HER: Novel by Nicole Maria Navarro

Gone 24

Coles POV

Rain and lightning began to move in. The dark clouds never moving just staying in their place so the sun wouldn't dare bring upon light. It was dark. the world ignited by the sky and wind. The lightning coming in from the woods sucked you in like an abyss. It was sickening but precious. Thalia began to cry and as she did muffles could be heard from behind me. The women's cries were endless and the pleas grew weak every minute. Humans didn't get the hint. My eyes bore into hers. She was useless every bit of her was something I didn't need. Her husband was laid out on the floor unconscious. The woman named Laura cried as I began to walk towards the room that Thalia was in. Her baby hands were gripping the crib and pulling herself up. Her cheeks were red and her brown hair was all over the place as she continued to cry. Her short legs were chunky with slight rolls and she started blabbing more and more everyday. I put my coffee down and picked her up from the crib and cradled her to my chest.

She stopped crying. Silence. Her little fingers began to grip my shirt and her face dug into it. There was a feeling that I didn't understand. It was completely nostalgic. The feeling consuming my heart yet I forced it out. There was no room for that. No room for any of this. I walked back to where Laura was tied up to the chair and her hands were bloody from the ties that kept her in her chair. She looked up in terror as I caught her trying to cut the ties loose. The woman's eyes stared back at Thalia in my arms, her eyes went soft as she looked at Thalia.

The woman had spent more time knowing who my daughter was than me. She watched her grow into the beautiful baby she was now. I had never had that chance. I would never be able to know what it was like to see her first few months. Thalia began to stir in my arms and wanting to get down and play on the carpeted floor where toys were displayed for her. Her bottom touched the floor and she was off playing alone. I walked over to where Laura was trying to untie herself from the chair when something in my chest stopped me.

Something wasn't right. The pain was excruciating, it felt like a million pieces of shattered glass were stabbing the one thing that kept me going. My face started to hurt and my hands shot up to my face and started clawing at my face. I grunted in agony and it felt like it would never stop. I knew this feeling. I had felt it once before in my life. Something in my heart set off. This pain was like a fire starting in my chest.

It was eating me alive. Vile. Excruciating pain.

I heard Thalia begin to grow frustrated in the distance but I couldn't get up and carry her in my arms. The women was looking at me confused and scared. The color in her face grew pale. Her lips trembling every time she looked in my direction. My body began to curl up in a ball. I dropped onto my knees. My body completely giving out on me. My face was hurting. The pain never leaving as I began to shout. I grunted and seethed. Taking in the pain. My eyes turned black and as I shut them the pain began to reside as if it was never there. I lay there on the floor my eyes now wide open gazing into the distance, knowing that the confused looking women would no longer see the day of light anymore. Isabella and her mate had done the unthinkable. They were willing to risk one life for another. Mia was dead. I knew it . I could feel it.

Isabella would now know what it is really like to lose meaning.

To feel the loss of the people around you completely gone.

I sat up right my head turning to the woman. My eyes saw a women, scared to be in my presence. Her head was nodding, her eyes got watery as I got closer, her muffled shouts drowned as I walked towards her like a predator. She cried and as she did I knew that Isabella would get the message. Once she found the mother she never had was now lying on the floor, dead and cold, and the man on the floor would be mangled in parts that would never be connected but, most importantly her daughter, our beloved Thalia would no longer see the eyes of her mother.

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Isabella's POV

I had woken up laying in a lush bed. My throat tasted vile and thats when everything came flashing back. They were images that I didn't dare want to ever see again. I got up from my side of the bed and walked towards the mirror of the restroom. I was clean but thats when my hands went up to my neck and I clawed at it. Red scratches on my skin came all the way down my collar bones. I couldn't look at myself. The anger that had consumed me left me not knowing who I truly was. I couldn't contain myself. The connection wasn't there. It was afar, distant, it wasn't close anymore like I had felt it before. Cole had taken her. The one thing that kept me going. She was still breathing but I could no longer feel it. That connection was overlapped. Something was in the way and I could feel it in every shape and form. It was heart wrenching. I ran downstairs shouting words that I didn't even know could ever leave my mouth.

"Sebastian!"

"Seb!" Still nothing. Not a single person was in sight. The pack grounds were silent. The wind was in the air. Cold. Undeniably cold that my feet on the cement prickled. I was screaming. My throat contracting as I yelled and yelled. My body began to shake as my knees hit the ground. I sobbed and my body completely crumbled. It felt empty. I felt empty. I couldn't speak only cry. I knew that the connection between me and Thalia was far. Distant. Farther than I have ever ran. Farther than I have ever been. The hole in my heart grew with distance. The detached feeling was perpetual. Restrained. I could no longer feel her nearby, nor far. I could only hear footsteps approaching me. Faint thuds hitting the ground. The scent of Sebastian blew in through the air. Engulfing me. He appeared. His strides long and racing to get to me. His body was warm in the-cold weather as he wrapped me in him. His chin hitting my forehead as the contact of our skin vibrated. The emotions coursing through me were everywhere. I could no longer hold myself together as I felt like I was completely falling apart.

"Isabella.." Sebastian voice was faint. Tender. His voice cracked as he said my name again. His hands cupping my face to get me to see him but I couldn't. I could only see the past. The hurt that Cole brought me and the hurt that he would bring her. Manipulative words. Abuse. Her future would be no different than mine. Thalia would never know what it was like to see the world for what it is, only what he shows her.

"Sebastian...sh-. she's gone."

I finally gazed up at him. His eyes luminous like the moon and with strained hope. Hope. A word that meant everything but could only get you so far when there was no hope left.

"Isabella we found Laura. Sh- she's gone. Thalia is still alive. Cole still has her." 

Fin

This story is dedicated to my beautiful sisters Nathalia and Noelia.

I love you both with all my heart forever and always.

Thank you for all the love, and support.

XOXO