Turning ✔️

Chapter 39. A Ring

My entire body felt immobilized and the feeling of dread crept up from the pit of my stomach. I felt like all the blood in my body had stopped in its tracks and the world had started spinning. With every breath that I gasped in, I felt like I could not get enough air into my lungs. I knew that my William was hurt and there was nothing that I could do to help him. Jordan took me away from him. I whirled around, facing the slender boy who had taken me away from my mate, the anger sending my cheeks ablaze in a bright fuschia hue.

"...Why?" I whispered in anguish, more to myself than to Jordan. He stared back at me with watery wide, blue eyes, opening his mouth as if to respond before shutting it and looking away.

"Take me back to him," I demanded of Jordan with an icy glare.

Being away from William, I felt debilitated. I knew deep down that I really could not help, even if I was there. I would just be a hindrance more than a help. I had no wolf. He didn't answer, the deafening silence only perpetuating the growing void in my stomach.

"You're supposed to be my friend," I spat angrily at him. As soon as the words slipped from my mouth, I felt guilty. It was a low blow and I knew that I had hurt him. Jordan's face snapped back up, the hurt plastered on his face as he looked at me. He let out a deep breath, shaking his head before looking away once more. 

"I-I can't... I'm sorry," he replied slowly, staring off into the distance with glossy eyes, unable to meet my gaze as if he were afraid of my reaction. Or maybe what else I might say to him.

"I can't lose him," I finally whispered tearfully. "Why didn't you just take both of us away when you had the chance?" I growled angrily, swiping at the tears as they fell down my warm cheeks. Jordan sighed, his face showing that he seemed to be at conflict with himself.

"I made a promise to William to keep you safe. Even though you may not see it now, I am doing what is best for you because I care about you. God damn it, Nathan...take a look at yourself! No offense, but you look like absolute shit. You've been held captive for days. You are not safe to be back there!" Jordan looked at me exasperated, his dark eyebrows furrowed, and a wild look in his eyes as if he were daring me to retort with anything. Before I could, he grabbed me by the hand and with the blink of an eye, we reappeared in my dimly lit bedroom. Pulling away from me and meeting my eyes with a softer look, Jordan spoke slowly.

"I'm sorry Nathan."

He gingerly placed a hand on my shoulder for a moment, giving it a small squeeze before releasing his hold, and with a small whoosh of air, he was gone. Now that I was alone, I could no longer hold my emotions back and the sobs fell out of my body. Everything flooded out of me, everything I had been through, finally catching up to me like a ton of bricks. I threw myself into my bed, clenching the sheets in my fist as I wailed into the pillows. The tears streamed down my cheeks like a dam finally letting go, my cotton pillowcase absorbing the salty liquid and soaking it through.

William and I were together again. For a small window of time, everything was at ease. Just being away from him was painful. My heart yearns for him and knowing he could be in trouble made me feel like my heart was being ripped in half. I feel physically in pain without him. Everything was my fault. If I had been stronger, or smarter...none of this would have happened. This is all my fault. My one true chance of happiness...could be gone.

As skinny as I had been before everything, I could now almost individually count my rib bones as I wrapped my arms around myself. I felt repulsed by my own body. I slid my hands down my body until my hands hit something solid from inside my pockets. Digging inside, I pulled out the items I had scavenged from the prison. The first was the vial of the iridescent purple liquid. I looked into the milky vial, swirling the viscous liquid and watched as the mixture sparkled a silver color faintly before returning to its previous purple tone. Whatever this stuff is, it worried me that Logan seemed to have a stockpile of it and for that reason, it had to be dangerous.

Setting the vial aside, I pulled out the second item. The locket I had pulled off of Logan's unconscious body. I stared down at it scrupulously, examining each side of the bronze pendant. My fingers traced the outline of the monogram, an intricately etched letter 'S'. Gliding my finger down the smooth, cold metal to the bottom of the locket, I found a small keyhole. My heart began to beat faster as I wrenched myself out of bed in search of my keys. After locating them, I sat back down on my bed, taking a deep breath before proceeding.

Slowly, I brought the key to the hole. My heart nearly burst through my chest as it smoothly slid in and with a simple twist, the locket popped open with a tiny click. I  released the breath that I hadn't realized I had been holding, I swung the locket open, unveiling its contents. My eyebrows rose slightly at the sight of a simple, aged driftwood grey ring. On the interior door to the locket, adjacent to the ring, was a crescent-shaped moon etched into the bronze. With some trepidation, I gently picked up the ring and brought it up to my eye-line to take a closer look at the smooth wooden band.

As I picked it up, I felt something surging through my body, filtering down and focusing on the hand that held the ring. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before. It was like an electric current began coursing through my body as soon as I had made contact with the curious wooden object. It felt like a magnetic force was driving me to put the ring onto my finger, each nerve on my fingers tingling as they brushed against the wood. I placed the ring on the tip of my right ring finger and pulled it past my knuckle until it rested snuggly at the base of my finger. All of the events from the past few days dribbled from my mind and a new thought had unveiled in its stead. All of the arduous experiences leading up to now were diminishing into the background. They shed their sharp and shadowy skin, complementing the thought with a wave of newfound energy flooding my body. 

I dashed out of my bedroom and in a flash, I was in the hallway. I  hurriedly bounced down the stairs and out the front door of the house, into the cool darkness of the outside.  I felt like I was being dragged by an unknown force into the wooded area surrounding my house and without skipping a beat, I stepped towards it. With each crunching step into the forest, I headed further into the dense canopy of trees, unsure of my destination, but my body seemed to know. I felt weightless like I wasn't in full control of my body as I skirted through the woodsy area quickly. I paused as I came upon the meadow from my dreams.

The forest surrounding me was quiet. Too quiet. I took a few steps into the clearing, nervously checking the treeline as I moved towards the center of the muted forest. I heard the crack of a branch, the sound reverberated from behind me. Startled, I spun around on my heel towards the direction of the noise, only to see a horned owl swooping down on its prey. I watched the feathered predator take off into the midnight sky and soar through the air with the limp body of its prey hanging from the owl's talons. 

Turning around, I nearly fell to my feet from the sight before me, instead, my hand flew to my mouth in absolute shock. Standing in the center of the meadow with the moon illuminating directly at him was unequivocally my father. There was no mistaking it was him, he was exactly as I remembered before his death. It was strange, almost like seeing a glimpse in time. An older, more muscular version of myself with a tidy brownish-ginger colored beard. His cool blue eyes stared into mine, unspeaking, but yet radiating positivity. Time seemed to grind to a stop, he and I stood frozen, unmoving as our eyes locked.

"Dad?"

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AN: One more chapter and Turning is done, kittens. 

It's been a long time since I updated last. I want to say thank you and welcome to all of the new kittens who have joined my pride. It's hard to believe that my book is almost at 90k reads! With the new year finally here, I decided to return to Wattpad to finally finish. Time is a funny thing, it just keeps going and there never seems to be enough of it. 

Hope that you enjoyed. Don't forget to vote/comment if you did!

xoxo

CrazyCatMan7