A Young Mate

Reunion

"Jessica?!" I run over and jump into her arms. Looking behind her, I see two more familiar figures.

"Priscilla! Umar!" I shout, running to them as well.

I cry happy tears as we join in a group hug. I missed them so much!

"Miranda, blame Priscilla for missing your ceremony," Jessica says. I laugh at her antics that I've missed. Knowing that I'll have to bring this up sooner than later, I decide to do it sooner.
"Did you find her?" I ask quietly. 

Priscilla slaps Jessica on the back of her head.

"You just had to open your big mouth!" She yells. They argue about it until I scream.
"Stop! It doesn't matter who told who! You should have told me sooner! Now, who were you looking for, and did you find her?"

They look at each other before Priscilla guides me towards the couch.

"Remember when I told you mom was cursed?" I nod. She takes a deep breath.

"Well, we weren't totally truthful. The thing is--" Priscilla got interrupted by a knock on the door. I grunt in annoyance as I drag my feet to the front entrance. 

The first thing I noticed were the three mysterious men that grabbed me and injected me with something. The second thing I noticed was Jessica's bloodcurdling scream and cries. The last thing I noticed was Priscilla shifting into an auburn wolf. The thing is though; I thought she was human.

***********

A strange smell and a sore neck as I slowly wake in a bed that wasn't mine. I get out of the bed slowly, almost like one wrong move could get me killed.

Jade? I try to mindlink her. Nothing. Ethan didn't reply either, which makes me realize they probably injected me with silver. 

I make my way to the window and immediately notice the metal bars laced with silver. Well, that's one option out. I inspect the room and see that there are two doors, other than the exit, most likely a closet and a bathroom. The colours are simple, white with touches of purple here and there. 

I hear footsteps from around 35 ft away, even though my senses aren't supposed to be heightened if Jade's not conscious. Choosing to think about this later, I stand behind the door, waiting for the person to come in. A middle-aged woman with a tray opens the door, takes one step and says,

"I think it's best for the both of us you come out from behind the door and eat."

I calmly come out and look at the tray she's carrying. It's filled with 2 sandwiches, a cup of water and another cup of juice. She guides me back to the bed, setting the tray on my lap.

"Where am I?" I ask, after taking a bite out of one sandwich. 

"I can't tell you." She says, her eyes portraying signs of empathy and guilt.

"Fine, who are you?" 

"My name is Flora. And no, I can't tell you who took you either," she replies, answering both the question I said out loud and the one that was unspoken. 

"Why are you doing this?" I ask quietly. With the confused expression on her face, I continue,

"Why put me in a comfortable room, which has my favourite colours, feed my fresh food, that tastes fantastic by the way, if you're just going to torture me in the end?" Her eyes pool with unshed tears, but she forces them back like she fears showing any sympathy. 

"Frankly, I don't think the person who took you wants to harm you. That doesn't mean his methods were good, nor does it mean he had a right to kidnap you, but I think somewhere deep inside his heart, he only wants what's best for you."

Her mini speech doesn't ease my anxiety or tenseness, but it makes me feel a little less scared. She walks out the door, leaving me to think about what she said. 

Two Days Later

The next couple of days stayed the same. At exactly 11 am, 3 pm and 7 pm, Flora would come into the room with a tray of food. When she came, I would either be reading a book from the mini-bookshelf, in the washroom or sleeping to regain my strength. Since I was injected with silver, and temporarily lost Jade, I've been pretty weak, and it's worst because I'm still young. She would also tell me different stories about her friends and family. She doesn't have a mate, but she's in no rush to find him.

Different footsteps come close to the door, and I still haven't found out why my senses are heightened. I decide to pretend to sleep, but that fails because handcuffs slightly laced with silver lock around my wrist and ankles, which jerked me up. The man that cuffed me has a syringe filled with a metallic substance. He's going to inject me with another dose of silver. I close my eyes, waiting for the needle to go through my skin, but it never does. 

I open my eyes and find the man still in front of me, but his eyes were glossed over, meaning he's mindlinking someone. The man suddenly snapped out of his daze and eyed me up and down before heading out the door.

Mira?

Jade! You're back!

And you're handcuffed to a bed!

Yeah...

Well, I'm sure Flora will be here soon!

How do you know who Flora is?

When a wolf's unconscious or unresponsive, we can still see and feel what's happening, but we can't do anything about it.

So, it's kind of like you're a ghost?

Exactly.

So who do you think took us?

Not sure, but on the bright side, we aren't in a concrete cell! I inwardly roll my eyes and smile. 

Jade came earlier than she should've after a dose of silver. How is that possible?

Jade?

Yeah?

Do you have any idea why my senses were heightened? Or why you took a short while to recover? 

Not really. I sigh. So many questions, so few answers. 

Suddenly, I felt very hot, with some abdominal pain. This is the worst timing! I'm in heat!

Heat is a process the Moon Goddess created to speed up mating. It can last up to 3 days, but it's usually two days long. When you're in your heat, your scent changes. It becomes irresistible, both to your mate and unmated male wolves. 

You have abdominal pain, like cramps, but ten times worse, and your wolf automatically tries to convince you to complete the mating process. The good thing about heat is that cold water helps with the increased temperature and being near your mate helps with the abdominal pain, but unfortunately for me, Ethan's not here. 

I squirm, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. All the shifting makes my wrist and ankles burn from the silver. Jade thankfully blocked me, knowing I would feel her pain from the heat as well. 

"Miranda, sorry I'm late, I accidentally burnt the first batch of bac--" Flora drops the tray when she sees my state, making me flinch from the noise of broken glass. She runs out the door and returns with two buckets of ice water and a cloth. She dips the cloth into the water, not even wringing the excess water before plopping it on my head. It helps cool me down but dries up within 2 minutes. I hear her curses about the cuffs and my kidnapping. It's nice to know that she doesn't like it at all. 

I struggle to keep my eyes open, but I catch Flora yelling at the man that cuffed me before I blackout.