Severed Connections

Chapter Seven: Burning Breaths

I had not slept or eaten for three days. With only the small snacks that I could barely keep down and the five minute naps, I was barely hanging on. The bags under my eyes were substantial. Every movement seemed to take so much more effort than it was worth and I felt myself crumbling again, as if I hadn’t ever had a night of peace.

It made no sense to myself or the others. After Jax and I had spoken by the railing during my first night staying in the hotel, things had seemed better. The roaring appeared “vanquished“. I’d slept the rest of that night and late into the afternoon with no problem. But the moment I woke up, my body had other plans.

The packs were growing impatient with the matter at hand. At first they had been understanding. Mr. Richter informed them of my situation, and that I needed a day or so to adjust. When my condition became increasingly clear, two days became three. The issue of my signaling and existence was unresolved.

“May?”

I turned over on the bed where Jax lay next to me, fast asleep. I could see the sun peeking through the curtains – it was early in the morning.

There was no point in pretending like I’d rested at all.

“Yes?” I whispered, my voice somewhat raspy.

Mr. Richter cleared his throat and stood at the foot of the bed, dressed somewhat nicely in what was obviously an old suit, a black tie hanging around his neck loosely. His green eyes were filled with some anxiety. He had news that he didn’t want to voice, but seemed to have no choice in doing so.

“What is it?”

I sat up, leaning my back against the wall and clutching a pillow to my chest. I rested my chin on it and stared at him expectantly. Most likely, he worried that any stress from this news might cause me too much strain, and therefore cause a breakdown of some sort. But he didn’t need to worry about that. These days, I was more physically worn out than emotionally. A breakdown was unlikely unless it involved physical exertion.

“Well, I…” he started, eyebrows furrowing.

It was very unlike him to speak like that, without conviction. Without an unmeasurable amount of strength. The longer he stood there messing with his tie and frowning at me, the more concerned I grew. I sat up a little straighter even though my body resisted the movement.

“I could not persuade the other packs to wait at least another day for you to recover. They believe I’m stalling and that you are either perfectly well or no longer with us. We have no choice but to have another meeting. This time, however, we’ll be meeting in the conference room next to the lobby. It’s large enough to fit the twelve packs gathered in the area. But in order for us to have reserved the room, we had to claim we were a large corporation of some sort –conducting a rather important transaction between merging companies. Which means we have to mock the appearance of business executives and professionals. It is rather unfortunate…”

“Wait, did you…did you just say twelve packs? I thought we’d lost packs since traveling here, not gained any. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I didn’t know until today, May. I’m sorry. We’ve gained more packs that were attracted here by you. They must have followed the scents and trails of other packs... That’s the only reasonable explanation I can think of.”

I frowned. My throat ached the more I spoke, and I was getting another mind-numbing headache. Before I could vocalize a need for a drink Christine abruptly opened the door to our room, a soft smile on her face. She tossed a bottled water in my direction. Although I had a delayed reaction, I caught the bottle last second and smiled thankfully. Even if I couldn’t keep anything down, I could certainly drink a whole bottle of water in seconds.