Celestial Bodies: Of Runts and Lycans

Chapter 51: Used To

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Celeste's POV

Pain.

Pain pulsed through my entire body; it filled my veins like blood.

"Xavier?" I croaked. My first thought always reaches for him. Even in my moments of low awareness, I want for him.

I haven't heard Ancillary since they took me from the pack but I can feel her longing for him too. For my mate. It fills me almost as much as the pain.

No one responds.

My vision is blurred, something I'd grown used to. This time it felt different. Like a mist covering my eyes but not touching my skin. I blink several times, waiting for the dizziness that usually accompanies the action. It doesn't come. I hesitate before bringing a hand up to wipe at my eyes. The movement is sluggish; and my arm stings but it doesn't feel heavy. I'd grown used to the heaviness of my own body, I realize. An ache does form, greater than I've felt in awhile. It stretches across the muscles of my arm, accompanying the sting from my healing injury. My eyes hurt as I drag a fist over the lids but my vision clears. Clearer than I've felt in who knows how long.

White. I'm in a white room. "Lycer?" Confusion fills me as I take in a table full of vials and some sort of machine with a neck. There's another medical exam table, cold and calculating. And with straps. Straps where I'd imagine arms and legs would usually rest. Several shelves line the room, all of them with locks on them. Where am I?

The room is quiet and I realize that I've also grown used to the constant dripping of water that happens in the cell block. It's warmer here too. I close my eyes, basking in it. My toes and fingers don't ache with a chill. And I find myself grateful for it, beyond the worry of why I'm here.

I try to push myself up only to be pulled back at my right wrist. A hiss escapes me as my shoulder pulses with pain. I thought I had grown used to the pain inflicted on me on my first day here. The cuts along both arms had decently healed, a long trail of scar tissue still red and angry, but no longer open. The wound on my shoulder, however, regularly rips back open. It was getting better, Lycer had said. But it often bled in small amounts, and I was never able to raise my arm very high.

Looking down, my right wrist is held down by one of the straps; they're on this table too. There's a small lock on it. I turn it with my other hand; it would need a key.

"Hello?" My words come out practically clear, if not a little scratchy from my parched throat. My mind swims. The wolfsbane in my system must be fading. It's still there. I can feel it burning through my veins but the effects are low. How much longer until I can mind link? What will I say? I don't know where I am. I have no information we didn't already know back at the pack. The caves. . . We're in caves of some kind. Lycer said so. Maybe that will be enough to narrow down whatever Xavier has. Xavier. . .

The doorknob rattles. I hold my breath, waiting for whoever it is to make their entrance. I expect Malum, maybe one of his rogues. Instead, the person I hate most walks through the door.