Their Girl: The Hunt

Chapter Twenty-Six

Alec's (POV)

I didn't particularly enjoy shouting at Alissandra like that but I had no other choice as she was seconds away from going into full meltdown mode and even looking at her now I wasn't sure if it was still going to happen.

It had been a while since she'd had this type of reaction to anything, the odd panic attack here and there was more usual for her now but this was an adverse reaction. The type I'd hoped was long behind her by now, but clearly I was wrong.

"I-I'm s-sorry" she stutters and darts off into the Villa.

We all give each other a bewildered look it's been a few weeks since she's had that type of reaction to anything and the whole time we'd been here it was like having her old self back. I guess none of us were expecting this at all.

I decide to head straight up to her room to check if she's okay, usually I can manage to get through to her the easiest. But when I find her it's clear this isn't going to be straightforward in the slightest.

She's pacing back and forth from her closest to the bed muttering to herself. Picking up items of clothing, putting them back down, picking up others and shoving them into a suit case. It's not even her case but she's in that kind of dazed state where she really has no idea what she's doing. Somehow her whole room has been torn apart in the very limited time that she's been up here.

She's completely dissociated and if i don't approach her carefully she will completely freak. Alissandra has two modes when she's like this. Either she's like a deer in headlights like Bambi or she lashes out in an attempt to keep herself safe which is usually the case. She won't even realise she's doing it until after and then the guilt hits her which is a completely different challenge.

When she initially got back Luca was the only one that could get through to her when she was like this but recently we had a pretty good hold on it. It wouldn't take much to focus her and get her to calm down but it definitely wasn't easy.

Taking in a deep breath I finally step into her room bracing myself for what's coming next. I call out her name at least three times but she doesn't seem to be aware of my presence.

Approaching her carefully whilst she's folding and unfolding clothes I gently place my hands over hers and to my surprise she doesn't lash out she just freezes in place. I can feel how much she's trembling but this isn't from fear like it usually is this is something else completely. She looks at our hands and then to me, the instant her eyes meet mine they start to glisten and then she breaks sobbing uncontrollably. This isn't what usually happens, nothing about this is normal.

Without even a beat of hesitation I pull her into my arm and hold her there tight against me whilst her whole body continues to tremble in my arms. "Tell me what's going on princess" I say gently as I bring one of my hands up to stroke her hair whilst the other strokes her back soothingly.

"I just" she says but then shakes her head seemingly trying to find the words to say. "I can feel it I can feel that you're going to" she rips herself away from me and starts pacing again "oh god it's my fault look at me how could I be so stupid to think" I'm trying to keep up with the rate that she's talking but none of it is making any sense. It's just a jumbled mess of words, I don't even think she really understands what she's saying.

As she continues to pace I try to step in her way in an attempt to halt her. "Hey just take a breath and talk to me you're not making any sense" I say hoping she'll listen but it doesn't work at all.

After about twenty minutes of continuous incoherent babbling I realise it's no use, at this rate she's going to burn a hole in the carpet and it's pretty obvious that I'm clearly not getting anywhere. Sometimes it's easy to forget what's she's been through. Especially when she's been like she has recently I forget that in so many ways she's still not okay, hasn't fully recovered from it all and I don't think she ever will.