while she stood in hiding, her heart bleeding.
“Zezi!” A voice called out to her.
The pain was hitting into her head, crushing her heart.
“Zezi!” The voice was louder this time, it pulled her out of her nightmare and soon she was back in her environment.
Panting, trying hard to catch her breath. She could hear the loud beeping in the hospital ward, her eyes roamed across the room trying to adjust to the light. She could feel someone drop her hands slowly but before she turn to see who it was, she saw someone else.
Her daughter right by her bed side and George some distance away, his hand holding hers.