The Alpha Twins and their Runaway Witch

82

Ariel had checked a map of where she needed to go. Locking the location in her mind. As she left the cottage, she closed her eyes, and envisioned the compass, letting her body guide her to where she wanted to go. Trusting in her magic. Three Hours Past Midnight was flying overhead. He certainly liked it here Ariel noted as two more ravens joined him criss-crossing over her head through and aorund the thick canopy of branches overhead. 

The sun was warm on her face as she walked towards the light as the rising sun marched its way across the sky to mark a day. Ariel could hear song birds singing in the trees around her. Could occasionally hear the sound of a car on a dirt road nearby but out of sight. She saw squirrels and rabbits as she went through the peaceful forest.

She was close to feeling like everything was as good as she could ever remember. Except, she did not know where Binh was and Three Hours Past Midnight pretended he did not hear the question and would say nothing. Only telling her it was not in his nature to interfere with the affairs of a Demon.

She knew, she had become over dependant on Binh. It was for the best that she was already on her way to try and talk to a professional about her complicated state of mind right now. Every moment Ariel spent with Alex, August and their family nearby, she could not help but highlight how the world she had known was so different to everything here.

There had been a feeling hidden in the eyes of the forest elf when he had come to speak with Ariel. An unspoken understanding that each had seen the true worst that humanity could bestow upon another. Ariel was just starting to see the other side, another way that people could exist together. Aspen, if Ariel was right, had also known hard living, and had managed to recover and thrive, raising her mates in their large loving family.

Ariel had been walking trusting her feelings, she took out her phone and read the description one more time for how to find the proper house. Smiling to herself when she looked up from her phone screen to the exact building she was looking for peeking out from behind some trees ahead and just to her left.

Taking a deep breath, and telling herself that this was an important step. She didn't want to feel like she was broken anymore. She wanted to know how healthy relationships worked. She needed help and was trusting that if Aspen had recommended this particular person, there was very good reason. Ariel had felt all the Greenrivers parent's think about her while she had been in their home.

They paid attention to offer kindness to her when she faltered, they were gracious hosts, and interacted with each other with such tenderness. The home was quiet, and peaceful while still being warm and welcoming. Ariel felt safe and at ease under their roof. None of her foster families had been anything like this. A few had tried to play pretend the first night she was with them that they were a safe, loving family.

Those ones, Ariel had learned were the worst ones. They knew how to act, and how to make sure everyone hit their marks during any official visit like a well rehearsed stage production. It was everything that happened in between a new arrival and mandatory welfare check in the home that left scars and nightmares. Ariel had tried to refuse to be left at her last foster home. It had that feeling, the bad one where Ariel knew things were only ever safe when there were other eyes looking in. She had been right, but the social worker had still left Ariel there.

Already in a frame of mind to work through her past, Ariel knocked on the door. It was promptly opened and she was ushered inside by a friendly face. An hour later, she was given some time in a private washroom to wash and freshen up after crying hard at the end of her appointment.

Razzak had listened intently once they had managed to get Ariel to begin to open up. It had started slow. Asking why she had made the appointment. Ariel had answered that she wanted to learn how to love her mates and be confident in herself. Razzak was subtle as they took notes with a finger dancing across a tablet. Asked soft, guiding questions, only ever pausing Ariel to ask her to describe how she remembered feeling.

Ariel had managed to get to the point where she escaped. Razzak had stopped her. "We will save the escape for our next session. Before we are done I want to tell you." Ariel had been confused. This was where things started to get better for her. She wanted to talk about this new life she was trying to build. Wanted to do it right.

Razzak paused, letting Ariel adjust to listening headspace instead of sharing. "Nothing that has happened to you, or your mother was your fault." Ariel's head whipped up from looking at her shoes so quickly her teeth had clicked together at hearing his words.

"You are strong. Not just your magic, you as a person possess great strength. You are still here. That is a testament to this fact." Ariel was overwhelmed by his words. This wasn't the same as Binh knowing every detail of her worst nightmares based in truth. Ariel had told her story in her own words, and Razzak was responding.

"You did not and could never have deserved the life you have known." Ariel had broken. All the ragged threads she had been using to hold herself together had been cut through. Razzak was indeed good at what he did. He started his life as a simple incubus, who developed a penchant for easing broken hearts.

Then he had studied human psychology under the very men who developed the science. Blending scientific research with his innate ability to read and work with emotions allowed him to become one of the best therapists for those who had been hurt like Ariel had been. Though even he had to admit that the story of her life painted one of the most tragic he had come across outside of an active war-zone.

Razzark allowed Ariel all the time she needed to feel her emotions. His validation had been needed for her to release the lies she had used to keep herself going. Razzak was at his best during the appointment. Ushering Ariel into the softly lit, spa like washroom. A water closet style toilet behind another closed door, a sink, mirror, and soft chair with a box of tissues covered with ceramic wave. The blue of the rippling ceramic curling around a waiting tissue acting like the white foamy water as the wave rolled over onto itself. Once he heard the door click over to locked, his brows had furrowed.

Binh had left the early morning hours. The pack enforcers had confirmed the demon had left from a secluded field and teleported. Without saying goodbye, without an explanation. Ariel was a mess of trauma that included abandonment. She had attached herself to Binh, Binh had taken care of her, made her trust him and now he had left her in the dark of night without so much as a word.

Razzak opened the window to his office where he saw patients. Looking  directly at the raven perched on the nearest tree. Keeping guard on his witch. "You better be giving him fucking hell for this." Razzak said quietly, with force, leaning out the window so Ariel would not hear him talking to her familiar. The crow had nodded his bird head while perched on a branch. Sending an imprint of a single word to the sex demon. "MAD." Razzak nodded, a crow angry enough to share a direct thought with a demon as low as an incubus was hopefully enough torment for the Baku's crime.

Satisfied, he went to his desk to tidy up his notes regarding the appointment, saving the file onto his encrypted cloud, scheduling a time for himself to reread the notes, and plan the following appointment. He was going to need to break open the books and study up. Aspen was right to send Ariel to him. Razzak was hopeful that Ariel would be able to recover just as well as Aspen had. She was resilient, and safe now. The twins were good kids. A little wild, but never malicious or ill intended.

The washroom opened, and Razzak stood, walking Ariel to the front door. Reminding her of their next appointment time, and wishing her well as well as giving her an assignment. "Home work, eyes open, let yourself feel what you feel and see what you see. Consider a journal perhaps to record your own emotional responses." Handing her a pocket sized notebook. A small pocket on the front of the notebook holding a waiting pen.

She had paused before accepting the gift. Three Hours Past Midnight gave her mind a nudge, towards accepting the gift. Believing what she saw and felt. Razzak was her therapist, and he wanted to help her. Whispering thank you as she left the home, making her way back to the cottage she was staying with with Alex and August through the woods.

She hadn't ever told anyone that much about herself out loud. It had made some things more real, but lighter. She headed back deciding that the first thing she wrote down, would be trying to name what she felt when she was offered the notebook. A fresh memory before she had to work backwards and forwards.