Talons

Chapter 130: The Hopeful

Colton’s POV

Rhea nearly jumped out of her skin when I woke her and as a result, she slipped in the water she spilled. I was able to catch her before she hit the floor, but it was all for nothing because I also slipped and landed on top of my tiny mate who wildly scrambled to get from underneath me.

“Relax,” I say. “You were dreaming.” I can only assume that my mate had a nightmare because the way she woke was too extreme to be normal.

“What happened?” she questions, and I look at her in concern.

Rhea doesn’t tell me what’s wrong; well, she actually claims not to remember, but before I let her go, I could feel her heart hammering in her chest, so I’m assuming it can’t be good.

Still shaken, my mate sits on the floor, and it's then that I realize something is truly wrong. I ask her if she needs my help and her head slowly bobs up and down, further letting me know that Rhea is terrified of whatever she dreamed about.

“Did you dream about me?” I ask, knowing that for a long time, I was the main source of torment in the woman's life.

“I really don’t remember, and when I try…” Rhea holds onto her head, and the action tells me that she has a headache. 

“Do we need to visit the infirmary?” I ask in fear. I can see that my mate is not herself, but aside from that, the skin on her feet looks bad. She’s had them soaking for too long, and they’ve become pruned. 

I know what trench foot is because it can affect omegas and wolves alike, and while I don’t know how long it takes to set in, I really hope that my selfishness didn’t hurt my mate, yet again.

“I’ll be fine, I just need to rest. I haven’t really eaten enough today.” I check the time on my phone and it's barely 6PM, meaning that Rhea and I only napped for just over two hours.

“You don’t have to cook. I’ll have someone bring-”

“No,” Rhea says, and this time, I’m not imagining it. There is pain in her tone, and I feel like I already know why. “I don’t know who works in the kitchen.”

“Rhea-”

“Colton… Can we stop this now?” I study my mate's face, but because I don’t know what she’s talking about, I end the conversation.

She eventually moves and starts to clean the mess that was made when she woke, and because I don’t know what to do, I find myself handing her a towel as I pick up the foot spa, pot, and cotton swabs from around the area.

“Does this happen often?” I finally ask, and Rhea shakes her head.

“Never,” she says.

Rhea’s POV

I woke to the sound of Colton’s voice and because I remember how we fell asleep I shot up, forgetting that my foot was sitting in an oily water mixture that caused me to lose my footing. 

Fortunately, Colton caught me before I could hit the end table, but he slipped on the mess I made and crushed me. It hurt, but it's not the first time I’ve had his body weight over me, and I’m more concerned about our proximity than anything, so I scramble out from underneath him in fear.

My heart is racing, but Sylvia and I can’t seem to figure out why. We were definitely dreaming, but neither of us can remember what the dream was about, and when we try, it hurts.

Colton keeps talking to me, and I know that because of the bond, he is worried, but I can’t coddle him right now. I’m confused, I feel weak, and I’m all sweaty. If I had anything in my stomach, I probably would have thrown up, and I tell myself that my hunger is part of the problem.

I haven’t been keeping a regular meal schedule since I came to the Iron Pack, but I’ll have to get better with that if I don’t want a repeat of what's happening now, at least, that's what I tell myself.

“What if he did something to us while we were sleeping?” Sylvia asks, and I find myself worried that she’s right.

Colton’s judgement is clouded by the mate bond, and he may have done something to try and get me to feel the bond as well. I don’t know what that something could be, but I feel like it’s the only explanation.

After cleaning the mess I made, I just sat on the floor. I’m still confused and Sylvia isn’t making it any better by digging around my mind. 

Colton asks if I’ve experienced this before and the answer is never. I have an excellent memory, a little too good at times, and every nightmare I’ve ever had has always stayed with me when I woke.

This is the first time where I’m waking up startled but not actually afraid, which is much more frightening. If I were having a nightmare about Colton or even General, I would have at least understood why I feel as heavy and hurt as I do.

“Stay away from him until we figure out what's wrong,” Sylvia warns, and as soon as she finishes speaking, Colton tries to reach for me, but I scramble away in fear.

I curl myself into a ball, expecting the man to hit me, but another part of my mind doesn’t understand why.

“What did I do?” Colton asks, and once again, I feel sorry for the man. 

I can hear the worry in his tone, so I know that my actions are hurting him, but it feels like the right thing to do right now.

“I don’t know,” I admit, and Colton takes my words as the truth, which they are.

“Rhea, can you eat something? I don’t like seeing you like this. We were fine a second ago.” I want to tell Colton that ‘he’ was fine a second ago. 

I fell asleep trying to remain absolutely still so I wouldn’t accidentally startle Colton awake and end up gored. He was too close to my abdomen, and a wound in that area from an alpha male would have been fatal.

It's funny because when I came here, I wanted nothing more than to die, but now, I want nothing more than to live; if not for myself, then for all the people I plan to help, starting with Tyson and his sisters.

Thinking of the siblings, I start to calm down, and I peek from under my arm to see that Colton has moved away from me, likely trying to get me to feel safe.

“I-I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s…” I touch my face, shocked that tears have begun to fall and the sadness in my heart becomes heavier.

“Please stop crying. I wasn't trying to scare you Rhea. I just... I can feel the bond, and I didn’t want to move, but I shouldn’t have fallen asleep. I made it weird, and I’m sorry.” Colton’s apology means nothing to me because I’m not sure my issue is with him.

Colton’s POV

After making sure that she ate more than usual, I watched Rhea slowly creep into her bedroom and shut the door. I don’t know what’s wrong with her right now, but Orlin thinks that she is feeling the effects of the mate bond, only, she doesn’t know it.

If I were her, and I were fated to me, I would be depressed as well, but his theory doesn’t make sense because Rhea and I were fine. I was finally feeling like there was a future for us, and then, she started to treat me like a monster again.

“I don’t think she ever stopped being afraid of us. I think she’s still trying.” Orlin is right, and I rub my temples before going into my own room and flopping on the bed.

My mate being depressed is depressing me, and I need to find something to take my mind off of it. Eventually, it won’t be like this between us, and while we may never look back at this and laugh, I hope that it doesn’t become a permanent scar on something I believe is beautiful.

Setting my mind to it, I jump out of bed and head to the daycare facility, where I explain to the omegas who were rounding up for the evening what I want to do. I was surprised when most of them agreed to stay, even though I couldn’t promise them overtime pay.

A few of their wives came looking for them, and once they found out what was happening, they left and returned with food. I can tell who worked in the kitchen and who didn’t, but truthfully, none of them can beat my mate in a cookoff.

“Whose idea was this?” I ask, pointing to the crayon drawing on the side of the school. It doesn’t look like something my mate would add, and while it's nice, I know she would have preferred something more natural, like a forest scene, or flowers.

“It was mine,” says a timid voice, and I narrow my eyes at the man speaking. He was the one carrying my mate, and the only reason he is alive right now is because she asked me not to hurt him. I know that it's wrong, but I’ve never been jealous until now, and I feel like I need to eliminate all competition. “Someone wrote something foul on the siding.”

“Foul?” I’m told that the word b*tch was spray painted on the school and the idea to draw the crayons was made after surveying what items were readily available. 

I love that my mate didn’t make a big deal out of the issue, but I’m angry that she didn’t tell me. I ask if anyone knows who may have done it, but they all shrug, which isn’t surprising. 

“If it happens again, no matter what my mate says, tell me immediately. She’ll be angry with you, but you’ve met her, it won’t last long.” A small round of chuckles goes around, and I realize that this is the first time omegas in the pack haven’t been constantly crouched down around me as if I were a ticking time bomb.

“How is she alpha?” 

“She wasn’t actually hurt, just creeped out by it. She will be fine by morning, but if she comes by, don’t let her do anything strenuous.” The men nod, and once again, I’m amazed at their level of calm around me.

“It’s because we have her.” Orlin says, and while I’ve always agreed, I’m now thoroughly convinced; Rhea is the perfect woman for me.