Once Upon an Alien

Eleven- Lost and Found

"I... I do not know..." he says softly. I could tell he is genuinely upset, and even regretful. Zeek's normal annoying self is calm and quiet when he has done something wrong and genuinely sorry for doing whatever act he has done. I sigh, and put my hands over my face. Suddenly a thought hits me.

"Where is she?" I say frantically. "Where's Morgan?" I begin to look at my brothers, new overwhelming emotions filling me; fear and worry.

"You ripped me off my feet and probably did the same to her," Zeek says, looking mildly irritated that I possibly hurt Morgan. My heart sinks at the agonizing thoughts that begin to swarm my mind. What if I did hurt her?

"We have to look for her! She could be hurt! Go now!" I roar, Zeek and Zor splitting up. Zeek's wings rip from his skin and he flies up to the top of the rocks. Zor begins smelling the air, closing his eyes to heighten his senses.

"She is not here!" Zeek yells down before flying down and standing beside me.

"I can smell blood, but it is faint, like it's being masked by something or perhaps a ways away," Zor says and I nod at him.

"Maybe she ran away when the fight began, or possibly made it back to camp," Zeek states.

We all begin to run, searching for the blood source. My heart and chest are tight as anxiety fills me. I have only known this little human for a few days and I am already wanting to protect her and save her. She is so precious, I need to find her. I need her to be safe and in my arms.

We ran around the forest, desperately trying to catch her scent or the location of where the blood was coming from. My brothers ran into the forest while I made my way back to camp.

My heart sank as I arrived and she was not there. I grabbed her blanket and lifted it to my nose. I inhaled and her sweet scent of milk and sugary honey filled my nose. I had to find this little human, my connection, my mate. She was mine and I would find her no matter what it took.

As the hours passed, we had still not found my little human mate. Where could she be? Where could she have possibly gone? My chest began to ache at the separation from her and anxiety held onto me like the sticky honey Morgan smelled like.

I found myself returning to the rocks where I saw her and Zeek so close together. I flew to the top of the rocks before crouching to see if there was any physical evidence of where she went. Even a single footprint could lead us to her, and I had to find her.

I stopped and let my senses and my natural connection to her take over. I closed my eyes and listened and smelled the cool air. Suddenly, a sound made my heart skip; a small, light whimper. It was faint and soft, but close. I followed where I heard the noise and I was led to a crack between two large rocks.

I squeezed between them and my heart stopped. There on the cold, wet ground of the rock floor was Morgan. She was shivering, and tears were evident on her face. Blood stained her clothes in several spots. Her hair was wet with blood and messy. Seeing her so fragile and broken caused an ache inside me.

I knew based on her wounds she had fallen and it was my fault. She was in pain and got hurt because of me, because I could not control myself and my primal instincts. I crouched down, scooping her up in my arms. This is when I noticed she was not conscious.

I had to hold her flat to me and slip us out of the crack in the rocks. I took off running to camp. As I was running, I roared as loud as I could, signaling to my brothers that I had found her. My poor beautiful human was so weak and sad looking.

I made it back to camp, holding her in my arms as I sat down. I cradled her like she was a baby. She seemed so small in my arms, even though she was 'curvy' or 'thick' as the humans say. My brothers arrived to camp not long after I had, both wearing faces with mixtures of relief and concern.

"What happened to her?" Zeek said frantically, kneeling down next to me on the side her head was.

"I did it. I must have knocked her down the rocks when I attacked you. It's my fault." I said quietly, looking downward.

Zeek looks down at her, his eyes flickering with blue. He does care about her, and at that moment I realized why he had done what he did. This was probably one of the only times in his entire life he had felt something for a woman other than family members. The connection he felt was most likely due to the one I shared with Morgan, as his own instincts would be to protect her and make her happy.

Zeek and Zor worked together to heal her wounds. It took both of them to remove them all because she was so banged up. I can't even imagine what sort of pain she was in and all I could hope was that my siblings could heal her. .

I kept holding her through the night. Eventually it was the time when the sun would be up within an hour or two. She looked so peaceful sleeping in my arms, the pain and discomfort no longer on her features.

I could not help but peek into her dreams as that was one special talent some Dyspherians could do. To my distress, they were not dreams right now. No, they were nightmares; nightmares about my brothers and myself.