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Acacia/Ciarán - Age 16

The first thing I feel...

...is pain.

Pain for different reasons.

They raped and bit me...

...Ciarán.

The bridge of my nose stings when more feeling returns to my muscles, the soreness stemming from my entire body.

There's sounds...voices outside the door.

They are muffled slightly, but I do catch, "-more trouble alive than dead-"

"-can't hide..."

"Kill h-..."

Everything keeps zooming in and out of focus, my hearing off as I try to get my muscles to work. The voice is no more, and silence returns to me, though my heart begins to race as I slowly blink my eyelids open. I'm lying in my side, the moonlight streaming in through the small window.

Is it still night?

I don't know what time means right now because whatever I've been living through, is a nightmarish Hell.

My breathing is uneven as I attempt to push upright, but the pain all over tears me back down. The bite marks leave a nasty ache except for the one on my neck...Ciarán's is by far the worst. My ribs feel like they're caving in, catching the bottom of my lungs when I draw in air. A horrible ache radiates from my abdomen, tears filling my eyes again when I see blood on the sheets.

The one thing I do know...

...Ciarán never chained my wrist. The one wrist still throbs with pain as I finally manage to sit up. I see the chain hanging at the post of the bed...perhaps he'd forgotten, or he believed I'm too broken and weak to do anything anymore.

I am broken.

My head throbs; a massive headache sears through my skull, remembering the alcohol along with being punched, hit and backhanded by Mercury and Cypher. It all comes crashing back, but the words that were spoken make my stomach more nauseous then the stench of throw up I smell.

My vision is slightly hazy, though my eyes land on my discarded clothes. When I try to stand, I immediately crash to my knees, my eyes widening as I bite my lower lip. Excruciating pain radiates from my hips, tears falling from my eyes as I choke back on the sob I want to release.

Crawling is the only movement that doesn't send me spiraling into agonizing pain, reaching my clothes before taking a taxing effort to slip them back on. My underwear is in shreds, my eyes flickering to my thighs as I finish with my skirt.

Blood.

I'm not ready to die...

...even though I want the pain to end.

My eyes lift to the window, slowly moving toward the wall before it takes most of my strength to stand against it. My breathing is hard, my heart beating fast as I flicked my gaze from the door to the window, trying to see if I'm even going to be able to pull myself up and through it with the lack of endurance left.

I hear something though...

...music, laughing and voices talking back and forth that I can't discern. Their celebration is my shame, wondering how long it will take them to decide to kill me.

They can't hide what they've done.

If I can get home...

Tears trickle down my cheeks at the thought because right now it seems impossible.

...then again...will my word mean anything again.

Will my blood memories show nothing?

This thought throws me into a pit of despair, sinking to my knees on the stone floor and crying softly against the tops of my knees.

Does my life matter?

Ciarán's right...

...I couldn't even protect myself...how am I expected to rule a world when I'm this weak and insignificant?

My mate chose another.

Perhaps death-

Death would be too good for you, Ekáti.

My hands grasp the sides of my head, shaking slightly as I steady my breathing. Lifting my gaze upward, I rise once again while clutching the stone wall. Very carefully, I push against the lower part of the window, and it gives with ease, opening to the world above me.

Edging my forearms onto the frame, my eyes flicker to Cypher's bite mark on my wrist, my stomach flipping slightly as the fresh memories linger. The blood is dry, but the wound is open, and when I pull myself, putting mere pressure on my arms, fresh blood trickles from the puncture marks.

My strength is dwindling away, using every bit of it to pull myself through the window. My eyes widen, and a small cry leaves my lips, the pain of Ciarán's bite mark raking through my body when my back touches the top frame of the window. Tears mix with blood, dirt and Ryser's cum...falling down my cheeks and onto my forearms as I finally lie on my side.

"-that's..."

Voice chop in and out as I breathe hard, the music dulling down as I realize...

...they heard my cry.

I have to get up.

I have to.

White hot pain sears through my body, forcing myself to my feet to only wobble when I take a step. My teeth grind together, pained whimpers being fought behind my lips as I gimp in a slight walk run. It's the destination of the school that I head in, my sight terrible as it is and adding to the darkness hardly paved a pathway by the moonlight, I try not to trip.

I keep along the edge of the water, the stone areas right next to the ocean's edge unlike the beach prior, a rock bank.

My vision is hazy, my muscles screaming at me and I try as hard as I can to make myself continue forward...but I can't. In the distance close by, I can hear their angered yells as Mercury rounds everyone up in search for me...

I collapse to my knees when I can no longer walk, the pain too much, especially the joints of my hips and the break. Rolling to my side after I try to catch myself with my hands, I cradle my wrist to my chest, cries leaving my lips as I feel like the darkness wants to swallow me whole again only this time...

...I won't wake.

In the distance, an eerie howl of a wolf seeps into my bones, but not a second later, I'm torn away from the rock bank. The air leaves my lungs, and I feel myself submerge beneath the water's surface. Panic takes over me, my eyes widening...only to find...

...Sinéad.

She floats before me, tilting her head to the side as her opalescent eyes look into mine. Her hair floats around her like a cloud; her chest is bare as the strands of her hair provide coverage to her with the way they float. Her tail...

...I'm brought back to the moment when I met her all those years ago.

Blood trickles off me and out toward the water around me, the indescribable pain I feel hits me full force once again.

Shadows overhead stand at the rocky bank I had once been on...

My eyelids flutter shut for a moment as I exhale, bubbles floating from my mouth as I know I'm sinking. I'm moving, but it's her I realize very shortly that floats me back against the rock bank underneath the rock's protection. Kelp intertwines delicately around my waist as it keeps me from sinking or rising...but just as I struggle to breathe, Sinéad swims closer. One of her hands cups the side of my face, and I see so many questions in her eyes.

Her lips very gently press against mine, inhaling as she kisses me. Sinéad pulls away, her eyes full of sorrow as her fingers shift slightly over my temples, her eyes moving rapidly before she very quickly back swims away from me. She looks to the surface, anger set on her features as her powerful tail kicks her up to the surface. I feel the ocean around me moving, humming with thunderous outrage before the waves crash overhead while I remain safe below the rocky bank, my heart beating slowly.

It's numbing, the coldness that takes root in my heart.

I inhale, my brows furrowing as I understand why Sinéad had kissed me. I'm able to breathe the water like the air above, oxygen flooding my lungs, though it doesn't take away the ache my body feels.

I don't know how long it is before I feel a slight chill. I'm above the water's surface, Sinéad's arms around me as I hear her call faintly, "Etain!" She pauses for a few moments before I hear a shallow yip response...

...a wolf.

I cry out, gasping as I'm rolled onto my back on the rocky bank. My vision is flickering in and out as I slowly bring the world into focus, but it's not for very long. I do see a very large wolf...its fur is black, yet there are small patches of white at the front paws. Golden irises stare down at me, its head tilting to the side with the way my eyelids slowly flutter shut.

It's almost like I'm underwater again because Sinéad's words are practically muffled as she says, "Etain, please take her...not to the school, take her directly to Castle Valentine."

Almost a barking sound returns and I don't know what that means.

Sinéad does have a response though while responding, "I don't have my pendant, I'm restricted to the ocean...Etain, please...it's the Princess Acacia Arin-Valentine," there's more silence followed up by another sharp bark, and she pleads, "please...I-I think they're going to kill her."

There's a low growl before I feel myself being moved. It's painful, the way my body contorts slightly before another cry leaves my lips, tears falling from my eyes. I feel my cheek though; it rests against soft fur. My eyelids are in slits when they do open, feeling the way a fragile layer of kelp keeps me steady against Etain's back.

Etain...who are you?

An alpha?

Your wolf has black fur...

My fingers weakly draw the threads of the wolf's fur, my heart rate slowing as my breathing becomes very hard. The lower rib is sharply pressing into my lung, coughing as I try to breathe, but it becomes such a difficult task, I don't think it's worth it.

It doesn't matter though, because the next thing I know, I hear many voices...but arms wrap around me, lifting me from the wolf. I'm screaming, pushing hard against the one holding me and I can't stop the way the tears continue to trail down my face, my voice ragged when I cry out, "St-Sto...p-"

"Niles!" It's dad's voice that breaks through everything happening around me. It's all moving around me like a screenplay because I keep losing conscious now...bits and piece lingering.

There's beeping in the background when I have some semblance of the world around me, hearing the voice of a woman state, "I don't know what happened."

"How did you end up with my daughter?!" Dad is flying off the handle.

"Fuck off!" The woman snarls right back and snarks, "I brought her back here as a favor for a friend, so get the pole out of your ass and stop pointing your finger at me!"

The beeping escalates, my eyes moving rapidly before I hear Niles state, "Take your argument outside, Acacia doesn't need this stress she's barely hanging on here as it is," he pauses for a moment and when voices start rising, he orders, "out! Now!"

It's silent again, but that's because I fall into a dark and dreamless sleep. It's welcoming in a way, because the pain is no longer there, just the icy shard warped in a twisted manner at the center of my chest. I hope it pierces my heart at this point...

I'm vaguely aware when I wake once again, the beeping my only signal that I'm back in the world that's done nothing but hurt me. Mom's voice slips clearly as I hear a watery tone, "Acacia...please, don't...don't give up."

"I don't understand," dad continues, and I feel his fingers as they trace over my neck before asking, "how is it the rest of the marks have sealed with our blood, but...this..."

Dante's voice is dark when he states, "Someone marked her..."

"A choice beloved?" Mom's anger is coming through.

"I don't even know..." Dante's voice trails off, "...after Taron's claim of Acacia as his mate; I don't know..."

Mom's voice alters when she asks, "You're not seriously considering she's a dormant hybrid? Her wolf-"

"-we should be able to feel...I know," Dante continues and cuts my mom right off.

I don't care what I am...

...because I'm worth nothing.

I feel the bridge of my nose stinging, the beeping accelerating just a bit, but a moment later I feel a hand on my forehead and dad's voice soothing, "It's okay little love...please-"

"How is any of this okay?!" Mom's voice rages before she snarls, "Someone raped her and left her almost dead! How is any of that okay?!"

Dad's cut off when I hear him exhale, but Dante beats him to it reiterating, "Someones."

"St-St-" I try...but nothing comes out clearly.

Niles chastises, "All of you...OUT!"

"Bu-" all three chime in...

"NOW!" Niles doesn't give them another second. I hear footsteps fading away, my heart beating fast as I try to pry my eyelids open. It's hard, but when I do, the light from what I know is the medical wing blinds me. He helps me gently by raising up the bed slightly, my eyes flickering around the room until they finally rest on Niles. He tilts his head to the side with a somber look on his face before he asks me, "Are you in pain?"

Everything still aches, but it's not nearly as painful as before. I shake my head, parting my lips to speak though I find my mouth is parched. When I lick my lips, Niles hands me a small cup along with a pill, and I shakily take them. Furrowing my brows with confusion, Niles informs me, "It's a morning-after pill..." He helps me though, able to drink some of it down...it burns my throat though when it shouldn't.

After Niles takes the cup back, he rests his arms on his knees as he asks me, "Acacia?"

Nodding my head, I see the way his features shift.

"Do you know who raped you?" When he asks this, tears form once again in my eyes, a few escaping down my cheeks.

Yes...

...but will anyone believe me?

No.

"I can perform a kit on you, but it'll be at your consent," Niles tells me when he sees the tears.

Consent.

Something I never gave...

Shaking my head, I grimace when I move away slightly.

"I won't hurt you," Niles is calm, but I hear the door open to the medical wing, seeing my mom's figure come into view.

"E-Every-one s-say-s th-th-at-" I'm cut off in my response to him...

Mom furrows her brows with complete confusion and states, "Acacia, just let Niles do his job unless you want to tell us!"

"N-N-O!" I yell at her, my voice cracking.

When her hands grasp the bar on the side of the hospital bed, I scream, recoiling and crying. Dads are in the room a second later, Dante grabbing my mom and pulling her back while dad angrily declares, "This is NOT the way Rose, STOP!"

"I kno-"

Mom is cut off by dad snarling, "You keep pushing her! Stop! Can't you see she's already hurt?!"

"Fuck you," mom glares at dad before she shakes loose of Dante, storming right out of the room.

Tears continue to fall down my cheeks, sniffling as a sob leaves my lips and I cry harder. Dad's arms are around me, pulling me his chest. I recoil for a second, pressing against him before his grip loosens around me.

Dante murmurs gently, "I think she needs a female right now..." as hurt as his voice sounds by admitting this, even dad releases a sigh and pulls entirely away from me.

"I love you little love," dad's voice courses with pain as I hear him leave the room. Niles glances up to Dante, not a single word passing between them, but he rises to his feet and also heads toward the entrance of the medical wing.

Dante leaves for a moment, but a few minutes later, he walks back with a woman who appears to be in her late twenties. Her blonde hair reaches down her back, braids woven as her eyes are a bluish-green...she resembles Dante very much in regards to facial structure. She stands tall and strong, her eyes looking me over before Dante releases a sigh and tells me, "Acacia, I'd like to introduce you to my niece, Etain Matz ."

Niece?

"It's only been twenty-eight years since you last saw me," she rolls her eyes while releasing a snarky half-hearted laugh.

"The Mercy Matrons-"

"Raised me, my family did not," Etain replies while her eyes remain on me. She shrugs her shoulders and tells me, "I was orphaned at just over a year of age..." her eyes shift slightly toward Dante and continues, "...and the decision was made that it'd be best I wasn't around hybrids with what happened to my father...but here I am now," she says this last part with sarcasm.

I wonder...

...she doesn't want to be close to her family?

There's quiet before Etain snaps her head toward Dante and says, "Shoo, because none of you know how to talk to a little girl who was just brutally raped."

"I-"

"Shoo," her eyebrows raise as she makes a motion for Dante to leave. He says nothing and turns on his heels, heading toward the door. Etain grabs a chair and brings it about three feet away from me, her head tilting to the side as she says, "Arin, huh?"

Etain Matz

💫--To Be Continued--💫  
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