SAFE

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

CCold, fear, loss. Where are you, Doe?

Mate, gone, left me, left us.

Heart breaking, lonely, rejected.

Come back, Mate, I need you...

***********************************************

My chest constricts, emotions, his emotions are flooding me, the pain intense, overwhelming, making my heart heavy with guilt. Feeling my mind move into a more conscious state, my body rouses, and I awake to the subtle smell of vanilla and ivy as it tickles my nose.

I clutch my chest, tears filling my eyes, which are still heavy from sleep. I slowly open them to see Erin sitting beside me, her face filled with concern.

Erin!

I cry, tears falling freely down my cheeks. I push my body up into a sitting position and fling myself into Erin's awaiting arms, sobbing into her chest as my emotions intensify. Like a kaleidoscope of colors, they move from relief to grief, elation to devastation, my feelings wholly tangled with another's, Griffin's. Griffin, he must be awake.

"It hurts, Erin, oh God, it hurts so bad. Make it stop, please," I beg, the sensation of loss, of rejection, of absolute devastation threatening to swallow me whole.

"Ava?" Erin pleads, stroking my hair, "Tell me, babe, what's wrong, what's going on, where does it hurt?"

Heart pounding in my chest, I struggle to regulate my breathing. I push myself out of Erin's embrace, moving back as I begin to hyperventilate.

I can't seem to get enough air in my lungs. The feeling of being ripped apart and the shredding of my soul is all-consuming, "It hurts, Erin," I gasp, clutching my hand over my heart, "so bad, I need, I need to go back to him."

"Liam!" I hear Erin shout as she shifts out of my periphery and moves to my side, running her hands up and down my arms which are wrapped around my knees as I begin rocking back and forth, struggling and failing to stop the pain.

I hear footsteps coming behind me, Erin's warmth shifting and being replaced with another, more prominent and masculine. Grass and wood are taking her place, surrounding me.

"Ava, love, breathe, just breathe," Liam's solid voice comes through, his arms wrapping around my body, drawing me into his warm chest, my face buried in his neck.

"I can't. He needs me." I sob. The pain is too intense, "It hurts Liam, hurts too much."

"Shut him out, Ava, you need to block his access," he instructs, laying a gentle kiss on my head, "reach into that part of your mind, visualize the connection and block it, close it behind a door, love."

"What?" How does he know it's a connection? What's going on?

"Trust me, lass, it's the only way to do it, you won't stop the connection completely, but you can at least shield yourself from the full force of it."

"How?" I pant, squeezing my eyes shut in an attempt to block out the pain, Griffin's broken voice coming through, <Come back, Doe, I need you, can't control myself when you're gone.>

"Ava," Liam continues, my attention turning back to his brogue soothing but firm, "find the part in your mind that's him, you'll see it, it will be bright, a thread of sort. When you see it, grab hold of it, then think of a room, a secure cage, and put that part of you inside, closing the door behind you."

<Doe, please, I can't do this anymore, can't be without you.> Griffin's broken voice continues to push.

<I'm sorry,> I think back through whatever this mind thing is. <I can't do this right now.>

Head pounding, I follow Liam's instructions and look deep inside myself. I can feel it, or at least what I think is the tread, and when I focus on it, I can almost see him in there, a small glowing part, red with hurt, brimming with pain. In my mind, I focus on that part, that part of him, My Wolf, my home, moving and being relocated into a room, just like Liam said. I can feel Griffin screaming in my head, pleading with me to come home. Knowing that I need time, I turn from the room and close the door, the pain reducing, but still there, a tiny thread but tolerable.

I'm breathing heavily, my already broken heart, shattering at what I have done to him. I bury my face deeper into Liam's solid chest as he rocks me, Erin coming to sit behind me, embracing my back. Family.

Listening to Liam's solid heartbeat, the steady rhythm calming, I sit up, Erin moving with me, and look up at Liam, his dark eyes swarming with emotion. "How?" And then, facing Erin, I say the same thing.

Removing himself from the bed, dressed in a simple white tee and jeans, Liam leans down, placing a gentle kiss on my forehead, and turns to Erin, "I'll leave you two ladies to talk," then facing back at me, he smiles, dimples showing. "Love, come find me when you're ready to talk. I'll be just outside."

"I don't understand. How did you...?"

Running a calloused hand down my face, his eyes soft and wrinkling at the edges. "What you need love, right now, is to rest. Erin will be with you and when you're feeling better, I will be waiting." Releasing my face, he turns to leave, his eyes lingering on Erin for a moment longer than necessary before he walks through the door, closing it firmly behind him.

Not missing that look, my head surprisingly clear now that the walls are up and curiosity blooming, I face my friend and raise an eyebrow, "Spill!"

Her almond eyes on me, face gentle, she uses her long fingers to wipe away my stray tears before speaking. "Spill what?"

"Don't you 'spill what' me, Erin Mitchell, I saw that look!"

"Oh, that," she sighs, waving her hand, red fingernails flashing, and whispers conspiratorially, "I think I may have scared him." Biting her bottom lip, a sheepish look crosses her features as she shrugs. "I may have persuaded him a little bit to help me look for you."

Eyebrows still raised; I stay like that until she continues.

Rolling her eyes, she lets out a dramatic breath. "Okay, so I may or may not have threatened to find him in his sleep and cut off his balls if he didn't help me find you."

I stifle a giggle. Typical Erin, shoot first, ask questions later. "How did you even get in contact with him?" I query, noticing the pain from before is now only a slight flicker in the back of my skull.

"Well, I did say to you that I was going to come around the next day when I dropped you off after your session with Angela," Erin replies, reaching over and playing with one of my curls. "Anyway, so when I arrived, and you didn't answer, I used my keys to let myself in..." Her body shuddered as she released my hair, moving to pull her long raven hair into a high ponytail before continuing, her voice strained. "Ava, there was glass everywhere, vomit on the floor. I panicked, I couldn't find you, then your phone started ringing, and Liam's name was flashing on the screen, so I answered it. He came over straight away; apparently, he was 'in the area'." Emphasizing, in the area and using her fingers to air quote.

"Okay, so he arrived, swore, and then turned to leave, without even talking to me. I knew immediately he had an idea as to what happened but wasn't willing to share. So, I threatened him with all the power of the Mitchells until he relented and brought me here, where I have waited for the last two days in the middle of bum fuck nowhere, with no answers to what had happened to you until Seamus, the red-haired lumberjack brought you in."

"I mean," she continues, lowering her voice again, "he didn't even call the cops. All he did was hold fucking men's only meetings with the other cocks of this fucking cult, I mean seriously!" Crossing her arms and huffing.

"Cult?" I cut in, biting my bottom lip, "What cult?"

Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow, "You know, this place, it's so fucking weird, it's in the middle of nowhere, and like half the town lives here. It's like a mini town within a town."

Taking in my confused expression, she sighs. "He never bought you up here, did he?"

"Here, Erin, I have no idea where the hell I am," I responded, taking the time to look around the room before me. We're both sitting on a large four-poster bed, surrounded by rustic walnut-colored, wood-paneled walls and roof, a massive plush white rug on the floor covering yet more wood. "Yep, never been here before."

Flinging herself back on the bed, Erin groans, "He is pretty hot, though. I mean, I would totally tap that. I wonder how big and thick his cock is?"

Laughing, I join her, our heads side by side, surprised that I feel no jealousy with my best friend checking out my... No, not mine. Griffin is. FUCK! I miss him...

"Fuck," Erin mumbles, "Sorry bitch, I'm totally having inappropriate sexy thoughts about your man."

"Not my man." I sigh, my thoughts solely on Griffin as she tilts her head to face me.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"I wouldn't know where to start, Erin. It's so screwed up, I think I've done something that I can't break, and between you and me, I don't know if I want to break it."

Frowning, she reaches over and pushes more of my stray curls away from my face. "Break what, babe? Tell me."

"I think, I think we're joined somehow."

"What, like in marriage?"

"No... maybe?" I pull at my hair, "Erin, do you believe that there are things other than humans out there in the world?"

Tensing, she rolls onto her back, eyes to the ceiling, and asks hesitantly. "Like what?"

Sitting up, I look down at her, noticing for the first time that we are both in matching white Victorian sleeveless nightdresses as she avoids my eyes, her left one twitching. I know that look. Erin knows something. This always happens when she's trying to avoid something or trying to lie. "Erin?"

Groaning, a look of defeat crossing her perfect features, she mumbles. "Maybe."

"Maybe?" I whisper, "Erin, what do you know?"

"I know that there are other things out there that aren't..." She trails off, sighing again, her dark lashes fluttering as she closes her eyes.

Rubbing my neck and cracking the stiff joint, I try to find the right words without sounding crazy. "So, if I was to say, Griffin may or may not be a werewolf, what would you say?"

"Griffin?" She asks, turning back towards me, eyes wide.

"Seriously, Erin, I mention the possibility of werewolves out there, and you focus on his name?" I get off the bed and begin to pace, "Erin, what do you know?"

Sitting up, I see her shoulders slump, and she hesitates. "Erin?"

"Okay, jeez, keep your knickers on. I may be of the understanding that there are other things out there that may or may not be 100% human..."

"Erin!"

"God Ava, Fuck, I mean, I've been trying to avoid that life since I left home. The Mitchells were into some funky shit, witchcraft, voodoo shit, and the like, and I may have stumbled across other things when they held their parties. But to be honest, I must admit that werewolves weren't one of them, but then again, nothing surprises me anymore. The only real thing in my life, Ava, is you."

Moving back to the bed, I take her in my arms and hold her, she's my only family, and I can't be mad at her for not sharing this part of her life with me.

"So, do you think Liam and the others are also, you know..." Erin asks, tilting her head and nodding, "I mean, this RANCH is fucked up and would be the perfect location for a secret wolf pack, wouldn't it?"

Freezing, I move back, looking into her dark eyes, "What did you say?"

"That this place is the perfect location for a wolf pack?"

"No, before that."

"The RANCH?"

FUCK!




You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net