King of My Heart

FORTY-EIGHT

Blurry outlines of the trees pass me by as my legs keep moving as fast and as far as they can take me. I run and run until the knocked out breath from my lungs and the soreness of my legs relieves my mind of any thought. When I finally stop, it is at the end of a small lake. My knees give way and I fall onto the grass, every single event from the past two days coming out of me in sobs.

Panic begins to rise in my chest and I tuck my head between my knees to find some semblance of calm. I don't know how long I sit there. Looking around, I realise I don't even know where I am. The harsh light of the sun is long gone and only a few calming rays are left behind as it sets behind the rush of trees.

The sound of a twig breaking brings me out of my trance. I turn my head towards it, my heartbeat accelerating at the thought of being alone and in danger. My eyes search for the cause of the sound when suddenly Tyler emerges from the woods. He sighs in relief when he sees me.

My body relaxes and I turn back to face the lake. Tyler quietly makes his way over and settles down next to me.

"Everyone's been looking for you," he muses, calmly, without turning to look at me.

"Well, I guess you found me," I shrug.

"What are you doing, April?" He finally turns to face me.

"I didn't want to hurt anyone again."

"You didn't hurt anyone. And everyone is very concerned about you. You can't run out into the woods, especially when there is a bloodthirsty Alpha out there looking for you."

"You were all so afraid of me. Even Liam. I could see."

"We were just shocked, that's all. This power that you have, whatever it might be, I'm sure we can all figure it out. There's no need to hide out here."

"I wasn't hiding," I mumble. "I just... got lost." A soft chuckle breaks through the sniffling. Tyler begins to laugh.

"Come on. Let's get you back," he announces, standing up. "There's an entire search party out looking for you."

"There was no need for that." I stand up with him.

"Doubt your mate would agree to that," he rolled his eyes. "It's been hours since you ran off, April."

Tyler and I walk back in silence for a long while. I didn't realise how far I had gotten when I was running. My thoughts were full of Liam and how he had stepped away from me. Why hadn't he come look for me himself? Fighting tears the whole way back, I was just glad Tyler didn't say much. When we finally return, the house is quiet. There is no sign of anyone around. Not even Liam.

Tyler lets me go up to my room as he excuses himself to go deal with something else. The exhaustion of the entire day finally starts to kick in as I make my way up to my bed. After waiting and waiting for Liam to return, the sleep finally overcomes my struggle to keep my eyes open and I find myself drifting off to a restless slumber.

~~~

Liam is nowhere to be found the next morning. The bed looks slept in but I can't tell if it is because he was here or because I had been moving around all night. I make my way downstairs after getting dressed and the house is still empty. There is some breakfast placed on the kitchen counter but Betty is nowhere in sight. I eat in quiet contemplation. It occurs to me that everyone is keeping their distance from me because they might be afraid and the thought churns my stomach making me pull away from the food.

A knock on the door distracts me from the tears almost pooling in my eyes. Of all the people I expected to see, it's Rayna at the door.

"Hi," she chirps and welcomes herself in.