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Acacia/Ciarán - Age 18

When Lailoken turns to set me down on a couch in his large room, Samami notes as the back of my thin long sleeve sweater and shirt have come up to the middle of my spine during my struggles, "Is this the only injury?"

"No," he replies shortly when he finally takes a step away from setting me down. I glare angrily at him, but he turns his attention to her and continues, "Her shoulder needs to be looked at also."

"You need to be careful with her," Samami releases a sigh as she then turns to me as she says, "can you please remove your sweater?"

Eyeing her suspiciously, I say nothing in return, unzipping the sweater before slipping out of the arms. Lailoken furrows his brows with confusion before pointing at me, "I thought..."

Even when his voice trails off, I quickly look at where his gaze has been drawn. I release a low scream when I see not one, but two spider web tattoos span out on the center of both elbows. My heart suddenly races, my eyes widening as I'm at a loss for words...

Lailoken watches me carefully before he boldly states, "Are you going to continue arguing with me now, Ekáti?"

"I...I didn't..." my voice is full of confusion, analyzing the tattoos and how they were even etched into my flesh, "I-I don't...how did-I just..."

Samami's hands are gentle, yet firm when she takes my upper arm into her hands, turning and bending my shoulder slightly as the tattoos appear to be of no concern to her. I'm apparently the only one dumbstruck and freaking out slightly, but I wince and gasp when she raises my arm above my head.

"Alpha Loki...how did you manage to tear ligaments and tendons?" She questions him while lowering my arm.

"I didn't realize her form was mortal," he looks away from me when my eyes catch his.

He hasn't once referred to me as human...

...just mortal.

Samami motions for me to move to my side, so I shift slightly while she looks over my lower back, her fingertips increasing slight pressure every now and then. She chastises her alpha by stating, "You fractured her pelvis...and there's already bruising forming."

Lailoken doesn't even look at me this time, turning away from Samami without another word before heading toward the bedroom door. He's out into the hallway with the door slamming shut behind him. I flinch slightly at the sound, the way the walls shake with the force he uses.

Well...

...perhaps this will be easier than I thought.

I'm weak in his eyes, so he won't want me for a mate...thank the Moon Goddess.

A weird, tingly sensation starts at my lower back and I gasp, trying to see what exactly it is Samami is doing, however, all I see is a light blue glow reflecting off her irises as she stares hard at my lower back. Her fingertips align, setting in patterns as she moves them around and it's a different type of numbness I've never felt that soothes the way my injuries ache.

I hardly even realize her touch leaves me until her fingertips glide over my shoulder. Glancing in her direction, I see it this time...what she's doing, it's some form of...magic. The way the glow radiates just beneath the skin where she touches, her eyes transfixed on what she's doing...it's mesmerizing.

A few seconds after she finishes, her eyes flicker to meet with mine while she asks, "How do you feel now?"

"Better," I reply, definitely relieved at the way she'd taken my pain away without having to taste immortal blood to restore healing properties. A few moments later, I ask her, "So...I'll be leaving soon then?"

Samami furrows her brows and questions, "What makes you say that?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I release a sigh and state, "He obviously doesn't want someone weak like me for a mate...I'm used to rejection and being hurt, so the sooner I leave the bet-"

"Acacia, Alpha Loki wasn't angry or upset with you," she tilts her head to the side while looking me over. She then informs me, "He was angry at himself for the way he'd hurt you."

What...?

My brows are knitted tightly together as I stare at her with confusion.

Samami releases a sigh and encourages me, "You don't understand him yet...but, he's been waiting for you, for a very long time. The last thing he wanted to do, was hurt you and give a very bad first impression-"

"Then why did he drag me here against my will?" I shake my head, not wanting to listen to the way she makes excuses for him. When I look away for a moment, I angrily state, "I told him multiple times to just let me go, yet he refused t-"

"You have to understand," she cuts me right off before I can continue on my rant, "Alpha Loki has felt everything that's happened to your soul. You may not like that he calls you Ekáti, but it truly is your name and he sees you for what you are...you're his goddess, his match, his mate and he didn't want anything else to happen to you. He didn't want to almost lose you again and he did what he thought was best...to take you to protect you."

I remain silent, still rather skeptical about the whole thing.

It's a good few minutes before Samami offers me a smile while rising to her feet, nodding in the direction of a door across from the end of the bed, "If you'd like to take a shower and feel more at ease, by all means-"

"I'm not getting naked in a place that's foreign to me," my words cut through harshly, bringing the sweater closer to my body. She's not offended, nodding her head as she walks toward the bedroom door.

Samami reminds me, "Dinner will be ready for you soon," she pauses as she opens the door, watching me as my gaze trails toward the double glass doors that lead out onto a balcony. She shakes her head and says, "Don't try to run..." my eyes snap back to her as she states, "...our purpose in this world is to hunt down and capture. You wouldn't make it more than ten feet from the lodge before you were caught."

How reassuring...

...who said anything about running?

Doesn't mean I can't try and kill myself again.

I'd rather not remain a prisoner.

"Don't think of this as your prison," she reassures me and I stare at her as if she's read my mind, though she shakes her head and says, "think of this as your sanctuary. No one will harm you here."

Just as she crosses the threshold into the hallway, I look away from her while muttering, "Thanks."

"You're welcome. I'm glad I could help you," her voice drifts off to me as the door slowly shuts behind her.

I'm sitting silently for a few minutes before I decide to leave behind the sweater and stand from the couch, getting a better look around the room. In one of the corners, there's a small bookshelf next to a desk, a door next to it leading to a closet after I poke my head inside and see for myself. After closing the door, I look around at a set of small drawers next to a bedside table, reaching for the top one before I quickly shut it, my heart skipping a beat as I wish I hadn't seen what I did.

Shaking my head and clearing my thoughts, I walk past the glass doors to the balcony, the moonlight casting a beautiful glow over the railing. Rubbing my upper arms and walking back toward the door Samami had mentioned, I open it while flipping on a light switch inside. I get a good look around, bringing my head back out of the bathroom to nearly have my heart leave my chest.

Lailoken speaks firmly, almost with fascination when he states, "You're a curious little kitten, now aren't you?"

"Don't call me that," I close the door, glancing away the second my eyes meet with his.

"Soooo, Jazbi is busy cooking up the rest of dinner for the pack...soooooo, I've got soup with grilled cheese sandwiches and oh look! There's a small cup of pudding for each of you," it's Em 'n Em's voice that breaks the silence that sets between us.

Lailoken turns slightly toward her and I quickly take a glance as she sets down a tray of food on the ottoman at the end of his bed. She's also quick to bring two cups next to the food, steam rising from the both of them while she flashes a quick grin. Lailoken says, "Thank you," after a few moments, he tells her, "after dinner, Brilite and Kermie will join Mandy in Elysium for the next shift. Please inform them of their duties and post switches."

"Yes, Alpha Loki," she responds promptly, but not before briefly looking me over as I stand in front of the closed bathroom door. She waves at me and says, "There's real shampoo in the bottom cupboard an-"

"That'll be all," he cuts her off and I see her breathing out a sigh while rolling her eyes. Another moment later, and Em 'n Em is out into the hallway with the door shut behind her. His gaze travels back to mine, yet I glance away when he asks, "Are you hungry?"

"I suppose," I reply back coldly, seeing the way he offers me a seat on the end of the bed as he lowers himself down onto it, setting himself near the ottoman. I don't sit with him though, walking toward the furthest side away from him before kneeling next to the ottoman, looking over the food before a small growl betrays me from my stomach.

My eyes are wide as I catch him staring at me, his face almost unreadable...but I'm not sure how to regard the way his reddish-orange irises pierce through me each and every time.

Dipping the grilled cheese sandwich into the tomato soup tastes like heaven, eating it while I also catch glimpses of Lailoken doing the same. It's really good and the warmth of it puts me slightly at ease after the events from today.

When I ignore the cup, Lailoken asks me, "You don't want your coffee?"

My chest hurts at the way, Bryant, Rian and Grandpa Keir know me...

...he doesn't and I don't know if I want to let him in.

"No," I respond while sitting back on the floor and leaning slightly against the ottoman, "I hate coffee." Lailoken's brows raise as if in shock, but I don't give him another look and instead ask, "Am I allowed to go outside?"

Lailoken shifts his gaze slightly and says, "You're not a prisoner-"

"It sure feels like it," I slowly rise to my feet, feeling the angry tears surfacing...yet I fight them down as I turn toward the glass doors, throwing over my shoulder, "I don't want to be here..." a watery undertone surfaces as I push down on one of the handles, slipping outside onto the balcony.

All the hurt and torment centers in my chest, stepping away from the door that I shut behind me until I reach the wooden railing on the balcony. Leaning my arms against it, I look out and see some of the pack members going about their 'tasks' while a few are talking to one another quietly. My gaze lifts to the moon, feeling no comfort that it should hold tonight...

Releasing a small sigh, I walk back toward the outer wall next to the glass doors, leaning my back against it before I slide to the wooden boards. I bring my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around my legs and as I glimpse the ring on my right index finger that Grandpa Keir had given me, a few tears escape my eyes.

Grandpa...

The light breeze from the summer wind picks up strands of my hair from my shoulders, the few tears no longer on my cheeks as I sit for what seems like an hour. The sounds of the night are shattered when the glass door opens and I see out of the corner of my eye, Lailoken stepping out onto the balcony. He walks in front of me before crouching down, his eyes staring level with mine as he holds a cup in his hand.

He offers it to me saying, "Here."

Furrowing my brows, I take one look at the cup of tea and shift my gaze with a quiet reply of, "No thank you."

The way his muscles tense in his neck makes my heart beat fast for a second, his grip tightening on the cup before he asks me, "What would you like?"

"For you to leave me alone, or are you really that dense?" My gaze never leaves his, beginning to read his actions and reactions, the start of understanding his tells lie in the beginning interactions here.

"Ekáti-"

My eyes leave him the second he says that, looking out toward the other end of the balcony. I don't want to hear any more from him and a few moments later, he rises to his feet before opening the glass door and stepping into his room. After the door shuts, I release a very heavy sigh as I feel time drawing on.

In time, it grows much later and my eyelids become heavy. When I finally allow them to flutter shut, hearing the distant melody of crickets in the background, I fall asleep curdled up in a ball on the balcony.

It's morning when I open my eyelids again, feeling the slowly rising sun shed its rays on my form. My brows furrow when I slowly sit up, seeing a blanket strewn over me. Pulling my back against the wall of the lodge, I bring the blanket closer to me and I find myself somewhat lost in the way the scent from it eases the tension in my muscles. I lean my head back for a moment, hearing the glass door open once again.

Lailoken is back, only this time, he walks around to the other side of me. He slowly lowers himself to the balcony floor boards, his back leans against the wall, handing me a cup as he holds another in his free hand. After glimpsing what's inside it, I'm thankful when I see a warm cup of hot chocolate, neon colored mini marshmallows floating on the surface.

Gradually, I lift my hands from under the blanket, taking the cup from him. There's a tension that leaves his features when I lift my gaze quickly, a halfhearted smile making its way onto his lips as he brings his own cup to his lips.

I hold the cup with both hands, blowing the rising steam from the surface. Lailoken's voice rattles me when he apologizes, "I'm sorry for hurting you."

"Can I leave?" I ask him after taking a small sip, an edge to my tone as I ask this question.

Lailoken takes another sip from his cup before he tells me with such command, "No."

💫--To Be Continued--💫

Hai Rosebuds!
I sent a message out to followers but wanted to follow up here. I'll be away in the woods for a family reunion on my husband's side. Unfortunately, no reception with 30+ people in one lodge, our own pack get-together...pray for me.

You have two choices about Thursday's update. You can have it on Thursday or you can have it on Friday. The reason I am saying this is because I will be gone on Friday evening and I won't be back until Tuesday morning so there will be no Monday update. Monday update will be on Tuesday.

Let me know by commenting on either below:

1.) Update on Thursday

2.) Update on Friday

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