Werewolf Widow for a Year

Discovering the Truth

Shawna slowly walked over to the left side of Harpo, with the smile returning to my face. As Shawna made her way over to his left ear she leaned over and whispered to him. "You finally got what you deserved." With that she went to walk away from him. But his left hand reached out and grabbed her right hand. As she whipped back to look at him with horror written all over my face, she noticed that he was just starting to open his eyes. The rest of his body didn't move, but his eyes were looking around frantically. He was trying to piece together all that had happened to him. Waiting for him to process it all felt like hours to Shawna, but it had only been two minutes before realization struck Harpo, and he jolted up from the bed. Shawna was jerked closer to him, with his swift movement. They both looked out at each other with horror written all over their faces. Harpo was terrified he had died; Shawna was terrified Harpo overheard her comment and was going to kill her. The awkward positioning only lasted a few seconds, as Harpo was immediately flung back down onto the bed by the pain radiating from his head and his back. He was not able to support the weight he had been carrying for most of his life. He landed back down on the bed with a thud, accompanied by a gut wrenching moan from his mouth. That thud made him release Shawna, with his left hand and grasp his sides. "Aaarrgghh! What the hell?!" He yelled. Shawna, not certain what to do, just stood there with her eyes still wide from the interaction. Harpo started weeping uncontrollably. After a few seconds of blubbering he started muttering his sorrows and regrets unintelligibly.

Shawna went to reach for the call button beside the bed, to call the nurse in, but her wolf came to the forefront and said "No! Wait! Not yet." Shawna halted in her stead, as her index finger was just shy of the button. "Lets see what he has to say." Her wolf informed quietly to her. Shawna thought for a moment and then moved away from the call button. Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she waited for Harpo to gain some semblance of control before speaking. "Harpo?" She said with as much confidence as she could muster. Something clicked within him when she said his name. "Shawna! Oh Shawna I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I don't want to die. I am not ready. If...If by some chance I have time to c hange, and fix all the wrong I have done... then I should start with the truth. I think-- No! I know you deserve to know the truth." Shawna just looked at him confused. "Ummm..." Was all she could say. She then went to reach for the call button again. This time it was Harpo who stopped her. "No! Wait. I mean it Shawna. I have wronged you more than you know. I have lied and possibly cheated you out of your happiness. You need to know the truth. What is that saying? The truth shall set you free. Well this is my chance to be set free. If I don't make it." He wrenched around on the bed again in another bout of agonizing pain. When the pain had settled, he continued on with his apology. "If...If I don't make it tonight, and must die against my will to survive-- I should do it with a clear conscious. I am... I mean I you weren't my... Ahhh!!" He grasped his sides again. "Maybe I should go get the doctor." Shawna stated frantically going to exit the room in search of help.

"No, not yet. Listen I have to clear the air between us once and for all. Haven't you always wondered why I treat you so poorly? Why our connection seems so off?!" He insisted. That made Shawna stop in her tracks. Yes, she had always wondered this. The more abusive Harpo got, the more she questioned the Moon Goddess' choice in her true mate. She didn't turn around to face Harpo. Instead she said with her back to him. "Yes. I would like to know why. Continue." With that Harpo waited a few moments to see if Shawna was going to face him again. When she didn't and another session of stabbing pain came to the forefront he dealt with that first, and then continued on with his confession. Ever since we were younger, I have always had eyes for you. You were the prettiest girl in the pack. As we got older, my desire for you got stronger. When I was eighteen, I felt the mate pull towards a girl that I had no interest in. I was... argh!" The pain got to him again, but he remained persistent in getting his story told. "Damn it! Why in the hell does it hurt so much?! Anyhow I...I went to this black witch, Perina, I know just on the other side of the pack grounds between us and the city. She... damn it!" He was in so much pain Shawna was sure he would passout or go into shock. But she was more interested in the story than his current situation. She was edging closer to the bed in anticipation for more information.

" What happened? Why do you know a black witch?! Tell me!" She demanded in a tone not quiet her usual lithe. "Well, first you must know that I never meant to hurt you. I just wanted to be with you. I wanted to be your one and only. I swear I..." Shawna slammed her right hand down on the bed rail. "Just tell me what you did to me!" She demanded with much more force than she knew she had. With that outburst she backed away from the bed as Harpo's reaction to her was nearly priceless. He showed so much fear in his eyes. After a moment Shawna tried again, but with a nicer submissive tone that Harpo was used to from her. "Sorry, Harpo. Please just finish the story. I am highly intrigued by this."

Harpo shook from either the pain in his sides or the fear of Shawna. "Well I asked Perina if there was a way to remove the tie I had to my mate and redirect it to you. She said it was impossible. That the ties between mates was set by a higher being and that tinkering with that tie could mean... it could be harmful to one or both parties. I left there full of anger and determined to break the spell. I searched far and wide for a solution. The girl I was fated to be with was getting suspicious of me. She was fifteen at the time and started to feel large yearning twinges whenever I was near her. I knew I had to do something before she outed me as her mate. I knew once that happened, there was no denying her, as you know." He was referring to the pack's customary laws-- rules six through eight in particular. "A few days before her sixteenth birthday I went back to the black witch with a solution. I heard about from a man who had switched his bond from his fated mate to his chosen. He wanted to be mated to a grey witch he had known all his life as they both were in love with each other. Together they created a sp-- Argh! Make it stop!" The medical machines were going crazy, something seriously wrong was happening to Harpo, but Shawna had no idea what it was. Out of her love for him, whether real or not, she went to him and held his hand whilst he went through the rough of this fit. "I should really call in the doctor or a nurse or someone Harpo! Something is wrong here. Please let me get you some help!" She pleaded with him. His response through all of the jerking about was stuttered through gritted teeth, "After-I-finish-with-this-story. I am not sure you would want to help me. Just... Ju... aaahhhh! I. Need t...to..to-t-to tell you th-th-this!" He demanded. Just then by some called upon miracle, it all stopped. The pain, the jerks, everything. Harpo lay still heavily breathing and sweating. The machines calmed down and were beeping in normal cadence.

"Shawna." He said regaining his composure. "What was I...? Oh yeah. So they created this spell that would remove the bond from his fated mate to the witch. Perina heard of this story and knew the spell. She warned me that it wasn't as easy as all that. Perina informed me that this was a binding spell that bound them together by blood and pain. In order for the spell to hold, the guy had to inflict pain upon his chosen any time he felt the spell waver and pull him in the direction of his fated. Some dumb crap about how pain made the love grow stronger as it was hurting him more than her or some osmosis something or other. Anyway, I was nearly desperate and would have done nearly anything. I told Perina I didn't care and to do the spell. She tried to warn me away from it. She said that...aaaahhh! That if I truly loved you, I wouldn't do this to you, as each passing year in order to keep them bonded, he had to inflict more and more pain on his witch mate. I just thought it was a little pinch on the arm or slap on the wrist. I didn't think I would...I mean I never wanted to..." As Harpo trailed off in his words, he began pleading with Shawna for her forgiveness with his eyes. He grasped both her hands pleading silently for mercy and understanding. It took Shawna some time to catch up on what he didn't say. After several moments of his mumbled pleas, realization caught up with her. At first her eyes got big, and then she gasped for air with her mouth wide open. She started shaking her head no and then saying the word out loud. "No. No! No, no, no...No way! Are you telling me you beat me because you love me?! You inflict so much pain and torture on me every single day in order to make our bond stronger?! You MUST be delirious! You MUST be out of your ever-loving mind?!" With that she wrenched herself out of his grasp and stood back mind-boggled with her freed hands on either side of her head. She was grasping for some other explaination for this. For all of this. Was what he was saying the truth? Could he have been so obsessed with her that he would force such a horrid fate upon her? Was he even in his right mind? "Are you certain you are sane right now. I mean the pain and the drugs they have you on. You are just saying stuff, Harpo. We should wait on this until you are in better condition."