How Do You Sleep

Lya

My eyes snapped open.

Time to run.

Everything I thought I knew of this place was a lie. That’s what I get for trusting too easily. A mistake I have made before and know better than to do.

'No,' the wolf - Tala - said. Her voice was harsh, and I was scared of her.

'Yes,' I insisted.

'I won’t let you.' I knew she wasn’t lying. She had taken control of me before, and I knew she would have no qualms doing it again. 'Look around, Lya. They trust you. Now you trust them.'

I did as she asked, expecting to be back in the hospital, probably behind a locked door. But, I was still in the room at the packhouse. Alone.

'You could leave if you wanted. There’s the door, but that would be conspicuous. We have an entrance to the patio, and it would take a while for them to realize we are gone.'

'We aren’t safe here, Tala,' I moaned.

The wolf growled. 'Yes. We are.'

'How do you know?'

'Adair.'

She slunk back, leaving me in control. The vote of confidence from her left me uneasy.

There was a knock at my door. I curled up in a ball, pulling my knees to my chest. All I was wearing was an oversize t-shirt that smelled like… smelled like Oliver. I scrunched up my nose, not exactly thrilled that I was wearing his shirt, no matter how good he smelled.

Whoever was there knocked again. “Lya, are you up?” Oliver called. The door cracked open. Oliver peaked his head around. He attempted a half smile, but his face just looked pained. “Hi, Lya.”

I didn’t say anything. Just stared.

“May I come in?” I gave no response, but he came in anyway. He sat down on the edge of the bed and put a plate down next to me. “I figured you’d want breakfast.”

We just stared at each other for a bit. I was curled up as far away from him as I could get, and he looked like a sad, dejected puppy perched on the corner of the bed.

'Just think of him as his wolf,' my own purred. I internally rolled my eyes, but refused to let my expression toward Oliver change.

“I was never going to keep any of what you heard the other night a secret from you,” Oliver mumbled. “I just wanted you to settle in first. Figure out that you can trust us.”

“It’s hard to trust someone that used you as bait,” I scoffed.

Oliver’s eyes flashed. “I did not do that,” he growled, “and if I had known about it, I would not have condoned it or allowed it to happen. To anyone.”

I softened a bit. He had a point. The person all this anger was really directed towards was the only person I thought I knew I could trust here. Jokes on me, I guess. “Why do you care so much about me, anyway?” I demanded. Shoot, it seemed like a reasonable plan Trevor had developed to me. If these ‘hunters’ were as bad as they’ve made them sound, lure them in, but away from the pack. Who cares about a bit of bloodshed for the greater good.

“Because you’re-” he started. “Because you shouldn’t have to make decisions for your life without knowing what options you have, and no one should make those decisions for you.”

I barked out a laugh. “I sure feel like it’s been decided I am staying here, and no one asked me.”

Oliver stood up. “Fine,” he spat. “Leave.”

He left the door open behind him as he stormed out.

Tala whined in my head. 'I will never forgive you if you hurt him.'

'What’s so special about him?' I demanded. Sure, he gave me butterflies, but he was just some attractive guy with a savior complex.

Tala was quiet for a moment. 'I don’t know,' she finally mumbled.

I looked down at what he’d brought me for breakfast. I wasn’t exactly hungry, but the gesture was nice. I got up to go close the door, not realizing that my body wasn’t nearly as painful as it should have been until I sat down in the chair with the breakfast burrito.

'You’re welcome.'

I picked up the book I had barely started yesterday and opened it back up, restarting the first page. The book was captivating, and I made progress quickly. It did not read like The Pilgrim’s Progress, like I expected. Instead, it was more of the progress of werewolves - their origination story, how they evolved from being mostly lone wolves who often felt like I had for the past twenty four years, to developing packs, and later building up their own towns. It was interesting, to say the least. The timeline presented at the beginning of the book outlined that packs of werewolves had started to develop hundreds of years ago, citing that the strong family ties and the need to protect extended to those werewolves they found weaker than themselves. The book only mentioned a few major disputes between different packs, always stemming from a pack member being forcefully taken or killed. The primary threats to werewolves, apparently, were hunters and rogues who had spent so much time in their wolf form they lost their humanity.

That concept - the loss of humanity - caused an idea to bubble in my head. Tala had already proven if I shut her out for too long, I lost my control and I became a threat to other humans. It was interesting to see that the road went both ways.

'We are one,' Tala insisted, 'whether you like it or not. We need each other, no matter how much we hate each other.'

'You hate me?' I asked. I didn’t know why it bothered me, seeing as I had done so much to get rid of her because I hated her so much, but it stung.

'I will always love you,' Tala said, 'but I haven’t liked you for a long time.' At least she was brutally honest and I didn’t have to question where we stood.

I looked up at the clock. It was almost 2:00. I found a post-it note in the bedside table drawer, and used that as a bookmark. I went to my little bag, sighing when I realized I had destroyed the only sundress I brought with me last night, and pulled out some jeans and a t-shirt. I headed out of the room to bring the plate back to the kitchen, and hopefully grab some coffee. I held my breath, hoping I would go unnoticed and I could just sneak back to my room.

Apparently, no such luck. I stopped in my tracks as a door behind me creaked open. My back stiffened as the footsteps got closer.

Just start walking, you dolt! Okay, sometimes the wolf had good ideas. So, as suggested, I bolted. I rushed into the kitchen, dumped the plate in the sink, forwent the coffee, and rushed back to my room, slamming the door, locking it shut. I leaned my back against the door, eyes crunched closed, and slid down until I was sitting on the ground.

So just a quick warning for you when you decide to rejoin society, the wolf said, but we aren’t alone in here.

I took a deep breath, keeping my eyes closed. I couldn’t think of a way to escape this without acknowledging who was in here.

I sighed. Gonna have to face the music at some point. I opened my eyes.

I didn't know who I was expecting to see, but it certainly, definitely was not Trevor. That being said, for all I knew, Trevor had no idea that I had heard all of his and Oliver’s conversation last night when they thought I was asleep.

Trevor smiled, but his eyes looked pained. “I’m headed back east tomorrow,” he said. “Anything you’d like me to grab for you?”

I shook my head. All the things I had to say to him, I didn’t have words for yet.

He studied me for a minute. “You gonna be okay without me around?”

I nodded. Great, actually. A lot better than with you here, probably. But I couldn’t find the words to say that.

The silence was strained, to say the least. “Do you just want me to leave you alone?” he finally asked quietly.

I nodded. Everything I thought I knew about him had been undone in the span of about five minutes last night. Trevor stood up and walked toward me. I realized I was blocking the door and scooted over.

He came to a stop next to me, but didn’t look at me. “You’re my friend, Lya,” he said. “I never meant to hurt you in all this.”

I looked up at him. “Well, you did,” I told him. “I really just need some time to figure out how I feel, okay?”

With that, Trevor left.