Behind The Unseen Stars

Chapter Nine Aftermath

I moaned as I rolled over onto my back, what happened? Why did I hurt so much? I lifted my right hand up to feel my head, yep it was still there, it should be after all, it felt like it was hit by a bus. The last thing I remember was Luca telling me that he was going to show me my place and then nothing...

Well I think I heard someone say something to me but I don't know if that was real or just a dream. I swear I heard Luca say something like, "I am sorry, amore." and then there was nothing.

I tried to open my eyes but it took a little coaxing on my part, when I did get them to open all I could see was a soft glow. It was night and the fireplace was going, the room was nice and warm.

Why did my left shoulder/neck hurt so much? I reached up to touch it but I pulled my hand back as soon as I did, pain shot all throughout my body. What was that?

I started coming back to myself more and more and that's when I realized that I was in bed alone. Where was Leo or was it just Luca now? I suddenly missed him very much and I could feel an attack coming on and I was having a hard time breathing. I knew what was happening but there was nothing I could do to stop this one and that just made it worse.

I hadn't realized that I had closed my eyes or that somebody was now next to me on the bed of furs, "Little one, you need to take some deep breaths, nothing is going to happen to you. I am right here my little mate. Open your eyes and look at me." He wasn't asking it, he was demanding it.

My eyes snapped open at the sound of his voice, that wasn't Leo's voice at least not totally, it was way too deep and had a very dominant tone to it. My heart beat even quicker when I looked up into his eyes, his eyes weren't that vibrant green anymore. I mean they were still vibrant green but they had a black edge all around on the outside. The black part of his eye took over the white part of his eyes... it made his whole eye black with a little bit of green. There was no more white part to his eyes. The white part had been replaced by black, how was that even possible? Why did I keep repeating myself?

"Little one, you need to calm your heart. Listen to my voice, everything is fine, you need to listen to me." With these words, I felt the slightest brush of fingers across my cheeks, I realized that he was wiping away tears that I hadn't known I was crying. But with his fingers touching my skin came a blazing heat, it was so much stronger than when I called my fire. This heat made me just want to crawl into it and wrap it around myself and never leave, but it also scared me too.

"I---I don't understand, what's going on Leo?..." I tried to keep my voice steady, but with my heart beating so fast and my lungs trying to get air into my body I could barely get the words out. It felt like I was trying to breathe underwater but I was just drowning.

"It's not Leo anymore little one, the names Luca. I marked you last night, remember?" The way he was looking at me when he said this kind of scared me but with this heat coursing through my body I felt so safe at the same time. How was that even possible?

"Wh-what a-are you tal-talking a-about?" Great he brought my stutter back. It had taken me years to get rid of it and then in all of two seconds, it was back just like that.

"It was going to happen sooner or later, little mate. You just had me speed the process up, you also needed to learn your place and I showed you, didn't I? A King cannot have the Queen of his Pride think she is above him. So, there is no more Leo, it's just you and me. You better get used to it, there is no going back now and I have full control of you now." He bent down closer towards me, he kept going until his face was where my neck met my shoulder on my left side, I could feel him just inhaling me and it sent shivers down my spine.