Till I Awaken

Part 16: That Smile!

I don't know how much longer I can put on this act, Kieyera's emotions taste of suspiscion. And I can't have her suspecting me. Chance is doign really well on the acting part, but I feel sad not being able to help him. They hit him, and beat him, while I just have to stand by, watch, and act like it's good for him. I don't know what Chance meant by I could always re-do my emotions for him, love him again by starting over. Would that even work? I don't know if I could ever allow myself to love him again. I mean, yes he apologized for what he did to me. But that is the second time in a row. I am afraid of it happening a third time. I want to love him again, I just can't. Soemtimes I go over the moment I shut my emotions off for him, and I regret it, and sometimes I think it's for the best. We probably wouldn't have lasted that long anyway. I mean, we loved each other yes, but we don't really know each other very well. I think we will need to just stay friends. I really doubt he will like that idea though. I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sounds of a smack. I looked and Keanan was beating down on Chance. And since Chance was tied up, he was unable to defend himself.

"Not so tough now, huh lover boy!" Keanan teased in a high pitched voice. Some of the others chuckled. Nailiah walked up to Chance and his swollen lips.

"Oh, I guess you can't smooch around anymore, poor baby!" she said in a baby voice. More people laughed. Chance spat blood to his side.

"Do you still love nature, despite what it did to you?" he said a comeback. Everyone froze. Burrell, Corette, and Vincent mumbled 'ohs'. Nailiah tasted of pure anger and embarrassment. She kicked him in the face so hard he was lucky not to get a broken nose. But he felt it. I was tired of this.

"Shut your ass up! I could kill you right now." she yelled. She then kicked his tenders, and he toppled over. I stood up and started storming towards them while everyone else laughed their heads off.

"Stop it Nailah!" I yelled. Everyone stopped laughing and looked at me. Now I was straight in front of her face.

"Why? Because you don't want me to hurt you poor boyfriend?" she teased. I glared at her, and bared my fangs. But then again, I couldn't risk them knowing about my secret alliance with Chance.

"His blood will be a lot more deadly and threatening to the royals if he's in perfect shape. Messing up his face will make that hard. So stop breaking our weapon." I came up with a reasonable excuse quickly. She snorted.

"Whatever." she turned around and walked away, the others followed her into the woods. Hunting again. Kieyera was gone, she would usually take off during the night, and would never tell us why. I turned around and crouched down next to Chance, I put my hand on his shoulder, we was still trying to recover from getting kicked in the balls.

"You alright?" I asked. He winced and nodded.

"How much longer do we have to keep this up?" he asked. I pulled out a cloth went over to a tree and got some water from todays rain and soaked it before returning.

"I'm guessing until we get there." I answered while cleanign the blood off of his face. Which surprisingly wasn't killing me. "Why aren't I dying?" I asked. He chuckled.

"Maybe it has something to do with me imprinting on you." he suggested. I looked away from his eyes and focused on his wounds, avoiding eye contact with the idea that he even imprinted on me. A smile twitched itself onto his lips.

"You don't have to keep secrets. I know how you're feeling, and you know how I am feeling, Beverly." he lifted my chin up to look at him. "I can see that we're not going to get any farther than friends, I can taste it in your emotions. I hate myself for doing that to you, for hurting you so bad, that you just shut it off to protect yourself." he said. I shook my head.

"Don't beat yourself up about it." I muttered.

"No, I don't deserve your help with this. You're risking your life by being an alliance with me, why?" he asked. I looked away, finally finished with his wounds.

"Maybe I'm hoping my feelings for you will come back." I whispered. But he heard me.

"Hoping? You want to love me again?" he asked. I looked at him and saw something I never have seen before in his eyes. And his emotions tasted sweet and...perfect.

"Maybe." I replied. We stood there for a minute just staring at each other, tasting each others emotions. I heard footsteps about a mile away. "I'm guessing that's Kieyera." I stood up and started to walk away, btu Chance grabbed my wrist.

"Wait." I turned towards him. "Kiss me." he instructed. My eyes widened.

"What?" I asked.

"Just kiss me once, see how it feels. Maybe it'll help you get your feelings back." he explained. I realized I didn't have much time, and I personally wanted to check. I leaned down quickly and let our lips meet. But I also let go as soon as possible and rushed away from him, not looking at him.

"Beverly." an unfamiliar voice said. I looked in the dark forest to see a man standing there. Not one I recognized, he was wearing a dark suit, with a simple button down shirt underneath. He had light brown hair cut short, and grayish blue eyes. He was tall and he had toned muscles. He was surprisingly attractive, about the same level of attractiveness as Chance. I got butterflies in my stomach by the sight of him, so much that I completely forgot about the kiss with Chance.

"Who are you?" I asked. He gave me a killer charming smile and I felt my knees go weak. What is that about? I haven't felt this way in a long time, when I first met Chance actually.

"My name is Lufian. But I prefer Ian." he answered. Oh, that smile again.

"Um, what are you doing here?" I asked casually. It sounded like I aleady knew him, but I had no idea, but by the way my stomach is feeling, I should know. He put his hands in his pockets and walked towards me.

"I'm here to save you, and Chance." he answered. He looked at Chance who suddenly tasted like jealousy, crap, he tasted my feelings I suddenly had towards Ian.

"What do you mean?" Chance asked.

"Don't you know that you will probably not win this fight? You two may be imprinted, Beverly may have powers, yadda yadda yadda, but you still are no match for what's coming. If the royals take down the rebellion, then Chance will be safe, mostly. They will kill Beverly for her involvement, and they want Chance dead because they don't want to have the risk of him being used against them again. Odds are, either the rebellion will win and neither of you will survive, but if the royals win neither of you will survive. You both are destined to die." he explained.

"How do you know?" I asked. When he looked at me, he did the smile. Oh knees, stay strong!

"Let's just say I've been around for a long time." he answered.

"So how can you help?" Chance asked. Ian didn't look away from me.

"I'm your escape route." he answered.