Chapter 29
Chapter 29
Rhea
“You can take off your shirt and get on the couch. There’s no one in the house,”
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I unbutton the first two buttons of my shirt before stopping. There’s something that doesn’t settle right with me. “Won’t anyone arrive soon?”
When she purses her lips, I know she’s contemplating what to tell me. She returns from the kitchen to the living room, where I’m standing with my bag on the floor. “No. Jared took his wife and the kids on a trip yesterday. I was going to tell you, but you didn’t come.”
I reach for the third button and start undoing it. “I–I just didn’t know if it was okay”
“It’s fine,” She sits on the three–seater couch before patting the space beside her. “Come on. Show me”
I slip my shirt off my shoulders and bunch it into my fist before sitting beside her. Her gaze switches between mine and my chest before she brings her hands there, touching the raised lines of purple bruising all over.
“Oh dear.”
My torso tightens with just that light pressure from her fingers. But it’s better. Because I know it can only get
“Is it healing?” I ask her, hoping that there would be some good news.
“Are you taking the painkillers?”
I nod.
“It’s not healing, Rhea. You need to see a healer-”
better.
“I can’t,” I cut her off. “It’s just too expensive. I don’t have enough money to do that, and no one will give me that kind of money. I need this to heal and for the pain to be less.”
“Well, it’s not going to go away on its own.”
“But it will go by time, right?”
Gia looks up at me, taking her hand away from my ribs. There’s a sudden look on her face, one I cannot pinpoint. After a moment of silence, she blinks and forces out a sigh.
“There’s a chance it will go by time, just like I told you the day before when you came first. But there’s also a chance that you might have a broken rib or something worse, and that doesn’t heal on its own. It could be for other wolves, but not for runts.”
“But I can still heal on my own; it just takes time.” I turn to my side and show her my arm and shoulder. “I had an injury there, and it’s been weeks now, and it’s gone. There’s only a scar left from.”
“When it comes to internal injuries, it doesn’t work like that. And if you have one, you won’t heal unless a healer works on you.”
I take a deep breath and look at her. She’s stern in her opinions, and I can’t say much to her, not after all she has done for
- me.
A couple of nights ago, when I was walking back home from the pack house, I dropped unconscious on Gia’s lawn, which is
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Chapter 29
right next to ours. She didn’t take me home. She brought me to hers and gave me some painkillers and food before letting
me go.
Today, I came again because there was an awful lot of pain in my chest that I couldn’t bear.
“I don’t feel pain anywhere except for my chest right now,” I say to her, “And it comes and goes. Sometimes, it’s a lot, like I’m going to die or something, and then sometimes, it’s less. I don’t think it’s got to do with this bruise”
“You told me wolves, male wolves attacked you while you were in your wolf form. Your wolf was severely injured, Rhea, and so were you. It’s been over a week since the incident. There’d be some sign of healing if everything were alright,” She pauses for a second while I slip my shirt back on. “Unless something else happened?”
I tilt my head at her and blink, “Like?”
“There are certain things that can slow healing. One of them is a disturbance within the soul and mind.
I put a loose braid behind my car before looking at her. It’s clear to me what she’s trying to tell me, and there’s a side of me that wants to tell all, but then there’s a side that wants to keep it hidden.
My eyes narrow over my lap, and I give her a slight nod. “I have been under stress. Too many things are happening, and it’s messed up in my head.”
Gia opens her mouth to say something, but before she can, the kettle in the kitchen goes off, and she gets up her attention switching. “Let me get that. You’ll feel a lot better after this herbal blend I made for you.”
I don’t fight. I sit quietly and look around the room before she returns from the kitchen. When she returns, she hands me a cup of steaming brewed tea or something. I’m not certain.
“Drink it.”
I bring the cup up to my lips and take an inhale of it. It smells off, a little too salty, a little too bitter, a bit too much herbs. Yet, I have nothing to say to her. She has done more than I had thought anyone would do for me.
I take a little sip and feel the burning sensation rush down my throat. She smiles as I struggle to withhold the taste, but I understand the usefulness of this concoction, and because of that, I force more of it down.
“Back to what I was saying…” She trails off, remembering her train of thought, before adjusting herself on the couch to sit straight. “It is necessary for you to go to a healer. There’s one I know of. I worked along with her when I was young. We can visit her one day and have her look at you.”
“I can’t-”
“Don’t worry about the money, Rhea. I’ll take care of it.”
That alone silences me down and makes me want to agree with her. But the thought of going to a healer terrifies me because then everyone–my parents–will know, and I really don’t need this to get back to them.
I bring the tea to my lips again and take another sip. The taste lingers strongly this time, making me wince slightly. I look over at Gia, and she’s still there, staring at me like she’s waiting for a word of promise.
I breathe in the rest of the heat that escaped through the cup, warming my hands, and look at her again.
“There’s something else that happened,” I break the silence, and her demeanor changes as if she were waiting for me to tell her. “I’m not sure if it’s okay to say.”
“You can tell me anything. No word is going to leave this house.”
I give her a nod and continue, “Yeah, I believe that. It’s just that–something happened. With someone. Or something. That I guess I wasn’t prepared for. And I think it’s somehow messing with my ability to heal. Maybe. Could that be possible?”
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“Of course. There are many things that slow down a wolf’s healing.” Gix shifts forward slightly, her movements careful and patient, as if she is not wish to scare me. “If you don’t mind telling me, can you tell me what happened?
I do
know how to put it in words tre harder than I thought. Nearly a month ago, I found out that 2 had a mare. 1 dude think i would he perdible I mean, I’m a rumt, and rents don’t have a mate, right?” I ask her as if I want bet to use the abein th
it’s not far from the truth” She responde.
The rected me I did want him to go away, but I didn’t want to be his mate. Bot, I didn’t think of rejection, of what exactly it
“I shake my besl
ther hand renes over mine, and she gazes sympathetically at me.
Oh, dee you should’ve told me. When did this happen?”
the night after I got attacked”
She stays quiet for a moment, the seconds stretching. After another moment, she looks up at me and says, “Rejection is patial, terribly to when it’s done with such haste. Even if there isn’t a bond formation yet, the mere act of rejection can car tourwolf to go into a state of self–loath. Their own being, their own worthlessness, which makes it extremely difficult for the mind to work through and escape from.”
A breath comes, one that stings. “What if the pain I’m feeling has to do with this instead of the physical wounds?”
Oh, it absolutely does, my dear. It most definitely does,” She reaches for my hand again and speaks carefully. “It could also explain why you haven’t been healing. Your wolf, your consciousness, may think that you are worth less or that there’s something wrong with you. And thus, slowing the healing process.”
A part of me know it was something more than I originally thought. However, it still does not soften the fact that everything burts so much inside, and I just wish for an easy way out, even an end to it.
I finish drinking the tea before looking at her.
“What can I do about that?”
“There’s nothing you can do about that, Rhea.” She gives her head a shake. “You can just wait. Let your wolf do its healing on
its own”
“Yeah?” I exhale a deep breath.
“Yes.” She returns with a smile.
My eyes fall back to the hem of my shirt. I fiddle with it for a few seconds, taking deep breaths. A thought crosses my mind. One that I was deliberately trying to avoid and distract myself from.
But–there’s no avoiding it anymore.
I look up at Gia and blink away the wetness filling the edges of my eyes.
“What happens when you reject someone?”
“Well, females cannot reject males. But a male can reject his destined mate. When the act of rejection is carried through, the bond shrivels and vanishes between both wolves, cutting their psychic link and creating a vacuum within their soul where the bond once lay,” She goes silent for a moment, almost hesitant to speak further but she looks up at me anyway, “That much I know”
I look down, twiddling my thumbs.
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“And what happens after that? Can you take another mate after that?”
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“Of course you can. A male can always take another mate, which won’t be the same as a fated mate. It could possibly be a happy one. But it’s more likely that it wouldn’t
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