‘Maat, I am sorry for our fights and everything over those years, please come back to me.’ I was already talking to myself in my mind. I didn’t know if Maat could hear me or not but trying to speak to her at least helped me to focus and stay up.
I knew that at some point I would have to get some rest and sleep but I was afraid to. The ground was cold the same as the rock wall behind my back which also helped my mind to focus. I wanted to scream and cry but I could not do any of it. I could not lose more water by crying or more energy while trying to get out of this misery. I was just hoping that Calen would find me sooner than later.
Few times I had a feeling like I am hearing some voices but the same as they appeared, they again disappeared and I started to think that I am getting crazy from this whole darkness and dripping water sound. I had to get out and I had to get out quickly.
~*****~
I slept. I wanted to stay up as long as I could but I simply fell asleep. My eyes hurt me despite the darkness the same as my whole body. I was not used to sleeping in the sitting position not to mention hard rocks around me. My already hurting hip was now burning and whenever I tried to move it was sending the waves of needles pointing from inside out. I was sure now that definitely, I hit it somewhere. The thirst became my second biggest problem after my hip. I could not properly move anymore and my throat started to be over-dried. Mold and lichen around me didn’t provide even a drop of water despite the sensation of wetness on my fingers when I touched it. I started to feel that maybe it is better this way. Maybe it was supposed to happen and now since I am gone Calen and the whole pack are safe since whoever was searching for me before couldn’t find me anymore. If I die here everything would be over.
‘Don’t talk nonsense.’ Maat finally replied to me. By her voice, I could say she was weak, same as I was and on top of that sleepy. ‘Where have you been?’ I asked her worriedly and happily at the same time. I was delighted to have her back because it meant that I would not die alone but at the same time I was worried about her as hell.
‘That f*cker injected you with some kind of drug. I never felt anything like that before. It knocked me down and even when I finally woke up, I could not reach you. I was secluded locked deep inside of your mind. I was trying to break free until now. How long have I been gone?’ She asked me but I could not reply to her. I simply didn’t know. There was not even a single drop of the light to count seconds or minutes or even recognize if it’s day or night. ‘I don’t know.’ I replied to her and my voice was really down the same as my mood.
‘What do you mean you don’t know? Which day is today?’ She asked me with the rest of the power she probably had in her voice. ‘I don’t know. If you could see we actually couldn’t see anything. That f*cker as you called him brought us somewhere, I don’t know where. It’s some kind of rounded pit deep underground. There is no water, no light, nothing. The only thing I could hear was dripping water but it was out of my reach.’ I simply informed her about our hopeless situation and she was quiet for a short time.
‘I couldn’t reach Calen or Thoth or anyone from the pack. This might be the side effect of that drug.’ She told me and I could feel her distress. She finally started to realize what I was saying to her and she started to give me ideas about what we should do but to her surprise I told her that all of those I already tried. There was nothing else that I could actually do and now with the increased pain in my right hip I could not even move or stand up.
‘Damn it, I am still not fully back. I couldn’t use my healing ability to heal you.’ Maat whined and complained but I didn’t mind. I was already losing hope that anybody might find us.
~*****~
“Wake up.” I heard Calen’s voice. I was tired and I wanted to sleep. The maturing process took most of my powers and the only good thing about all this sh*tty situation was that except the smell of the mold and lichen and the dripping sound there was nothing. I could literally hear my own breath and heartbeat and nothing else. My sense relaxed so much that if by some miracle I would get out of here my senses should be alright now. “Wake up princess.” I heard the voice calling me again. I could not be Calen. I didn’t have the sparks or the tingling sensation while hearing his voice. Whoever was calling me was only pretending to be him.
“You have to wake up princess,” Calen told me again. “If I wake up would you be there by my side?” I asked for the voice back. ‘To whom you are talking?’ Maat asked me, also confused. ‘I heard the voice calling me to wake up.’ I replied to her but still kept my eyes closed. I didn’t care if I was getting crazy but I wanted to hear that voice one more time. I missed Calen. I missed the kisses he always gave me unexpectedly and the hugs he always gave when I needed them the most. Maat stayed quiet for the first time since she came back and I was not sleeping. I guess she realized that I might be getting crazy.
“I swear I would find you, please stay with me.” The voice said again and I was sure it was just my imagination playing with me. I wanted to cry. I wanted to cry so badly. “Calen, please, find me,” I said back. I wished that really deeply from my heart.
~*****~
I don’t know how long I was down here. I might be getting tired more quickly but based on how many times I did sleep I guess something around two or maybe three days. I was so thirsty that I actually tried to lick the wall but except the disgusting taste, it didn’t provide anything else, not even a single drop of water. Maat tried to cheer me up but I already gave upon us. There was no way they would find us otherwise I am sure they would be here already. Hell, even if I could connect to them, I could not say where the hell I was.
I was desperate. I didn’t want to die but at the same time, I wished it could be quick. This way I would be dying several days and I was sure I would suffer a lot. Maat tried to heal my hip but she was still cut out from our connection. The only thing she could do until now was talking to me and except the moments when I was sleeping, she didn’t close her mouth. I knew she just wanted me to change my mood and get some positive energy but I was already out of it. I was tired and I wanted to give up completely. I only wished for the end to come quickly.
When I first saw a little tiny spark of light, I could not believe it. I was coming from above me. It was not too much but I recognized that the dark was slightly lifted. I tried to move to take out the stone from my pocket so I could make some noise. My hands were so heavy and I could barely move them but after a short fight, I managed to take it out of the pocket and slowly hit the ground. The hits were slow and with long distance in between each hit because I had a problem to lift up the stone so I could bump it back to the ground. The light was getting stronger with each step and it was coming faster.
“Rei. REI?” I heard Calen’s voice but maybe it was just my imagination. I was hitting the ground a little stronger but my energy was already low and I started to feel extremely tired. “I found her.” I heard him calling probably to someone behind him. I still was afraid to believe that it might be actually true and he is here. I was still thinking that it is one of my imaginations. I tiredly lifted my eyes up but the light coming was becoming painful for my eyes and I had to close them and turn my gaze away.
Even from my closed eyes I could sense the light getting stronger, in the end, the strong hands lifted me up and for the first time I don’t know how many hours or maybe days I felt safe. The sparks erupted everywhere on my body and I knew that this was not my imagination. Calen was here. He found me. He really did find me. I wanted to cry not even realizing that I was already sobbing. I was so tired and sleepy and I was thirsty but I didn’t care, he was here. He was holding me.
“Rei, oh my Goddess, Rei I got you. I finally got you, princess.” He was mumbling but I could not focus properly on the words he was saying. I didn’t care. I hissed a little bit when he was lifting me completely up into his arms as the pain on my hip sent another wave of needles down to my toes but I didn’t care. He said again something but my mind was getting blank and eve
rything was getting dark again but this time I didn’t mind. I was safe, I was in his arms so I could finally get some rest and sleep.
Chapter 42
CALEN’S POV:
“I found her,” I called to a Zack who was at the entrance of the tunnel and I could already hear him rushing to me. I saw down here at the strange rounded pit. She was so pale and exhausted. I didn’t care about anything else and jumped down. I didn’t need to think about how to get back up because I knew Zack would take care of it. I lifted her almost lifeless body up into my lap and was trying to check if she has any open wounds. Physically she seemed unharmed and I didn’t smell any blood around. I held her close just to make sure she was real. I could not believe I found her after almost three days of searching.
I could feel she was severely dehydrated and also the whole time she spent in the dark. She could not open her eyes and I assumed it was because of the light. I saw in her expression that it was causing her some pain but I needed the light to make sure we would be able to get her out of this place.
“Rei, oh my Goddess, Rei I got you. I finally got you, princess.” I told her when I was lifting her up from the ground as I wanted to stand up and prepare her to take her away but she hissed from the pain. I didn’t know where she was hurt or what I did to make her feel pain so I tried to be gentler. I could already hear Zack nearby the other entrance. “We would need lifting equipment. The edge is high and Rei is out.” I called him and at the same moment, I heard him moving back to the other end of the tunnel. This would take several minutes but I didn’t care anymore. I had my little mate in my arms.
She was sobbing just a while ago when she was in my arms before I lifted her up from the cold ground and now, she was soundly asleep if you could call passing out as asleep. She must have been completely drained and exhausted. I dried off the tears left on her cheek with my hand still holding her up. I never realized before how light she is. I understand why that mother*cker had no problem carrying her out easily. She was weighing nothing.
“Here Alpha.” Zack threw down the rope and harnesses and I carefully started to put them around Rei’s waist. She had really passed out because there was no more hissing sound coming from her clenched mouth or any other sound whatsoever. She was like a doll in my hands now. Maybe it was better like this and she doesn’t have to suffer during the way out.
“Pull her up,” I told Zack and he was slowly and smoothly pulling her up to him. Once she was safely up, he threw the rope down and I easily got myself up. The tunnel was not high enough for me to carry her but I didn’t care. With my clothes on I turned into my wolf and Zack directly understanding what I wanted to do, he lifted Rei up and onto my back. We walked the whole way back through the tunnel. We kept the harness around her waist so they easily lifted her up and once I shifted back into my human I followed. I didn’t care about being naked; I knew they were already bringing me new clothes from the pack because I was sure Zack was taking care of everything. My whole focus was now on the sleeping princess who was hanging just a little bit above me. Once we reached the passage, I took her again into my arms carrying her bridal style and the moment I had her in my arms I could sense the tension of her body was released slightly.
We were walking out of the caves and no one spoke until we almost reached the entrance of the cave system.
“They brought new clothes for you Alpha,” Rowan told me and Zack was already prepared to take my mate from me. I didn’t want to give her away but I knew I should put some clothes. Not even my wolf could protect me from the snow and freezing cold. I carefully placed my sleeping mate into Zack’s arms and took the offered clothes swiftly putting them on. Once I was dressed, I quickly took my mate again. Zack stopped me taking the blanket that was also brought with my clothes and smoothly placed the blanket around sleeping Rei.
“Thank you, Zack,” I told him with huge gratitude in my eyes. I completely forgot that she spent almost three days out in the dark pit and without any proper clothes and I almost took her out into this freezing weather. I was so happy to have her finally in my arms that I forgot that I should give her some warm clothes.
“Anytime Alpha, let’s finally bring our Luna home.” He told me and I nodded to him grateful for his understanding and everything he actually had to do during those three days and everything he had to withstand from my side.
“Call everyone at home,” I told him ready to leave this hell cave.
“Already done Alpha. Everyone knows we found out Luna and that she is safe with us. Emily is waiting for you in the hospital so she could check her and give her medical help.” He told me and there was no thanking big enough for everything he just handled.
I ran the whole time to the pack house but at the same time, I tried to be gentle as much as I could as I didn’t want Rei bouncing in my hands too much. I didn’t want to hurt her more than she already was. I didn’t realize how far the cave actually was from the pack house or maybe it was just because I wanted to be in the hospital as soon as possible but once we finally reached the pack house the sigh of relief left my mouth.
In the hospital, Emily was really fully prepared. She already had an IV with the fluids on. The moment I placed Rei on the bed she started to examine her.
“When I lifted her up in my arms for the first time, she hissed from pain but soon after she passed out so I don’t know where she was hurting,” I told her and she nodded to me. She removed the dirty clothes Rei was wearing and was searching for her body. When we finally found the huge hematoma on her right hip I swear if the motherf*cker would be here I would twist his neck right away.
Her whole hip was completely black and blue and the bruise was going down to her thigh. I started to have a clear idea of how she got this injury. That bastard had to drop her from the end of the tunnel down to that pit.
“Except this injury on her hip she is alright physically. I would give her a few infusions because she was severely dehydrated but otherwise, she would be alright Alpha. You should go get some rest.” Emily informed me I was glad. Almost three days was a long time but not that long. “Why doesn't her wolf heal her?” I asked her and now she actually also realized that something was off with this part of her. On her hand, there was also a small bruise. “This is from the injection. Maybe the healing process was blocked because of this, but it couldn’t be silver or wolfsbane, they got out of the system itself if not injected regularly.” Emily informed me. I knew that as well. If she would be injected by wolfsbane it would be already gone from her system and we could link her or at least her wolf would talk to Thoth, but there was still silence in between us and despite her being so close to me I could not sense her wolf or her mind.
Emily swiftly took a sample of Rei’s blood determined to find what she was injected with. “You think it would still be there?” I asked her and she nodded. “It has to; otherwise her wolf would be already back.” She informed me and now I understood what she meant by saying it has to.
“By the way, I sleep here with her. I am not gonna leave her side or let her go out of my sight, definitely not in the near future.” I told her before and she gave me an understanding look. I moved to the other bed and pushed it closer to the one where Rei was now sleeping. I would simply jump on the bed with her but I needed her to rest and I was afraid I might hurt her.
I lay down on the other bed but despite placing as close as I could I still had the feeling I am too far. Rei murmured something I could not understand while she was asleep and her body was tensed again. I pulled closer to her actually ending up anyway in her own bed but since it was looking like her body was looking for me, I didn’t care. I didn’t want to hurt her but I could not stay away from her at this moment. She needed me. Unconsciously her mind and her body were looking for me and I felt so happy and blessed that no matter what happened she was still considering my scent and my touch as a safe place for her.
The moment I pulled her closer to my hug the tension weakened again and she stopped murmuring. �
�You should let her sleep Alpha.” Emily scolded me once she was back from the laboratory and tried to explain to her that I was actually lying down on the other bed but unconsciously Rei was searching for me and was restless before I moved into her bed. Emily checked her and seeing that Rei was really now calmer and was actually sleeping she let us be.
“The results of the blood would be in several hours Alpha but by the smell, I could already say there is some kind of drug. It had traces of wolfsbane but it was mixed with something for the lasting effect on the body. Whatever this new drug is, it is specially developed to lock the wolf away for a long time.” She informed me and I had to admit I didn’t like this new information at all. “That means that mother*cker didn’t work alone. I was actually already thinking about the timing. He had several months to abduct her but he chose the exact moment she was still weakened from her wolf maturing process. Plus, I am not even sure I ever told anybody when exactly he had the birthday, so why now? How did he choose exactly this moment to take her and put her into that pit to die?” I actually didn’t ask her to know the answer I was sure she doesn’t have the answers to this question, only the mother*cker would have and now when I had my mate finally home, I knew I could get them out of him.
New Beginning : A Beautiful Ethereal Creature (Spirit Wolf Book #1) Page 28