Escaping Rejection

5 . Time travels and heart to hearts.

Ionora's Pov :

Darkness. It enveloped me like a thick blanket filled with solitude and numbness. I was free here. Free from the overly complicated reality that is my life. Everything I knew, or I thought I knew was being labelled as lies and I didn't know what to believe anymore. My identity , my past , the very foundation of my life was being shattered and I could do nothing but watch.

I didn't have to wait anymore in the darkness as I was soon falling into a vortex of colours which made me dizzy and I soon gave in and closed my eyes , letting the swirl of colours lead me to its destination.

When I woke up, I seemed to be in some sort of garden. A garden which had certainly seen better days. A garden which seemed familiar , like I had been here before , even though I never remembered being here.

I got up , or atleast tried to , and after slipping and falling on my numb legs , I finally managed to stand up after five attempts. Taking a look around , I started to take slow steps towards what looked like a gate leading outside the garden.

The gate looked rusty with the paint coming off in a few places but it was small enough for me to hop over it. The place seemed deserted with no one in sight. But before I could take a step further , a small girl who looked about 6 years old came running towards the gate. She climbed over the gate and ran inside the garden. She didn't notice me despite me being right in her line of sight and I assumed that I was not visible to her. I hopped over the gate again and followed her. She ran towards a bush with flowers and started collecting only the yellow ones. She was standing with her back towards me and I felt a strong sense of deja vù like I had been here once doing the same thing. And I wasn't wrong. As she turned towards me I couldn't help but gasp and take a step back as I stated into the eyes of a younger me.

She returned to collecting flowers as she couldn't see me. As I stood there wondering what the hell was happening , the gate creaked and into the garden stepped a woman I hadn't seen in years.

"Aunt Marrise" , my voice came out as a shocked whisper.

Marrise walked towards the younger me and asked in a gentle loving voice , "What are you doing dear?"

"Look Aunt Marrise , I'm making a flower crown" the younger me replied eager to show her creation to someone.

"That looks beautiful dear. You'll have to make one for me sometime. But for now , I have something important to tell you so I want you to listen carefully , okay?" She waited for me to nod and continued , " I want you to tiptoe to your room and take whatever things you want because we are going on a trip , okay? I have already packed your clothes and other necessities so you can pack whatever else you want and meet me here after your mama and papa go to bed. This is a secret trip and if your parents find out then they won't let me take you. So you need to Pinky promise me that you won't tell anyone." She explained quickly but in a manner that 6 year olds could understand.

I could see excitement light up the 6 year old me at the prospect of a fun trip. She quickly pinky promised Aunt Marrise that she wouldn't tell her parents and ran away to pack , I assume. Aunt Marrise stood there for a few seconds with a troubled face but quickly went outside the garden but in an opposite direction to the younger me.

Before I could even decide whether to follow her , I was being sucked into another vortex but this time when I opened my eyes , I was in a white room which smelled strongly of antiseptic. Through blurry vision I looked around the hospital room and noticed a huge figure slumped on a tiny hospital chair. Well... He was too huge to not notice.

He is huge , huh? I wonder which other part of him is huge.

Damn Lee , back at it again with the horniness.

You've been living among humans for far too long , Nora. She stated.

Is it my fault that people think that I am too much of a freak and refuse entry into their covens and packs?

I said , slightly irritated.

You are not a freak , Ionora. You are just different. Unique. And none of these people can stand uniqueness as they are so normal themselves.

Or had it something to do with us apparently being witches? How does that work anyways? I have you so I'm a werewolf right?

Maybe the werewolf gene was dominant and the witch gene is suppressed? You could also be some sort of hybrid.

That would be possible if one parent is a witch and the other , a werewolf. Zayden told us that both our parents were witches.

Hmmm....... You just gotta talk it out with mate. And please don't black out this time. She begged.

Yeah....... about that..... when I fainted I-

Time travelled? Yeah I know. I saw it through your eyes. But we'll discuss that later. Mate is waking up now.

And as she said that I looked over to him only to find that he was awake. He didn't realise that I was awake and watching him yet so I took this time to trace my eyes over his handsome features. Features that would make any female drop her panties.

"Hey"

As I said this , his eyes flickered over to the bed and when he saw that I was awake , he walked over to me. Shock , relief and concern etched his features.

"You're finally awake. Thank god. You scared me for a second there. I thought I killed you before I could make you mine." His cheeks and the tips of his ears immediately turned a light shade of pink hinting that he probably wanted to keep that last bit of information to himself.

"Are you blushing?" I couldn't help but reach out and poke him in the stomach , the part closest to me.

He shivered at the contact but recovered and said , "Shut up." I began to laugh and the sound that came out of my throat made me cringe. I probably sounded like a dying hyena with a dry throat. Nice comparison there , Nora.

On realising that I probably needed water , he took the jug from the table beside my bed and poured me some water. I greedily drank up the water and even asked for a second glass which he gave me. Once I was satisfied , I muttered a quiet 'thanks'.

We just sat there for two minutes in an awkward silence but neither of us knew how to break it. If you knew me , you would also know that I hate silences , especially awkward ones and so I took the initiative myself to blurt out something stupid to break the ice.

"So how's the weather outside? Is it still stormy?" Wow. I really deserve an award for that.

"Is the weather like your go-to subject to start a conversation?" He looked a amused.

"Well , it helped. Didn't it?"

"Yes , it did. So tell me , how old are you?"

Straight to the point I see.

"Younger than you for sure. How old are you anyways? 30?" Okay. That was an exaggeration. This guy looked too hot to be 30. Whereas I looked 20 years older than my actual age.

"So you have a thing for older men? Too bad for you baby , I'm 24." He said with a smirk. I tried not to visibly shiver when he called me 'baby' but it was hard to do that when he was looking at me with his hazel eyes filled with lust. But then again , I'm pretty sure that my eyes reflected the same emotion.

"To bad you're still older than me , by 6 years , old man." I return his smirk.

"So you're 18?"

"Oh wow. How did you come to that conclusion Alpha?" I said , my tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Don't call me that. Call me-"

"Zayden?"

"How did you know that? I don't remember telling you my name." He told , with a confused face.

" I don't know. You see , ever since my childhood , I was different from the rest. I had these abilities , snarl perks you could say like guessing a persons name before they told me or finding out their secrets which they never told anyone. Once I told anyone about it , they labelled me as a freak and usually threw me or of their packs. After a while , I just accepted my fate and lived as a rogue , running away when anyone sniffed me out and stealing food from the packs nearest to me. I even got caught and was kept in the pack cells until I eventually escaped. Fun times." I finished , flashing him the gangster sign.

"What happened to your original pack?"

"I don't know."

"What?"

"I don't know , okay?" I said , feeling a familiar ache in the back of my head.

"One day , I woke up in the middle of the jungle with no memory of how I got there or from where I was or anything else. It was like my entire memory was wiped out. I gradually regained the memory of who I was and other small things about me but nothing else. I was 14 when that happened. Crazy , I know." I said , smiling wryly.

"I.....I don't know what to say." He said , looking shocked on hearing my past. Well , the little I remembered of my past.

"You don't have to say anything. The past is the past now." I tell him , shrugging.

"Well aren't you curious to find our why and how your memories were taken away?"

"I was curious , once. But not anymore." I said , feeling an unknown emotion wash over me.

"Why not?"

"You know , there are times when I want nothing more than my memories back. To remember my parents faces or anything about them. To remember the fun times we had , if any , and to see what type of life I had. On the other hand , there are times when I don't want it back. What if my past was horrible , so horrible that once I get my memory back I would have no way to erase it? And I'll be stuck with the demons of my past eating my soul inch by inch. And on hearing you talk about my parents the 2nd option is more likely , and I don't want that." I had tears in my eyes when I finished but I successfully managed to blink them away.

Zayden looked speechless. I knew he was thinking of something to say couldn't find anything. So I did him a favor and said , "I'm sleepy now. I think I'll rest for sometime so if you could show me to a room? These beds are uncomfortable AF."

He looked at me with an adorable confused face and it took all in me to resist pulling his cheeks.

"AF? Is that some sort of code word?"

"It's a human slang." I said rolling my eyes , "It stands for 'as f**k'."

"And the words were too long that you had to abbreviate it?"

"Nah , it sounds cooler that way. AF. AF. AF. "

"Yeah , yeah. I get it. God , kids these days. Think they are cool AF." He says , rolling his eyes and walking out of the hospital room leaving me gaping after him like a fish.