Realization
1429 Words
*Gabriel*
“SHE’S WHAT!?”
A chair flew across the office, hurled by my own hand, smashing against the wall as my sister rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest and popping her hip out as she tapped her toe into the carpet impatiently. She knew I was overreacting, I did too. I wish I could control myself. My sister had delayed telling me by forcing me to go eat dinner with her and Ivan as well as Esen and Beth. When we got home it was late and she ushered Ivan off to their hotel swearing she’d come talk with me privately when Ivan left for his other business ventures for the day. By the time she got here this morning I had been pacing back and forth in my office, biting the tips of my nails which I had never done in the past.
“Dude, chill, okay, just chill out…” Esen begged dodging a flying metal coffee cup. But I took the screen of my computer and ripped it from my desk, throwing it down onto the floor ahead of me. My wolf had come to the surface, and he was much more volatile than I was. My vision had blurred to almost completely black, their voices coming in slightly muffled, and I fought to regain control.
I forced my hands down onto the edge of my desk, my jagged claws digging into the wood until it splintered. I panted hard, shallow breaths, steam practically rolling off of my body as the heat of anger enveloped me. My heart fluttered painfully, as it had been doing the last few days since Ariella rejected me. Dr. Richards had said that palpitations, the feeling of fluttering or racing, would probably persist for a while, especially if my emotions came up.
“It could have not even been hers…” Gwen offered.
“Who else could it be!?” I screamed.
“I don’t know but…”
“Find her!”
“Gabe, we can’t just barge into the hotel and break down every door…” Esen sighed.
“I want her found.” I sneered. “I want her brought back to me!”
“Gabriel…” Gwen’s voice softened as she stepped up to me, looking at me from the other side of the desk. I met her hazel eyes, she was the only person that dared meet me eye to eye in this state. Even Esen kept his eyes just slightly out of line with mine, “You need to relax.” She ordered. “Take a breath…”
I shivered, but I forced myself into a deep breath. My chest cooled as I did so. My anger subsided with each breath. Lulling the beast inside of me into submission as I forced him back into the recesses of my mind trying to gain my senses back. I had to try to lock him away, he was much more irrational than I was currently, and that would only lead us to trouble if I let him get his way.
“Gabe…” My sister's voice was coming in smoother now, more clear as my mind began to come back. “She’s probably scared… Esen said she had told Beth she wasn’t staying here, it wasn’t her plan to meet a mate or stay here, she rejected you and then found out she was pregnant… she’s probably terrified to even face you right now…”
“She’s my mate.” I gritted, “I should be with her… I should be dealing with these emotions with her.”
“I get it, Gabe. I do…” My sister cooed, “But think about this from her point of view… she’s had a hardly month long fling with an Alpha, found out that his family had a hand in her family's death… you confess your feelings, she gets scared, runs, rejects you, finds out she’s pregnant… f**k, I’d be terrified too…” Gwen shrugged her shoulders in a matter-of-fact way and rolled her eyes. “And you acting like this isn’t going to make her want to come back any more.”
“I need her back Gwen, you don’t get it…”
“I do get it Gabriel!” She argued back, “But that girl is scared and confused and probably lost on what to do. She doesn’t need you barreling through the one place she hopes is safe to tear her out of her hotel room and pull her back to where she believes the family who killed her family lives.”
“Speaking of…” Esen began nervously, “She still thinks it was Full Moon who did it… what if Red River finds out she’s alive… or worse… carrying your child…”
“If Red River finds out…” I gasped, then shook my head, “We need to get her to come back… if Red River finds out she’s still alive… Alpha Armin will stage a war… I know he will… and neither of us will survive if we are separated…”
“Gabe… maybe Beth and Gwen could convince her to at least come…” Esen thought.
“What? No, I want to-…”
“Esen is right.” Gwen nodded in agreement, “Beth is her friend… and I’m a girl; it may be easier for us to talk to her first before you go barging in yourself and ripping her out of her comfort zone.”
“Gwen, I am all for comfort zones but if Ariella is in danger I can’t risk her being alone…”
“Well… what’s your idea then?” Gwen was growing impatient.
I sighed and then remembered last night. “She… she snuck into the house last night I think…” I finally sighed.
“What!?” Esen growled, “Why didn’t you stop her from leaving!?”
“She said… that if I moved she’d leave… I couldn’t risk it… I’ve been too weak to stand half the time… if she left… I don’t know if I could have taken it…”
Esen sighed in an aggravated manner as he slapped his palm to his head. “She was right here, Gabe!”
“You don’t think I know that!?” I spat back finally meeting my betas eyes. “You think I wouldn’t have chained her to my bed and never let her leave if I had the chance!?”
“Why didn’t you talk to her!?” Esen argued back.
“I told you! You know I’ve been too weak! The doctor has me on sedatives, I’ve hardly slept! I hardly even remembered she was here; I was so delirious!” I shouted. “I didn’t even have the energy to keep my eyes open let alone hold a conversation with her!”
“It has to be from the EBD…” Esen sighed.
“EBD?” My sister broke in again, “Did the doctor diagnose you with EBD?”
I sighed and nodded. “Yeah… after she rejected me…”
“Well, no wonder you’ve been so weak…” she muled in a thoughtful tone. “Broken heart syndrome and EBD are serious…” it’s as if her voice had calmed now knowing the diagnosis I had gotten from the doctor. Her normally sympathetic nature coming to the surface from the seriousness of the situation. “You can’t be getting worked up like this Gabe…”
“Regardless…” I began as I raked a hand through my already disheveled hair. “She came to me… I think because the EBD is so bad neither of us have slept… she needed the rest… so… if it gets worse again she may seek me out again on her own terms… I can stop her and talk to her then…”
“What if she doesn’t…?” Esen asked. I sighed and looked down to my watch momentarily.
“3 days…” I said softly. “If she doesn’t seek me out in 3 days… I will break down every single door in that hotel until I find her…”
Gwen and Esen looked toward one another, their gazes finally relenting with nods… they knew once I gave an ultimatum there was no other way I would allow the situation to go.
Either Ariella sought me out, or I would seek her out… either way, my mate would be coming back to me somehow… and hopefully, before Red River caught any word of her being here…
- Writer
