Lunar Rising

Hope

Aura's POV:    

The room was quiet and every sound that echoed through the halls set my nerves ablaze. Every second was torture wondering when Casimir would return. 

My body ached. I was scared to see what I would look like, but for the majority of the day, I couldn't even muster the strength to pull myself up from the floor where I slept the previous night. My bed was still soaked with blood. 

Each sticky, syrupy droplet of blood that soaked through the thin mattress made a plinking noise as they fell one after another to the ground. The cherry red pool was crusted now around the edges as the stagnant puddle started to dry, but I watched the center ripple and glisten with every drop. It reminded me what had just happened only hours ago. 

After a long while of just lying motionless on the floor and running through the sequence of events over and over again in my head, I decided I'd had enough. I had to pull myself together.

I lifted my aching and stiff joints, forcing my body to move. Even with my accelerated healing, I was healing slow. Too slow. Was this another side effect of the injections I'd been receiving? It severed my connection to my powers so it wouldn't surprise me if it slowed my healing too. 

I dragged myself to the dimly lit bathroom, glancing at the mirror. My eye was swollen as well as my cheek bone that was adorned with a deep split travelling from the corner of my eye crease downward.

An assortment of greens, blacks, blues and purples made my body look ghastly. I grimaced at the toothy holes that trailed from my collarbone down to my breast. The wounds were deep and looked angry. 

The sight of the incongruous mixture of bites, scratches and hand printed bruising was flooding me with of emotions. Fear, pain, anger... I began to cry as I took it all in. Hot tears that were brimming in my eyes now fell freely down my sore cheeks. 

What kind of people find enjoyment in doing this to someone? 

I drew a bath, hoping that the smoldering hot water would be enough to sear the memories out of my body. 

The pink water swirled around me, though I wasn't sure if it was from my blood or the abundance of Jax's blood that was all over me. I was covered in both. 

I stiffened at the sound of the door opening from the room. When I was sure someone was entering into my space, I leapt from the tub, grabbing a towel to cover myself. 

I growled at the intruder, warning them I was ready for a fight. I would not make the mistake of waiting for the danger to come again. If someone wanted to get close to me again, they would have to be prepared to fight me to the death, even if that meant forcing a shift on my body and risking my growing child inside me. 

A frail woman peeked her head in cautiously with her hands raised in surrender. 

I growled ferally with my lips curled back to show my extended, sharp canines. I was ready to tear anyone apart, no matter the cost, yet my wolf was calm and more curious than guarded. 

Her scent seemed familiar, and I took in the full sight of her to try and remember where I'd seen her before. 

Her long, gorgeous chocolate brown hair was braided to one side that fell clear to her waist, exposing a horrible scar on the side of her face where she should have had an ear. Her hair covered most of it, but I could tell she was missing the entire thing.