Hold Me Forever

Chapter 4

He was just laying there. His long, muscular body had a relaxed vibe as he was engolfed by the mountain of pillows on his bed. His face was turned upwards towards the ceiling and from the glaze that had formed over his eyes, you could tell he was somewhere else. His mind was traveling the deep realms of his imagination.

Ari did this often. There would be times when we were having a serious conversation and mid sentence his whole thought process would pause and his eyes would blur. It was almost like the real world didn't exist anymore, it was just him, in his own head.

I wondered what he thought about; where he went when he was like that. One time I even asked, and he simply told me that he was thinking of the way things could be. He envisioned the past, present and future. It was something special.

So many people found this trait annoying, childish and slightly disrespectful, but I found it beautiful. Something about the look on his face and his smile afterwards made it one of his most attractive features. I felt honored whenever I was in his presence and it happened.

   I poked his smooth cheek, and couldn't help but notice the contrast between his soft skin and the rough pad of my fingertip. He flinched out of his dreamy state and turned his head to look at me. His eyebrows were furrowed into a look of soft confusion. I've never interrupted him when he was like this but something inside me craved his attention.

  I contorted my face until it was scrunched together towards my nose, and his face broke into a large smile. Ari ran one of his large hand across his face while letting out a small chuckle that seemed to warm up his room.

He had a typical room. Plain blue walls with a bunch of movie posters pinned in awkward places which made the enormous room seem small. I had helped him put them up, one morning he rushed to my house and told me that his room lacked character and scolded me for letting him live like that. I just remember laughing at him and his tiny hand dragging me to the nearest store.

We were about seven then, and now ten years later the room hadn't changed other than the absence of children's toys and the replacement of an abundance of books. His room had always felt so ordinary that it was refreshing in the world that we lived in. A safe haven from the wolves that roamed freely outside; our own sanctuary where we could be somewhat normal. And today the feeling was no different.

"I was thinking about you this time." He whispered so softly that a human ear would miss. I twitched uncontrollably for a minute before turning to look at him once again. His gaze had returned to the ceiling but he wasn't in a trance anymore.

"What about me?" My voice was begging him to tell me, to give me insight to whatever special things goes on in his brain. His father always warned us about Ari's 'gift', saying that it was both a blessing and a curse, but i had never really understood what his gift was so i never paid much mind to any words of caution.

His smile faded along the corners and the vibe in the room changed for a moment before he quickly smiled again and the room snapped back to its previous state.

He turned his whole body towards me, shifting the pile of pillows that were around us, leaving us both laying on our sides only a few inches apart. His smile morphed into his popular smirk and he rested a hand on my hip.

"That is definitely top secret information, I'd have to kill you and no one would want a pretty face like yours dead." He flicked my nose and jumped from the bed in one swift moment. He straightened out his clothes and winked at me before walking out of his bedroom door.

I was laying on something soft and extremely familiar. So familiar that it made me nauseous. I had yet to open my eyes besides being awake for the past couple of hours, i couldn't find the strength nor the courage to face the beautiful boy who had been sitting by my side since i came back to consciousness.

The last thing i remember was the arms of someone from the pack carrying me away from the scene of the crash. I remember my captors had on my thigh, like his fingertips were now permanently stitched into my skin. I remember the pain that fled my body when the metallic liquid flowed from my lips, and the scarring feeling of that cloth-like substance that was stuffed down my throat.

All of that seemed minor in this moment, as the pain that came from Ari's icy blue eyes watching me seemed to trump everything else.

I was laying in his bed, accompanied by the mountain of pillows that were always resting there, and swearing from the heat of his comforter on top of me. My breathing was labored but i noticed that it had been like that since Ari rejected me as his mate. Everything since then hadn't been the same.

I hadn't been in this room, seen his face, or heard his voice until today. It felt like it had been years when reality it had only been three months. I wasn't prepared for this, i wasn't prepared to face him, but i guess that was inevitable now.

"I know you're awake. The quicker you get up, the quicker we can go back to our lives" his voice hitched when he said the last sentence but i ignored it and forced my eyes open.

Something inside me seemed to light on fire when i heard the harsh tone of his voice. I flung his sheets from my body and without giving him the benefit of seeing the sadness on my face, I turned my body towards the door, throwing my legs off the side of his bed.

I felt the air shift as he straightened his body behind me. I could always feel his movements in a room because his body possessed some kind of power that surged from inside him and bounced off the walls.

"Clarity." His voice was soft and reminded me of before but what our life was like before shouldn't matter to me anymore. I shouldn't compare him to the person i knew before because he was different. We were all different.

I felt his eyes trailing along my back and i remembered that glass had splintered my skin in several places there. I looked down at my attire and gasped. I was in nothing but my undergarments.

"What the hell!" I yelled with more power than i had originally intended. Anger pooled in the pit of my stomach and i felt my body start to twitch as my wolf came alive within me.

"Relax, we had to make sure you weren't severely hurt. Your clothes just got in the way."

I couldn't focus on the sound of his voice as he explained it. My body was vibrating and my mind was clouding over as i started to transition into the animal that was trapped inside of me. My true self. Without another thought i three myself from his bed and ran out of his room.

I didn't remember leaving the pack house, or running past the members of my pack that were undergoing training. I didn't remember my name being called or the order that Ari yelled at me to stop.

At that moment i didn't feel anything. I wasn't compelled to listen to his every word or obey him like everyone else in the pack.

I remembered the feeling of my chest ripping in two and my human skin shredding from my body as i unleashed my wolf. I remembered hearing my scream as i lost all control and I remembered my scream morphing into an earthy growl that shook the ground beneath me.

I had put my own mind to rest and let my wolf take over reality for a moment.

I felt free.