AURORA ☾ Leah Clearwater ✔

Chapter 16... Fall

☾

Emily

Pain...

So much pain...

I emerged from the darkness into a sea of hurt. The right side of my face felt like it was on fire, but the rain that was drizzling did nothing to quench it. The trees stretched out above me, reaching for the sky. As I stared at them, I noticed that I couldn't quite see out of my right eye. The vision was foggy, tinted with red.

Something shifted beneath me. A familiar face pushed into sight. Jared. His face was twisted, tormented like he was in pain too. Had something happened to us?

I tried to open my mouth to speak, to ask questions, but the movement just intensified the pain.

"Don't," Jared said, wincing as well. "Just relax. I got you. I'll keep you warm."

I felt his words gently rumble through my body, and I realized he was holding me close against his chest. Why? I couldn't quite remember how we had ended up here, but his warmth was comforting, almost as comforting as Sam's—

Sam.

It all came rushing back. How Leah hated me now. How angry I had been with myself, and how I had taken it out on poor Sam. How I had said those awful things to him. How... How he had changed suddenly and—

Oh.

I knew where the pain was coming now. When Sam had suddenly changed I had been too close. I let my head loll to the side, weakly trying to look for Sam, wanting to apologize... Though I wasn't sure how I was going to do that if I couldn't talk.

Thankfully he was still here. He was still in his wolf form, the giant shadow, pacing across the forest floor. He was watching me intently, whimpering softly... I understood Jared's look of pain then. Sam had told me about the bond they shared; how one wolf's pain became the pain of the whole pack.

I wanted to reach out for him, but the movement was too much for me. I just stared at him, hoping he could understand that I didn't blame him through just the look in my eyes.

Sam just shook his massive wolf head at me, shame tinting his black eyes. I can never forgive myself, the look said. But before anything else could be said, he whipped his head up, staring off into the trees.

"Jared? Sam?" came a familiar voice, a voice that intensified the agony I was in. It was Auntie Sue. "Where are you guys?"

"Over here!" Jared called his voice rumbling in his chest against me.

I wriggled in Jared's arms, wanting to escape. I couldn't imagine what Auntie Sue thought of me, not after what I had done. She was Leah's mother after all, and she must hate me, just as Leah does. Pain shot through me again, but I didn't mind... I deserved it.

"Stay still," Jared cooed, stroking my hair. "It will be okay."

I feebly shook my head, accepting the pain it caused.

But as Auntie Sue came into view, she didn't look angry. She simply looked worried, rushing towards me with a hefty first aid kit in her hand.

"Oh Emily," she said, her eyes wide, as she kneeled down beside me. "It's... It's going to be okay."

I couldn't respond but I felt tears leak out the corner of my eyes. The salt in them made the right side of my face burn. I couldn't believe that Auntie Sue was being so kind to me. Why...?