Freed Wolf

61 Royally Screwed

"Jess, what is it?!" Sasha asks as her eyes lock on mine. 

I sit there, frozen in my chair as I struggle to make sense of what I'm feeling. The waves of anger, outrage and bitterness have finally relented and the phantom wound across my chest no longer hurts. I have no question that what I felt came from Chris.

But why? What happened? Is he okay? If it stopped does that mean...

'No!' Ember chimes in, determined. 'If our mate was lost, we'd feel it. He must have been healed.'

Her logic is sound and I have nothing to dispute it with, so I just trust that she knows best.

Lord knows I can't lose him now...

"I felt something..." I mumble struggling to put it to words. "I think something happened with Chris, but it passed."

"How bad are we talking?" The worry is clear in her dark eyes.

"Bad enough," I whisper. "But I think he got help, it faded smoothly..."

Sasha nods and gives my hand a squeeze before taking a seat again. With my nerves settled and my belly once again full, I feel my eyelids getting heavy and have to stifle a yawn.

"Why don't you take a nap? I'll get rid of the evidence and come back to grab you for dinner," she suggests with a soft smile.

"All I've done is eat and sleep today," I scoff.

"Jess, look at what you've been through. Your body is probably screaming to spend a week in bed," Sasha says with a small laugh. 

She's not wrong. I thought I knew what the term bone weary meant, NOW I know what it means; everything aches and feels heavy. Memories of Chris feeding me while we lazed in the cave flash through my mind. 

How I long for that but in a soft, plush bed.

"Maybe you're right," I agree, feeling my cheeks warm. 

"Maybe," she scoffs, rolling her eyes dramatically. "When you gonna learn? I'm always right!" She breaks out into a silly grin, then gives me one last hug before heading out. I lock up, head back to bed and am out in no time.

My sleep is deep and dreamless but I'm woken by a sort of bond shockwave. I have no idea what happened, it didn't feel bad, though Ember is restless.

'I want to run,' she whimpers.

Guilt washes over me as I realize she's been trapped for weeks since we shifted successfully. She hasn't had the life and freedom she deserves and a lot of that is my fault.

'Not your fault, I just miss our pack,' she whispers as she slinks back to the recesses of my mind.

‘I promise to let you run till you're tired of it when we get out of here,’ I pledge. She says nothing but I feel her sadness as she settles in.

Looking at the clock, I see that it won't be long till Sasha comes to grab me for dinner, so I grab a quick shower and get ready. Just as I finish braiding my hair, her light knocking sounds on the door. With a final look in the mirror, I turn and head out.

All that sleep and food has done me well. My skin tone looks better than it has since I got here and the bags under my eyes are slightly smaller. Even my eyes look brighter; they've always been a honey brown colour but they almost look to have a golden halo to them now.

My high spirits are dashed as I'm met by Sasha's worried brown eyes. She says nothing but takes my hand and sets off towards the dining hall. The nervous energy rolling off of her does nothing but feed my own.