●●●●●
Axel
●●●●●
I'm sitting at my desk, staring at a map. Red X's mark the places were packs I've called have informed me that their has been no rogue passing through. All the sudden, I am filled with mixed emotions. Anger, sorrow, and determination. The feelings are so strong but I know they aren't mine. Kris is feeling this.
"Kris, where are you?" I ask the empty room. I tug at my hair and continue to stare at the map, I rub my right calf, the leg that is hurt on Kris. She is in pain, emotional and physical, and I'm not there to help her. What kind of mate am I? I shot her, gave her no reason for her to stay, I hurt my own mate. We aren't supposed to be able to do that, and we aren't supposed to be able to leave one another. Why can't we be like normal mates? The ones who don't ever want to leave the other.
Is this because of the prophecy? Are we meant to be apart? I growl, no. We aren't. Kris is my other half, we are going to be together. No prophecy or Council will keep us apart. She may be the Rogue Hunter but she is my mate, no matter how well she can take care of herself, I'll always be there to protect her. I just need to show her that. Kris has been alone for so many years, she doesn't know how to depend on others. I can show her she can trust me.
If you wish to find what you seek, go East. Something whisper to me. I snap to attention. The tone was hauntingly light. It wasn't Kris. Her voice has a gruffness to it, this one ones like wind chimes. I don't know why but I trust that voice. I run out of the room.
"We are leaving! Get the best trackers! We're going East!" I bark to Jax and Brek.
"You got a clue?" Brek asks me, glancing to Jax. I hurriedly stuff my bag on auto-pilot, filling it with the usual things.
"A gut feeling." I reply, I don't need my pack thinking I'm crazy because I heard a voice telling me were to go. Brek and Jax don't say anything, they instead go to pack their bags. No even five minutes later, I am standing in the pack yard.
"Flank 1, take a car. Flank 2, you're with me!" I yell at them, I see Brek and Jax getting in my group. I make my way over to them and put a hand on their shoulders.
"I need you guess to stay here. Keep an eye on the pack, and try to keep Luca and Joanna out of trouble." Jax opens his mouth to argue but Brek elbows him and gives me a nod.
"Move out!" I shout at everyone, running East. My men struggle to keep up, they stay three paces behind me even when running their hardest. A wolf in search of his mate can go against all laws of physics. Something is urging to me to find Kris, something other than me. I breathe in deeply, trying to get the slightest wisp of her scent.
Consumed she will be, by her traitorous memories. If thy does not find her, she may flee. Incomplete, the prophesy will be. The voice says. What does that mean! I growl low in my throat. I couldn't give a damn about the prophecy right now, it's been a week, I want my mate. I want her to be safe and sound!
●●●
My men tiredly collapse to the ground. Three days of running. We only take three twenty minute breaks then we stop to get a few hours of sleep. I haven't heard the voice since we started running. Kris's emotions have grown stronger over the days. I can't just feel them anymore, their affecting me.
The Chosen one can only be so strong, if thy weakens, thou shall fall. That damn voice! I growl and punch a tree. Why can't she just tell me we're my mate is? If you wish to find her. Go North. Having no other choice, I listen to it. I head North, not bothering to get my men.
After I run for a few minutes. Not expecting to find her. The voice is leading me on a wild goose chase, that's the only explanation I can come up with. Either that or I've lost my mind. I'm only suppose to hear my mates voice and be able to contact my pack, this voice is not either. I see a figure curled against a tree. Kris.... I sprint to her and kneel by her. She looks up at me, her green eyes swimming with emotion. Not a single tear.
"I want it to stop. All of it. I want answers, why can't I get them?" She asks. Kris looks so vulnerable, my breaks for her. I pull her into my arms. I murmur things to her, trying to comfort her.
"They won't stop... I need answers. They deserve answers." Kris mumbles, I nestle my nose into her hair and inhale. Her forest scent comforts me, and I hope my smell is having the same affect.
"It's okay, Kris. It's all okay." I whisper to her. That seems to snap her out of whatever trance she is in. Kris pulls back and looks me in the eyes.
"No it's not. It never is." She informs me. "Nothing is okay, Axel. Nothing ever will be. You weren't there, you don't know." Kris argues. She meekly tries to push her shelf away from me. I frown at how pitiful that was and look at her closely. Dark bags plague her dull green eyes, her lips are cracked to where they are almost bleeding. And Kris's skin seems a shade of unhealthy pale.
"Kris, when was the last time you ate or drank?" I ask, staring in her tired green orbs that are now furrowed in confusion.
"I don't know.... I don't know how long I've been here..." Kris admits, looking around the very small clearing, not seeming to recognize it. I hoist the red head into my arms and stand. Kris squirms in my grip. "No. Let me go. They need me to find the answers."
"You can't even stand on your own, what makes you think I'll let you go, again?" I question as I begin to walk towards my camp. Kris weakly pounds her hands against my chest, I can tell she doesn't want to surrender without a fight but she is to tired to do anything. I allow her to hit me, it doesn't hurt and I think it's makes her feel better about me carrying her. Personally, I'm just pleased to be able to hold her close to my heart. Kris belongs in my arms, and she finally is there.
"Nobody understands.... Without me, they are forgotten. I know who they are, I remember them. You are the ones who forgot them." Kris mutters, when I look down at her I find her eyes focused on the sky, looking through the leaves and branches. Her pounding has stopped and she remains unnaturally still in my arms. I briefly wonder if that stillness has been mastered over years of hiding in trees. Kris shouldn't be so still, the only thing that comforts me in her shallow breathing.
And for the first time, I notice how haunted her eyes are. No long do they light up with fiery spark, the light that made them shine. Now, now they are eyes that have seen too much. Lived through so much. Hauntingly beautiful, that is what they are. They make me want to never look away.
"I don't understand what, Kris? Remember who?" I ask her softly. She locks eyes with me.
"My family." She whispers before her head falls to my chest, her eyes closed and her breathing soft. Kris fell asleep. I take comfort in holding her, her head against my heart. But part of me knows she wouldn't allow herself to be so vulnerable in front of me. Kris was so tired that she passed out in my arms. That is not a comforting thought, at least it was my arms that she is in. Kris is safe, even if she doesn't think so. I won't let anything hurt her, she just has to figure that out.
●●●●●
Kristine
●●●●●
The memories of them, they won't stop. I'm reliving everyday I had with them, knowing I'll have no more. And the memory of them dying.... I can't take this! I want it all to stop! I just need answers.... Then I can be with them again.
Someone crouches down next to me, at this point I don't care if it's a rogue come to kill me. I just don't care anymore. Everyone I have ever loved is dead, why should I be alive? They aren't, I shouldn't be. Why did I deserve to live and not them? I don't. I've been surviving for ten years, killing. I'm not even twenty and I can give a over a hundred examples of how to torture. What would Mom and Dad think? Well, Kristine, their dead. And being the only one capable of getting answers and revenge, I need to kill.
"I want it to stop. All of it. I want answers, why can't I get them?" I ask the figure next to me. They pull me to them, the shocks it's Axel who is holding me. For once, I don't want to fight. I secretly take comfort in someone holding me again, I haven't been held like this is so long.
"They won't stop... I need answers. They deserve answers." I tell him. Axel nestles his nose into my hair, taking a deep breath.
"It's okay, Kris. It's all okay." Axel whispers into my ear. I pull away from him and look into his sky colored eyes. How can he say that?
"No it's not. It never is." I informs him. "Nothing is okay, Axel. Nothing ever will be. You weren't there, you don't know." I attempt to get away from him. I don't want comfort from someone, I don't need to be held. I'm the Rogue Hunter, I'm stronger physically and emotionally compared to all wolves. I have survived eleven years as a rogue, no werewolf has ever lasted that long without going crazy.
"Kris, when was the last time you ate or drank?" Axel asks me. I look at him, puzzled.
"I don't know.... I don't know how long I've been here..." I glance around at the trees. I don't know how I got here.... What if Axel isn't real? Maybe I'm hallucination. Axel picks me up and I struggle to get out of his iron grip. "No. Let me go. They need me to find the answers."
"You can't even stand on your own, what makes you think I'll let you go, again?" Axel asks me as he walks. I pound my fists against his chest as hard as I can. Either Axel has gotten a lot stronger or I have been here a long time. I give up on hitting him and stare up at the leaves that hide the sky. I'm so very tired....
"Nobody understands.... Without me they are forgotten. I know who they are, I remember them. You are the ones who forgot them." I mumble. How can everyone forget an entire pack?
"I don't understand, Kris. Remember who?" Axel inquires of me. I lock eyes with his. I have no intentions of telling him, but my mouth moves on it's own accord.
"My family." I whisper before everything goes dark. Did he drug me again?
Word Count: 1,963
Date Published: 11/3/16
Remember to vote and comment!