~ISSA
I raced back to my room, my heart pounding so hard- it seemed as though it would disconnect itself from the veins connecting it to the rest of my body.
I felt like a character in a horror movie, pursued by a ghost. But in my case, I was running from something- someone who wasn’t present but whose memory haunted my entire existence.
As soon as I entered my room, I slammed the door shut so hard that the loud banging sound echoed throughout my room.
“Breathe Issa,” I whispered to myself- my hands still on the knob with my forehead resting on the door as I listened to my pounding heartbeat.
Slowly, I backed away from the door till I reached my bed and sat on it. I looked down at the key in my hand and my body trembled violently as the thought of him crossed my head again.
“Stop!” I screamed as I buried my head in my palms, trying to shut the awful voice playing in my head.
“You’re worthless!” Echoes of his voice rang through my head.
“You can’t do anything right!” Yelled the voice.
No matter how hard I tried, I could never escape those words.
“Arrh!” I growled, letting out a frown of frustration as my body trembled with fear.
I shot to my feet again and began to pace the room, my mind racing with short, disturbing memories that played like a broken film reel.
A ghost haunting me would have felt better, but this? It was worse than I had imagined. It made me feel broken and ripped my soul and mind apart, making my body behave in insane ways I could never have thought of.
It was always him, the man whose face I could never forget. I wished I could. The man who was a shadow of my past, a reminder of my horrible childhood.
I never spoke of him by name, never described his face, because the mere thought of it was enough to send me to hell, fueled by anxiety.
“Why now?” I whispered again. “Why, after all these years, is this coming back?” I clenched the key in my hand. And what did any of this have to do with Yulia?
How was she connected to this old fear that sat unrelenting in my memories, why was she targeted?
“Yulia,” I whispered her name, crouching down as I hugged my legs- finding comfort in them.
My mind became at rest for a minute, before returning to the jumbled state it was before.
Her mother, Mariana, had been a smart person. She would have never gotten herself into something dangerous. Right?
My mind wandered through fragments of conversations, half-heard whispers. Had Mariana stumbled upon something she shouldn’t have? Or was it something deeper, something rooted in Yulia’s very origin?
Suddenly, the room felt too small, the walls were almost closing in on me. I became suffocated, my body filled with sweat, making me look like I just got out of the shower.
“Think, Issa, think,” I told myself. “What did Mariana know? What could she have been hiding?” I racked my brain, rubbing my hands over my head, searching for clues.
But the answer never came or it would have until a troubling scream which shattered my thoughts, pierced through my ears and destroyed the silence of the evening.
It replayed in my mind over and over till my eyes widened in the realisation of whose voice it was, “Yulia!”
Iran became restless, dancing crazily within me, threatening to come out as he screamed in agony. She was my mate after all and I suddenly felt a kind of shock wave pass through me, it was almost as if I knew exactly how she was feeling.
Without hesitation, I tore out of my room, almost breaking the door as I charged down the hall, my heart in my throat.
It had come from the garden. So I did not stop until I entered the green space. I caught sight of her on the floor, her clothes stained with blood.
Her fingers- her lips, trembled visibly. Her skin was pale and frozen, almost white.
“Yulia!” I screamed again as a familiar feeling hit me. It was just like when I thought she was dead in the fire.
I sank to my feet immediately I reached her and gathered her limp body into my arms.
“Stay with me, please,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “Don’t leave me.”
The commotion had drawn guards and maids to the scene and they stared speechlessly. It was not long before Miles appeared on the scene.
“Where were you?” I growled. “Shouldn’t you be here at all times?”
Since I dismissed everyone earlier, I didn’t see him again as my mind was preoccupied with the mysterious key. Not like it mattered anyway since Yulia’s life was at stake.
“Get the pack healer!” I ordered him, cutting him short just as he was about to speak.
He dashed to his car and drove off at a dangerous speed to fetch the pack healer.
I held Yulia tightly, rocking her gently as if I could make her regain consciousness. My mind was a storm of worry and unanswered questions. What had happened? Why was she covered in blood?
I felt so helpless, so powerless to protect her from whatever danger loomed over us.
“My lord!” A maid called me. “Look,” she panicked, pointing to the top of the tree.
That was when I saw two unconscious guards, dangling down from it. Iran almost went mad.
First, it was the attack on Yulia’s life in her room, now they had begun to involve my subjects. I wanted to scream and growl and twist and turn, but I looked down at Yulia again. The fact that she was still unconscious weakened me.
Just as the men were brought down from the tree, Miles and the healer arrived.
“My lord,” she curtsied.
She was clad in a white robe and moved with an air of professionalism. She walked over to me and I released Yulia so that the healer could do her job.
She put a stethoscope on her chest to listen to her heartbeat and felt her pulse by putting two fingers on her wrist.
“She’s in shock,” the healer said, looking up at me. “But she’ll be fine. She simply needs a lot of rest.”
I nodded, relief flooding through me.
“We need to transport her to a room so that I can attend to her properly,” she added.
I did not need to be told twice before I lifted Yulia and carried her inside, while the healer and Miles trailed behind.
I picked the first room we reached at the ground floor and placed her gently on the bed. I watched as the healer tended to her after, her grip on her hands never loosening. When she finished, she gave me a small, encouraging smile- one that gave me hope.
“She’ll wake up on her own. You have nothing to worry about,” she concluded and left.
Miles escorted the healer out and never came back. I had no idea how long I sat on a chair watching over Yulia.
Eventually, she stirred, her eyes opening slowly. I held her hand in an instant, relief swirling around my head.
“Yulia,” I whispered softly so as not to startle her. “How do you feel?”
She looked at me, confusion clouding her eyes. “W- what’s happened?”
My heart sank at her response. “I was hoping you would tell me that. Yulia you screamed, who attacked you?”
She blinked at me multiple times and stared at me as if I had lost my mind.
“What?”
I furrowed my brows at her. “Yulia, what happened to you in the garden?”
She shook her head at me slowly. “I never went to the garden. . .”