Chapter Twenty-two: The lake

Mandy and I both look to the front of the shopping centre to see a very upset looking Lukas, sided with a tall dark man with brown eyes looking our way with huge, long dreadlocks. On his other side, a slightly shorter guy with green eyes and dirty blonde hair. Both of them slightly shorter than Lukas but still large guys none the less. I see Lukas giving his sister evil eyes as we casually walk towards them. I look over to Mandy who continues to walk without a care in the world.

I smile internally as I realise she loves doing this to her brother, although I do feel bad for not letting Doctor Lowe know exactly where we were going. We did just leave without waiting to speak with Lukas, or getting his go ahead.

As we got closer to him, I can tell that he’s very angry. I could feel the anger emanating from him. I look to Mandy who’s smile has faltered and is now frowning.

We get within a few meters of the three guys and I see Lukas’ angry eyes staring at me. His angry expression not oscillating.

“So you don’t want to meet my family with me but you’re happy to go out with someone you don’t even know.” He spits at me. What the fuck? If he thinks he can speak to me like that, he’s got another thing coming.

“Excuse me? You would rather I sit in a room on my own with nothing to do whilst you leave to do whatever it is you need to do. I would never scrutinise you yet here you are, the second day of knowing me, angry and upset for spending part of the day with your sister?”

He looks at me and I see a pinch of pain in his eyes. He knows I’ve been on my own for a long time and how lonely I was after telling him my story, yet here he stands trying to make me feel bad for spending the day with someone other than him.

He points to his sister. “She could have been anyone. And you just went with her?”

“Doctor Lowe seemed happy enough for me to leave with her. If she had said something, I wouldn’t have. Or do you also not trust your Doctor?” I say, trying to make him see sense.

Instead of his thinking logically, he furrows his eyebrows, grabs my wrist roughly which makes me drop the bags I was holding, and drags me outside. I look back at Mandy who is about to say something when the two guys who came with Lukas gets in front of her so she can’t come after us.

Lukas pulls me out of the Dome and continues to march back the way Mandy and I had come, still holding onto my wrist really tightly. Why was he acting like this? I was not happy about the way he was manhandling me right now, and the scene he just made in front of all those other people was so humiliating. We get to the corner and he stops and turns round to me.

“Why would you disrespect me like that in front of all those people? I only want what’s best for you and just now that is only to be seen with me.” He snarls. What is with this guy? Yesterday he was happy and carefree and now he has become unnecessarily overbearing.

I frown, thinking if I’ve done anything to directly upset him. I thought he had wanted me to meet his family. The fact is, his sister came to me. I humbly accepted. What’s his issue?

“Your sister came to me, asked me to hang out. So I did. I don’t appreciate you ruining my day like that, as if I am your property, because I’ll tell you right now, I’m not. I have my own free will, and if you don’t like that, then show me the way out and I will leave.” I say, trying not to crumble my resolve. I know that he and I have a connection, but I will not stand for him speaking to me like the way he just did. Athena stands with me, not backing down from a stand-off, no matter who the opponent. No one talks to me like that.

There’s an awkward silence for several moments whilst I believe he is thinking in his small head on what to say or do next. I get fed up of waiting once again for him to make a decision so I look away from him and try to walk around him so I can try and see what’s happened to Mandy.

Before I know it, he’s grabbed onto my arm. “Where do you think you’re going?” He says, still showcasing his anger.

“I’m going back to your sister, to reconvene the day we were having before you and your boys decided to ruin it.” I say, trying not to raise my voice, but I did lace it with annoyance.

Lukas did not take well to this. Instead, he decided to act like a child and started to raise his voice.

“I will not be disrespected. You are to go back to the hospital now. I will have Blaine escort you. You will stay there, until I come for you. Is that clear?”

I raise my eyebrows and blinked a few times, shocked at his statement. I pushed him back as he was starting to hurt my arm. My resolve finally crumbled and as I spoke back to the Alpha, my voice broke. “After all I told you yesterday, you treat me like this? If this is what the supposed mate bond has in store for us, I’d rather not have it at all!”

I see my words hurt him, and I hate seeing his eyes so pained, but I was not going to stand there and take that from him. I had never let someone walk over me, and I certainly will not allow it now, no matter whom it may be. I pushed him back using both of my hands, which took him off guard. I turn on my heel and hoped that he didn’t follow. I started running back towards the one place I felt drawn to, other than the Alpha himself. The lake.

I run as fast as my legs can take me. It doesn’t take too long to get to the tree line which is my direct passage to the lake. I notice when I get there I’m crying. I can feel the tears streaming down my cheeks. I never used to cry but since coming here I feel like a barrier has broken in my mind.

I stop when I see the lake. It’s deep blue water looked inviting. I start to make my way towards it and find there is a path that leads right down to the shoreline.

I stand next to the surface of the water, and take a deep breath in. I feel so relaxed being here, more so than when I was with Ares yesterday. Here, I feel vitalised. I feel in control. I had always felt this way when my journey had taken me close to the sea or besides a river, but here, I don’t know what it is, but I feel like I should go into the water.

I look behind my shoulder to make sure no one followed me. I sigh knowing I hurt Lukas’ feelings, but he needs to know I am my own person, and not one of his pack members he can command when he feels like it. That will never be me.

I start to strip down until I am in my underwear, which consists of a sports bra and some panties which were brand new and I changed into at the Dome. I start to wade into the water, travelling deeper as it embraces my body. The water feels calm around me and I around it. It does not feel too cold, nor too hot, but more as if it is the same temperature as me. I can feel Athena marvelling in my mind at the water also, as if this is our natural habitat.

I get deep enough to start swimming in the water, and so I do. Whenever I got a chance when travelling, I had always tried to go swimming and dived under the water to see how long I could last. I had always felt a sensational feeling when I dived in. It gave me a sense of freedom like nothing else.

I dive at that moment when I was further in the lake and tried to get to the bottom. It seemed like forever until I touched it. When I did, I positioned myself to sit on the bottom with my legs crossed beneath me. I had always felt like I could last for several minutes without feeling the need to breathe, so it’s no strange feeling to be able to last here as long as I have.

I open my eyes and notice that I can see most of the Lakes aquatic life around me, even though I can tell I’ve disturbed the sand at the bottom. I notice I can see many schools of fish going around, shining at the bottom of the lake, along with the aquatic plants, some of which are spread across the ground or rising up the way, waving against the current.

My mind starts to drift back to my exit from the Dome, and I start to think about what just happened, knowing I was feeling more calm now than what I did back when Lukas was acting like a child. What’s got him so riled up? I assume something has happened at his emergency meeting, but still. That’s no way to talk to anyone, never mind the one you’ve got this supposed special mate bond with.

I think more about this mate bond that we have. Is it natural, or forced upon? I remember the Elders, Elijah and Orla’s words. It’s meant to be magical but right now, apart from feeling really overwhelmingly attracted to Lukas, I just feel confused, and hurt after our argument.

I feel bad for what I said, but I know what he did was wrong, and Athena agrees with me. There’s no reason for anyone to speak to me like that. I wonder if I’m having second thoughts but one rift won’t stop me from trying to make this work. If this is what is meant to be, then I’m sure it will play out.

As I sit down here, at the bottom of the lake thinking about all of this, I place my hand in front of me. Usually I would have pruned by now, but my hand feels normal. In fact, I’m still holding my breath just fine. I feel like something has changed but I put it down to me becoming a werewolf, and it gifting me the ability to hold my breath much longer than before. I’m still worried about why I haven’t been able to shift yet. In all honesty, I’m not even sure how it happens anyway.

I decide to sit and try and clear my mind. The water is soothing around me, and I feel my hair mindlessly swaying in the depths on its own. I feel Athena in the back of my mind also relaxing, although it seems more like she’s meditating. I decide to do the same, so I close my eyes and try and create a blank space, similar to how one of the elven tutors taught me. I think of a happy place, which coincidently for me, is lake Nonite. I think back to my parent’s lake house, which was a small two-berth caravan we would go to every summer. The small hut covered our basic needs, but the water was what I loved the most. My parents taught me how to swim, dive and fish in that Lake, and it will preserve the best set of memories I will ever have.

I feel more relaxed now that I’ve reminisced those memories, which brings a smile to my lips. I open my eyes and see the water is much darker than before. I take a look up and find that the sky is no longer bright. Damn, how long have I been here?

I take one last look around me and see nothing in sight. I feel happy that I’ve managed to spend a lot of time down here, but I inwardly sigh that I should go, especially if it’s getting dark up above. I internally roll my eyes knowing I’ll probably get hounded for this also. I slowly get up from the lakes floor and push myself upwards with my legs. I find that it takes a few minutes to get to the surface and I push my head above it, taking a small breath.

Wow, it is getting dark. I can see the Sun setting. I start to swim to the place I had gotten into the Lake and find my clothes are still on the floor. What I didn’t think I’d see is Lukas next to my clothes, on his knees, with his face in his hands.