The Tormented Soul

Chapter 16: she did it again

Third POV

"AARON, release her this instant!"

Aaron turned his head to face the direction we heard the voice and he saw an angry James storming towards them.

"Why? She’s a rogue."

"She is not a rogue. She's our alpha's mate, our future Luna. Do you have any idea what you have done!?" James said, shaking with anger.

Aaron let go of his grip around Aleera's throat and got off her, stepping away from her. He bent his head down bowing and showing his neck in submission to show James that he regrets what he did. Aleera was still crying heavily and her breathing was fast so she was starting to have a panic attack. She got up on all four and started to crawl away from both Aaron and James. When she had some distance between them she put her arms around herself and started to rock back and forth.

“I am sorry, I didn't know. Why hasn't our Alpha said anything?" Aaron asked James and he used a low voice while still looking at the ground as he still was scared of what James would do or say to him.

“Because she is a victim and is suffering from a big trauma from her earlier life. Since Darius and a few other pack members found and saved her she has only been in our hospital and she was just discharged from the hospital yesterday. She has not yet accepted him but he has accepted her.” James said back to Aaron and the anger could still be heard from his voice.

"What have I done?" Aaron said with a regretting voice. If James could be this mad and angry for what he did, just the thought of how the alpha will react sent a shiver down his back.

"Do you have any idea how furious he will be when he finds out what you have done to his mate and our future luna? Now it will take longer for her to recover.” James said to Aaron while he looked at Aleera that was rocking back and forth.

James started to walk slowly towards Aleera but she moved back which made him stop and move back.

James got down at the same eye level as Aleera as he mind linked Darius.

'Darius, you need to come to the west side of the forest and do it fast, it's Alea.'

‘What do mean it's Alea? She is in her room resting. Why do I need to come over to the west side of the forest?’ Darius said back in the private mind link between him and James.

'She must have snuck out. One of our younger pack members that just came back to our territory thought she was a rogue and attacked her and he might have done some other stuff to her by mistake too. He didn’t know who she was and now she is in a bad state.' James said back to him through the mind link.

'What? On my way.' He said before cutting the link. RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only

Darius ran as fast as he could and he was there quite fast. When he saw her on the ground shaking in fear. He then used his powerful alpha voice to yell at Aaron. Aleera was so deep in her own bubble so she didn’t even flinch when he used the alpha voice. She only noticed him when he was at her side getting down to scoop her up, he stopped when she turned her head to look at him and started to scream at him.

"You lied to me. You promised me that I would be safe here."

"I am sorry. This will never happen again. You are safe now."

"How can I believe you this time?"

He let her scream at him before he scooped her up bridal style and what she did next surprised him after what she said, she leaned close to his chest and cried her eyes out. He started to slowly walk back to the packhouse. He soon noticed that she got calmer and calmer. It looks like Darius’s touch and smell was calming her down and he couldn't help but smile at that.

When they arrived at the packhouse he took her up to her room. Once inside her room, he walked over to her bed and placed her on the edge of it. He sat down beside her looking right into her eyes.

"I don't know what just happened in the forest, but can you tell me what you were doing there in the first place?" Darius asked her in a concerned voice.

Alea looked away from him when she decided to answer him.

"I just wanted to go outside. I wanted to feel the sun on my skin and I wanted some time alone.” She answered in a low voice.

Darius placed one of his hands on her cheek and moved her head so she had to face him.

"Right now I prefer that someone is with you if you want to go outside. Many of my pack members do not know who you are and I don't want you to experience what happened in the forest now ever again." Darius said while looking at her and then he continued.

"And what he did he will have to answer to me for. I am also going to have a talk to every pack member and tell them about you and who you are to me and to them. You are their future luna, and that they can't hurt you."

What was he talking about, me the future luna, he must be crazy. I am not fit to be their luna, I am a mess. I just escaped years and years of being a prisoner. She shakes her head no to what he said, I

am not going to be their luna. I just want to be free.

Darius was about to answer her but a knock on the door interrupted him and the door opened and James's head popped in between the door and the doorframe.

"Sorry Alpha, our guest is here now. Please come down when you have finished talking to her."

"I will be down shortly." Darius informed James.

James closed the door and walked back down to greet their guests. Darius looked back to Aleera.

"Will you do me one favor and please stay here while I have a meeting with the other alphas from the other packs? If something happens to you while I am at the meeting I don't know what I will do." He said to her and he could not resist his urge to lean in. His lips touched hers briefly.

Aleera shrugged back when she felt his lips on hers. Why did he do that?

"I am sorry, it was probably too fast. I couldn’t stop myself." Darius said to her. She could see the pain in his eyes so she leaned in and gave him a kiss on his cheek. Darius smiled at her first move.

"Now, go and meet your guest. I will stay here."

"You do really want to get rid of me. Don't you?" He said back to her with a small hint of amusement in his voice. She smiled at him and he got up from his seat and walked towards the door.

He still had a big smile on his face when he left her to go down to meet the other alphas.

***

Aleera's POV

There was a spark that went through my body during the brief moment his lips touched mine that must have been the connection between mates. Or else what was it? I do feel it every time he touches me. so it must be that. It’s something I need to figure out. But to see him smile like he did when he left did make me happy, but I am not quite ready to open up to him yet.

I was still sitting in the same spot on my bed where he placed me when we came back from the forest. Now when I was alone again my mind wandered off to what had happened to me in the forest with one of his pack members and it sent shivers through my body. I have been through so much. What have I done to deserve all these horrible things to happen to me? I literally thought I would be safe here but thinking about what had happened to me in the forest just now I remembered what I had been through at the moonlit pack.

Just to be reminded of what happened to me brought tears to my eyes. I heard a knock on the door and I didn’t manage to wipe away the tears before the door opened and Celia walked in. The first thing she saw was me sitting on my bed with tears in my eyes.

"Sweetheart I came over as fast as I could after I heard what happened to you in the forest. I came to check if you are okay."

"I am fine." I said back to her even if I am not fine. Who would be fine after the attack and molesting by the pack member? Celia walked up to me and she sat down beside me and put her hand on my shoulder.

"I know that you are not fine. I can see it. Do you want to talk about it?" She asked me concerned.

I shock my head as a no. I didn’t want to talk about it. It was enough to think about it, how would it be if I talked about it? We sat there in silence when she broke it.

"I have a book that reminds me of you, you can borrow it from me if you want but that is of course if you can read," Celia said to me. What kind of subject change was that? First, she is trying to get me to talk about what happened in the forest then she jumps to a book. What is wrong with these people?

"Yes, I know how to read. My mother taught me to read when I was young but it has been years since I read any books."

"Do you want to give it a try? If you don't like the book we can see if we can find something you would like from our packhouse liberty."

"Sure, I can give it a try. It would not hurt to see if I will like it or not. I will never know if I don't give it a chance."

"That is a good instinct. I must warn you, I have read the book so many times and the first page and first few sentences are fucked up but I could not stop reading it once I started reading it." She said to me and she chuckled when saying that.

Celia was still looking at me with a huge smile on her face.

"I can go and get it now if you want, it’s the liberty. I don't have much space in my room." She asked me.

"Sure why not." I said back to her and tried to smile at her.

She left to go and get the book she was talking about. I’ll see if I will like it at all but I did say to her that I would give it a try.

After she left I felt like I needed to be freshened up, So went to the bathroom and I locked the door automatically. I walked over to the sink and when I saw myself in the mirror above it I could see how

red and swollen my eyes were after all the crying. I turned the water tap on and filled my hands with cold water to splash over my face so the redness and swelling would reduce.

While I washed my face I remembered what the moon goddess had told me when I met her before. She said that this was my destiny. How could this be my destiny, to be chased after, molested by every man I see? I don't deserve this and I know for sure I can't take it anymore.

I put so much force into my fist and smashed it into the mirror, I could not stand looking at myself. I could hear the sound of glass pieces hitting the floor after I had broken the mirror into pieces. I looked down at my knuckles and saw blood, not a little bit of blood either. I could see some small glass pieces that were stuck around my knuckles and out of the corner of my eye I saw that there were some pieces laying in the sink with my blood on them.

In the sink I saw one big glass piece. I picked it up and clenched my hand around it. I could feel the piece cutting into my skin. This is just too much for me to handle, I can't do it anymore. Without any hesitation I drove the big glass piece into my stomach and pulled to the side so it left a big flesh wound. I felt the warm liquid dripping from my stomach down to the floor. I felt that my body get heavier and heavier until I was no longer able to stand up and I collapsed on the tiled floor.

I was still wide awake when I heard Celia on the other side of the door. I could see that the door handle was moving up and down faster and faster so I guess she can smell the blood. She kept screaming at me.

"OPEN the door ALEA! I can SMELL the BLOOD! What have you done? OPEN the DOOR immediately!"

When she did not hear me answer her she continued to call out and bang on the door. But I guess her patience was gone so when I heard a loud brake I knew she had kicked in the door.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" She yells at me when she grabs a towel from the shelf and puts it on my wound and applies pressure to it to help stop the bleeding. Celia got bloodstains on her hands from putting pressure on it with the towel. During this occurrence neither me or Celia had noticed that Cassie had entered and the first thing she was seeing was me on the floor bleeding out. When Celia noticed her sister she screamed out to her.

"MIND LINK DARIUS NOW! SHE HAS HARMED HERSELF AGAIN"