The Wolf and the Natural ✔️

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ARLIS
Arlis could feel it every time she laughed, every time she frowned, every time she felt confused or unwanted. He wanted to kiss her every time he breathed, he wanted to mark her every time she smiled. It was ripping him from the inside out, a small hole that grew and grew. He wanted to take her, make her his, own her. But she wasn't property, and she didn't give him consent. And as he was always taught, if they don't want it you don't get it.

But that didn't stop him from thinking. He wished she understood what was happening, the aching pain in his stomach. The actual physical hurt his wolf was going through, thinking that his mate was rejecting him. At the same time, that meant she'd feel his other pain too though.

He almost never wanted her to turn. He almost never wanted her to feel the demons that plagued him, or the crushing weight of Gracie being gone.

He heard everything Becker told Kate, he couldn't sleep knowing she was down there with his yelling best friends. But he didn't interrupt, because he knew they wouldn't argue if he was in the room, Becker might have been the youngest, but both Beck and Con treated Arlis like a little brother, and he wanted to hear what they had to say.

He wasn't expecting them to bring up his nightmares. They weren't uncommon for Supernaturals. Becker used spells to sleep. Constance drank a weird concoction Becker taught her. Arlis dealt with his nightmares as a reminder of what happened, not wanting to forget a single detail. The price of war. Why you shouldn't drink a Weeper's tears.

He thought to the desk besides his side of the bed with the vile in it, the tears.

Something churned in his stomach, his gut aching and a feeling of sadness washed over him. He walked out of the bedroom and walked quickly downstairs where Kate sat on the couch, her hands covering her face as the news played softly on the TV.

".... has been found. That leaves two missing teens still missing from the attack weeks ago. If you have any information regarding Vix Hedgewood and Michael Porter then please contact the numbers below." The woman on the screen was too emotionless for Arlis to take seriously and he turned the TV off quickly, spinning on his heels to face Kate.

He wanted to bring her too him, comfort her until all her sorrows withered away like roses in winter. But he didn't, because he wouldn't be able to let go.

He recognized the name Vix, "The Girl In The Rose Bush" as Kate once called her.

"Your friend, I'm guessing?" He didn't have to guess, but he understood how fragile she was at the moment.

She nodded slowly and looked up at him.

God, he though to himself, I hate that she's beautiful when she cries.

He gulped and walked closer to her, taking a forbidden seat too close to her. He was risking it, he had been risking it. It was killing him, sleeping next to her. It was destroying him not to kiss her every time she spoke.

She slowly nodded. "Do you think... do you think she's okay?" She asked, her voice soft like honey.

Arlis didn't think so. Arlis figured she was dead or dying, the Hunter's probably found her too late and couldn't cure her so they just killed her off. If Kate wasn't an underage she would have known Arlis was lying when he said, "Yeah, I'm sure she's fine."

Maybe it was just her, or the fact that it was getting closer to her birthday, but Arlis knew that she knew that he was lying.

Her face fell and her eyes grew dark. "Liar." She said, a little joke between them. It wasn't so much as an insult more than it was a truthful statement.

"I know. I'll have my men keep an eye out for her. Bring her in if they see her." He told her, wishing he could do more. He wished he could raise the dead or flip the earth to get what Kate wanted.