The Secrets Between Us | ✓

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Hallucinations.

The word echoed in her head like the lyrics of a song on repeat, but the tune wasn't soothing at all. If anything, it haunted her and the pounding grew until she could feel a headache gnawing at the inside of her skull with its sharp teeth. She clutched her hair between her fingers and slouched further into the seat, her face flushed red from the avalanche of emotions brewing within her. It shook the very foundation of her existence. Her whole life had been a lie, just a fragment of her imagination that she kept weaving until it left her suffocating. Tears of despair continued to descend her cheeks at the thought of Megan, Diya, and Laura. Her friends had never been real. How crazy was that?

"You're crazy," a voice teased from the backseat of the car. She raised her head and turned around to find Diya grinning at her. Anaya's eyes widened, beaming with pure joy. Her friend was actually here, all flesh and bone, and in no way she could be unreal. With a smile playing on her lips, she faced Icarus to prove the truth, but her spirit dimmed when she saw him staring at her. His eyes were warm, no doubt, but they were also calculative and cautious as if he was trapped with a ticking time bomb. She glanced back at Diya, and her smile froze. There was Laura too, sitting next to Diya and waving at her.

"Icarus," she whispered, her voice sounding unlike her, scratchy like nails on a chalkboard. She had woken up in a hotel room and hoped all of it to be a nightmare, but she knew it was the truth. She had fled to avoid Icarus, only for him to follow her. She had screamed because she wanted to be left alone, but the farther she ran, the faster he caught up to her. Then he flew them back to the Meghaba forest before driving to the Imperial Royale pack, and here she was, nowhere to go. "Do you see my friends?"

Icarus knew the answer to that, but he checked just for her sake and shook his head. The way her face crumpled in agony caused him to flinch and lose control of the steering wheel for a fraction of a second. He pulled the car on the side of the road and exhaled deeply before facing Anaya.

She looked perplexed and desperate, blinking away the tears that threatened to spill. "I am crazy," she said. "Do you hear me, Icarus? I am crazy." Her voice cracked. She bent her legs closer to her chest and sobbed into her knees, repeating the same words over and over. Nothing seemed more terrifying to Anaya than watching the lines between reality and imaginary blur. She had everything right now, but she had no control over her life.

"Anaya, darling, come here." She shook her head. "Talk to me, please. Let me be with you."

"I can't. You'll hate me."

"Anaya—"

"Please, just drive."

He obliged in reluctance, glancing at her now and then. Her tears had dried, but her eyes were vacant and dull. Dead. Seeing her in such a state hurt far more than it would have if a knife had been plunged through his heart. Both the man and the wolf felt helpless. They didn't know how to soothe their mate, who was beginning to build a barrier around her.