My Human Mate

Blood for blood

Bella's POV:

I stopped breathing. His name that tumbled out of my lips was the last breath I remembered taking. Each time I tried to take one, it felt like a knife twisting inside my windpipe.

I opened and closed my mouth attempting to form a coherent sentence but every time failed miserably as my brain came up blank.

The boy who owned half of my childhood, the boy who became my everything after my parent's death, the boy who I thought I would never get to meet again , stood in front of me, in all his glory, his once familiar facial features now mature and foreign. 

"Aden!", I whispered again as if saying it again would pull me out of my hallucination and the person standing in front of me would disappear into thin air.

My eyes followed his each movements as he kneeled in front of me, caging me with both his hands on the armrest.

"You look beautiful", he smiled and for a second I saw the boy who told stories about the stars and space, not the one who kidnapped me.

"What are you doing here?", I whispered, my voice coming out hoarse. I have always wanted to see him again and never let him go. And when he stood in front of me, at that moment, it felt so surreal I thought I was imagining things.

"I was always here". For the first time since he stepped out of the shadows, his smile held emotions and it pained me to see sadness in those familiar grey eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I never left Wood Springs”. His expression was blank once again, like he swapped masks, and the only thing I could see in his eyes was me. My own reflection. Nothing.

"What?". I could barely think straight right now. How could I forget that morning when I remember every single word they told me vividly.

I don't know what my question is supposed to mean but I asked anyway. He lifted his eyebrow, a smirk permanently plastered on his face.

“I never left. I disappeared. I was bit by a rogue wolf and he dragged into the woods. I barely survived the shift. They made up a story for the records. If anybody knew they lost a kid, they would shut them down. So they covered it up”. I shook my head, unable to believe. It was too much to process. He was a rogue.

“You could’ve come back. Did you even try to come back? We could’ve done something about it. Alice and Jimmy would’ve helped you. They were werewolves after all”, I said accusingly.

“Rogues are rabid wolves. I am nothing like friends. I am nothing like your mate. I’ve killed people for pleasure, Bella. You wouldn’t understand. They’ve learned to socialize with people, rogues can’t. It is not in our instinct”, he stood up,  frustration oozing out of him, “Of course I thought about coming back. I used to come visit you whenever I could but after one ugly full moon night, after I took the life of an innocent 11 year old boy, I stopped coming”, he tried to blink back his tears, “I was scared. I could hurt you. I could kill you and the worst part is that I would enjoy doing it.  I can’t do that to you”, he broke down in front of me, tears coursing down his cheeks. His knees gave out as he collapsed onto the floor, shaking from his repressed emotions.

“I was scared”, he whispered, barely audible. His cries were raw like the pain was from a still open wound. His misery must have come in waves as his sobbing were broken apart by short pauses of recovering breaths.

“Aden”. He was my rock when I needed one. He looked up with his red rimmed eyes, his face was of the one who suffered and didn’t know he could do it again. I broke down, each of my sobs punching  and ripping through my guts and I sat there helpless, bound to a chair, trying to reach out to him.

Something crossed his eyes when he saw me crying. He stood up suddenly, wiping his tears in a hurry. Leaning forward, he undid the ties. “We have to get you out of here”, he tugged me to follow him and walked us out of that dingy room into what looked like an  underground passage.

“Where are we going?”, I asked, hurriedly following him,  willing my numb limbs to move.

“I’m not going to let them get to you. This is my life whether I like it or not. But you, have a whole life in front of you”, he said, tugging me along with him, “and I’m going to make sure you live that life”.

The blackness of nighttime in the woods was something I would never get used to. It was disorienting to be almost blinded but I was surprised by how heightened my other senses were. The smell of a rotting wood and the distant susurration of the branches felt heavy on my senses.

I followed him through the murky forest floor quietly. He walked before me, eyes and ears sharp and looking for any suspicious movements. He looked gauntly, the eyes that were once full of life now soulless.

He was there all this while. Watching me from behind the tree lines, living a life once he thought he would have. I wanted to reach out to him and hold him close and wish all of his pain away. He said he had done things. But I wanted to tell him that it wasn’t his fault. He said he didn’t have a life anymore. But I wanted to tell him that it wasn’t true.

His whisper pulled me out of my train of thoughts.

“ Let’s just hope we get to your territory before they find us”.

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

     Hey guys !! Long time no see :) Exams are oooovvvveeerrrrrr!!! So , finally got time for ya dudes <3. Shoot me with constructive criticism. Stay blessed and stay connected .

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With loves and kisses .....

Nisha Amol >_<