Lost

Reunited

        Ash walks over, relief and sadness mix together, filling his eyes.

        “I’m so relieved to see you’re okay.” Bars separating us, he looks all around for something to unlock it with, but there’s nothing in here.

        “I’ll be right back.”

        Turning toward Enzo, he grabs a hammer from the far wall and brings it over to break the chain on his ankle and unties his wrists. As they walk back I hear Ash asking Enzo to shift, unease covers his face and shame fill his eyes when he explains that he can’t shift yet because of whatever they gave him, but Ash is… Ash. Compassionate, understanding, comforting…

        Enzo goes to find his brother and Ash comes back to me. Studying the bars of the cage where the door opens, he seems immersed in thought.

        Taking a deep breath, he steadies himself and grabs hold of the bars made of silver. My heart shatters into millions of pieces seeing the pain he’s enduring, the skin on his hands are sizzling where he’s grabbing the bars, like he’s touching acid. The smell burning flesh makes me nauseous, but when I hear that guttural, angry yell come from him, I can’t stand it.

        Tears stream down my cheeks and I beg him to stop, but he ignores me. After an extremely painful five minutes that seemed like an eternity, the door to my cage flies open and I run to him.

        Grabbing his wrists, I look at his hands, sobbing incessantly. Blood and burnt flesh cover his palms, and I get him to sit down and rest.

        “Why would you do that, you i***t?” I grumble into his chest, hugging him tightly. “I’m grateful, but you could’ve found another way to get it open.”

        “Eh, what can I say? I’m impatient.” He tries to joke, but the pain is still present in his voice.

        Gently holding his hands in mine, I examine them carefully and consider the best way to tend to them. The longer I think about the pain he’s in, the more I wish I could take it away. My chest aches with a whole different kind of pain, seeing him hurt kills me.

        Closing my eyes, I bow my head and take a moment to gather myself.

        This looks so bad…

        Even after all my time at Dorian’s I could never prepare for seeing this…

        At least… not seeing Ash like this.

        He’s the purest soul I’ve ever known, he doesn’t deserve this kind of pain. I’d do anything to take it away from him.

        “What the –” the shock and disbelief in Ash’s voice makes my head snap up.

        When I look down and see what he sees, my confusion matches his own.

        “What – what just happened?”

        “I don’t – I don’t know,” he stammers, “I was just resting and I felt my hands tingle, when I looked at them they were healing and you were bent over them, did you do something?”

        Before I could answer, Elias and Enzo come running back, as they get closer, they’re also confused.

        “I thought – Enzo said you were gonna try opening the silver cage by yourself?” Elias asks, looking from Ash to Enzo.

        “That’s what he said he was gonna do!”

        “I did.”

        “But how –” Elias starts to ask, but Ash cuts him off and explains what just happened. Both brothers come sit down next to us, Elias tries thinking of an answer while looking over Ash’s hands.

        “The only thing that makes sense is that Bailey healed you.” He finally says, shrugging like that’s just an ordinary thing.

        “What do you mean I healed him? That’s crazy!”

        Just as Elias is about to retort, Val comes running in with a few other people behind her. She doesn’t stop until she tackles into me, hugging me as tight as she can, effectively suffocating me.

        “I’m so glad you’re okay!” she screams in my ear.

        “I won’t be in a few seconds if you keep my air supply cut off for much longer.”

        “Sorry, I’m just really happy, I can’t live without my new best friend!” then she looks over to Enzo, “and you! How the hell did you get kidn*pped?”

        “Ugh, don’t even. They wouldn’t have been able to get me if they weren’t cowards. They frickin’ drugged me, dude.”

        “Yeah, okay. Whatever you say, tough guy.”

        Shaking my head, I can’t keep the smile off my face. I’d be lost without these people.

        “Alpha Ash, everyone has been killed. There are no survivors outside.” A woman with short brown hair says from behind Val.

        She looks so familiar. Did Ash introduce us? What was her name?

        Nicole? No… uh.. Nokia? No that’s a phone, dumbass. f**k, what was it?

        “Thank you, Noel. Let’s get home.” He says, nodding to her and we all get up together.

        Noel! Yes, that’s it.

        I knew that.

        On our way to the car, I get a round of hugs again from everyone, and I’m so happy to be going home.

        Oh gods, if I had to go back to Dorian I’d just impale myself with a branch. That man is horrible. The only thing I wanna do with Dorian is kill him.

----

        When we get back to town, we all go back to Ash’s house. Walking up the steps, Jack opens the door, a huge grin across his face.

        As soon as I’m within an arm’s length of him, he scoops me up into a bear hug, spinning me around making me laugh.

        “I’m so glad you’re safe!” he exclaims.

        “It’s good to be home.” I tell him between laughs.

        Once he sets me down, I grab hold of the railing to steady myself while the dizziness wears off.

        We all walk to the kitchen and sit around the island, Jack puts on the coffee for us all and we talk while we wait.

        “So what happened?” Val asks instantly, staring at me until I say something.

        I fill her, and the rest of them, in on what happened, their expressions shift from shocked to angry. Enzo just sits there, nodding along with disgust written across his face.

        “I can’t believe Tessa would do that!” Val yells. “I knew she turned into a b***h, but I didn’t know she was a literal psychopath. Fuck.”

        “She was always troubled, I knew her father before she came to this pack. He wasn’t the most pleasant man, but nothing could ever excuse her behavior.” Jack says, disappointment and grief filling his voice. “I wish I could have helped her sooner, maybe she would have accepted it.”

        “You can’t beat yourself up. She made her own choices, you can’t save everyone, even if they are a part of your pack.” Ash rests his hand on his father’s shoulder, squeezing gently and everyone nods in agreement.

        “So are we just not gonna talk about how Bailey healed Ash’s hand?” Elias asks sarcastically as we all get our cups of coffee.

        “She did what?” Val and Jack ask in unison, as everyone looks at me.

        “I don’t know what I did, if I even did anything at all.”

        “I mean, it’s not that crazy when you think about it,” Elias shrugs, like we’re talking about me getting an expensive jacket for cheap. “her birthday is in like, three hours? She’s a True Royal –”

        “She’s more than just a True Royal actually,” Ash interjects, and everyone turns to him. “apparently she also has witch blood from her –” he looks to me for affirmation. “grandmother on her mother’s side?”

        Nodding, I continue to explain.

        “Yeah, my Grandma Isla. She was from the Delvaux bloodline –”

        “Holy hell, are you serious?” Elias pressed. “Delvaux is the bloodline of Witch Royalty!”

        “Oh yeah, I think I read that. Is that important?”

        “Are you kidding me? ‘is that important?’” he repeats in a mocking tone. “Of course it’s important! The bloodline of Witch Royalty is the strongest bloodline of witches and any other magic user.”

        “Oh damn. I also have vampire blood in my lineage, I think my great, great, great… great? Grandmother mated with a vampire that was an Elder if I remember correctly.”

        “Damn, babes. You’re like the whole supernatural world mixed into one.” Val jokes, making us all laugh.

        “Don’t worry, I don’t have any dragon shifters in my family history… that I know of.”

        After we’re done laughing, Enzo looks at me curiously.

        “Are there really dragon shifters?”

        “Yeah, apparently Thala and Ethos created an island for them because humans would hunt them and they were on the brink of extinction.” Ash explains, blowing the mind of everyone sitting around us.

        “I didn’t know you read that book.” I tell Ash, making him smile mischievously.

        “There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me.” he winks at me in a joking way.

        I just laugh and shake my head.

        “Okay, so back to the topic at hand. We at least know one of Bailey’s abilities early. We have no idea if any of the witch blood or vampire blood will give her other abilities, but it makes sense why the Midnight line has always been the strongest.” Elias states, excited to talk about magic.

        “Yeah, Thala told me that because she created witches, when a witch and shifter mate, they’re stronger because… it’s like a mix of her magic or something like that. But she said that Xaos created vampires… so I guess the shifter and vampire babies would have the magic of two gods? I read something about Victoria and Raith’s kids having different abilities and I think one of them had wings? It was wild.”

        “Wait, who’s Thala and Xaos, and the other one Ash mentioned earlier.. uh… Edos? And wait – wings? Are you serious?” Val asks.

        “Ethos,” I laugh, “Thala, Ethos, and Xaos are gods. Thala is the Moon Goddess, Ethos is the God of the Sea, Xaos is the God of the Afterlife. Among other things.” I explain, apparently shocking everyone.

        “I’m so confused, explain everything!” Val pleaded, filled with excitement.

        “Okay, but only the cliff notes version. Thala, the Moon, Magic, and Nature Goddess came to me in a dream. She explained a lot of stuff, she said she’s been watching me and that I’m… special. The important thing is that Xaos is an evil douchebag and he’s working with Dorian to kill all Royals and anyone more powerful than him. And I… have to stop him.”

        It feels so gross referring to myself as special. I’m not special, I’m genetically lucky… if that. I mean, yeah, it’d be cool to be really powerful but I just want a normal quiet life. I just want to be happy.

        “Oh. Shit.” Is all Val says, the others just look at me in surprise and curiosity. “What about the wings, though?”

        “I’m not sure, really. I hadn’t read too much about it, and with everything I’ve been reading it’s hard to remember all of it. From what I do remember, some of the most powerful vampires have wings – or maybe it’s the powerful vampires in that specific family. Something like that. But the daughter, I believe, had wings when she shifted for the first time.”

        “Holy hell! So you could have wings?!”

        “I hadn’t really thought about it but I don’t think so, that was a long time ago. I wouldn’t get your hopes up, Val.”

        “But if Dorian wants to kill everyone more powerful, why would he want Tessa to deliver you to him alive?” Elias questions. “Not to be a downer or anything, I’m glad you’re still alive.” He laughed awkwardly.

        “He… wanted to… mate with me…” just the thought of it makes me nauseous, saying it out loud is torture. “he wants a powerful heir and the perks of being a True Royal’s mate.”

        Out of the corner of my eye I notice Ash’s body tense, when I turn to fully see him, his muscles are taut and at his side, his fists are clenched so tightly the blood is cut off, paling his knuckles and fingers. Staring daggers at the counter across the room, not making eye contact with anyone, he’s probably imagining killing Dorian.

        Me too, buddy. Me too.

        “That’s beyond messed up…” Everyone nods in agreement with Elias’s comment.

        For a few minutes, we all just sit in companionable silence, drinking our coffees. I don’t think anyone knows what to say after that. Ash is still visibly agitated, which upsets me but somehow at the same time warms my heart that he cares so much to be so upset about that.

        Does that make me a bad person? I mean, I don’t enjoy him being unhappy, just the fact that he cares enough to be upset is nice…

        That still sounds bad. Ugh. Whatever.

        “Hey, I have a question. How come the silver cage I was in hurt Ash but not me? I mean, I was in the cage.”

        “Before a shifter has their first shift, silver won’t hurt them the same way. Prolonged exposure to it can make them sick, but it won’t burn or physically hurt them until they shift. And with your powerful bloodline and being a True Royal, it might not effect you at all.” Jack explains.

        “It’s getting late, guys. We should go back home, we gotta get our beauty sleep for Bailey’s first shift celebration tomorrow.” Val says, picking up on my want to be alone and talk to Ash.

        Thank the Gods for that wonderful woman coming into my life.

        As everyone leaves, we give each other hugs and say our goodnights, even Jack goes back to his room leaving me and Ash alone.

        “You okay?” I quietly ask, turning to face him. He stays still, staring at the island in front of him.

        “Not really. I mean, I’m thrilled you’re home safely and everything’s okay now, but…”

        “But?”

        “The thought of what would have happened if we didn’t find you in time…” standing up briskly, his chair almost falls to the ground. “That bastard deserves to die. I’d never forgive myself for him getting his hands on you. I should’ve went after you instead of sending Enzo.”

        Getting to my feet, I walk over, placing my hand on his chest in an effort to soothe his anger and self doubt.

        “If you would have come after me, you would be the one who was caught instead of him. It wouldn’t have changed what happened. It’s not your fault, we were taken by surprise and we didn’t know what they wanted. I would never blame you for anything, even if I was with Dorian right now.” Pausing, I wrap my arms around him, leaning my head against his chest. The sound of his heartbeat slowing to normal puts a smile on my face. “And don’t worry, that bastard will die.”

        Letting out a deep breath, he brings his arms up, sliding one around my waist, the other over my shoulders, and for a minute we just stand there, enjoying each other’s comfort.

        “Wanna go to the lake?” I ask after we break apart.

        Nodding his agreement, we head out the kitchen door. When we get to the cliff, we dangle our legs over the edge, staring up at the stars, lying side by side.

        “Just one more hour until my birthday.” I comment flatly.

        “How do you feel?”

        “Honestly… I’m scared. I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I’m supposed to be this powerful shifter and ‘defeat Dorian, thwarting Xaos plan’ but I’m just… me. And what if…” I trail off, anxious to finally say something that’s been worrying me for a while.

        “If?” he questions. Taking a deep breath, I tell myself it’ll be okay.

        “What if I get all these abilities, all this power, and it changes me? What if I become a bad guy?” with each word, my voice got smaller and smaller, until my words were barely audible.

        Sitting up, Ash turns, looking down at me, staring right into my eyes.

        “That could never happen, Bailey. I promise.”

        “But how – how do you know?”

        “Because you’re you. You’re an amazing person, full of compassion, you’re honest and trustworthy, you’re the best person I’ve ever known and out of everyone in the entire world, you’re the one I’d trust with that much power. And plus, we don’t even know how powerful you’ll actually become, there’s no need to worry about things you don’t know and are out of your control.”

        “Thank you,” sitting up, I lean against Ash’s side and rest my head against his shoulder. “What’s it like shifting for the first time?”

        “It’s definitely gonna hurt the first time, but once you’ve shifted everything feels amazing. You feel whole and free. Most shifters are born later at night, so they’re able to run as their wolf easier and more freely, but if a shifter is born during the day it can be complicated – especially if they don’t know they’re a shifter or if they live near humans, or don’t know the correct time of their birth.”

        “Wait, why does the time of birth matter?”

        “Because” he looks at me confused for a second, and I return the look. “the first time you shift is when you turn twenty, the exact time you were born…”

        “I thought… I thought the day you turn twenty, you shift on the soonest moon. So like, I’d shift tomorrow night…” taking a breath, I try to calm myself down, but it doesn’t work. “you’re telling me I’m going to shift for the first time in only –” I pull my phone out to check the time and my heart sinks. “twenty minutes?!”

        “You were born at midnight?” he looks shocked, which just confuses me even further.

        “Yeah… why?”

        “It’s just… haven’t you ever heard of the “Midnight baby” story told to shifter kids?”

        “Not that I can remember, why?”

        “Well, supposedly from midnight until one, no shifter or even witch for that matter has ever been born at midnight. It’s believed to be the God’s hour, where they essentially recharge their energy from doing… god things all day? I don’t know what they do, but apparently they need to rest. In all the records for as far back as we have, no one has ever been born at midnight. That’s why witches perform rituals at midnight, to thank the gods for using their magic to help us and they believe their magic from the rituals goes back to the Gods. Or at least Thala because she’s our creator. I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s what everyone’s taught.”

        “This is getting ridiculous, what’s next? I’m gonna sprout wings and fire laser beams from my eyes? Why am I always the exception to the rule or the weird one? I just want to be normal and have a simple life.”

        Placing his hand on my lower back, he starts to rub soothing circles. I can’t help but to relax into his touch.

        “Don’t worry, it might not even be true. But even if it is, it doesn’t matter. You’re just you, Bailey. And that’s all you ever need to be.”

        “What would I do without you?” I smile and let out a deep breath, solely focusing on his touch.

        “Mmm, crash and burn, probably.” He jokes, making us both laugh.

        We stay like that for a few more minutes before he suggests we go down to the lake and prepare for my first shift. As the minutes tick by and midnight approaches, my anxiety comes back full force, but he keeps talking to me to distract me as much as possible.

        “When you shift for the first time, it’s going to hurt really bad, I won’t lie. But I’ll be right here with you, it’ll be okay.”

        Oh gods. Just one more minute left. Is it gonna start at the stroke of midnight?

        Before I can even respond, I fall to the ground with a scream. Clutching my stomach, then my head, before falling to my side and gripping my knees close to my chest trying to ride out the pain.

        “I know you’re gonna hate me, but you have to stand up, or at the very least stay on your knees.” He says, helping to pull me up. As I lie there on the ground resting on my knees, he rubs circles into my back, encouraging me.

        “You can do this, you’re so strong. I know it hurts, but you can get through this – you will get through this.”

        It feels like someone ripped my spine from my back before jamming it right back in and smashing it with a hammer. I can feel each bone breaking and reforming, every muscle ripping and sewing back together, it’s excruciating and I can’t help but scream and cry.

        “Make it stop, gods Ash I can’t, I can’t do this. It hurts too much. Please. Please. Make it stop!” Sitting down in front of me, he pulls me into his lap and holds me tight, my face rests against his chest as he whispers calming words into my ear.

        After what feels like a lifetime but is probably only a few minutes, the pain stops and everything feels different. New, but familiar. Odd, but comforting.

        He was right, I do feel complete now… like a missing piece of me that I didn’t know wasn’t there is suddenly back.

        Looking down at myself, I see paws and fur.

        “Go look at yourself in the lake.” He says, and I do. I shamble over awkwardly, not used to walking on four legs, and when I look down into the water, I’m frozen in place.

        When I saw my paws, I couldn’t exactly tell what color my fur was because of all the shadows, but now in the openness of the water’s edge under the moonlight I can clearly see. My fur is pure silver, but when I move under the moonlight it becomes opalescent, so many different colors shine across my fur. Like one of those moving hologram photos.

        Oh my gods. I’ve never seen anything like it. How is this possible?

        Looking over to Ash, he’s staring at me in amazement and admiration. As if he sees the question in my eyes, he shakes his head.

        “This is definitely not common. I’ve never seen – or heard of – someone’s fur looking like this.”

        For a few minutes we just stay there, taking it all in. When I look back over to Ash, he’s shifted into his wolf and is now covered in obsidian black fur.

        Trotting up to me, he nuzzles his nose against my neck and licks my cheek. Motioning with his head to the woods, I understand what he’s asking instinctively. Agreeing with a nod, we both start running. It feels amazing, like I’m flying through the trees. My enhanced senses make everything feel more vivid and alive, I feel more alive.

        For what seemed like hours, we ran through the woods and eventually came back to the lake.

        As we lie on the ground, enjoying the night breeze, Ash shifts and is now sitting fully clothed next to me.

        “Are you ready to shift back?” I nod in agreement and he talks me through it.

        “Alright, focus on your human form. Envision you transforming back.”

        Doing what he says, I focus as hard as I can, and for a minute nothing happens.

        “Don’t worry, sometimes it can take a few tries.”

        Eventually after a couple more tries, I shift back and it doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as it did the first time. It still wasn’t pleasant, but I didn’t feel like I was repeatedly being murdered and never dying, so there’s that.

        As soon as I shift back, Ash quickly turns around and I realize I hadn’t shifted back clothed. Thank the Gods Ash is a gentleman and turned around, but I’m still mortified. I don’t have clothes to put on all the way out here, and I don’t know want to walk all the way back completely nude.

        Ash strips his shirt and hands it to me without turning around. Quickly snatching it and throwing it on, relief hits me when I’m no longer bare to the world.

        Turning around, his cheeks are a little pink and he looks sheepish.

        “Sorry, I forgot to warn you that might happen. Sometimes it takes a while to be able to shift with your clothes.”

        “Well I appreciate you turning around, next time I’ll just bring an extra pair of clothes with me until I manage to keep them.”

        Laughing as we walk back home, everything feels right in this moment. As we get inside, Ash gets me a glass of water and then one for himself.

        “Are you hungry?” he asks, looking exhausted. I am a little hungry, but I’ll wait for the morning, it’s only a few hours away.

        “No, I’m alright. I think we should get some sleep, it’s two in the morning, we only have a few hours until we gotta get up.”

        As we get to our rooms, we say our goodnights.

        “Oh, I’ll go get changed and bring your shirt back, gimme a minute.” I say, turning around. Ash catches my arm, stopping me.

        “Don’t worry about it, you can keep it.” He smiles, making me smile with him.

        “Thanks, I’ll take good care of it.”

        Closing my door behind me, I kick myself in the butt.

        ‘Thanks, I’ll take good care of it’ what the hell was that? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever said.

        Rolling my eyes at myself, I crawl into bed in his comfy shirt that reaches my thighs, and snuggle into my pillows, quickly falling into the black abyss of sleep.