Chapter Fifteen: Caramelised Apples

The person, who I instantly recognise in the darkness was female, had taken my throat with a hard grip, and raised me from the ground. Fuck she was strong. Is that even possible?

I started clawing at her hands on my throat, kicking and flailing but she didn’t budge. I looked her directly in the eyes, and could see her irises were a murky green, slightly florescent in the dark. They seemed angry and full of hatred. I didn’t understand what was going on.

I can feel Athena trying to take over as my wind pipe was being literally crushed. I could feel the energy being taken away from me as my body was shutting down.

The woman just stared at me with hatred. She didn’t move, didn’t say anything. I had no idea who she was. She started to growl, which was weird. I tried to say something, anything, but all that came out of my mouth was gasping noises.

I could see red flecks in my vision, feeling my eyes starting to droop, knowing that this was my time to go. My energy was zapping, and I stopped trying to fight, knowing I was about to die from being strangled.

Just before I feel the last of my energy leaving me, I hear what sounds like a roar that shakes the Earth around us. The woman gasps and instantly lets go.

I was thrown to the floor and felt my head hit the side of the tree I was close to. I lie there for a few moments, slightly concussed. Athena helps me focus on my breathing after a short time I felt like my lungs were filling properly again. I grabbed my throat with my right hand, pushing it slightly to see if that alleviates the pain that was pulsing through it. I don’t feel like I’m about to pass out anymore as I’m regaining consciousness. That’s when it hits me.

I smell the caramelised apples so vividly.

I look up to see the woman standing in front of me, facing away. As my senses slowly came into focus, I can hear her speaking softly to someone.

“I saw her, and I had no idea who she was!” She says pleading to someone. “I know that she’s an outsider, I’ve not seen her before. She has to die!” On the last part she starts to yell.

I then hear the most powerful voice I’ve ever heard, and I can feel Athena perking up at it.

“Valencia, you will never touch this woman again. That is a direct order. Do you understand?” this person says with absolute authority.

Valencia, the name of the bitch that nearly strangled me, huffs and responds “Yes, Alpha.”

The powerful voice then says one more word. A command. “Leave.”

She then turns round to face me, and gives me a look of spite, before running out into the trees. I watch her as she disappears.

I then turn to see who she was speaking to and I stop in my tracks. Who is this person?

I start to eye him as he stands in front of me, staring into my soul. I get some chills down my spine as I stare back at him. I can see most features through the street lights lit behind him, as he’s facing me and the trees behind me. He’s incredibly tall, at least seven feet. He’s got the most chiselled body I have ever seen, his abs dripping with sweat. He’s not wearing anything but shorts, and from his body language it looks like he’s just been for a run. His black hair, which is cut short on the side and is long on the top, was combed back. I then notice his eyes.

They are the golden, florescent irises I had seen before I fell into darkness after fighting the beast.

He makes a movement towards me, and in reaction, I pull myself away, trying to crawl back. I feel Athena in the back of my mind going crazy and wanting to get close to him, but even she can’t disagree, we’ve just been strangled, we need to figure out what’s going on.

I move my right hand away from my throat, that is feeling much worse than before and move it up to my head, where I had hit the tree. I feel the blood that had started falling. I pull my hand away and see my own blood on the palm of my hand.

Whilst I was glancing at the blood on my hand, the guy in front of me makes what I thought was a growling sound. He then swoops down in one leg movement and pulls me into his arms so fast, I didn’t even realise what was happening. I started to try and push myself away, struggling to get any freedom from his hold. I could see he was taking me back into the hospital…the one I had just got out of. I scoffed and as I did, my hand instinctively went up to my throat which was painful after making that noise.

I realise that there’s a tingling sensation coming from the points where my skin touches his, which I put down to a wound that’s been inflicted on me in some way.

As I did that, I looked up at him again and notice he is clean shaven. I take a deep breath in and instantly start to relax….how strange, the smell of caramelised apples is coming from him. I look into his eyes and get a freight as I see his eyes have clouded over and are fully black. I freak out and start to shiver at this as it’s similar to that thing from the river.

He notices this and his eyes then return the gold they were before. He starts to look as if he wants to ask a question, and opens his mouth to, but then he seemingly shakes it off and we continue into the hospital, through the glass doors, where there’s a young woman waiting.

“Doctor Lowe.” He says to her in a deep tone, and she nods her head in respect. I can’t help but notice a hint of pain in his voice.

“Alpha, good evening, I was just in the room behind before you linked me.” She says, then reverts her eyes to mine. “Last I saw you were in bed, sleeping. Up and about already?” She says quizzically, ending with a glare at the mess I’m in and shaking her head.

I recognise the voice and realise this is the woman who was in my room earlier, when I was pretending to sleep. She has long brown hair which is currently up in a neat ponytail. Hey eyes are a chocolate brown and she’s got a soft, inviting face.

“Doctor, she’s run into one of the others as I was on my way back. They didn’t realise she was not to be harmed and has decided to strangle her and throw her against a tree, where she’s split her head open.” He says sharply, tightening his hold on me slightly.

The Doctor comes straight over and looks at me before asking “May I.” I remove my hand away from my throat again and she starts to prod and probe it with her index and middle finger and I wince every time she pushes in. I notice the pine scent I could smell from when she came into see me and the monitor. She then motioned for the Alpha to come down to her level so she could check my head. She tuts after taking a look.

“Well, it seems that your larynx has been bruised badly and you’ve got a slight concussion from the impact from your head. I suspect it’s sore to speak right now, or use your throat at all. Does that sound about right?”

I nod my head, remembering even trying to scoff was sore on my throat.

She shakes her head at me, then looks at the Alpha quickly before looking back at me. She puts her hands on her hips. “Your head will heal up without any intervention. I suspect you’ve learnt your lesson, not to run out of the hospital when we’re treating you. I hope next time you’ll trust me enough to ask me anything. I’m more than happy to answer anything. You’re the first person to cross for a long time.”

As she said that, the man looks at her in a way that seems to command her not to say more. She rolls her eyes and nods her head respectively at him. “Alpha. I assume you’ll be able to take her back to her room, so she can rest further. I doubt she’ll need the machine anymore.”

“Thank you, Doctor.” He says, before starting to make his way to the bloody stairs.

I still feel uncomfortable in his arms, not because it was physically uncomfortable, as for some reason I felt snug and warm in his embrace….it was more because I was scared of where I was, who these people were, why that woman would just strangle anyone and why she was so strong to lift me off the ground. I was also thinking about the beast I had fought before. Does it live here? The one I had seen out the window was not the same but still, I couldn’t properly see it to fully confirm.

Before I knew it, I was in the room again and the guy was placing me on the bed as gently as possible. I realised when he pulled away, he was radiating an amazing amount of heat and I shivered.

He stands at the left side of my bed, and stares at me through his golden eyes, full of wonder. I see his lips, and I want to reach out to them, but I don’t dare move.

He stands there, just staring at me, saying nothing. He pulls the cover from under me and places it over me to keep me warm, as gently as possible. He then pulls away from the bed and just stands to the left side of me.

“Please don’t try and leave again. We will look after you. We will talk tomorrow.” He says, as if in pain. “I will be back as soon as I can. Please sleep little one.”

And with that, he exits the room, leaving the door slightly open.

Little one? I think to myself. I frown as I wonder if he meant that in a literal sense. I know Elijah called me small but I didn’t think I was that small. I think about the last time I looked in a mirror, and it would have been at some point when I was with the Druida community. I’ve never cared for my looks, when I’ve always just tried to keep myself alive. I’m short, probably around five foot. I have long brunette hair, and I have blue eyes. Nothing special. I wonder why this is bothering me, so I stop thinking about it.

I lie on the bed looking up at the ceiling. I start to think of everything that’s happened in the short time since leaving Elijah at the Elven gate. Before I know it, I’m drifting off to sleep, with caramelised apples on my mind.