The Alpha's Broken Heart

What is that? ~Nefeli~Unknown to Earth

I've been watching the breeze softly push the crops in the field. I see the waves gracefully moving between the weeds. The wind rolls towards me cooling my tear stained cheeks. I, however, continue looking out, almost in a trance. 'Nate? ' I whisper into my empty mind. He can't hear me and I know that. I've never been one to break but here I am, tired of crying and now just watching the wind. The trance is broken by wind whipping my hair around me and a sudden headache that felt like I was being broken into. I sway on the garden swing, ruining the soft motion I had set. I feel as though I'm about to pass out but then the headache lessens. The wind suddenly picks up and I see how the clouds are darkening. I pick myself up and drag myself inside.

As I walk in, I feel the headache completely stop. I head into the kitchen looking around. I walk into the pantry and gasp at the amount of food. 'Someone must've been staying here' I say looking at the ingredients. I was about to go into my room and sulk in my despair but then I walk past the second bedroom and walk through the door, just to see. I walk through the door and then I look around.

The main theme was white and mahogany, it has a guitar and sketch book on a stand in one corner and a pair of picture frames in the wall. I see Amara in most of them and some with Xavier. I see Mr Jones and Mrs Johnson in a picture. I also see Acacia in one. I look around the room, loosely observing, then my eyes land on the sketch book. I reach for it but I'm stopped by the crippling headache return. I flinch and sit on the white themed bed. I feel light headed and violated. ' I know, weird, but I do' I sit till the headache fades. I look out the window and see the wind swirling around carelessly. I sigh and go back to the task at hand. I grab the sketch book and open it to the first page.

'To memories' it says written in cursive. I look at the next page and I freeze at the picture. It's a memory drawn to absolute perfection and it shows a group of five friends. I immediately recognise some faces; Nate, Xavier, Jace, Linda and some other girl. She resembles Linda alot. I look at the photo, noticing how Linda looked genuinely happy, unlike how she is now. Her eyes were twinkling in pure joy, her cheekbones higher than I've ever seen them. The girl by her is hugging her happily. The guys also look happy - like cupcakes and rainbows happy. It must be an old memory abecause they look a bit younger. I concentrate on the photo and it starts to play. I first hear loud laughs and I see Xavier and Nate messing each other's hair and Jace looking at the unknown girl lovingly. Linda doesn't look like she is even interested in Nate. What is happening? As I'm about to turn the page, I hear someone knocking on the front door.

"Not today Hades" I mumble quietly as I grab the guitar and walk slowly towards the front door. I look out but I see no one. I raise it above my shoulder, ready to swing on somebody else's child. I breathe deeply and open the door, simultaneously swinging the guitar.

"Ah! Woah Cloudie?" Amara says jumping out of the radius of my swing. I continue to point it in her direction. She raises her hands in shock.

"Nefeli? What's wrong? Had someone already been here to attack you?" she says softly and tries taking steps inside. I narrow my eyes at her suspiciously. She rolled her eyes at me before walking right past me, as if I don't clearly yield a deadly weapon.

"Put that guitar down, I thought you would love to have me come get you. But no! You want to send me back with a concussion. " she says walking into the living area. She looks around and I see her stiffen. She turns and looks at me, worried.

"Are you okay? I mean are you fine?" she asks staring into my soul. I look away and she places a hand on her mouth in shock.

"Are these your nightmares?" she asks me. I look around and notice that many more photos have appeared in the living area. Some where faint as if painted in watercolor. Some where explicit, like the painting of my mother's corpse. It looks exactly the same, also the picture of the inside of the closet I was put in and the picture of me crying by the tree of memories, in Olympus. I went there everyday. I saw the painting of the goddess Athena appearing in front of me, to encourage me and lend me part of her fighting spirit. I feel myself withdraw from myself. I look to Amara and she grabs my shoulder shaking me. I feel gone until,

Smack!

My head snaps to the side and I feel the stinging in my left cheek. I look at her in shock and she smiles sheepishly.

"Sorry, I got worried." she says looking at me. I sit her down saying it's totally fine.

"Nefeli, you have to be strong. We have to leave here but we can't if you are weak. The transition will finish you and you will fail if you aren't brave." she says sternly. I nod but she doesn't believe me, I don't believe myself. She takes a deep breath and then starts speak.

"I'll tell you my past, because I know yours and also because I need to show you to be strong, for us both. I had a huge family, us kids were four. Four girls and my Mom, who you've seen already. They were playing hide and seek, like normal kids do. I was an infant so I was always on my mother's back. My sisters went to play in the ruins because they were more hiding places there. Honestly, I can't remember because I was young but I was told by people around, then my Mom." she says and I tense up immediately I hear her mention the ruins. That was were my old house used to be, the house that got destroyed along with my only family. " Anyway, they went on to play there and they were the best at disappearing. Then my Mom heard the warning bells, the ones that tell you to enter your houses because there is an unknown danger. My Mom dropped me on the steps and ran around shouting frantically, ' Gaia! Cleopatra! Delta! girls come because home! Girls!' some of the city helped her search but no one found them. My Mom had to be dragged to back home and locked inside with me. She said I cried the whole night and day, the next weeks people search until they found them. The sight was horrible. Not even I can describe it. I saw the newsletter that also leaked the photos." As she said that a painting of the memory appeared in the wall, and she stood with me and lead me towards it. One sight and I felt my stomach churn. The nauseaous feeling settled and made a home in me. They bodies were hardly recognisable as humans and the organs of the girls were laid respectfully by the killer. It reminded me of my mother's death. The killing technic was similar and the site was the exact same. She stops there and begins to sob. I joined her unknowingly. We stayed like that for a while. I clutched my chest as I felt my mind cry for Nate, ', Nate, Nate, Nate' I kept on repeating and I felt comforted all of a sudden. I grab her and hug her till she calms down to hiccups. Calmly I tug her and I lead her to the other bedroom and show her around. She seems at peace here, her fingertips lightly brushing the surfaces.

She looks at me, her teary eyes smiling at me. Getting an idea, I grab her hand and lead her to the garden swing to sit. She settles and turned to me.

"I feel like these necklaces are important, they connect us and I'm using them right now to enter your head. I don't think you should ever take them off, if not for safety then for... I don't know honesty" she says looking down. I lift her chin and think about it.

" If not for safety, then to symbolize our new little family, our sisterhood and our loses." I say to her, my eyes tearing and she nods eagerly and hugs me, burying her face in my chest. After a minute she looks at me again with determination. She drags me to the center of the field, where I had appeared from. The smell of wet earth and nature overwhelming my senses as we run through the wheat. We look up to the sky, noticing the graying clouds darkening and creating a vortex directly above our heads. The wind now viciously swirling and shoving crops and even our bodies. She faces me, holding my hands.

" We don't have much time so listen, imagine following me but once you feel half way there imagine leaving me, okay?" Amara says quickly. I shake my head hard.

"Perfect! it's now or never. No chickening out" she says and then closes her eyes. I look at her confused and see her disappear before my eyes.

" Wait, no-" I try to say but she's already gone. I look up to look at the clouds in distress. I see the vortex get bigger and bigger. I close my eyes to focus and I begin to feel lighter, I hear thunder in the sky and suddenly an eye opens in the sky looking around before landing in me. I close my eyes to concentrate, the wind shoving my around. I focus on following her and feel myself become light again, like I'm floating. I open my eyes and see me heading towards the eye.

"No!" I screech before, imagining me separating from Amara. I crash into the eye and then it's darkness. I feel like I'm floating in water if that was even possible in the sky.

I feel everything still and I connect with my body again. I move my eyes around behind my eyelids and want to laugh out of relief of having my body back, my life back. My eyes refuse to open, though my nose can smell the smell of pine and kiwi, an interesting and delicious scent. I hear a heartbeat close to my ear, it's quite comforting and I hear multiple people breathing at once. I finally feel my eyelids flutter open. I look at the blur of colors before me, before it clears out. I immediately see Nate, facing forward, head tucked in chin and his eyes closed. Upon further inspection of his handsome face, I notice bags under his eyes, his cheeks seem to have reduced and a tears falls from his eye. I quickly move to brush it off. He's head snaps to me and I see him take in a harsh breathe when he looks into my eyes. 'Nate?' I say through the bond. He looks at me and smiles showing his straight pearly whites. I'm instantly reminded of the sketch but I push the thought away, for now at least

'Yes, princess?' he responds softly. I hesitate to tell him and then I just save it for later.

'I missed you, grizzly' I say and his expression darkens.

"Who is grizzly?" he asks me growling slightly.

" It's someone that I really like, he's tall, handsome and very sweet." I say looking at him. I turn to the other guys who wave and smile to me. I return the features tiredly. I look back at Nate and I almost choked on air. He looks so sad.

"It's you dummy." I say and his expression lightens up. He smiles and looks at everyone who is laughing at his silliness. I yawn and Nate looks at me.

"Okay everyone out, leave!" he shouts and a few people murmur, protesting.

" LEAVE!" his voice booms out and they all scatter. He turn to me and walk up to bed. I talked off his shirt and jeans making me blush bloody red. He slides into bed and I snuggle into him.

"I need a shower," I say smelling my shirt, " And you need a whole car wash to scrub you clean." I tell Nate and he playfully hits my head, making us both laugh.' I missed this alot' I say in my head. He sighs contently and I'm immediately swallowed by beautiful sleep. 'Being home feels great...'