A Fathers scolding
1018 Words
*Ariella*
Carter had been delayed coming back… he was trying to keep my status secretive and it earned him an ear full with Mason as he tried to give as little detail as he could about the situation while still upholding Masons expectations to keep me safe and tell him everything.
It had been 2 days since I rejected Gabriel and left him crumpled in a heap on the floor of his office before I fled.
When Carter and Melany dropped me off at the hotel, I had felt lonely, but now, as those two days passed I began to feel disoriented and exhausted. But I couldn’t sleep, I tossed and turned, and when I wasn’t I would sit up on the bed and flip through tv shows I wasn’t even interested in.
I was too sick to eat, too depressed to move, I wasn’t allowed to leave the hotel room even if I could will myself to move any further than the bathroom. My body ached everywhere and the only comfort I found was massaging my fingers into my stomach. For some reason it released a wave of calm within me.
My phone rang on the bedside table, and for a moment my heart leapt. Though there was no way for it to be anyone other than someone from The Farm…
“Ariella…” The sound made my skin crawl and my heart sink.
“Mason… I…”
“Tell me the truth… Now…” he ordered.
“I don’t know… what you’re talking about…” I replied hesitantly.
“The jig is up Ari…” I heard Carters voice on the other side of the phone.
“What…?”
“Melany spilled the beans…” he responded.
“You got pregnant with the Alpha's child!?” Mason's deep voice caused dread within me, he was truly a father scolding his delinquent daughter. “Do you understand what the consequences would have been had Melany completed the mission!?”
“Yes sir…”
“Do you understand how difficult it’ll be to drop this mission!?”
“I’m sorry Mason…”
“Our client is going to flip their lids!”
“I’m sorry…”
“I am so disappointed in you Ariella! I raised you better than to detriment yourself and your family like this!”
“I’m sorry… I…”
“Mason c’mon… be easy on her… she’s going through a lot…” I heard Carter say.
“A lot!? You don’t think our pack is going through a lot!?” I could tell Mason fumed, his voice deepening into a growling tone. “Now Ari is stuck in Full Moons territory for Goddess knows how long…With their Alpha on the hunt! I’ve now pulled two operatives from this mission! If it gets out that we failed or that Ari and Melany were both mercenaries our entire pack is in danger!” He continued in a scolding tyraid.
“Mason… stop!” Carter boomed suddenly over the receiver. I heard Masons voice halt and waited as the silence radiated through the phone. “Ari is already going through enough… she’s desperately upset about this… she doesn’t need more stress to harm her or the child…” I heard them continue arguing as their voices grew further away.
I found myself pressing fingers into my stomach again. “I’m sorry…” I whispered with tears falling from my eyes onto my cheeks and into the sweater I still wore.
“Ari… don’t be sorry…” Carter's voice cut through the quiet that Mason's absence had caused, it was obvious Mason had stormed out. “Listen, I’m going to text you some info here in a minute… I set you up with an OB for tomorrow…”
“What? Why?”
“Mason wants to make sure you and the pup are healthy…you’ve not been eating well, you haven’t been sleeping… we need to make sure you’re okay…”
“But… I don’t have a car…”
“Mason called in a favor to a human friend in the area… she’s going to take you…”
I paused as I wiped tears with the sweater sleeve. “Okay…”
“I’ll get Mason to calm down… I promise…” he sighed, “He isn’t upset with you… he’s just upset with the circumstances… you know he loves you…”
“I know…”
“And I do too…”
“I know… I love you both…”
“Try and get some sleep Ar… eat something and rest…” I heard him take the phone off speaker and bring it to his ear, his voice coming closer and softening. “I’ll be there tomorrow night, or the morning after at the latest… I have to finish Melanys debrief and give my account of everything before Mason Will let me go…”
“Okay…”
“I love you Ari…”
“I love you too Carter…”
I hung the phone up and dropped my head sobbing into my hands as my phone fell to the sheets below me.
“I’m sorry…” I said aloud to myself, “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
I didn’t really know if I was sorry for getting pregnant, sorry for upsetting Mason, for getting Carter in trouble, for rejecting Gabriel… I was sorry for all of it… nothing felt right… my body, my mind, everything felt so wrong. The only comfort I had was his sweater wrapped around me. His scent was slowly fading from the fabric as days passed, and soon I’d be completely without him…
I missed him terribly… my body and heart yearned for him. I ached all over and nothing seemed to cull the pain that radiated into my body…
I was emotional, fatigued… I hadn’t slept in days. I’ve hardly eaten even with Carter's plea for me to do so. I couldn’t bring myself to stomach anything.
Exhaustion suddenly flowed over me. My head tilted to the side on the headboard as my eyes closed… I welcomed sleep for the first time in days…
- Writer
