The Battle Within
1550 Words
PEARL’S POV:
Find my family. I guess that is my newly acquired goal with or without Charles. What am I supposed to do? Call out for my family to hear me? Yell across the park like a lost child or a stray?
I bet I would look odd. No... I know that I would appear odd and vulnerable to anything and everything that would be waiting nearby. I may have Alpha and Hekate running through my veins, but I am not a fool. I am no one’s dinner or play toy for some sick, demented pack members trying to get their rocks off.
I am not reliving my past with the Salaquins, holding me down trying to make me theirs. The worst part, thanks to Richard, they are a part of a pack now.
Hmmm, I need a plan and to be prepared for the worst to come, but what?
Through all the emotional turmoil battling from within, one question that weighs across my mind. A question that I thought I would never have to ask since I left the orphanage, “Hekara, do you think my family will like me?” I hope they do. Facing a new family is so nerve-racking. At least I have my wolf to support me this time.
“Hekara? Are you there?”
“Silence still?” I sigh, mournfully. “Hekara, I’m... I’m sorry. I really never meant to hurt you, okay?” This silence between us is killing me.
Hekara huffs, "I bet it is."
“Just do what you got to do. I will be waiting here until you are done.”
“Just do what I got to do?” I repeat in shock. “Wait here?” I look around the woods, trying to understand, “You’re living with me. What in the hell is that even supposed to mean, Hekara?”
Hekara huffs again, “All I am trying to say is do what you got to do to find your family, and I will stand back here and wait, that is all!”
“Hekara, you are acting strange. What is wrong?”
“Me strange?” She growls.
“Yes!” I snap back.
“I am not the one that is being strange! It is you, Pearl! Are you ready to tell me what happened while we were running?”
“No,” I answer too quickly.
Shit...
“I mean, yes... I mean, no! I mean... f**k!” I stomp my feet on the ground and pace back and forth.
“Thanks, Pearl. Thanks a lot.” Hekara says sadly.
“You know what, Hekara?” I say and stop dead in my tracks.
“Oh, God. Now what?”
“Hear me out.” I smile from ear to ear like a possum.
“Ugh. This is going to be bad. I know that look.”
I shake my head back and forth. “No, no, it is will be for the best.”
“I doubt it.” She yawns.
“Are you going to listen?” I challenge.
“What the hell is it, Pearl? I am tired. I need a nap from running.”
“First of all, no you don’t. Second, all I want to say is, let’s make a deal right here and right now!”
“Excuse me?”
“I thought that would get your attention. I want to make a deal, Hekara.” I cross my arms and wait.
Her voice perks up a bit. “What kind of deal?”
“A simple one. I will tell you the truth, but only if you do the same for me.”
“Me!” She growls out loud.
“Yes, Hekara! Spill it! This isn’t just about the run. There is more to it, and you f*****g know it!”
“Well, this isn’t about me right now.” She mumbles.
“Oh, come on, Hekara! If I am willing to do this, you can too!” I wave my finger about in the air.
“Fine! I will!”
“Then tell me, Hekara, what is it!” I command more seriously.
“I’m worried that...” Hekara takes a breath, her voice becomes barely audible. “I am worried that once you find your new family, you will not need me anymore.”
“You mean as in my entire wolf's side? Like, cut off our link just because they are Wiccan?” I question in shock.
She whispers. “Yes.”
“Oh no, Hekara, I would never... how could you even think...” I try to get the words out, but I can’t.
My legs caved beneath me, causing me to crumble to the ground. The mere thoughts of losing my wolf, a part of me hurt so bad that it opened a flooded gate of tears. I cry against the rough bark of my favorite tree. The feeling of my chest squeezes tighter and tighter with each flashing image of losing Hekara.
“How could you even say such a thing!” I cry through the tears.
"Pearl," Hekara’s words softened. "Please don’t cry. I had no clue."
"As to what?” I fuss through the salty tears dripping on my tongue, “That you mean this much to me, "Well, I guess you do now, huh!" I fold my arms and rest them on my knees and cry harder.
“I... I’m sorry, Pearl. My pride gets in the way sometimes. I guess we are still learning about each other. The way we are. Our strengths and weaknesses. It has only been a month after all.”
Looking up across the park towards the path I used to take, I wipe the tears away. “I know. I feel the same way.”
“Pearl, what happened when we were running? Please tell me.”
“Okay,” I sniffle. “I will. When you were struggling towards the end, I got worried, and I wanted more than anything to help you. Next thing you know, I... well... I heard a voice.” Saying the words out loud to Hekara wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The weight of hiding the facts from Hekara helped so much the tears faded away.
“A voice? Tell me more.” And what made matters even better, Hekara and I are in sync again, and she is listening to me.
“Well, at first I thought it was like the wind because we were going so fast, but then it came in so clear. It was calling my name.”
“It was a woman?” Hekara asks with a new sense of curiosity.
“Yes! She said it several times, and the next thing I know, she healed you and poof! We were here in a split-seconds time.”
“Pearl, I am not okay with this. She sounds dangerous.”
“Hekara, she healed your tired body so you could run and beat Pita. Besides," I shrug my shoulders. “Pita wasn’t mad.”
“She also controlled both of our bodies without consent. Are you okay with that too?”
“It wasn’t like that, Hekara.”
“Yes, it was.”
“Pearl, if you are going to learn about magic, you have to know the difference between light and dark. There is a balance. They have to be kept balanced in the world. I may not be from the Hekate bloodline, but I will tell you this, love. Any living or non-loving being does without your consent is dark magic.”
“Pearl, we need to find out who that woman was. I don’t like how she got to you so easily, and I sure as hell don’t like how she used me either.”
“Okay, I am with you. We are doing this together, Hekara, do you understand me? Together.”
“Yes, together.”
“So, where do we begin? Here at the Park, Second Chance W&W, the old asylum may have some records too? I hear they have a massive creepy gravesite sitting in their backyard.”
“Oh, that sounds really exciting. I can’t wait to check that out.”
“Your sarcasm is noted.”
Hekara laughs briefly before stopping and smelling the air. I stop and smell the air too. “What do you smell, Hekara?”
“I don’t know. It is faint. Whatever it is.”
I close my eyes and block out the rest of the world, clearing my mind of what is around. The world around me becomes still, and all can hear is the breaths of Hekara’s and mine. “I sense someone nearby. They are smart. Using the resources of the land to hide their scent, but they are here.”
"Erik, step out from behind there right now!”
A six-foot-two man with bleach blonde hair steps from behind a pine tree and stares deep into my eyes. His once slender body is gone. All that remains is the oh too perfect build of muscles in every spot from head to toe. His once pale complexion is gone. Too many nights, he sat on top of the roof, howling for his lost mate. Now, the only part left on his bare body that is soft is his eyes for me. “Hey, Pearl.”
“Have you been following me!” I hiss.
“Yes, I have!” Just like that, he spits it out like I am supposed to accept it.
“Erik, you can’t go around following me and stalking me! I don’t care what Charles says to you! Just go home!” I point towards the exit way.
“No.” Erik snaps firmly.
“No?” I growl, feeling ready to shift. “Erik, I don’t think you have a choice in the matter, I am the Alpha! Go home!”
“No,” he says again, walking straight up to me so close that our bare toes touch. “I will not.”
“Erik,” I try to say, feeling his body hardening against mine.
“Pearl, I am not going to hurt you. I only here to keep you safe. Don’t you get it? You have always been here for me, and I will be the same for you. f**k Pearl, I have already lost one woman in my life. I am not losing two!”
“Erik...” I whisper in shock.
Erik steps back and stares into his glisten eyes and down to his hardening erection, “Don’t worry about me, Pearl, but I am not letting you out of my sight, and I will have you back to that hotel safe and sound. Do you understand?”
“Charles is going to flip out, but for once, I am okay with this.”
“Me too.”
- Writer
