The Eve of Darkness

Chapter 14 - Camden

"Alright, run me through this shit again," Jude demanded, his voice showcasing just how stressed he was. Camden wouldn't have been surprised if the beta had already come up with at least seven theories as to what had happened that morning.

"I was laying in the backyard, just — I don't know — relaxing and I closed my eyes for, like, five fuckin' seconds. When I opened them up again, I wasn't in the back-fucking-yard." Aria rehashed, her tone sounding even more stressed than the beta's. "I was in this — I don't know — this forest and it was fucking dark — like, really, fucking dark — and the trees were fucking teal and there were these floating fucking lights and—" 

"Aria," Xiomara interrupted from the left with a firm voice that even caught Camden's barely held-together attention. Camden heard the large breath being inhaled and exhaled by the warrior. "Take a deep breath." 

The sola paused in her words at the interruption. For a moment, all that was present was a heavy blanket of silence, as if the exhaustion of Aria's anxiety-ridden thoughts had sunk its teeth into every person in the room. Finally, she leaned back into Camden's chest, where he was holding her against him with arms wrapped securely around her waist. He was leaning back against his desk — and she was back leaning against him — in the main office, barely holding himself together as he kept his nose buried in the nape of his mate's neck. As Aria took the head warrior's advice, Camden couldn't help but match her breath, the action allowing her pine and bark scent to grace his senses. 

Quite frankly, the group was lucky that Camden was able to comprehend their words at all. 

Camden had found his mate dead. Not asleep. Not comatose. Not on the brink of death. 

Dead. As in, not-fucking-breathing dead. As in, no-fucking-heartbeat dead. 

Dead dead. 

Just the thought of how it felt walking into the backyard, calling for a mate that wouldn't answer, and having to find them by scent only to not hear the steady beat of their heart , was enough to make Camden's eyebrows furrow as he pushed his nose into Aria's neck. He took another deep breath and focused his hearing onto Aria's heartbeat, hoping the consistent rhythm would help to calm his frantic soul. 

"Now," Xiomara continued to say after she had discerned that the atmosphere had somewhat calmed down. "There are many things we need to figure out: why your heart stopped, how you got mentally 'transported' for lack of a better word, where you went, who you met, why any of it happened at all, and what any of it could mean.  Let's just start with what we know. You said you went to a forest. Did any of it look familiar to you?" 

Aria went to speak, but must have felt anxious once more, because before saying anything, another deep breath left her chest. Camden's arms tightened and loosened around her mate as he forced himself to stop hyper-focusing on the sounds that proved Aria was alive in favor of hearing her recount the experience. 

"Like I said," Aria started, "I was just... just laying in the grass. The sun was rising, ya know, so I was just kind of, like, taking it in? I closed my eyes and sort of, I don't know, embraced the nature? Like, I was trying to... to listen... but not only with my ears. Then, when I opened my eyes again, I was in this... this forest... and, th-the sky wasn't sunny anymore. It was fucking dark. I don't think I've ever seen a sky that dark before. Hell, there weren't even any stars, it was just fucking void and—" 

"Aria," Xiomara called again, her voice showing nothing but a coaxing tone that Camden had only heard the warrior use when Hazel was going through PTSD episodes. "Try to stay on track, Carnala."