“I think it would be best if you did not go to work today. The nightmare has really shaken you, and it’s still all over you.” Aaron said this after watching her get ready for work in silence for over forty minutes. He didn’t want to be the one stopping her from doing the very thing she had always loved. He, however, didn’t know how she would cope with her mental state while at work. It made no sense to just throw herself out there. Supernatural or not, she needed a break.
She paused after putting on her shoes. “I have to go. I have three classes, and those students depend on me for almost everything they need. There was no formal notice of my absence, and I’d be expected to report in,” she told him.
“Call in sick then.”
“That would be a lie.”
“Not completely.”
“Aaron, you’re not helping.”
“I do not intend to.” He answered and rose to his feet. “I know what I saw this morning. It was my wife trapped in the lowest mental state I’ve ever seen, and only an inconsiderate husband would want you out there. I do not care about the classes or the students; I care about my mate and her well-being. That might make me selfish, but I do not care.” He came to her and took her cold hands into his warm ones.
She smiled at him, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I will be fine, I promise. If I can’t cope through the day, I will stay home tomorrow.”
He didn’t look very convinced by her words, but Zera had the final say, and he had to respect her wishes.
He sighed and said, “Fine.”
She kissed his lips before moving to the mirror side and picking up her bag. “I will see you later.”
“Take care and call me if anything weird or out of place happens.”
“I will do that!” she nodded.
….
After a knock on Ivan’s door, Aaron pushed it open and stepped inside. He looked around and found no trace of Ivan in the room, although the strong smell told him he was supposed to be there. He moved to the wardrobe to search for him, then to the bathroom and the toilet. Then he moved to the window curtains and looked around, and after a while of searching, he grew frustrated.
Ivan had concealed himself with a spell. He knew that for sure. “Come out, Ivan; I’m not in for your game today.” He called out and growled loudly.
“You entered my room without being invited in, brother; the jokes are on you.” Ivan said, his voice resonating around the room, and doing that did not give away his location.
“So you’re in here then?” Aaron folded his arms over his chest.
“Yes, I am; this is my room.” He answered the obvious. “Why did you barge into my room without a formal invitation, and aren’t you supposed to be at work or something?”
“I will go to work as soon as I get this done, and the faster you come out, the faster I’ll be out of your hair,” He answered.
The next second, he saw Ivan in bed, and he glared at him. “You’ve been there all along!” he exclaimed with gritted teeth.
“Yes,” he replied, “why are you here?”
“I came to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“About Zera!”
“Then talk,” he said.
Aaron nodded and told him everything that had happened between them in the last few weeks.
“I thought that would be the end until this morning. She said she informed you about her hallucinations, and you said you were going to get back to her about your findings, but never did. The sight of her was heartbreaking, and I didn’t know what to do or say to her. She believes the things that have been happening are somehow connected. She looked terrified, and now she believes it will happen. I mean, after last year, I didn’t think we would be back in another phase of confusion, pain, and chaos, but that’s what I have now.”
Ten months ago, Zera suffered a miscarriage, and it was a very heartbreaking occurrence. He remembered how happy she was when she found out she was pregnant and was going to give Zion a little sibling. It gave her joy and happiness, but that joy died with the loss of their baby. Zera became a shadow of herself, barely functioning, eating, or interacting. She believed there was no reason for the miscarriage, as she kept a healthy lifestyle throughout her pregnancy and was mentally and physically fit. All this left her in an even more miserable state, and it broke his heart to see it.
The quest for answers drove Aaron to Ivan, the wise one in the pack. He shared their struggles with him, and Ivan told him to remain calm while he analysed his findings. There was not enough information about sages or about them giving birth, and deep findings were required. Aaron gave Ivan the time he requested.
When he returned a week later, Ivan had some news. He told him Zera’s body wasn’t the same now that she was a sage. He added that she was never meant to be pregnant in the first place.
Flashback!
“That can’t be true.”
“Well, I’ve looked back into the past, dating back to the time of King Xavier Ainsworth himself, and even he only saw one sage throughout his lifetime. The three I found dated back between two hundred and four hundred years, approximately, and there were always men. They didn’t procreate or have children of their own. I drew my conclusion from that. So either the three sages that came before Zera, despite not knowing each other, decided not to bring forth children, or the power flowing through them had taken away that ability.”
“Then why did Zera get pregnant in the first place?” Aaron was not completely convinced.
“I don’t know, but it is not a good thing. And if you keep trying, two things are likely to happen. Either the mother’s body kills the baby in the early stage, or the baby kills the mother in the last stage.”
Ivan told him that no matter what happened, he shouldn’t get Zera pregnant, which was easier said than done. It had been a month since the loss, and she was finally pulling out of her mourning phase and wanted to try again. She was eager to, and he didn’t say no to her. If it was what she wanted, he would grant it to her, even though to him, Zion was more than enough.
Ivan also provided him with herbs that would kill off any potency in him, and he was to take them every week to keep their effects active.
It had a few side effects, which included hallucinations, drowsiness, and sometimes nightmares. These he hadn’t had in the last few months, and he wasn’t sure Ivan was correct when he pointed out the side effects later on.
Flashback end.
At first, he didn’t think he could keep Zera in the dark about what he had done. She was his mate, and though she couldn’t read his mind, he wouldn’t be able to lie when she demanded the truth. Yet, it had been close to a year, and he had kept this truth from her.
With this done, he needed to take her mind to something else that wasn’t procreation-that was work. He pulled a few strings, and Zera returned to her old job a few months later. This helped shift her focus from having a baby until the right time came along. He didn’t regret getting her back to her job until today, when he had to watch her leave for work despite how unstable she was.
“Now she believes she will kill herself.”
“I do not think that’s possible. There are things that are impossible, even for supernatural beings like us. We do not self-destruct unless we are compelled to do so by someone higher than us. Not by our other selves.”
“Does all this have something to do with the birth control herb you placed me on months ago?” Aaron asked, pacing around the room.
“How do you mean?”
“The side effects are what Zera is experiencing, and I haven’t experienced any of those effects since taking those pills.”
“I do not think there is such a thing. The effect of the pills will be on the one taking them and not the other.” Ivan answered.
Aaron ran his trembling hands through his hair and turned away from Ivan. “What if it also works the other way around? What if this is it?”
“I think you’re thinking about things that aren’t true.”
“Out of the two of us, one is hiding things from his mate and has kept her in the dark for many months now. You do not know what I’m thinking.” He snarled, glaring at Ivan, who had yet to move off the bed.
“I am sorry you feel guilty.”
“When she gets home, I’m telling her everything.” He had kept this secret longer than he needed to. At first, he felt he needed to protect her, but that was not the case anymore. If he was correct, the herbs did not protect her in the long run; they were hurting her now.
The truth would hurt her. What he did was betrayal, and his heart sinks at the thought of how she will feel when he tells her the truth.