Aria
Ruby is flying across the open ground, her claws digging into the soft earth and flipping out chunks of grass and dirt with each step. She doesn’t slow for anything. Not large boulders in our way, babbling brooks or wider streams, not even a sharp incline now and again. She runs on, for hours, and when the sun begins to drop below the horizon, I know we have transitioned out of the forests of the north into the mountainous areas further south. If we keep going and actually make it to our homeland, we will be in an area similar to the forest we have just left, but in the south it is swampier. The forests are in the wetlands. I am looking forward to being back home, but it’s too early for me to assume we’ll make it safely. We have a long way to go, and I am fairly certain we’ll be crossing into other pack territories, and there’s a good chance we&rsqu
AriaRuby doesn’t stop running. She just keeps moving, all through the evening, into the night. By the time she finally finds a place to hunker down for a few hours of sleep, the sun is beginning to rise above the horizon in the distance.It is a smart move, one I cannot fault her for. This way, the night patrols of wolves, the ones we’ve heard howling off in the distance for hours, will be home or in their offices working, like Sebastian will be. I picture him, sitting behind his desk in a suit, looking as handsome as ever, maybe nervously tapping his pen as he wonders what happened to me. He’s probably running interference with his father, trying to convince him it’s not worth it to come after me, that there’s no reason to worry about any agreement he had with my parents since they’re dead.
Aria“Who are you?”The questions comes to me through the mind-link as Ruby and I determine whether to run from the wolf standing on the hill next to the ruins of my previous home or if we can trust this person. Ruby takes a hesitant step forward, and as he steps further into the light of the moon, I see his face.“Tomas?” I ask, shocked to see my father’s best friend standing before me.His furry face softens as he recognizes my voice, and then, when he can see Ruby’s red fur, he is a wolf with a jovial grin on his face. He runs to me. “Ruby--Aria! It’s you!”“It’s us,” I say back to him as Ruby puts all of her remaining stre
SebastianEventually, my escorts drop off, one by one, leaving me to return to their homes or whatever else they have to worry about. I am clearly not a threat, and as I cross into other pack lands, I likely fall out of their minds. With any luck, they will alert the other packs ahead of me that I seem to be just crossing through, and as I make my way closer to Aria, I will be unharassed.Flint runs as far as he can before he finally finds a place to settle, mid-afternoon of our second day. He is exhausted, and other than a few sips of water from fresh streams we’ve crossed and a rabbit that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, we haven’t had water or food.I don’t care, though. I am more focused on finding Aria than anything else.
AriaMaria’s words stick me throughout the meal and as I try to sleep in a bed in the large pack house, surrounded by people I haven’t seen in months. I’ve learned that they’ve been surviving here on whatever they can find in the forest and the few supplies they were able to salvage from the village. It’s hard for me to think that anyone has had a tougher time than I did myself since our home was attacked, but it seems like I’ve been mistaken.Sleep isn’t coming, despite how exhausted I am. I lay awake, staring at the ceiling, listening to others in the room snore and shift around on the narrow beds. I didn’t ask where the supplies to build this place came from or the furnishings, but I imagine some of my packmates have taken jobs in one of the nearby human cities and are sending back money.
Aria I can’t believe Sebastian is here, that he came all of this way, for me. As soon as I see him standing there, exhausted, covered in dirt from the forest, but looking unbelievable in only a pair of shorts, I want to launch myself at him, to bury my head in his muscular chest and feel his strong arms around me. But I can’t do that. The fact that he’s here is touching, but it makes no sense. “What do you mean love isn’t enough?” Sebastian asks in response to my comment. “Of course it is. Aria, we will make this work. No matter what.” I am touched that he thinks that’s possible, but I am so confused. I have so many questions. “Why don’t you come back to the pack house, take a shower, get cleaned up, and then we’ll talk?” I ask him. “You’ve got to be exhausted.”
AriaI need to speak to the rest of my packmates. They need to know the importance of us standing up to Wilkes. As much as I’ve wanted to blame Kurts for the death of my parents, Sebastian has helped me to see that it wasn’t his family pack after all. Now, it’s time to make the true culprits pay for the barbaric acts they’ve committed and tried to blame on someone else.We go back to the pack house, Sebastian’s hand in mine. Expressions on the others’ faces tell me everything. It seems everyone’s awoken to see what’s going on, and the elders are looking at him leerily. The younger pack members look at him with wonder, like he is a unicorn or a rainbow, something they rarely see--the son of a rival Alpha.“Tomas,” I say, “this is
SebastianMy body wants to stay in bed, even though my mind is fully awake and ready to go as soon as the sun comes up, just hours after I collapsed on this cot. I look around the room, the light filtering through thin blinds revealing that most of the cots are still occupied. A few are empty, and I suppose those early risers have first patrol or are preparing breakfast for the pack, that sort of thing. I wonder how many of them were up when I came in last night. Are they as exhausted as I am?My eyes fall on Aria, who is still sleeping, but she has a V between her eyebrows, so I know she is not sleeping soundly. I imagine she’s dreaming, probably of something dark and tortuous. I wouldn’t be a very good boyfriend if I didn’t wake her.Tha
Sebastian“Mim?” I assumed it had to be Mim on the other side of the line, answering Dez’s phone, but her voice was so low, so evil, such a growl, I couldn’t even tell for sure that it was her.The fact that the woman was enraged was a pretty good clue that that was who I was talking to.“What the hell do you want, Sebastian?” she spat, not bothering to identify herself. I knew it was her, though. I locked eyes with Aria, who looked as panicked as I felt that Dez hadn’t answered his own phone.“Where’s Dez?” I asked her, trying to keep myself calm. There would be plenty of time to overreact if she was even more evil than I had thought she might be and was actually planning on hurting my co
Sebastian I am standing at the end of an aisle, outside in my mother’s garden behind our house, waiting for the most wonderful woman in the world to walk down and stand beside me so that the preacher before us can pronounce us man and wife. All of our friends and family are also here, including the remaining members of Vargas Pack. There are rows and rows of white folding chairs covering the velvety green lawn. The sky is crystal blue, white puffy clouds roll by high above us, and I can’t imagine how my life could be any more perfect than it is at this moment. My father retired from being the pack Alpha a few months ago. He said he hoped it wouldn’t interfere with the wedding plans, but it was time. Mom had this river cruise she wanted to go on in Europe, and it was getting ready to set sail. He said he’d neglected her wishes for far t
Sebastian“I remember.”Hearing Aria say those two words is almost as good as it was to hear her say that she loved me for the first time. Tears fill my eyes as I look into hers, the magic from the rings in the moonlight dissipating as we are left in the ruins of her home with our arms around one another.“You do?”Her smile widens as she nods enthusiastically. “I do. I remember everything.”A sigh of relief escapes my lips as I wrap her up into my arms and swing her around. “I’m so glad,” I tell her as I set her down on her and brush her hair back before I kiss her. Just like our hands melding together started the magic that brought he
SebastianAria and I walk hand-in-hand up the hill that leads to her old village with the light of a full moon guiding our feet along the path. I am nervous about what might happen when we get to the top and she sees her old homesite. Either she will recognize where she’s at and a flood of memories will come back to her, or she won’t, and this entire visit will leave her devastated.I try to reassure her as we go. “Now, if this doesn’t work, it’s all right. There are lots of other things we can try. There are people we can see. We’ll go visit your old packmates. It’s possible that some of them will be able to help you remember. Or we can find a doctor, an expert on amnesia. I bet there’s a good one that knows about the shifter world already. If not, they don’t have to know you’re
AriaWe take another plane to my hometown, or at least, as close to it as we can get. Sebastian tells me that there are no airports in my former territory. In fact, the closest one is a few hours’ drive from where we want to go. This time, on the airplane, when he wants to hold my hand, I not only let him, I want to hold his hand, too.The flight is much longer this time, over three hours. To pass the time, I ask Sebastian questions about his childhood, and he tells me stories about when he was a little boy. I wonder how many of them I have heard before and how many of them are brand new to me. He makes me laugh, and I love to hear the sound of his voice.But I am nervous. What if this is my last chance to remember? What if I get to my hometown and I don’t recognize anything?
AriaOnce again, Sebastian has me by the hand and is leading me down the stairs to another part of this enormous house. I have no idea where we are going, only that we are looking for some rings that Dez mentioned when he was talking about Mim.I don’t bother to ask Sebastian any more questions because he seems to not want to tell me anything. He said he needed to show me. Maybe whatever he’s going to show me will help me to understand more, even if it doesn’t help me remember.We stop at an office door on the first floor, and Sebastian knocks. I hear a deep voice that I think is his dad say, “Yeah? Who is it?”“Father, it’s me, Sebastian, with Aria. Can we come in?”
SebastianWaking up next to Aria, I think for a moment that things are normal, that all of this has just been one horrible nightmare, and she’s still exactly the way she should be, her memories are intact, and she knows who I am and who she is.Then her eyes open, and I can see the vacancy registering there. My heart feels crushed again. She blinks a few times and then smiles at me, and I don’t feel quite as bad.Since she lost her memories, I’ve felt terrible for her, but I have also held onto one selfish fear, that she will never remember me and won’t learn to love me again. I have been terrified that she will decide she doesn’t want to be with me anymore.This smile reassures me that that isn’t the case, that
AriaI feel like a wanton woman, but I want this man, and since we have been together many times, I can’t convince myself that it’s not okay. Trying to keep my hands off of him is like trying to prevent myself from breathing. The longer I try, the more it burns, the greater grows the need.I don’t know if the two of us being together will inspire any memories to fire off within my head, but at the moment, I don’t care. He is kissing me like he loves me, and I believe that maybe he does. He tastes like rain water, and I can’t get enough of the feel of his tongue against mine. He is cautious at first, taking his time, but when I place my mouth on his mark, he knows what I want and that I’m sure that I want it.We waste little time stripping our clothing off as
SebastianI take Aria to my room, not sure what to expect. I am surprised that she’s had such vivid memories of Mim. It seems that scents can trigger memories for her, so I will have to try to think about how I can use this knowledge to help the situation in the future.I’m not sure there are any particular scents she can associate with my room at first, but when I open the door and see the bed, one comes to mind.Her memories might be trapped in her mind somewhere, but mine are not, and walking into the room, holding her hand, seeing the bed where we made love for the first time, where we made love so many times, I miss her in a way I haven’t missed her since she was lying in that hospital bed and I was sitting in the waiting room, waiting to see if she would recover.
AriaAfter a few days, I am dismissed from the hospital. Dr. Wilson, charming man that he is, says that normally, he would keep a patient who has no memories a bit longer, but in my case, he was fine sending me home. He said it was best if “my kind” took care of me. Since i still think I am his kind, I don’t appreciate this. But I go because I’d rather be anywhere but in the hospital.On the plane ride to Sebastian’s home, I sit next to him but say next to nothing as I stare at the window of the private jet we are on. His parents, who seem like nice enough people, although I’m not crazy about his dad, sit in the row in front of us and also don’t talk. Sebastian tries to get me to speak a few times. I mostly shrug and use one word responses, so he gives up. I know he wants to hold my hand, so when