Uncomfortable Silence
I wake up to the soft sound of snoring, it's familiar and somewhat warming as it reminds me I’m back at home.
I open my eyes to see Ryan curled up on a sofa at the end of the room, a blanket thrown over him and he is still fully dressed.
The beeping of the monitors doesn’t seem so daunting in this setting; it fades into the background as the sound of the wind in the trees take presidents.
I find myself staring out of the window looking up at the moon.I’ve no idea what the time was when I woke up the first time but I know it’s late now.
I feel physically weak, scanning up and down my body it's easy to see why. I’ve lost a lot of weight, I can see the bones in my arms as my skin holds tight to them, everything takes so much effort even simple things like moving my legs or hips to get comfortable wears me out.
It’s somewhat painful however looking at all the bags of liquid I’m hooked up too, Imagine it could be worse.
I’d be lying if I said my new found happiness to be home wasn’t coupled with a little bit of sadness. I really thought it could reach Sekreta, I thought I could help her.
Instead, I watched as her sister fed her information making her more angry and bitter each time she returned to the room they kept me in. As soon as I think about it, I can smell it, the dirt, the mould all of it.
I feel my chest begin to swell as I struggle to control my breathing, why does this keep happening. I grip a hand over my heart desperate to slow down it’s beating, It doesn’t and that only makes things worse.
Squashing my eyes shut I call for help.
“Aria, Please I need you”
Silence. My breaths get shallow.
“Aria please I know you’re there somewhere please”
My face is wet from the tears now streaming down my cheeks, I keep my eyes shut, my other hand now gripping the bedsheet. It's painful as I feel every joint in my fingers struggle to hold itself.
“Aria Please !!”
The monitor starts beeping rapidly and I feel as though my heart is beating in time with it, I open my eyes to see Ryan flying off the couch and coming towards me calling my name.
He grips my face in his hands forcing me to look at him, the beeping gets louder but my whole body feels like it's on fire stemming from his hands.
I grip his wrists trying to pull him off of me, the pain becoming more and more unbearable.
“RYAN LET GO !”
The power in my voice even me, he drops his hands and we stare at one another not saying anything. He goes to touch me again but I bat his hand away, fearing the pain it might bring.
“Ryan. It hurt”
He stands up panicking looking over my body.
“Where Arti? What hurts? tell me “
I avoid his gaze staring down at the now dishevelled sheets, fully aware of the beads of sweat rolling down chest and forehead. How could he touch me before but today is different?
“Ryan, please just stop.”
He sits back down on the bed.
“It hurt when you touched me”
“Did I grip you too hard? I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to ill be more careful”
“No Ryan. Your touch. It hurt me, It felt like I was on fire “
” Arti, what do you mean on fire It's just the mate bond”
“No Ryan it's more than that. It was like your touch started to boil my blood and it was so painful”
Sadness fills his eyes and the loss that light they had before, I go to touch his hand but I pull away. I want to comfort him but I don’t want to feel that pain.
“Ryan I’m sorry I don’t know what’s happening “
If the silence in the room could kill we would both be dead.
” Arti, I don’t understand”
“Ryan I ..”
I can’t get any words out and instead begin to sob, trying desperately to stem the flow of tears. In just a few hours I’ve lost everything. My wolf and now my mate.
I’m too weak to even move and everything just feels like it’s fallen on top of me, the weight of it all crushing me.
” Arti come on please stop crying, I want to badly to hold you please”
The weight on the side of my bed doesn’t move throughout my twenty-minute crying period, eventually, I wipe my tears and Ryan hands me a glass of water careful not to touch my skin.
We sat opposite one another in this increasingly uncomfortable silence.
A thousand thoughts go through my mind as I stare at him, what if he doesn’t want me anymore?.
What if he rejects me? Hell, he would be well within his rights. I can’t even touch him.
” I know what your thinking “
“What ?”
” I know what thinking, I know you better than anyone Artemis”
He moves closer to me and places a blanket over my hand before holding it, so his skin does not touch my own.
” You think I’m going to reject you or something ridiculous like that”
He squeezes my hand and I can’t help but smile a little.
“You know I wouldn’t be mad if you did right ?”
I’m lying it would break my heart, it would probably end me.
” Listen to me, You were sent to me for a reason, I am with you always Artemis. It’s like I told you that first day we met and realised we were mates, you are mine and I am yours “
“You know if you keep saying things like that I’m going to start crying again “
He chuckles.
” Cry away, love. I’ll still be here when you are done “
We sit holding hands through a blanket talking, that faint feel of normality coming back between us.
Our conversation is broken when Selene and Calder enter the room, Sel holding a large tray filled with food.
” Sorry did we interrupt ?”
“No, it’s okay to come in “
They enter the room and Sel heads straight for me placing the tray down and carefully embracing me.
“Calder, it’s lovely to see you “
He is as stiff and Alpha-like as ever.
” You to Artemis, I hope your feeling better “
I shrug my shoulders and laugh.
“Meh I guess it could be better but I’m surviving, I mean I was planning on losing a bit of weight”
I motion downwards and Calder breaks a smile.
“Ahh, there it is, always so serious!”
That instantly relaxes the mood in the room and he takes a seat on the sofa. Selene grips my hand in hers and motions towards the plate.
” We bought you something to eat Arti, you’ve been here 5 days and Cynthia said you should be ready for solid food now”
As soon as I eye the plate I’m suddenly so hungry, my eyes glaze over the plate she has made her signature french toast but there’s also a delicious looking chicken burger, more fruit than anyone could eat in one setting and a large thick looking milkshake.
She places the plate on my lap and stares down at it not knowing where to start first. Ryan moves off the bed to sit next to Calder and Selene replaces him.
“Cynth said if you don’t eat anything at least try the milkshake she's some extra stuff in there that she said will help get your strength back”
I pick up the glass and sniff, It smells like banana so I take a gulp. It’s pretty good but the aftertaste is not, it tastes like someone put earth in my mouth.
“She put beetroot in this didn’t she “
Selene nods and then laughs.
” Yellow beetroot. I told her you’d work it out”
I nibble at all the food on my plate, getting full pretty quickly. We chat between us and I can feel myself getting tired again but there something that has been nagging on me and I need to ask.
“How did you find me “
My sudden question pulls everyone’s eyes toward me, but only Selene answers.
” Well when we found Ryan and we managed to get some words out of him we knew something was wrong. Cynthia gave birth and then we left a few days later to search for you”
My hand claps over my mouth.
“I’m an auntie, she had the baby. I missed it “
” She did she had a little boy Arti”
“A boy, I’m so happy for them both when can I see him I bet he’s so tiny”
Her eyes drop to the floor.
“What is it ?”
” He is small Artemis, but he’s not a small baby anymore, Frode is nearly three months “
“Frode, is that his name?”
She nods and pulls out her phone beginning to show me pictures of my adorable nephew, his so much like Cynthia he even has her glowing golden eyes.
They tell me all about him, even showing me videos and I get a pang of sadness that I wasn’t there to witness any of it.
A short while later the conversation resumes between us but I still don’t feel like I’ve gotten a real answer.
“Selene, you didn’t finish telling me how you found me and I guess more importantly, where you found me ?”
They stay silent.
“Look I’m going to find out everything eventually so you may as well just tell me now”
” Arti, we … well erm, we... “
“Sel you know you're not really saying anything right ?”
I nudge her and she turns to face me, her usual emerald green eyes now dark.
“We found you at mums old house “
“You mean dads pack house ?”
I’m a bit confused, why would Salvi have taken me there.
” No Arti. Mums house, we found you in the packhouse of the first. The house mum grew up in “
My jaw drops.
“Mums house “
” Yes. We didn’t know at first but we went to a room and found a painting and it had mum and her sister in it, also a little boy. I guess mum had a brother“
“A brother “
At this point my head was ready to explode I thought them telling me where and how they found me would give me more answers instead it gave me more questions.
” That’s an assumption Arti, we are not really sure”
“I thought finding all this out would give me answers but it’s only given me more questions. Why would Salvi take me there? And more to the point who is she”
” Shes Sekreta’s sister isn’t she ?”
“That’s what she said Sel, but I’m not buying it something about her was off, and she told me she was going to rip out my power and take it for her own”
” You think she’s lying about being her sister? “
“No but I think she is lying about what she wants and when we fought she matched my pace, she kept up with me and fought me like my power was her own “
” So she has the same gift as you ?”
“No it was more than that it was like she mimicked me, not had the gift herself”
” I don’t remember seeing anything in the papers with found about powers like that “
“Neither do I that’s what makes it worse “
Cynthia then bursts into the room.
” Artemis. We need to talk. Alone”
Worry spread right across her face.
” Cynth what is it ?”
” I need to talk to Arti, please everyone leave “
” Cynth I’m not leaving, you can tell me too”
” I can’t I need to speak to her alone”
They both look at me waiting for me to respond, Ryan and Calder’s eyes on me too.
“It's fine guys, Cynthia can talk to me alone. You can wait outside if you must”
There is some reluctant huffing and Selene looks furious but they do all eventually leave.
“Okay they have gone, what’s so urgent Cynth?”