Under the Skin

Chapter 13

She went to stand in front of his head so that she was looking at his face, with her hands on either side. A moment passed before she began chanting in a langage Jonah didn't know. 

He tried his best to do like Yvanna said, and focused on her voice. The noises of the animals around them had stopped suddenly as the rustle of the leaves seem to accompany her chant.

Without him noticing, Jonah slowly slipped into the void of unconsciousness.

He was surrounded by countless of stars, all shining brightly. In the distance, he saw what appeared to be the moon, but something was casting a shadow upon it. 

As Jonah came forward, he saw that it was a wolf. It was whimpering while laying on its belly, with its paws resting onto its snout to stifle its cries. Jonah clutched at his chest, as he was suddenly hit by the anguish the wolf felt. That's when he realized that it wasn't a random wolf. It was his wolf. 

Jonah tried to come forward to touch it, to try and comfort it, but an invisible force seemed to stop him. 

"Let me help you, please! Let me in!" 

The wolf sat up to look at him, and it seemed to shake its head. Jonah then heard its thoughts in echo in his mind. 

'No. Hurts too much. Must protect.'

As the wolf relayed his thoughts and feelings, Jonah understood fully what he was trying to say. It didn't want to connect with the human to protect him from the pain of the memories. 

"But you shouldn't have to carry this burden alone! Let me help, please!" The wolf gave him a sad look before it turned around, and Jonah felt himself being pulled backwards. He screamed and reached forward with his hands, until his world turned black. 

Jonah surged up as he gasped for air. He felt someone rub his back as he tried to comeback to his senses. 

"We're in the clearing Jonah. You've just come back from your trance." Yvanna spoke, watching his reactions. Alec and Moira changed back to human form and gathered close, but they stayed silent in order not to overwhelm him. 

They decided it would be best to talk about what he saw over a cup of tea, so the group went back to Yvanna's den. Alec held his hand the whole way to ground him, which the omega was grateful for. 

Jonah felt much better once he took a long sip of the warm concoction, and he set his cup down before looking at the others.

"Can you tell us what you saw?" His fingers clench around the cup as he is reminded of the sadness and sorrow coming from his wolf. 

"I saw my wolf," Everyone slightly perks up, waiting for his next words, "I tried to convince him to  let me in, but from what I understood he doesn't want to because he wants to protect me from the pain of those memories." 

"So it's what we suspected." Moira spoke up, a frown on her face. 

"It's a good start for your first try. I think it's best if you continue to try and talk to him. The fact that he can hear you means that you're able to slowly form a bond with him. You've been apart from your wolf for years, and it will probably take a long time until you can form a full connection with him, but I'm hopeful that you'll succeed." Yvanna smiled at Jonah as she slightly squeezed his arm to show her support. 

However, ever since his first trance, the nightmares Jonah suffered from became more frequent. It seemed like the interaction with his wolf had made a breach in the barrier of his mind, causing him to have vivid visions of himself digging his teeth into other wolves' flesh, or of the hunters beating him with their fists or a baseball bat. 

Since he was not getting enough sleep, spending at least half of the night awake or trying to go back to sleep after a nightmare, his daily activities were also affected.

He found himself sometimes dozing off while working at the meat house. Zoe, who often worked alongside him, knew what was going on with him. Unfortunately, the other workers didn't and they probably assumed that he was lazy and was slacking off. Since his other packmates hadn't really warmed up to him either, he was often reprimanded or glared at during the day, making his mood even sour. 

Alec, who witnessed all of this and tried his best to support his mate, finally had enough of seeing him in so much distress and went to see Yvanna by himself. 

Once he explained everything to her, the old healer appeared saddened by what she just learned. 

"I didn't think this would take such a toll on him, but I should've expected it. Why don't you bring him to me tomorrow? I think meditation would be a good way to control his nightmares, and maybe allow him to form the connection faster." 

The beta agreed, relieved to have found a solution for Jonah. He left the den with a newfound determination after the few nightmarish days they had went through.