45: Aurelia
1125 Words
"Aurelia…" Robin whispered my name softly as he shook my arm lightly.
"Good morning," I smiled as my eyes flickered open.
He looked concerned, and he clearly hadn’t been able to sleep on the floor of the forest with his friend barely clinging to life beside us. I felt rather awkward and reached blindly for my dress when I noticed Scott stirring slightly; that must have been why Robin woke me up.
“Is it safe to move him yet?” Robin asked, glancing nervously at his friend.
I wasn’t entirely sure of that, but Robin didn’t need to know that.
“It’s probably better for us to go back than stay here and risk someone finding us and questioning what is going on,” I answered as I got dressed, brushing the debris from myself and hoping that nothing else had happened while we were away.
I knelt down, and pressed my fingers to Scott’s neck to feel his pulse: strong, steady, a little fast, but not dangerously so… I wasn’t sure whether that was a positive sign where his transformation was concerned, but he seemed stable enough for us to move him and I lifted him gingerly to carry him back to the car.
The sun had barely started to break through the treetops, casting an uneven golden light through the trees and it felt serene despite the chaos that had occurred the night before.
As we made our way back to the car, Scott stirred again and let out a low groan.
I froze, waiting for him to settle again before I could carry on.
"I should take him," Robin murmured, reaching out to take Scott from me. "You don't look comfortable."
It wasn't comfortable to carry a grown human man, but I wasn't struggling, and I didn't really need Robin to take him from me; I let him, because he clearly needed to do something to feel like he wasn't powerless, and I didn't want to undermine him.
"I'm fine. I mean, I might throw up but that wasn't the worst night's sleep I have ever had," I said as Robin started to walk beside me. "I can't remember the last time I slept out in nature in this form, though."
"I'm sorry, baby," Robin sighed.
"It wasn't a complaint; I wouldn't have fallen asleep if I didn't feel so safe with you, but I shouldn't have-"
"-Aurelia, please don't apologize. You've made it clear you have less energy at the moment. You shouldn't have been forced to sleep on the floor outside because my sister couldn't just walk away when she was antagonized."
It wasn't her fault; it wasn't anybody's fault, because I didn't think it was a bad thing, and as comfortable as it was to sleep in a proper bed, the way Robin had made me feel was powerful enough to make me yearn for another night out in nature.
"I don't think she intended to hurt him as badly as she did," I said, as I opened the door to the car so Robin could lie Scott down across the back seat again.
He closed the door, and took a deep breath as he leaned against the car for a second before he sighed deeply.
"Don't ever try to guess what Saga is thinking. I love her like a sister but she doesn't think the same way as other people. She's different, and she knows it, and-"
"-she's related to me. I know exactly how she thinks, she takes after my side of her family tree."
I nudged him aside when he tried to get into the driver's seat, and he stared at me in shock when he sat in the passenger seat beside me.
"Related to you? How the f**k is...Aurelia, why didn't you tell me this? Is this... I don't even know, fuck..."
"It's not as if I've been stalking you both, but I didn't lose track of my own relatives, and -"
"-did you trick me? Is this a game to you? Did you use me to get closer to her? You're carrying my first-born, Aurelia - is our baby part of this?"
"I am sorry I told you like that, but it has nothing to do with my feelings for you and I don't think Saga even knows. There are things that were forgotten a long time ago - things about our kind. It's easy for me to forget that the things I know aren't common knowledge anymore. Talia decided not to step in when certain things were forgotten, back when we still lived with other wolves... when there was another wolf from our bloodline."
"What the f**k are you trying to say, Aurelia? Were you lying to me about this being your first baby?"
"Talia was turned by a woman called Juventas. My father couldn't transform her himself, because he couldn't Mate a woman who shares his bloodline. Juventas also had a biological son, Tiberius, and he was Saga's ancestor. I'm related to Juventas through Talia, and Saga is related to her through Tiberius. I don't have any siblings, and I don't have any children; Tiberius was my kin in a way that hasn't existed for a long time."
Robin chastized himself mentally, as if it was his fault that I hadn't just been open with him from the start.
There was no reason for me to hide the truth, other than the fact that Talia had decided it was for the best, because she didn't think we were obliged to pass on vital information.
"Hadn't," Robin murmured. "I think what I did last night changed that, didn't it?"
"You're right. And I am sorry that I didn't give you a chance to decide what to do."
"You're doing what it takes to protect our baby, right?" Robin's tone softened. "That's what's important to me; I'm not going to question why you felt a need to bring a knife out with you tonight, but if you really feel so unsafe, we need to work on that. I may not be the strongest, or the smartest, but..." he sighed, and left the thought unfinished.
"It's not that I don't think you can keep us safe. I told you - if I didn't feel safe with you, I wouldn't have fallen asleep; I wouldn't have gone out at all."
"You don't owe me an explanation, baby."
He was right; I didn't owe him an explanation, but I still felt like I owed him the truth.
"I trust you; I just don't want to take any risks. I know you would do anything to protect us, the least I can do is try to ensure you don't need to do anything to protect us."
- Writer
