Proven Heart

Ten: Worth

It was already noon when Selena felt her mate had calmed down. He sobbed in his sleep, sometimes calming down. She had never seen a wolf so marred with the past’s heartache like him.

In his sleep, he muttered only his pleas for not wanting to be left behind by his father, how hungry and cold he was, and her name. Nathaniel murmured her name again and again.

Every attempt to wake him up caused him to whimper even more. It pained her to just watch him survive the torrential nightmares that plagued his mind.

Nathaniel opens his eyes. The wet sheen on them still unnerved Selena. She rested her head on his arm, nuzzling close against him. He was confused momentarily, panicking at the moment he saw the pain etched on her face.

“Selena, are you okay?”

She didn’t speak. All that she felt was an unrelenting relief that he had now awoken and the past couple of hours seemed nothing to him.

“Moon, you need to speak before you give me a heart attack.”

A small grin suddenly finds its way to Selena’s lips. There he was again, worrying too much for her when it was him that had a problem.

He raises himself, looking down at her. He looked like he was about to break down.

In his defense, Selena’s smile made her look like she was about to go mental.

His enormous hands cup the sides of her face. She almost couldn’t believe how quickly his face had transformed into an ardent view of anguish.

“Your silence is so loud to me, Selena. And it is the most painful kind of all.” He muttered.

Selena looks down at her fingertips, uncertain how she was going to approach the topic with him.

But she didn’t let that drag her off faraway. What she needed to say was bigger than chickening out right now.

“My nightmare begins in the woods. I’m running fast and far away from those wolves. Their dirty hands start touching me, putting their faces next to mine. Their stench and voices surround me and the next thing I know, I’m falling until he catches me…” Selena pauses, unable to speak. Nathaniel became stone. His rigid composure and his fierce eyes had shaken her.

What was on his mind? She could only guess. Looking at him now and the fleeting glimpses of anger and dismay whizzing through the strands of her gray orbs, she felt so little.

He gulps noisily.

“Continue.” He spoke.

“I-it’s Roark. He holds me tight against his chest.” She felt the wolf inside of Nathaniel’s body emit an aura that suffocated her. Even her wolf felt scared. “He tells me he loves me, but behind him, I see my mother and father’s corpses rotting away. Then I… I push him away and then the dream ends. It started the first night I spent alone without you.”

His body convulsed, the beat of his heart racing. Nathaniel’s expression shifted between sadness and rage. He sat with his back arched, his head hung low as he closed his eyes shut.

Selena leans into him and places her head on his shoulder.

“You know, Nathaniel. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry. The Stormwind has much more important things to worry about other than a silly nightmare.”