Hunted

Traumas

I wake up in a different room, again. Except for this one I recognize. I push the moldy blanket off me and run to the door. Locked. I look around the room, nothing has changed since I last was here. Some headless dolls lie on the floor, their dresses destroyed by rats. I walk over to the mirror and look at myself. My blonde hair is all tangled up and has lost all its shine. I’m wearing a black shirt and grey pants, someone must have changed my clothes while I was asleep. Then, I hear someone knocking on the door.

“Good morning Butterfly, are you awake?”

An eerie voice whispers through the keyhole.

“No, it can’t be. I escaped this place! I escaped from you!” I try to smash the window above the bed, it is small but I can push myself through it if I have to.

“You have been a naughty girl Butterfly”

I keep trying to break the window but it won’t even budge. I scream, someone must be here, someone must hear me.

“No one is here to save you now Butterfly”

I smash at the window as hard as I can while screaming as loud as I can. I won't stay here, not again, not after all he has done to me.

“You have been a bad girl Butterfly”

I sit down on the bed. This is pointless. I can’t escape, not this time. I failed.

“Are you ready for your punishment Butterfly?”

I hear the key going in the keyhole. Complete panic, I start shaking and crying. I don’t want this anymore. I want to go home, but I can't. I’m locked up and he’s coming in. I hear the doorknob twisting. I close my eyes and prepare for what’s next.

“It’s okay love, I’m here. You are safe”

I feel his body surrounding mine. But this time his touch is gentle, not painful as usual.

“Hey, it’s okay. You are safe. No one is going to hurt you”

I’ve heard that lie before: just cooperate and no one will hurt you. Except for these whips and knives which are coincidentally called no one.

He lets go but just a couple seconds after he lets go I feel his grip again, stronger this time. I scream and try to break free from his grip but he is too strong. I give up. I just start to cry. Maybe he has some sympathy this time.

“See, it’s working. She’s calming down”

Wait, there is another voice. He has brought someone with him. I can't handle two of them, I just can't. I scream again and fight my way out of his grip. If they want an easy target, I won’t be one.

“Please Kaya just open your eyes, you are safe”

I won’t. I’m not going to look them in the eyes. I’m not going to give them the pleasure of seeing the fear in my eyes.

“Leave”

He sounds angry, great. Now that he is alone and angry I don’t know if I’m going to make it out of here alive this time.

I feel the weight of his body on top of mine. He is still holding my hands with one hand and with the other, he starts stroking my face. He terrifies me. Every cell of my body is shaking and I’m crying harder than I’ve ever done before, just out of fear of him.

Then, he plants his face in my neck and starts crying himself.

“Please love, I don’t know what to do. Please just tell me what’s wrong or at least open your eyes so I know that you know that you are safe”

What’s wrong with him. Why is he acting this way? Maybe this is just one of his sick mind games again. But then, he lets go of my hands, puts one hand behind my back, and the other one behind my neck. He’s pulling me as close as possible to him and buries his face even deeper in my neck while sobbing even harder.

“Please, just let me know that you’re okay. I can’t stand seeing you like this. I’m so sorry I left you alone, especially after he told me not to,”

He almost sounds sincere.

“Please don’t hurt me again” is all I can mutter while crying.

“Love, I would never hurt you, never in a million years.” I feel that he lifts his face.

His voice sounds different. It sounds familiar, trustworthy but a little raspy from crying.

And then I realize. I am safe. I am no longer there.

I open my eyes to see Jace completely lying on top of me. His chest is trembling from the shaky breaths he takes.

“You’re heavy”

He immediately gets off me and turns to his side and hugs me. I don’t want him to, but still, I can't say no. It feels as if I have known him for years. I turn myself to him and pull myself towards his chest. I don’t care that we aren’t dating and I don’t care that he has a girlfriend. Right now this is making me feel good and that’s all I want. His face is completely red and his beautiful blue eyes have turned dull.

“I’m sorry. Did I wake you up?” I stutter to him.

“Just the whole house” I feel him chuckle. He puts his chin on top of my head. “But don’t worry about it, they will survive”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to wake anyone. I don’t know what happened. He was suddenly there and I was back at the bunker and—” I start to panic again.

“Sst. It’s okay love. You don’t have to talk about it. Just come here and try to sleep a little okay.” He kisses my forehead and then pulls my face closer to his chest. “Just try to okay”

I close my eyes, expecting to see him again, but this time I don’t. I sleep well for the remaining couple of hours of the night.

JaceOne minute Vincent tells me that she is all stitched up and sleeping, the next we all wake up of her screams. I run towards her room to see what is wrong and she is laying in her bed, crying and screaming. I try to talk to her but she doesn’t seem to hear me. We have only known each other for a couple of days now, but maybe the mate bond will calm her down. I don’t want to force her to do anything she doesn’t want to but at the moment this seems like the only option. I climb in bed with her but as soon as I touch her she starts to kick and scream. I hold her hands in my left hand and with my right, I try to calm her down by stroking her face. Vincent has woken up and is now standing beside me.

“Do you want me to drug her? She might hurt herself in this state.”

He was right. She could harm herself. But I don’t want to drug her. If I just can get through to her she might calm down. I tell Vincent to leave

“But she is going to hurt herself, look at her!” Vincent says very irritated.

“She won’t! Now leave.”

I try to talk to her. She still doesn’t show any signs of calming down. It has been over half an hour now and even I am getting exhausted from restraining her. Sometimes she will calm down for a minute, but as soon as she hears a sound of she feels me moving she starts crying again.

For someone to see his mate is this state is just heartbreaking. She is in so much pain and there is nothing is can do about it. I feel useless and worthless. What a mate I am, not even able to calm her down.

I don’t know what is happening to me. I start to cry. Out of frustration, anger, and a lot of other things. I let go of her hands, maybe the feeling of being restrained is bringing back some bad memories. It helps, she calms down a little bit. I just pull her close to me and bury my face in her neck. Her hair is tingling on my face and her skin feels soft compared to mine.

“Please don’t hurt me again” she stutters while crying. I would never hurt her. Why would I, I am her mate. I am supposed to protect her and make her feel safe, something I am not able to right now.

She is quiet for a couple of minutes, still with her eyes closed. As soon as she opens them she doesn’t look as scared anymore. I am happy that she recognizes me and that she isn’t scared of me laying on top of her.

“You’re heavy”

In all the stress I didn’t even realize that I, a full-grown man, am laying on top of this little girl. I immediately get off of her and lay next to her. I don’t want to leave her alone, not now. She feels sorry for waking us up but this wasn’t her fault, nightmares come when they want to.

After a minute of just lying there, staring at each other. She suddenly comes closer to me. I can feel Xavier wagging his tail, sometimes he is just a little pup. I put my hand behind her back and pull her a little closer to me. She doesn’t even back off and instead, she lays on my chest and almost immediately falls asleep.

When I wake up the next morning, she is still laying at the same spot she fell asleep. She is awake and staring at the wall.

“Hey,” I say as soft as possible not to scare her.

She looks at me and immediately pulls the blanket over her to cover up her face. “What’s up?”

“I’m so sorry about last night. Usually, Caleb is with me and he immediately notices when the dreaming starts so it never comes to this point.”

A couple of minutes of silence follow but suddenly are interrupted by her soft voice.

“Can you please let go of me?” I didn’t notice that my arm was still around her. As soon as I let go of her she sits up. “What do I do now?” She sounds so desperate.

“First you should heal a bit more and after that, I can teach you all about being a wolf.”

“I don’t want to be a wolf.”

“How about you get a shower and I go to Isa’s room to get you some clothes.”

She nods her head and walks to the bathroom. I don’t think she realizes that she has been walking around in Vincent’s clothes. As soon as she is in the bathroom I get out of the bed and walk back to my room to get dressed. To my surprise, my dad sits on my bed when I come in.