CHAPTER FOUR - BOND COLLAPSE
983 Words
Seconds turned into minutes, minutes into hours, hours into days and days into weeks. Elara was attempting, to no avail, to resume a state of normalcy.
Classes were supposed to distract, to provide her with purpose, the feeling of control, but nothing helped, her wolf carrying the secret's burden.
This day was to be another day, where she would be with Selene, wondering how long before her secret gets out. Elara was holding her books under her arm, holding a cup of coffee in her hand, and a notebook on her lap. She was sitting in the back of the lecture hall, attempting to be invisible yet concentrate on the economics lecture. But all the sentences that the professor mumbled appeared to be ricocheted off her head.
Her phone vibrated in her bag. She ignored it. She was not prepared to confront anybody. Not Jax. Not her parents. Not even herself.
The lecture concluded and students began dispensing. Elara was keeping her head low, faking that she was packing her things. Just as she was about to go to the door, a loud voice broke through the outer corridor.
"Elara!"
Her heart stopped. Her steps faltered. She turned slowly and froze.
Jax.
He was rushing up to her red-faced, with his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. "Elara! Wait! I need to talk to you!"
Elara made an instinctive attempt to avoid him, but he stood in her way.
"Jax, stop!" a stinging voice came at his back.
Elara looked toward Selene, who stood with crossed arms and looked at him, pack protectiveness surging.
"Selene..." Elara whispered, panic rising.
“Look, don't you talk Elara, You stay out of this." Selene said. “I’ll handle him,”
Jax's voice raised. "You don't understand! She humiliated me, she humiliated my packmate! She humiliated us!”
"She didn't do anything wrong!" Selene leapt, drawing nearer. "You want to blame anyone? Look in the mirror, Jax! It is you who cheated, who humiliated all around you. You believe that screaming at her solves that?”
Jax's face twisted in anger. "I... I still love her! I made a mistake, okay? A huge mistake! But I've changed. I want her back!"
Elara's stomach churned. She wanted to run. She wanted to scream. She would have liked the ground to swallow her up.
“You said that before, but kept f*****g your so called best packmate," Selene went on, voice steady but cutting. "I’m done with this. Leave. Now."
"I can't!" Jax shouted. "She... she's mine! I won't let her go!"
"You're pathetic," Selene spat. "Completely pathetic. You believe shouts and threats correct what you have broken? You're disgusting. Do you hear me? Disgusting. Clear out of here before I see that all know precisely what a fool you are!
Jax was about to reply, but Selene raised her hand, shutting him up. Elara experienced a sense of relief briefly. And her heart was still a-thumping.
Then suddenly the world tilted. She felt dizzy as though it were hot and cold simultaneously, her wolf dizziness from the secret's weight overwhelming her. Her knees buckled. Her vision blurred. The face of Selene swam in front of her eyes. The noise of Jax screaming and the dim of the hall were muted.
"Elara?" The voice of Selene was sharp, panicked. "Elara! Talk to me!"
Elara couldn't. Her body went limp. She fell forward, sliding down the wall to the floor, her head against the cold tile.
"Someone call an ambulance!" Selene shouted. Her voice was desperate, and it pierced through the fog of Elara. "Stay with me, Elara. Please, don't do this now. You're okay. You're okay."
The ambulance was there in a few minutes. Elara was rushed on a stretcher by paramedics. Selene did not release her hand, but held on desperately and did not give it up even when Elara closed her eyes.
“Hang on, Elara, hang on,” Selene mumbled. "I've got you."
The ambulance ride to the hospital was the longest ride Selene ever had.
Nurses and doctors attended to them once they arrived. They pushed Elara into the emergency room, connected her to monitors, IVs, and even took blood. Selene paced, wringing her hands, praying to whoever it was that listened.
“Wh-where am i?” Elara mumbled, as her eyes fluttered open.
“Elara…baby..” Selene cried, rushing to her side.
“What happened? Why am I in a hospital?” Elara asked, her eyes on Selene’s tear stricken face.
“You passed out…” Selene replied. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine…” Elara replied, she wanted to ask more but just then, the doctor came in, with his clipboard, and a serious yet deliberate expression. Selene set herself more firmly, and tightened her hand on Elara.
"Ms. Voss?" he said gently.
Elara pushed himself softly and gazed up at him. "Yes..."
“How are you feeling now?” He asked.
“I’m fine now doctor. W-what happened to me?” Elara asked.
The doctor's gaze softened. "Elara... you're pregnant with pups."
The phrases came as a thunderclap. Selene gaped, and clutched Elara by the hand. The eyes of Elara were opened, and her mouth was open and closed like she was not able to say anything.
But Elara's mind was spinning. Ronan. The night. The secret. All that she had been hiding was now physically and irrevocably proved.
Selene pulled her into a hug. A million questions ran through her mind but she knew Elara was not in the right state of mind to be questioned or answer questions.
Elara rested her head on the shoulder of Selene. Her voice trembled. "Selene... I need to tell you something. About... the pregnancy. About the father."
Selene drew a little back, and her eyes were roving over Elara. Her voice had been low and hard. "What about the father?"
- Writer
