Yara: Civil War

Chapter Four

    When Yara awoke the next morning, the previous day came crashing in like a tidal wave, making her groan. It’s like a living nightmare, she thought sarcastically. Stretching, she made her way out of her warm bed and into her shower, as she had sweated in her sleep. Yara vaguely remembered Jorrund carrying her to bed, but it was her dream that had her ruffled up. She heard her bedroom door open and she braced herself. 

    “Who is it?” Please, don’t let it be Logan. That was a fight she didn’t want right now. 

    “It’s just me,” she heard Jorrund speak, and Yara let out a sigh of relief. Until she remembered her dream, and then she blushed a deep shade of red. Oh lord, what is happening to me? For three years you despised him, and now you're dreaming of him? Yara had to reason with herself that it just came at a really bad time, and it wasn’t entirely fair for him either. 

        “Why am I being forced to do this?” Yara screamed, furious at her father. “I already love someone else!” 

     “Yara, we need this,” Jordan pleaded with her. “After what happened with your mother-“ 

     “I know what happened!” She screamed again, tears pouring out of her eyes. “Or did you all f*****g forget that I was THERE!” Her chest was heaving and now everyone in the room couldn’t look at her. Jorrund and his father, Hugin, had already argued on the way there. Jorrund was just as upset at the idea of a betrothal as she was. They were both in love with other people, and now it was being ripped away from them. 

     “Honey, please,” her father begged, but she ignored him. In her fit of rage, she threw one of her fathers office chairs with a flick of her wrist, and it crashed out the east window and shattered on the lawn. 

     “I watched my mother get murdered by that, that,” she couldn’t get the words out, too angry to continue. “And you,” she jabbed her finger towards her father. “You want me to marry this oaf! That’s not going to bring her back!” She glared at Jorrund. “You,” she snarled. “You can’t ever take Logan’s place, and you never will.” Yara felt like a rabid animal, her emotions running too wild for her to properly control. 

     “Trust me,” Jorrund gritted out. “The feeling is quite mutual. And I am not an oaf,” he huffed at her, his arms crossed over his chest. Even for a sixteen year old, Jorrund was tall and muscular from years of early training with his father. 

     “Yara,” this time Hugin spoke. “I know this is difficult, I can’t say that I know exactly what you're feeling.” Yara held her toung now, too exhausted to speak. She had been fighting this for days now. Her only comfort had been Logan since her mother had been murdered, and now they were taking that away from her. “But in the end, this is for the good of all our families. If we are going to keep Dorran and the other vampires like him in check, we have to make sure our families can stay ahead of them. And sometimes that means making a sacrifice.” 

    “Yara?” Jorrund spoke, yanking her out of the memory. She may have only been fourteen, but it still hurt.

    “Sorry, just lost in thought,” she whispered, shaking herself. “I’m fine.” 

    “Well, just know, if you need to talk, I’m here. I mean, you are marrying me, I’m gonna be around awhile,” he half joked, chuckling in the doorway. 

    “Yeah yeah, I know. Hey, while you’re here, can you throw the towel over?” She turned the water off just in time for her purple towel to come sailing over the curtain rod and smack into her face. “Jee, thanks,” she mumbled through it. 

    “Hey, I threw it to you like you asked, didn’t I?” She could hear him smirking. 

    “You just wait,” Yara huffed. “When I get out of here, you’re gonna get it.” 

    “Oh, what, while you’re wet and naked?” he teased, and it got quiet in her bathroom. Jorrund tapped his foot. “Yeah, too soon.” 

    “Yes, a little too soon.” She was super glad he didn’t know about her dream and couldn’t see her face blush a crimson red. Jorrund’s hands and mouth had been all over her, and she shook her head. Girl, stop thinking about it.

    “I’ll meet you in the kitchen, okay?” She could hear him walking out.

    “Sound’s good!” Yara called out in response, and towel dried her hair before wrapping it around her body. Hearing her bedroom door close, she stepped out of her shower and into her walk in closet to pick out her outfit. She slipped on a pair of basic black leggings over her underwear, and momentarily struggled with a sports bra that was then covered with an oversized pink tee shirt. Yara knew that wolves always trained regardless where they were, and she needed a good exercise after being stuck in Dorran’s dungeon. She hung the towel on the back of her closet door, and walked out, only to run into someones chest. 

    “Logan,” she whispered. “What the hell are you doing here?” 

    “I just, when I heard you had been kidnapped, I thought I was going to go crazy.” His golden eyes were soft and pleading. “Please, don’t push me away. I was scared something really bad was going to happen to you.” 

    “Look, I’m sorry, but you have to understand, this is bigger than you or me. I have responsibilities I have to maintain.” Yara finally looked into his eyes, trying to reason with him before she did something stupid. She knew very well he was here to plead with her to try and break her betrothal, again. “Logan, you have to let this go,” she whispered painfully. Yara swallowed her tears down. “We were just kids, young and dumb. I was barely a teenager and I thought I knew the world. It’s been three years, please, for both of us, let go.” 

    “I know better than that,” he growled. “We grew up together, we were inseparable. Our pack spent more time here than any other.” Logan took a step towards her, and she backed farther into her closet. Please go away, she pleaded in her mind. “We had something real, why does it have to be over because they say so?” 

    “Because of who I am!” She yelled at him, feeling like a broken record. “How many times do I have to explain this to you?! I, along with my father, am the last keeper, therefore I have responsibilities. I have to pass this down to someone, and right now, I have the best chance by continuing our bloodline through Jorrund. I know that seems weird, and it’s pretty unfair, but if we are to maintain balance in this world, we have to do what’s right. And sometimes that means making sacrifices. Like having to marry Jorrund.” Yara’s chest was heaving in aggravation, and she took in a deep breath. “Logan, I was only fourteen when it happened. I thought I was grown, and thought I knew better. But I’ve grown up since then, I’m learning more and more what the real world is. This threat with Dorran is very real, and I can’t just stop now because of a teen romance.” Yara knew she was just driving the nail harder into his heart, but if this didn’t stop now, they were both going to be miserable for a long time. She stared into his golden eyes, her own blue ones tearing up, and she fought to control her emotions. “Please,” she cried, loosing the battle. “Please, you have to stop trying to love me.” 

    “I can’t, Yara. I can’t make years of feelings just go away. How can you say that? How can you not love me anymore?” 

    “Logan, it’s been three years, at what point do you finally decide to stop doing this to yourself?” 

    “You didn’t answer my question,” he growled. 

    “I haven’t stopped loving you!” She screamed. “But do you know what they do in a magical betrothal? Something like this requires binding, especially when it comes to witches and warlocks. Jorrund and I are literally bound by blood now, I have no choice.” Yara was breathing hard, trying to control her emotions. She could feel the new blood magic writhing beneath the surface, and she was afraid if she lost too much control she wouldn’t be able to stop it, and she didn’t want Logan hurt because of her. But damn it, he’s pushing my buttons. Why is this so hard?

    “Why would you go through with something like that?” Logan said in an exasperated voice. He ran his hands through his hair. Yara thought she was going to pull her own hair out.

    “Logan, I have tried and tried to explain this to you, but you’re not hearing me. I. Am. Bound. By. Blood.” She pronounced each word carefully, feeling like she was speaking to a child. “You cannot use magic, your bloodline is entirely different from mine. That is why they wanted me matched to Jorrund. And after these three years, I know it’s something I have to do. And you know what?” Yara panted, frustrated. “Jorrund isn’t such a bad guy. We were angry because we didn’t want this at first. But after I’ve had to spend time with him, he’s actually a good person. He’s not cocky, he doesn’t try to push me around like you seem to think, and he’s genuinely trying to look out for me.” Yara could hear Logan growling angrily.

    “Before this, that was my job.” He growled the words out, hurt by her talking about another guy. 

    “But now you’re doing all this for yourself, and it’s just selfish.” She watched his face turn to shock before getting angry again.

    “At what point was I being selfish!? Don’t forget those nights you used to sneak out to meet me,” he spat. “Or have you forgotten about that too.” He turned to walk away for a moment to breath before coming back towards her. “I’ve been doing this because I thought it was what you wanted, and suddenly for the past year you’ve been shoving me away. Have you given up on me?”

    “I’ve come to accept my responsibilities,” she sighed, tired of trying to explain to him what she had to do. “I can’t be married to Jorrund and still be seeing you. I can’t do that to either of you, or to myself for that matter. It wouldn’t be fair for anyone.” She had calmed down again, and felt defeated. Why is love so hard? 

    “I think that’s enough Logan. Why can’t you see that she’s been through enough right now?” Jorrund huffed from her doorway, his burly arms crossed over his chest. Yara could see he was angry, but she didn’t know how much he heard. 

    “You are not anyone’s boss around here,” Logan snarled.

    “Maybe not, but you’re upsetting my fiancé, and I’d like you to stop before it turns into a fight in here.” Jorrund balled his fists up at his sides, and Yara knew he was trying to stay the fire that usually sprung up when he lost control of his anger. 

    “Then let’s take it outside,” Logan spat, snarling in Jorrund’s face. 

    “Okay, enough you two,” Yara snapped, getting between them. She put one hand on Jorrund’s chest and glared at Logan. “Look, you’ve said what you needed to say, and I told you what I had to say. This is over, I am betrothed to Jorrund, and we have to start mending our hearts if anything is going to work around here. Logan, you are going to take over your fathers pack one day, so we all need to get along if our alliances are still going to work. We can’t let any of this going on now affect what happens to our future. Like it or not, we all have to still get along.” She heard Jorrund huff in agreement to what she had said, and Logan looked like he was still fuming. 

    “Then I guess that’s it then,” he snarled, knowing he needed to quit, but not wanting to. He shoved passed Yara and Jorrund, and they could hear him shift into his wolf form the second he left the door, snarling and growling. Yara slumped against the wall outside her door, and slid to the floor. She didn’t know if she should cry in anguish from the wound that kept being torn open every time Logan tried to convince her to go against her betrothal, or if she just needed to scream her frustration out. Jorrund joined her on the floor, and she sighed. 

    “Okay, tell me how much you heard,” she groaned. 

    “About the time you told him you still loved him,” he told her softly, and she cringed inside.

    “Look-“

    “Hey, it’s okay,” he cut her off, putting his hand on hers. “I get it. For the first year, I couldn’t just stop seeing Emily either. It was hard, we were upset. But she, surprisingly, said she figured it would happen sooner or later. She’s not from some powerful family like we are. I think she was more glad that I was being forced into it, and not leaving her by choice. In the end, we knew it would be easier on us to just stop seeing each other before it got too hard to say goodbye.” Jorrund looked at Yara to find her silently crying. “Hey, it’s alright, we’ll get through this. Even Logan.” Jorrund wiped her tears from her cheeks, and scooped her into a hug, picking her up off the floor. “I promised I’d have your back, didn’t I?” Yara sobbed and laughed at the same time, thankful to have him right now. 

    “I just don’t get why this has to be so hard,” she cried, getting his shirt wet on his shoulder. Jorrund was cradling her like a little kid, her legs wrapped around his waist for support. Her black hair still hung down her back, half dry. 

    “Because you two have a history, it goes back to when you were kids. Stuff like that is hard to break.” Jorrund rubbed her back, wishing he could take some of her pain away. “In time, you guys will be okay, I promise.” Yara slowed down her crying, and was able to breath normally again, with a few sniffles. 

    “Thank you for this Jorrund. I know it hasn’t been all easy, but thank you for understanding.” She pulled away to speak to him, and then kissed his cheek as thanks. Jorrund paused for a moment, his green eyes searching hers, his ears suddenly hot. He was suddenly overly aware of the way his hands cupped her thighs to hold her on his hips when he had to adjust his hold on her a moment ago. Despite her hair not being brushed, it was full and lush, the length of it down her back. Her blue eyes were bright from the tears, and she was gazing back at him in a way he wasn’t familiar with yet. But it warmed him to his core, and without thinking about it, he leaned into her lips, and took them for himself. He was surprised when she leaned into his kiss without hesitation, and he felt his body heat up even more. Not paying attention to his surroundings anymore, he leaned her against the wall, deepening their kiss. She breathed out a small moan, and his body responded with arousal. 

    “Whoa whoa, hey you two, there will be plenty of time for that, after you're married,” Jordan cringed, walking up the stairs to find them hot and bothered. They quickly split apart and Jorrund put her back on her feet, both of them embarrassed her father caught them making out. “It’s already hard enough knowing my daughter is getting married at eighteen. You're lucky I like you Jorrund,” her father joked, a dark undertone in his voice.

    “Sorry dad,” Yara squeaked, not sure what came over her. You almost lived your dream, do you have no shame girl, she scolded herself. 

    “Sorry Mr. Senex, it won’t happen again,” Jorrund apologized. They watched Jordan walk into his room and the moment he disappeared they looked at each other and giggled. 

    “I’m officially starving,” Yara said, and on cue her stomach growled loudly. Jorrund took her hand in his, and for the first time, she felt good about her betrothal to him. She let him lead her into the kitchen, realizing the day was just starting. I hope it goes a little more smoothly than what just happened, she thought.