The Alpha's Eternal Ache

CHAPTER TWELVE

​EDWARD

​Running through what happened during the past five days, I swam in the cold, blue water. It wasn't about school work, assignments, or research. It was about what happened between Chloe and me. It was a week of our usual activities, with no talk about her being my mate. No arguments and no fights.

​Today was Saturday, and we were home alone, as our parents sometimes worked on Saturdays, and today was one of those days. I had planned to call a gathering of my pack, but when I realised Chloe would be home alone, I decided against it.

​'Can't you go together? She knows your kind exists, so there shouldn't be an argument today, either. And you can introduce her to them as your mate,' Ed said, for the first time ever, some reasonable sentences. His idea was brilliant enough for me to smile and immediately get out of the water. I grabbed a white towel and began to dry my wet body with it.

​I looked up at her side window, but it was closed, which was unusual. Even if she wasn't peeking at me, it would still be open whenever she was home. But it was closed. Was she not home? Had she gone out without telling me? Or had she texted me while I was swimming? I checked my phone, but there were no messages from her.

​Increasing my speed, I rushed towards the back door and entered the house. I walked towards the living room to check if she was there, but she wasn't. Using my werewolf speed on the stairs, I was in front of her room in less than ten seconds. I knocked on her door to avoid what had happened a few weeks ago, but there was no response. Just like the other day.

​Was she doing what she always did when I knocked, and there was no response? Or was she not inside? Without any further ado, I turned the doorknob, and the door swung open, revealing Chloe on the bed, lying face down.

​She was lying flat on her chest, her head turned to the side. Her breath was slow and shallow, almost as if she wasn't breathing. Her right hand was tucked between her abdomen and the bed. No sunlight was passing through the room, and the light wasn't on. The room was dark, even darker for me, who had just come in from outside.

​I walked into the room, and she didn't move an inch. Was she sleeping? But what kind of weird sleeping position was this? It was past 11 in the morning, and she was still in bed?

​"Chloe?" I called her name, and there was no response. I approached the bed and saw her face. Her eyes were closed, but her skin was damp. I could see the little beads of sweat on her face. She felt hot, yet she wasn't awake. I looked at the air conditioning unit in the room, and it wasn't on. I grabbed the remote and turned it on, and the sweat on her face dried up in no time.

​"Chloe?" I called again, and there was still no response. Now, I was beginning to get scared. How could I call someone who was so close to me, and there would be no response? She wasn't dead. At the thought of that, I hurriedly shook her gently to get a reaction from her, and she slightly raised her head.

​Thanks to the Moon Goddess.

​But my thanks wasn't deeply heartfelt when I saw her eyes. The sweat that the air conditioning had dried up was back. It looked like it was flowing directly from her eyes. Sweat from the eyes? Water from the eyes? Tears from the eyes? The third option made more sense, and then my mind clicked. She had been crying. She was crying.

​Why?

​"Ed," she said in between sobs, and she placed her head back on the bed.

​"Chloe? What's wrong? Why are you crying? Talk to me, what is wrong? Are you hurt?" I asked all in one breath as I placed my knee on the bed, trying to get closer to her. But it wasn't enough for me. I needed to be closer to her. I needed to know what was wrong with her. Why was she crying all of a sudden? She didn't have a boyfriend who would break her heart. Daisy.

​"Did something happen to Daisy?" I asked her again, but there was no reply.

​"Talk to me, Chloe. You need to talk to me so that I'll know what to do. Just tell me what's wrong. Say it all in one word, and trust me, I'll understand," I tried telling her, and I waited for a while for a response, but there was none. And that was it.

​I turned her over, placed my hand on her back, lifted her from the bed, and placed her on my shoulder, and I ventured towards the door. I remembered that I needed to confirm some things, which would only be possible with her phone. I needed to call Daisy to see if she was okay. I could also call use my phone to call mother to ask if there was something wrong with Chloe's father and to ask if there was something that always happened to Chloe that I was unaware of.

​I grabbed her phone and walked out of the room with her over my shoulder, her legs wrapped around my waist and her arms wrapped around my neck, as she buried her head in the crook of my neck. I could feel the warm tears running down my skin.

​"Your room," I heard her say, and without questioning her, I carried her to my room. When we got there, I asked her before placing her on the bed because my intention was to take her to the hospital.

​"What's wrong, my love? Just say something. Anything for me to understand what's going on."

​"My stomach," she said.

​"If your stomach hurts, then we should go to the hospital, not my room," I said.

​"Not the hospital. I need to lie down on the bed," she retorted, her voice so low and weak. She was in pain. I could sense it from her voice, and there was something else I could sense right now—not with my human senses, but with my second nature's heightened senses. It smelled metallic. Strongly metallic. Blood.

​"Chloe, are you bleeding from your stomach? If so, this is serious. If we can't go to the hospital, then the doctor will come to us," I said, as I tried to shift my head back a little to get a look at her face. But it was impossible, as her face was buried in the crook of my neck. How could her entire face be covered by my neck?

​"The bed, Ed. It hurts," she said, and her sobs were loud enough for me to hear. Without wasting time, I lay on the bed and placed her on my body. Her hands were still around my neck as I lay on the bed, her legs stretched over mine and her abdomen on mine. But her head was now on my chest.

​Her stomach. Blood. I couldn't feel any wet substance on me. She wasn't bleeding from her stomach. But she was bleeding unless the blood was coming from me. But I was sure I had not hurt myself. I was extra careful when it came to my body. It was definitely Chloe.

​Her stomach hurt, and she was bleeding. She was having her period. She was menstruating. For f**k's sake, why didn't I think of this first? Now, what was I to do? It was clear that she was in serious pain.

​I ran my hands over her back to soothe her. Her body was warm, but mine was still cold from the water. I placed my hands inside her clothes, touching her body directly as I rubbed her back. I didn't know what to do, but I did know that this would help in some way. I was a twenty-four-year-old guy who had no idea how to soothe a girl having period cramps. But I would learn today. I would do all I could for Chloe.

​"Is there any medicine you can use?" I asked her, but there was no response again. The pain had stolen her voice. She couldn't even shake her head to indicate a yes or no. She released her hands from my neck and placed them on her stomach. I stopped her hand and replaced it with my right hand while my left hand was still on her back. Her stomach was soft, and I could tell it was empty. She hadn't eaten.

​I removed my hand from her back and grabbed my phone with it. I searched for all the things that worked for period cramps, and I ordered them all. I ordered all kinds of edible things, both sweet and sour — I didn't know which would work for her. I ordered all kinds of junk food that I always saw her eat, and I messaged Mum, asking her for some help. She asked me to make hot water for her and pour it inside a flask or order a hot water bottle for period cramps, and I went for the ordering part because I couldn't leave her alone. She also mentioned some medicine I needed to get for her.

​Now, I waited for all this to arrive. I hoped it wouldn't take long.

​Chloe was asleep now. I didn't know how she managed to sleep despite all that pain. Pain that makes someone cry is no ordinary pain. While she was asleep, everything I'd ordered arrived. They rang the doorbell, and thankfully, it was Saturday, and the maid who cleaned the house would still be around before she went for a break and came back on Monday. She attended to them all, and I called her on the house phone and told her to bring everything up to my room, and she did.

​"Chloe?" I called her, and she hummed in her sleep. She needed to eat and take the medicine Mum recommended.

​"Come and eat and take your medicine, then you can go back to sleep," I said.

​"I want to stay like this, please. Please, let me stay like this," she pleaded, and I sighed heavily. She must be comfortable in this position. And then I thought of something.

​"I have no choice but to feed you then," I said, and she said nothing. But I knew there was no way I could feed her in this position. It might be easy for me to feed her, but it wouldn't be easy for her to chew with her head on my chest without her neck going through some kind of pain or discomfort.

​Without saying a word, I placed her on the bed. My hand was no longer on her stomach, and she immediately replaced it with hers. Did placing hands on the stomach reduce the pain she was feeling?

​"Sit upright and eat something, Chloe," I said, and for the first time today, she listened to me. I brought all the edible stuff I had bought for her, and she took a bag of crisps that had KETTLE written on it and that I had seen her eat at least three times a day before. I helped her with the opening and gave it to her as she picked one of the crisps and placed it in her mouth.

​I sat down with her and placed my hand on her stomach. If placing a hand on a stomach worked, then I should place mine on her stomach as she ate. She looked at me and smiled.

​"How do you know I love this?" She asked, and I said, "You eat that every day."

​She picked up the second bag, the third bag, until the seventh one. I didn't stop her; I just kept watching as she ate. She ate as if she hadn't been the one in pain earlier. After she had eaten everything she could, she saw the hot water bottle and smiled again.

​"When did you get all these?" She asked, and I shrugged my shoulders. "How did you know they work?" she asked again, and before I could say anything, she said, "This isn't your first rodeo, I guess."

​"Actually, it was my first. And I can tell that I'm pretty good at it, given how surprised you are. Take your medicine, woman, and come here," I said to her, and she looked at me.

​"Come where?" she asked.

​"Here. My body. Have you forgotten how you were begging me to stay there? I guess it was softer and more comfortable than your bed," I teased her, and she blushed.

​The pain might still be there, and as much as I could ask for the pain to be transferred to me instead, it was something that would never happen. I don't know how she survived this pain before we met. She had cried every month. But as many times as she would experience this pain every month, I would be there for her.