The Haven (Book 2 of The Claiming)

Chapter Two

I wake in the early afternoon with Alec still with me. I look up at him to see if he's asleep or not, and he isn't. He's staring vacantly over my head at the empty fireplace, thinking.

"How long was I out?" I ask.

My sudden voice makes him flinch. Then he looks down at me with a smile. "About two hours."

"Were you awake the whole time?"

"Yep. I wasn't really tired, but I'm glad you got some rest. How are you feeling?"

I pause and focus on my stomach, searching for any pain whatsoever. It's a little weak, but that's all. "Better," I say. "Not one hundred percent, but better."

Alec kisses my nose. "That's good. I don't want you to push yourself at all today. I'm going to go outside to the field and make sure everything looks okay, and then check on the animals in the barn. Will you be okay in here by yourself?"

I roll my eyes. "I'm not five, Alec! And besides, I've got Gus."

We both shift our gaze to the lazy dog who is now lounging on the other side of the couch on his back, all four legs sticking up in the air. He seems to be chasing something in his sleep as his right front paw bats at the air.

"Right... I'll be back soon, though." Alec crawls over me and stands. I burrow myself further into the back of the couch. "Are you hungry? Do you need anything at all before I go?"

I shake my head. I am hungry, of course, but I can get it myself if I need to.

"All right." Alec bends down and kisses me on the lips. "I love you."

"I love you, too," I say, softer.

I watch Alec put his boots and his rain jacket back on. He leaves the house, and then everything is quiet except for the faint sound of rain pattering against the walls and roof, and Alec's footsteps fading as he heads to the fields.

This is basically our lives, every single day—minus me puking for no reason. We wake up, we eat breakfast, we tend the fields, we eat lunch, we sit and try to entertain ourselves with reading, board games, or cleaning up Gus when he gets into something, and then we eat dinner. Before bed, we always make a fire in the fireplace and end up talking about everything, but at the same time nothing. What we miss about living in Bayfell, what we don't miss, what our lives might be like if we had stayed and the prince had never tried to take me away. Sometimes the conversation becomes too painful when I start to remember the events of the day we left Bayfell, and Alec has to carry me to bed nearly in tears. Those are the nights I am weak.

The monotony of every day seems to get worse and worse, and the more I think about it, the more I wonder why we still continue living. Why should we? We have nothing to live for except each other. But is that enough?

I shake my head, hoping the physical action will somehow cleanse my mind.

It doesn't.

I'm not going to lie. A few months after finding this place and getting into a daily schedule started to drive me crazy. I was on edge, I was sad, and I was suicidal.

"Belle, what are you doing?" Alec shouted from the doorway of the bathroom.

Tears streamed down my face into the sink, mixing with the blood from my wrist. I held the knife, clutching it harder and harder as a million thoughts ran through my head—Why are you doing this, Belle? Don't you know this will hurt Alec, too? But what else can you do? Everyone else you love seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet, and you are going to be stuck living here at this farm for the rest of your life, just fighting to stay alive. But for what purpose?