Capítulo 4: Chapter Four: Seeds of Trauma
Chapter Four: Seeds of Trauma
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*Fate*
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Lavender didn't sleep that first night. She would stand or sit with her back to the wall. She only spoke up when spoken to. She barely made eye contact, but she watched every movement. It was almost as if she was wild. She finally fell asleep and sat up in the far corner of the living room.
I stopped that first evening in my bedroom doorway. It had just gotten dark outside, and a lamp on the end table closest to her cast a warm light over her face. She was stunning. Her hair fell in unruly brunette strands across her cheek. Even unconscious, it was easy to tell she was a survivor. I couldn't tell you how long I stood there and watched her chest's soft rise and fall.
A week into her stay, she started to relax a little more. She was even able to sleep in her room, although I often found myself sleeping in the guest room across the hall. I knew in my bones we would share a room at some point, but until then, I could handle sleeping where I could see into her room throughout the night. It seemed like the more she relaxed, the more I fought to ensure that faith stayed.
I needed to discuss the Mating gala with her. I needed her to understand the importance it held with our heritage. I tried to. A few times, but it never seemed to be an appropriate moment. How was I supposed to tell her we were mates when she thought she was still someone's prisoner?
"It is last minute, but we are having a…gathering. Tonight. I will send you out today to shop for a dress." I said the morning of the ball while she poured herself a rainbow-colored cereal.
"A gathering? Like one of those galas the shifters hold each season?" she asked, and I wasn't expecting her to know anything about them. It wasn't something we shared with the mortal community. I nodded and sucked down the sip of coffee I had just taken.
"So, you have heard of them? We call them the Mating galas because they are when we secure the mating bonds. Have you heard of the bonds?" I ask as she side-eyes me from the fridge where she gets the milk.
"No, and honestly, I am not up for discussing prophetic lore before breakfast if it's anything like it sounds," she all but snaps and all hope I could approach the subject faded from my mind. She seemed…off.
"No worries. Are you feeling ok?" I asked, and she glanced up at me apologetically as if realizing she had snipped at me.
"I'm sorry," she said before she diverted her eyes to the counter. I hated the way she still shied away from me. It was as if she was bracing herself for an outburst, and all I wanted to do was pull her into me, but we weren't to the point where she was comfortable with me touching her. The need for restraint is only playing the night in the closet on replay.
"Don't do that." I all but commanded as she froze.
"I-" she started to apologize again before she stopped herself. She tensed uncomfortably on her feet.
I don't know why I did it. In the time I had had her at home, she seemed to respond to my dominant personality more than when I tried to show her compassion. It was as if she didn't trust that someone could genuinely care for her. At that moment, however, it didn't feel like she needed my commanding side. Instead, I walked over and kneeled at her feet.
"W-What are you doing?" she asked as she reached out and grabbed my shoulder. I wasn't sure if it was to steady herself or to keep me at a small distance, but it didn't matter. That moment was already intimate before she added physical contact.
"You need to understand I am not your captor. I want to be your partner, and if I have to show you every single time you feel guilty for having your thoughts and feelings, I will." I said, and she took a long deep breath. I tried to ignore the shakiness of my own as we sat there in silence. Her cereal got soggy from the milk.
"It looks like I am going shopping," she said with a gentle smile as she swallowed whatever words she wanted to say, but it felt like our relationship was taking another shift. The kind that I might have just earned.
I wished I could have kept that moment suspended in time. A couple of hours later, she had left with Cerberus. My sense of calm, the step toward her trust, had started to wane, and the moment she lit up at his appearance, it shattered. I didn't like the way she looked at him. I couldn't help but compare it to the look on her face when I was at her feet.
"Check-in," I texted Cerberus's phone.
"Shh, man, she is changing dresses. I want to be here for this," Cerberus teased me, and I knew him well enough to know it was exactly that. He wasn't the kind of bodyguard who would have followed her into a stall. It was why I chose him to start with, but the thought of that alone boiled my blood.
"CHECK IN!" I replied, and no sooner than the typing indicator showed a crying laughing, a smiley face popped up on the screen.
"So far, so good. I haven't seen anyone following us, and she seems to enjoy the trip." He messaged just as I was about to lose my cool.
I stared down at my phone. I needed to wrap up the last-minute details of the event. That was the only reason I wasn't with her now, but something nagged at me. I felt obsessed with her and what she was doing. It was as if something was whispering, "She's not ok."
I couldn't finish my errand list fast enough. I all but slammed my laptop shut before I grabbed my keys and darted out the door. I had only sat down in my truck when my phone chimed. I didn't get my phone unlocked until Cerberus' ringtone rang, and my stomach sank.
"She isn't here." Cerberus rattled off, panicked the moment I answered.
"What do you mean? Where is she?" I asked, knowing whatever he was about to say wouldn't be the answer I needed to hear from him. She wasn't safe.
"She went into the changing room to try on a dress. The fire alarm was pulled, and I can't find her." Every word left a stone in my gut. Each is weighing me down to my bench seat.
"I will call in reinforcements. Can you trace her steps?" I asked as I heard the sound of wind and crowds as he must have stepped outside.
"She went out the back. I tried her phone, but she didn't charge it again. It goes straight to voicemail." He said, and I growled in frustration. I couldn't wait for her to get used to carrying one. Of course, her phone would be off or useless.
"I'm on the way," I said before hanging up.
I pulled into an ally parking lot behind the old brick building she was last in. Cerberus was right; she had been back here. She smelled honeysuckle and vanilla. A scent that was molded around her own so seamlessly and thickly in the air where I stood. It was like I could almost physically see her steps.
I followed it at a quick job hoping to catch up to the moving target. Each step is stronger than the last. Fear started to tinge on the edges of her markings, almost giving off a bitter undertone. Whoever had her would pay.
It hit me like a bus when I realized the other detail about her; I was smelling. My obsession, my jealousy, it all made sense. Not only was she taken on the day of our mating tradition, but she was also taken just as she started to get into the heat. If a shifter had her, I would have a lot more to worry about than how afraid she was. If she were my mate, the hormones that radiate off of her at this time would attract every shifter within reach. Her pheromones would cause obsession, irritation, and jealousy. These were only noted reactions. We didn't track the way it affected mortals.
I was close. I could tell by how I reacted to the trail I was following. I didn't see her, though. The first person in the crowd of mortals that I recognized was Demi.
I snagged the back of her collar, pulling her to me as she choked slightly.
"Where is she?" I demanded, and shock flashed across her face.
"She isn't my concern anymore. She's your responsibility." She dismissed me even though I still had her by her shirt.
"Don't play with me," I growled, and a smirk curved her lips slightly, almost so slightly I would have missed it if I wasn't so focused on all of her movements, including the microscopic ones.
"Ask your friend. If you can't reach him, he is in that ally with the woman you paid for." She snarked, and I gripped her collar harder, raising her slightly to make breathing difficult. She stood on her toes to catch her breath.
"By all means, show me the way," I said with a sugar-sweet tone to my voice. She walked through the crowd like her own shirt was her leash.
Cerberus met us at the alley entrance.
"Doesn't look like your intel was very accurate," I accused as I stopped and looked at my friend. He sported a cool expression as he stood there and looked at us over.
"Not that friend," she smiled just before a scream cut the air. I couldn't prove it was her scream, but I knew with every fiber of my being that blood-curdling sound came from Lavender. If she wasn't with Cerberus, who was the friend she was referring to?
"Better get there quickly; something tells me she may be reacting to something she ate," Demi chuckled. I jerked her by her collar, and we headed toward the commotion.
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Regalos
-- Regalo
recibido Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder