Always As You Say (Book One In The Waven Series)

17

I wake up to the sound of screaming.

It's mostly Veronica, blubbering on unintelligibly, but some of it is Anthony. His screams are angry.

No that's not just. His screams are rageful.

They fly from his mouth like daggers, all pointed at my sweet sweet Veronica. Now why would he be angry with her?

Getting up, I can remember. Though that seems like something he should yell at me for. After all I told her to. Locked her in a room with the man who killed and beat those she loved.

One of which she was most definitely sleeping with. Oh well, not anymore.

It's my fault really, so why should she get the brunt of his anger?

"Anthony." My voice is far too hoarse, I can't have been out that long, not if he's still screaming.

At the sound of my voice he stops. He doesn't make a sound, doesn't move. Almost as though he doesn't think he truly heard me.

"Anthony. Where are you."

I can hear him moving from whatever cramped corner of this forsaken house he was in, Veronica whimpering in the background.

Suddenly he's in front of me, hands all over me. Making sure I'm not still injured anywhere.

"I'm gonna kill her. I fucking swear I'm gonna kill her. Don't look at me like that, she deserves it!

Have you looked at yourself, you look terrible, truly truly awful. I mean really, it's sort of disgusting, how long do you think it'll take to heal? Oh god I hope it doesn't take too long.

Ugh man really, she totally fucked up your face. God you haven't looked this bad since-" He cut himself off.

We both knew what he was about to say. I haven't looked this bad since Amara found me.

He would be wrong, though there's no reason he should know that. No reason he should know what I went through afterwards.

"I'm fine Anthony, really I am. I wouldn't say I was if I wasn't." Lie.

I was in so much pain that my vision was still blurred around the edges and everything he said came out sort of slow and wavy. But he didn't need to know that either.

He clenched his teeth and shook his head.

"First, I don't believe you. And second, even if you were it doesn't change what she did!" He was yelling again and I didn't like that, didn't want him to be mad at me.

"And what she did doesn't change what I did either. But hopefully, it can help to even things out.

And besides that, she must have stopped eventually, seeing as how I'm in the main room and not dead." I had to make him understand and calm down.

"No she didn't stop Nik, sunrise came, and she was far too busy beating the life out of you to notice when I opened the door!" He looked away from me, "If you want to stay with her then I can't stop you. But." His voice finally lowered to a reasonable level.

"But do not expect me to stay here.

Don't expect me to watch you get into another toxic relationship. To watch you shrink away until all that's left is that cold, that monstrous thing you just turned into."

I can't breathe. He can't have really just said that? He has to know that this, me and Ronnie, we aren't like that.

We are nothing like that.

"Anthony. Don't-" My words get caught in my throat.

He smiled at me, his eyes as sad as they had looked when he lost his mate, and turned and left.

Don't leave me.

~~~~~~~~~

It took everything in me not to go after him.

But I had to, he was wrong. He had be wrong.

I followed her faint scent to their room, on the little roof spot where he and Amara used to sit in the mornings. And where I would paint them as I did at night, though they didn't know it then.

It felt wrong. Going into their space, especially with Anthony now stormed off and away.

He'd come back, he had to.

I climbed out and onto the roof, and saw her sitting in Anthony's spot. That didn't feel right either.

But I went and sat where Amara would always sit anyways, and waited for her to speak.

"I don't feel any better now Nik, in fact I feel worse."

I let out the breath I had been holding, "Does that mean you don't forgive me?"

"No Nik, I don't." She said.

"Do you think you could someday?" I held my breath once more.

"Yea. Yea I do."

I nodded, letting the silence settle over us.

It was nice, just the two of us. We never really had that before.

"Nik, I'm sorry. I really mean that. I lost control and you, you just stayed there. I knew it must have hurt but, you didn't make a sound. And when you finally did it was like I couldn't stop. Everything was slow.

I won't let it happen again. I won't ever hurt you again."

What were supposed to be words of comfort made me flinch.

Those words, they were exactly what he would have said. Exactly what he had said, over and over and over again.

It shouldn't be this hard to breath.

"Nik?" Concern was written all over her face, and I had to remind myself to breath, just breath. Because she wasn't him and this wasn't that. It wasn't.

"Hey you alright? Nik?" She looked so worried, it was cute.

The Waven never worried.

I could feel my throat opening back up again. I could breath.

"Fine. Don't worry." I said, trying to smile.

She looked skeptical, "Alright, if you say so. I was thinking maybe we should sleep in different rooms for now, what about you?"

"Alright, if that's what you want."

"If you don't mind I'll take this one okay?"

Yes I do mind, this isn't for you it's for them. For Anthony and Amara, not you.

"Not at all."