Of course, she ignores me. She’s shaking her head and lifting her hands in a stop motion.
“No, no, this gentleman helped me when I first arrived! Luca…”
“Miss Kelly? Although I had hoped to see you again, I dare say I was not expecting to find you in the company of such notorious men! Do you have any notion of what they are reputed to be?”
His words have her stumbling to a stop as an angry frown crosses her face. She cannot be out here if things turn ugly so I step towards her to take her arm and pull her back into the house just as the Captain speaks again with disdain dripping from each word.
“Such a shame someone with your grace and beauty has lowered themselves to keep such distasteful company. What a sheer waste of good breeding stock!”
I turn with a snarl of fury that he dare speak in such a way to her and feel my monster surge forward. I hear Sebastian curse and the wolves growl but I only have eyes for the dead man in front of me. He stumbles back a step with his eyes flaring wide and manages to pull and cock his pistol before I’m lunging at him. As my clawed fingers wrap around his throat and rip, his finger pulls the trigger, sending the single shot harmlessly past me. I rip his throat out and move to step over his falling body to the next man in line when the sweet smell of her blood reaches my senses. I turn with a roar of denial and see her shocked face and the blood blooming on her chest before she topples backward to the ground.
“NO!”
I have her in my arms in a blink of supernatural speed even as more shots ring out and men scream in terror as my brothers tear them apart. Her eyes are huge as they blink up at me and one trembling hand lifts to cup my cheek. Her voice is weak and thready as I hear her heart begin to slow.
“M-my monster, my l-love. S-so sor-ry.”
No, no, no, no, NO! This cannot be happening again. I cannot lose her again! I see her arm begin to flicker out of existence and lean closer to her and push the power into my voice as I stare into her dimming eyes.
“YOU WILL RETURN TO ME!”
And then she disappears, leaving my arms empty once again.
Eden
Iroll onto all fours and heave out the vomit as my stomach rolls with the cost of traveling and then crawl away from the puddle and collapse in tears and clutch at my chest where the pain has disappeared. Why does it always have to be in the fucking chest? I roll onto my back and slam my fists against the carpeted floor and scream my anger, loss, and frustration out at the ceiling. Why, why, why? Why does this keep happening? We were so close! So close to leaving and getting away and starting our adventurous new life. I bang the back of my head against the floor and then sit up. I need to get back. I need to get back to Luca!
I shove to my feet and cross the room to the mirror and just glare at it, willing it to come back to life but I know it will stay dark until the next full moon. It doesn’t matter, I have to go back. I have to return to Luca…and the others. They need me. I can go back. I will go back, no matter how many times I have to, I’ll keep going back to him.
I force myself to spin away from the dead mirror and stomp out of the turret and down the stairs to my room. Every part of my being wants to sit in front of the damn thing until it comes to life so I can get back to Luca. I struggle to get the tight dress off my body that Finn buttoned me into this morning for our trip to buy supplies. With a screech of frustration I go into my bathroom and find a pair of scissors and just cut the fucking thing off of me and toss it into a corner. It feels like there’s an itch under my skin that I can’t scratch and angry, frustrated tears fill my eyes as I strip off my underwear and bra. I ignore my cell phone as it drops to the ground from where I had slid it into my bra band even as the screen cracks from hitting the hardwood floor. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is getting back to them. Getting back to Luca!
I turn the water in the shower on as hot as I can stand it and step under the spray hoping the heat will help ease the itch I can’t seem to shake. I let the water pour over me and go over every memory I have of being with Sebastian, Finn, Cade, and Luca. I need them so badly I can barely breathe. I need to get back. I need to go back. It’s a constant loop that fills my head over and over again until I’m ready to scream it out loud.
The water goes cold and I stagger out of the bath after shutting it off and fall into bed soaking wet not caring about getting the sheets and duvet wet. All I care about is going back. Back to Luca. That’s all that matters now.
Part Two
Sebastian – 1853
Ipush my way to the edge of the forest and break through into the clearing, relieved to be back home but disappointed that I have failed to locate the wolves once again. Eden has been gone for seventy-eight years this time and the wolves for almost seventy. They tried to stay with us after she left but the toll of losing her and their mate bond wore them down day after day until they couldn’t take it anymore. Knowing that she wouldn’t return again and that it would be two hundred and fifty-three years before they would see her again drove them to choose their wolf forms to ride out their misery in. I’ve been searching for them ever since in the hopes that I can convince them to come back and wait it out with Luca and me.
I cross the overgrown field toward the house she spent two weeks with us in and look forward to resting after being gone for the last eight years searching the forests of this huge continent. The lack of smoke coming from the chimneys and the broken windows tells me that rest will not be coming any time soon. I climb the steps up to the porch that is covered in decaying leaves and push open one of the doors that is hanging by only one hinge. The wood flooring is softening under my feet from rot where the elements have blown in and all the rooms have been emptied of furniture. My shoulders slump as I take in the shell that was once our home and know Luca is in some way responsible for its current condition.
His manic behavior since she left has chased me away to search for the wolves for longer and longer periods. No matter how many times I tell him that Eden vowed not to come back, he refuses to believe it. He makes obsessive plans for when she returns only to descend into dark bouts of despair and depression. The swings of his moods are more than I can stand when I am struggling with my own grief and anger at what we have become. There are many days that I find my love for Eden turning to bitterness and resentment that she has fractured our family, our pack, in such a devastating way. No love should hurt this much.
I leave the abandoned house and continue the long walk that will take me to Portsmouth and vaguely wonder at what changes I will find after so many years away. War will be coming back to the country within a decade if what Eden told us is true. Another century, another war. It makes no difference to me. I crest the rise of a hill and come to a stop as I look down at a large house next to the lake that has been built in my absence. There is a long dock running out into the water with a rowboat tied to it. When I spot the glass atrium built on one end of the house, I know I have found Luca. He has built the house Eden dreamed would one day be our home. I shake my head as I start down the hill. This house will be rubble by the time Eden ever sees it.
Eden
Awhine of frustration escapes my lips as the sound of the reminder alarm on my phone penetrates the fog of desperate need filling my brain. I try to rise to my feet from where I’m kneeling in front of the dark mirror but fall to the side as a wave of dizziness and my unresponsive legs conspire against me. I push my legs straight and pins and needles wash through them causing me to cry out from the pain that floods in. After a few minutes, I’m able to shift enough so that I’m sitting on my bottom with my legs straight out for the first time in what must be days and reach for the cracked phone on the dressing table to silence the alarm. My eyes are dry and blurry from staring at the mirror for so long as I blink them to try and see what the alarm was for. When my vision finally clears enough that I can make out the notification a gasp of hope shoots through me. I have a meeting with my lawyer. He might have something from my aunt just like last time that could help me get back to Luca faster.
I shove my oily hair back from my face and leverage myself to my feet with the help of the dressing table. I sway alarmingly enough that it breaks through my thoughts of needing to go back enough that I realize that I need food and water or I will not be going anywhere. I make my way carefully down the stairs, clutching at the banister so I don’t fall, and make it to the kitchen. I drink a full cup of water from the faucet and then search for food. The fridge is empty except for condiments and I realize that I haven’t gotten groceries since I came back. I rub my forehead and try to think but the urge to go back up to the mirror so I can go back to Luca is overwhelming so I pull my phone out and check the date. I shake my head in confusion. It’s been twenty-two days since I got back. How is that possible? What is wrong with me that I’ve lost so much time, so many days?
The water sloshes painfully in my empty stomach so I drop my phone on the counter and open cupboards until I find some stale crackers. They’re tasteless and dry in my mouth but I keep eating, hoping that the food will help me clear my mind so I can think. I yank open the freezer above the fridge and find old Tupperware containers of frozen leftovers so I grab one and put it in the microwave to defrost and heat as I make myself drink more water. Slowly the fog in my brain starts to clear and it lets me remember the appointment with Mr. Dunhurst. Yes, yes, that’s good! The last time I saw him he gave me the note from Adera about the mirror. There has to be more that he’s keeping from me. There has to be a way to control the damn thing so I can go back to closer to when I left. Luca needs me to come back to him. I can’t make him wait a hundred years again.
The microwave dings so I pull the half-cooked lasagna from it and eat half of it, spilling some of it down on my sweatshirt until my stomach rolls from too much, too fast, and leave the partially eaten dish in the sink. I need to go. I need to get everything Adera left for me so I can get the mirror working and get back. I can’t waste any more time. Luca needs me to come back.
I grab my phone and wallet and fight with the door locks before finally getting the door open so I can leave. I’m halfway to the street when a sharp pain in my foot has me crying out and hopping onto the overgrown grass. I look down and stare at my bare feet in surprise and then slowly turn and look back to the house and see that I’ve left the front door wide open. The pain in my foot from stepping on a sharp rock brings me a brief moment of clarity. What is wrong with me? How could I leave my house like this? I rush back inside and shut the door behind me and lean against it. I don’t understand what’s happening to me. My eyes go to the stairs and follow them up and every cell in my body itches to go, go to the mirror so I can go back as soon as it comes to life. I shake my head to try and clear it again and force my eyes down and away from the stairs. I spot my phone clutched in my fingers and bring it up so I can see the cracked screen. I can still see the reminder notification for my appointment and it gets me back on track.
