The Crow and The Wolf

Chapter 16

16.

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Valeria couldn't accept it, but she could understand it.

She had asked for Dr. Magyar to take another sample and test it again. She had deemed the machines to be wrong, but when they came back again, proving her wrong, they proved her heart wrong.

She just couldn't believe it.

"How is this possible? I don't have a mate. I have never been intimate with any wolf....how is this possible?"

Tears ran down her face, and she looked up at the doctor for some sort of answer, but he couldn't give her anything.

The doctor left the two in the room, telling them that he would be back to check more on her vitals, but she knew that circumstances like this were to be taken to the council, and she dreaded what followed after that.

She was discharged in the morning, but still, she had not slept a wink as her head raced with a possible explanation. She came up with nothing, and all she felt like doing was crying, which is exactly what she ended up doing.

She had cried herself to sleep.

She had just finished getting ready when Luc came in, and all she wanted to do was cry some more, but she kept telling herself that it wasn't the time and that she shouldn't even try.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked her, and she gave him a small nod. He took her bag, and she gripped her coat as she followed behind him.

The smell of bleach stung her senses, and she wanted to escape the clinic. She was glad she was leaving. She didn't want to stay in the place where her life had changed forever.

Dr. Magyar had reminded her that she would need to return for checkups, the next one being in two weeks. She remembered giving him a nod but not meeting his eyes because she just couldn't. She felt all sorts of ashamed, and she just couldn't bear to meet anyone's eyes.

She could feel their eyes on her as she walked through the halls, and she knew they knew it by the way they threw their disgust at her. She could feel their glares on the scrape of her neck. She just wanted to walk faster and leave the building.

Valeria's wolf was nowhere to be found; she could not feel her wolf, but she knew she was there.

And with every second that passed, Valeria wanted to escape to her Etome, away from this world, and as they finally made it out into the open space and into Luc's car. She started piecing everything together, but one thing stood out.

Her wolf knew.

She closed her eyes and dreamed of her wolf's cave, of her wolf's solitude, of the pack's mental escape.

She opened them and stood at the mouth of the cave. Thunder echoed above her, and she could feel the strong wind pushing against her, but she didn't care for it, only for being hidden in the dark cave.

She took a step towards the cave, and before she knew it, she was marching into it, until she saw her wolf laying on the floor, seeming to be waiting for her. Thunder cracked outside of the cave and lightning flashed, giving the cave little light before disappearing.

"You knew... you knew all along, didn't you?" she glared at her wolf.

Her wolf was on all fours, her head slightly cocked, as she stared at the beast, "Didn't you!?"

"How could I have been so stupid; of course, you knew," she sobbed as she paced the cave floors, "why didn't you tell me? Why? Why?" she cried.

She stared at her wolf, wanting answers. She envied her wolf's calm and cool demeanour because she was anything but calm. Valeria was clumsy and sloppy, and she often let her emotions cloud her judgement, while her wolf was cunning; she thought everything through, and she was the complete opposite of her human half.

"You thought I couldn't handle it... I couldn't handle it," Valeria sighed, her wolf's head sunk lower as if agreeing with her. Her shoulders sagged as she sat beside her wolf.

Her wolf laid down on her paws, and Valeria curled up next to her half, saying, "They're going to shun us. We have sinned, Crow, and I have sinned," her wolf whined, and she curled deeper into her wolf's fur.

They watched the storm outside for some time, and she sighed, "Do you know who our mate is?"

She asked her wolf, running her fingers through its coat.

The wolf whined, and she sighed again. The cave is silent except for the thunder raging outside and the sound of rain hitting the floor outside the cave. She closed her eyes and exited the Etome.

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She opens her eyes and gazes out the window as he drives her home. She raises her knees to her chest and switches on the radio, swiping through the stations until she hears the song Nonchalant by 6LACK.

Watch your mouth when you let shit slide.

Don't you know I've got way too much pride?

I sneak in on the other side and turn your fucking wave into a tide.

"I'm so fucking tired," he sings along, "somehow I still find the time to care a little more about my rhymes, to care a little about my peers, to think a lil' less about my fears, to care a lil' more about my ears. I give a piece of me to everybody I meet, not because they want it, it's because it's probably a need."

He stops singing, and she can't help but stare at him as the melody fades away in the background. His fists were tightened over the steering wheel, and she hesitated, wondering why she felt compelled to do it.

Perhaps it was because, at the time, she needed physical touch of any kind to comfort her tormented mind, and perhaps he did as well. So she put out her hands for his, tugging one away from the wheel and holding it in hers on her lap.

She feels his palm tensing over hers, his eyes probing her body, and she shuffles uneasily in her seat, counting the trees that pass by while managing her breathing.

She held onto his hand, hoping he would not let go, and she rested her head on the window and watched as the trees passed by, hoping he didn't let go.

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