Music: "Moonlight Sonata" by Beethoven
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A whisper of voices roused Crystal from sleep. A cold cloth rested on her forehead and after a few seconds, she recognized her mother's voice whispering above her.
"Do you need more to eat? It's okay if you do. I don't know how much lycans need to sustain themselves. You're not a burden on us."
A burden...
That word was rarely used in her mother's lexicon. And yet, it circulated around constantly in Crystal's head since she became a teenager and never shifted.
She wanted to shrink away when their gazes burned into her cheeks.
"I'll bring you another steak," her mother said before the door closed with a click a second later.
She peeked one eye open to see Tiberius at her side and setting his head down on her mattress, watching her.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she wished he would leave her alone for a minute. His constant attentiveness and need to be around her was overbearing.
"Can I just... have a moment to myself?" she mumbled.
His whine struck her heart.
Damn him. It was as if he knew how much that sound would trigger her.
Sighing, she reached up with a weak achy hand to remove the cold compress from her head. Opening her eyes and blinking a few times to bring the world into focus, she squinted at her bedside alarm clock. She must have been out for an hour. Did he sit there the entire time?
"I'm fine," she told him. "I can take care of myself. You don't need to hover so much."
He whimpered lightly and gave her hand a little lick. Other than that, he didn't budge.
She huffed. "Stubborn, aren't you?"
His eyes smiled at her, a crystalline gray color, almost silver.
Her heart fluttered as she looked away.
Silence filled the space until her mother returned with a plate of food for him. She asked if Crystal was hungry even though she knew the answer was no.
With a bit of difficulty, Crystal managed to move her pillow and prop herself up against the white wooden headboard before her mother passed her a glass of water with a straw.
"Can I have a moment alone with my mother?" she asked Tiberius, avoiding eye-contact with him.
Even though he'd probably refuse and most likely hear everything anyway, she wanted some semblance of normalcy and privacy.
He huffed but left with his plate of food.
Ma closed the door behind him before sitting on the edge of her bed. She touched Crystal's cheek with the back of her hand and gave her a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"What's the matter, Cris?"
Not knowing where to start, Crystal shrugged her shoulders and stared down at her glass of water before reaching over to the small end table next to her bed to set it down.
"Everything will be okay," her mother said as Crystal leaned back against the headboard.
"Look at him, Ma," Crystal whispered, twisting the blanket between her fingers. "How will anything be okay?"
"Give him a chance. He's stuck right now and you will have to work together to figure out how to cure him."
Crystal swallowed and looked away.
YOU ARE READING
Heart of a Beast
Werewolf[COMPLETE] "There's no love in coercion." --- Crystal was an omega born of beta blood. A werewolf without a wolf. A burden on the pack and unworthy of love. Tiberius was a rogue on a rampage. A lycan trapped in his beast form. A curse bound to destr...
