An Alpha's Duty

Chapter 33

Ryan felt the darkness ebb away slightly and feeling return to the tips of his fingers. It felt like hours later when he could move his whole hand and then a few more hours before he began hearing things again.

At first it was small noises that he could hear. His chest moving up and down as he breathed and the rustle of his clothes as he wiggled his fingers. Eventually though his full hearing returned and he could hear the rustling of dry trees, birds nesting and crickets, thousands and thousands of crickets. Their harsh clicking was the most dominant sound.

He tried to focus on something else, trying to feel where he was since his eyes still refused to open but it was no good. Without his sight he couldn't really tell where he was.

From the echo of his breathing he knew he was most likely in a room rather than outside but that was just a guess. His mind became aware of a second heartbeat in the room with him. It was beating frantically whether from excitement or fear he didn't know.

His eyes opened and he pushed himself up, feeling his muscles ache and strain. He was in a room but not one he recognised. The frame was made of wooden branches but the walls were made of mud and grass. It was a hut of some kind.

As his eyes travelled around the sparsely decorated room, they fell on a pair of big black eyes watching him. A small girl probably about 5 sat on a course rug watching him. She didn't smile or say anything as he moved his legs over the side of the bed so that he was sitting on the edge.

Her eyes followed his movements closely but she didn't looked frightened, just interested. From the markings, Ryan knew the little girl in front of him was his mate, but this wasn't one of her memories. What he was seeing was something else. He'd finally reached the deepest level of her mind only the Lenah he'd found wasn't the Lenah he was looking for.

Finally Ryan understood what everyone meant when they talked about their inner child but he couldn't even bring himself to smile. He had no idea what he was supposed to do now that he was here.

He'd thought he'd just have to find Lenah and they'd miraculously wake back up but the little girl in front of him made him think differently.

They stared at each other for a time before Ryan broke the silence.

"Do you know who I am?" The little girl looked at him for a bit longer before she jumped to her feet and ran over to a makeshift shelf and brought back a book which she showed him.

As she nodded her head she pointed to the picture of a knight on the cover of the book as he danced with his princess. Ryan looked between the book and his little mate.

"So this is me?" She nodded her head enthusiastically. Ryan held out a finger and pointed to the princess. "And this is you?" He asked gently.

He wanted to laugh as she scrunched up her nose, clearly unhappy with the princess, but nodded her head anyway. It finally occurred to Ryan that Lenah may not be happy with her title as Princess.

"Come on, I want to show you something." Lenah's squeaky voice warmed his heart as he let her drag him from the hut.

Looking around Ryan felt his breath rush out. The hut he'd been in was the furthest away from a collection of similar huts all with the same mud walls and open doors. The small village was completely empty. It appeared that he and Lenah were the only ones here.

He let Lenah pull him towards the long grass were she abruptly sat down in the dirt looking up at him. Ryan sat down next to her and looked up at the sky, the same as Lenah.

Thanks to the position of his pack he'd always been able to see the stars growing up unlike so many city kids but he'd never seen them like this before. There were thousands and thousands of them lighting up the sky. He'd always thought the night sky was black but as he looked now he could see multiple colours blending together. Deep blues and purples mixed in with brilliant whites to create a breathtaking image completely free from man's interference.