12. Lost memories

"I need to tell you about the memories you lost," Kalmin said as he stood and walked around to the car's side, holding the passenger side door open for Nuri. He shook his head when she started to speak, sighing softly. "I have to tell you, Nuri. Otherwise, when you regain them, you'll hate me more than you did previously. So, please. Let me take us somewhere where we can talk."

*'He does not look like he is going to enjoy this in the slightest, which makes me feel like I'm going to enjoy it even less.'* Nuri thought as she watched Kalmin driving, biting her lip as she waited for Tempest's response, but after a few minutes of silence, she realized she wasn't going to receive one. *'Tempest, don't go silent on me now, please.'*

*'I'm surprised that he's going to tell you, knowing that you'll hate him when he does.'* Tempest finally said, her feelings of confusion radiating through Nuri.

*'If he's going to tell me, why don't you just restore my memories?'*

*'I want to see how much he'll tell you, Nuri. But, from the look in his eyes, he's going to tell you everything, so there's no point. You should wait to see how you feel after he tells you.'*

Nuri thought about what Tempest said for a long few moments, trying to comprehend why she wouldn't just return her memories, but the longer she thought about it, the more pissed off it made her. *'You lost them, didn't you?'*

*'I didn't mean to, Nuri, I swear! I took them from you, and I thought I put them in the back of my mind, but I can't find them.'*

*'Those are my memories, Tempest! They aren't like losing fucking car keys!'* Nuri screamed back at her, then slammed her fist down on the dashboard, making Kalmin gasp out in shock.

"Hey, what the hell?" He gasped after a few moments spent trying to regain his composure. *'Why in the hell did she just do that?'*

"Tempest took my memories, and she fucking lost them. How the hell do you lose memories like you lose car keys?" Nuri yelled, then bit her lip to keep herself from yelling again. "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to yell. Can we please pull over or something? I can't stay in this car for another second."

"Of course, yeah," Kalmin said with a nod as he checked his mirrors before pulling over onto the side of the road, watching as Nuri jumped out of the car before it could come to a complete stop, punching the nearest tree as hard as she could. "Nuri, I understand why you're upset, I do. I didn't know that the reason you lost your memories is that Tempest took them, but don't take it out on yourself." He said after stepping out of the car, leaning against the passenger side door as he watched her pace restlessly.

*'Kalmin, you need to calm her down before she does something she regrets.'* Rian whimpered as he watched Nuri, shaking his head.

*'You can see just as well as I can that she's already pissed off. What do you think I could possibly do at this point?'*

*'If she lets her anger get the best of her, she could reject Tempest and lose her. I know she's mad now, but if she loses Tempest because of it, she'll never forgive herself.'*

*'You're right. I've never seen a person reject their wolf, but I know it takes a lot of anger to do it, and Nuri has no shortage of anger right now.'* Kalmin agreed, waiting for Nuri to calm down before he tried to talk to her again, but after watching her for a few minutes, he knew she wouldn't be calming down anytime soon, and understandably so. "Nuri, if you don't calm down, you might accidentally reject Tempest."

"She deserves to be rejected after the stunt she fucking pulled! Not only did she take my memories, but she fucking lost them. How the hell do you lose memories? I swear to god, Tempest, you better find them right fucking now!" Nuri yelled out in indignation as she walked towards Kalmin, but thought better of it and began pacing again.

"Can I ask why you're this upset about the memories?" Kalmin asked, flinching when Nuri's eyes zoned in on him, her usually soft baby blue eyes now cold and steely as she glared at him.

"It's not just that she lost them. It's that she's been lying to me. Instead of telling me that she lost them, she acted like she still had them tucked away somewhere. Not to mention, my entire life, I've given Tempest privacy and utmost respect. Until earlier, I didn't know what she looked like, Kalmin. She had complete privacy and transparency from me because I respected her as her own person. Do you have any idea how it feels to give your wolf utmost privacy, losing all sense of self while she was in control, just to have her say to hell with my own privacy when she reached into my head and stole my fucking memories?"

*'Nuri, I'm-'* Tempest started to say but was cut off by Nuri.

"Don't fucking talk to me right now, Tempest! If you know what's good for you, you'll stay silent." Nuri spat aloud, shaking her head with a growl.

"You're right. I didn't realize just how big a deal it was for Tempest to do something like that. You are the only wolf I've met who let her wolf choose when you could see her. I've never even heard of a wolf doing such a thing before you." Kalmin said with a nod as he lit a cigarette, watching as Nuri continued to pace, her breathing ragged as she fought back the tears gathering in her eyes.

*'Kalmin, I don't entirely get it. I know that Tempest losing the memories is a big deal, but what does she mean when she said it was an invasion of privacy? They share a being. Doesn't that mean they share thoughts and memories like we do?'* Rian asked.

*'No, they don't share their mind the same way we do. Tempest and Nuri keep their thoughts, memories, and emotions separate, unlike us. That's how they give each other privacy to be their own person. Tempest has her thoughts, emotions, and memories that are completely separate from Nuri's. That means unless they choose to share them, the other doesn't know about it. So, if Nuri were to be thinking about what she wanted to eat, Tempest wouldn't know unless Nuri gave her access to those thoughts.'*

*'Oh, I get it, I think. So, they are in the same body, but the only thing they share is the body itself. Nuri is mad because Tempest broke their privacy agreement by going into Nuri's head and taking the memories without Nuri's permission?'*

*'Exactly, yes. I was confused about it at first as well, but now you've got it.'* Kalmin responded with a nod as he tossed his cigarette, smiling softly to Nuri as she finally began to calm down and stopped pacing. "Would you like to go home?"

"I- Sure, yeah," Nuri said with a nod as she sat in the passenger seat of the car, staring out of the window until they arrived back home. *'I'm sorry for saying you deserved to be rejected. I didn't mean that.'* She said as she walked into the house, looking around as she waited for Kalmin to suggest what to do next.

*'I know you didn't mean it. I'm really sorry for losing your memories, Nuri. I honestly thought I still had them, but when I went to try to think about them, I came up with a blank.'* Tempest responded softly, willing herself not to start crying.

*'It's okay, but you need to promise me that you'll never invade my privacy like that ever again.'*

*'I swear, Nuri, I'll never ever do it again!'*

"Are you alright?" Kalmin asked as he motioned for Nuri to follow him into the living room, where he sat on the couch across from her, watching her curiously.

"I'm okay, yeah. Sorry for ruining our day. I didn't mean to explode like that."

"Don't apologize. I completely understand. Or, I understand as much as I can, without having experience with it myself." Kalmin responded as he tried and failed to give her a reassuring smile, as he was worried about how she'd react to what he needed to tell her. "I was an asshole to you when I found out we were mates. What you said earlier about not being accepted because you were a hybrid? I didn't accept you, and I honestly didn't plan on doing so either."

"I knew it was too good to be true that the alpha would accept me." Nuri sighed with a nod, biting her lip as she looked down at her lap, willing herself not to start crying as it felt like her heart was breaking.

"I didn't purposely hurt you, Nuri. I just want to put that out there now. We were going out to eat to celebrate Tempest picking a name, and Rian told me something that surprised me, and I slammed on the breaks, not realizing that you weren't wearing a seatbelt, which is how you got hurt." Kalmin said with a sigh, then shook his head as Nuri started to talk, holding up a finger to tell her to wait. "When we saw that you'd lost your memories, Rian made me swear that I would be nice to you and accept you. Otherwise, he'd rebel against me and reject me." He finished, watching as Nuri's eyes went wide in shock as she gasped out. "The truth of the matter is, I didn't feel right, letting you think that I was a nice man, which is why I wanted to tell you about the memories you lost. But, can I ask a favor?"

"What is it?" Nuri asked hesitantly, furrowing her brows in confusion as she watched him.

"We haven't known each other long, and the time we have known each other, I mistreated you. I don't know if Tempest will be able to find your memories, but in the time being, can we agree on a fresh start?"

"Can I answer that after you tell me about the memories I lost?"

"Of course, I didn't expect you to agree to it blindly," Kalmin said with a small laugh, nodding his agreement. "Well, first, do you want me to tell you everything that led up to this point, or only the parts that happened between the two of us?"

"Would you mind telling me everything? I really hate having this blank in my head, and I'd really like to fill in as much as possible, especially if this blank will remain here."

"That's fair enough, yes. You came to the party with a red-haired boy whose name I don't know. You went into the kitchen to get some of the punch and tripped over... well, I'm not sure what you tripped over unless it was your own feet."

"Yeah, that sounds like me, tripping over absolutely nothing. it's a Nuri specialty." Nuri cut in with a giggle, shaking her head softly.

"I was standing behind you when you tripped, and I caught you. That is when our wolves saw each other and claimed each other as mates. I reacted in a way I shouldn't have, seeing that you were a hybrid, and you ran, and I followed. You told me that you'd rather die than my mate, which was a response I agreed with at the time. A week later, I went to your house to bring you home with me."

"Why did you bring me here if we really reacted that way to each other?" Nuri asked after a few moments of silence, giving herself time to drink in what he'd just said.

"In full honesty, I brought you here to hide you from the world, so no one could know that my mate was a hybrid. I now want you to be here so that you can be trained in the way an alpha's mate should be."

"How do I know you're not just saying this to get me to trust you?"

"The only way to prove without a doubt that I meant every word I've said, is to-" Kalmin started to say, but cut himself off as he sucked in air between his teeth, hesitating for a moment before answering, knowing without asking that Rian would agree without faltering. "I will mind-meld with you to prove it to you."