BOREALIS ☽ Leah Clearwater ✔

Chapter 24... Pack

When I awoke hours later, it was dark. There was a cool breeze blowing gently through my room. And, as I had guessed, the rain had started. It was light, soft, dripping from the eaves outside my window. I breathed a sigh of relief as the cool breeze met my still-hot skin.

The heat that had burned inside me had receded somewhat. It no longer skimmed the surface of my skin but instead felt like it had settled somewhere deep inside me. I sat up, picking up the bottle of water my mom had left at my bedside. I cracked it open and gulped it back. The cool of the water spread through me, but it didn't reach the heat at the core of me.

My hand went to my stomach, resting just below my belly button. It felt like I could feel the heat there, through my skin, hotter than the rest of me. My head still felt woozy. While I had slept, I had dreamed, and the dream lingered in my mind.

In my dream, I had been standing in the woods near Second Beach. The light was streaming through the canopy above, casting bright spots on the forest floor. As I looked around, I noticed that Josh was there, too, standing a few yards away. I smiled; I was so happy to see him. He seemed happy to see me, too. He smiled back and beckoned me closer. He called out to me, speaking those few words that had been haunting me for days: Leah, what do you want?

You, I wanted to answer, but I couldn't get my mouth to work. It didn't matter. He was right there. I could show him instead of telling him. Something stirred inside of me, like an awakening monster. It wanted him, too.

But as I began to approach him, Sam appeared. He stepped between us, levelling a hard glare at me and stopping my advance. I stopped short, glaring back. I tried to sidestep him, but each time he moved, too, blocking my way. I tried to lean around him, catch Josh's eye, tell him to tell Sam to bugger off, but Josh was no longer looking at me. He was looking at the other pack members as they appeared out of the trees and surrounded him.

No! They were loyal to Sam. Josh was in danger.

Wasn't he?

But the pack members didn't seem ready to attack him. Instead, they crowded around him, patting his back, mussing his hair, playful and... welcoming. One of them—Paul—looped his arm around Josh's neck and turned him around, away from me, and began to lead him out of the woods, towards the beach.

Wait! I wanted to call. I tried to go after them, but Sam still blocked my way. I tried to shove him out of my path, but he dodged my hands. Every time I tried to get around him, he'd mirror my movements and stop me.

Soon enough, Josh and the rest of the pack had disappeared, gone from the forest. Then, and only then, did Sam stop trying to get in my way. He stepped back from me, gave me one last warning look, and followed after his packmates. The warning was clear. Don't follow us.

And I was left in the forest. Alone. I could've followed anyway, but I knew better. I knew I wasn't welcome. Not like Josh. They had welcomed Josh as they had never welcomed me.

I was alone.

Again.

The searing pain that followed had been the thing that had jolted me from sleep. Now, sitting on my bed, the dream fading from my memory, I understood all too well what it had all meant.

It also meant I finally knew the answer to Josh's question.

Despite my woozy head, I wanted to find him and tell him now, before the fever wiped it from my memory. I whipped off the sheets and swung my legs over the side of the bed. I tried to stand, but my weak legs gave out and I flopped back into bed.

"Leah, what do you think you're doing?"

I looked over at the door. Mom was there, carrying another water bottle.