Celeste's POV
"Celestial, I'm here. It'll be okay. I'm here." The words drift in and out of my head as everything spins. "I'm here." I can't tell if the words are real or if I'm dreaming. Pain shoots through my arms, primarily stemming in my right shoulder. Throbbing in that shoulder. I don't remember ever feeling actual pain in my dreams before. Not even when I was a rogue.
I try to reach for Xavier on his side of the bed. He'll bring me comfort. He'll drive the nightmares away.
My arm burns. A pained whimper leaves my lips and I pull my arm back towards my body.
It's cold. Far too cold for Xavier's room. And the bed feels hard as a rock.
"Xavier?" My words feel slurred from my mouth; my tongue catching on itself. It's hard to breathe. I feel like there's a weight on my chest and the anxiety of not being able to take in a proper breath sends me spiraling further. "Xav-ier."
"Celestial," the voice twirls around my head again. That name. That voice. I know it all. "Celestial, it's okay. Take deep breaths. It'll pass." I can't -
Celestial. That's me, right? That's my name. But . . . No one calls me that except. . .
The pain begins to burn my arms. My shoulder aches. No - It burns. An intense burn accompanied by the worst ache I've ever felt. A bile builds in my throat.
"Don't throw up!" The voice drifts around my head and I do my best to listen to it, biting back the acidic liquid trying to make its way up my throat. "Good, good. Keep breathing." I try hard as I can to take control of my breathing, as hard as it feels.
The spinning feeling in my head lessens and the world feels just a bit more stable. The ground beneath me is not the comforting bed I've grown so used to. No warmth is wrapped around me. No sparks dance up and down my spine along with a large warm hand. "Xav-ier?" My voice sounds muffled to my own ears. My fingers twitch, a sticky wet feeling under them.
"Keep breathing, Celestial." I do, each one getting a little easier. The pain in my arms only becomes more prevalent. My eyes flutter. Blurred in front of me, I only see darkness. A dark rough grey that I can't tell if it's real.
The nausea accompanied by the growing pain has me letting out a groan. I squeeze my eyes shut tight and when I open them my vision is the same. A grey rough wall. No - a rock.
"Go slowly, Celestial," the voice encourages. Celestial. That voice. It's so familiar.
My hands push against the ground, covered in that sticky wet liquid. An intense pain, that has my stomach once again rolling, shoots up my arms as I push myself from the ground.
And there he is.
I blink several times, not believing this to be real.
"Hey, Celestial."
"Lycer?" The smile he gives me is nowhere near where his smile used to be. It's almost sad, his smile. And he looks awful. Dirt is smudged across his cheeks and arms, along with his once bright hair. His clothes are crumpled and torn, accompanied by dark streaks and spots.
Looking around, I see we really are surrounded by rocks. It's a cellar of some kind, with bars holding me in a small room just a couple of feet away from the same setting holding Lycer opposite me. When I look down, a sharp inhale leaves my lips. Blood. My hands are sitting in a pile of blood. I rip my hands away, pushing myself back as my breaths come quicker to my still spinning brain. The action brings that same pain. Looking at my arms, I find the source of the blood.
"I know, Celestial. It'll be okay." How can it be okay? Two gashes decorate my arms where blood trickles slowly from. My shoulder hurts so much worse and I dare to bring my opposite hand to the pained flesh. My fingers touch broken, wet skin with a shock of pain. I try to look and all I can see is blood, dried and fresh, dripping down the skin. "Careful," he warns. "You might want to try to rest your arms. You're going to open the wounds back up." There's still a small spinning sensation in my head. That along with my newfound discovery has me biting my lip.
'Xavier,' I try, only to be taken over by the nausea. Bile fills my throat again. My hand flies to my mouth.
"Linking with wolfsbane in your system doesn't really work," his voice drifts in my head.
'Xavier,' I try again. The bile fills my mouth. I turn away from Lycer just as it spills past my lips. My throat burns as I cough out the acidic liquid in the corner of the cell. I cough several times, feeling like another round will come up, only to heave uselessly.
"Celestial," he tries again.
"Where am I?" I turn back to him. He's at the bars of his cage, his hands holding two of them and his head leaning against them. How long has he been here? I try to recall how long ago I saw him taken. It's a bit blurred.
"I-" A deep frown takes over his face. "I was hoping you could tell me."
"You don't know?" He shakes his head.
"Do you remember anything from when they took you here?" My lips set in a fine line. "Me too," he confesses. "I tried to keep track of the days when they took me here but they would drug me. They did the same to you. You still reek of it."
I glare. "I'm sure you don't smell too great yourself."
A small smile hits the corner of his lips. "I meant the wolfsbane in your system. I can still smell it. When they brought you in here, it's all I could smell." That at least explains the dizziness. It still lingers, a slight blur in the edges of my vision. I try not to move too fast as I get closer to the bars.
"How long have I been here? How. . ." I look down at my arms. They still burn with an ache, my shoulder even more so.
"Try not to move them too much. They used a magi weapon. It could be awhile before the wounds fully close." I nod, resting my hands in my lap. I lean against the bars. If we were to both reach out, I'm sure our fingers could almost touch.
"You didn't answer my question."
"At least a few hours. I think." Xavier must be so worried. I don't know how far the pack is from here; wherever 'here' is. "Do you know. . ." he trails off. "How many years has it been?"
"I've lost track," I confess. "At least a few winters and summers." He looks away and we sit in silence. Everywhere but the bars are stone. There's only a few lights, their cords hanging from the walls where they're set up. The way it's set up, it all seems to have been chipped from a block rather than built up from multiple stones. Somewhere, water drips
"I've missed you," I whisper, breaking the silence.
A humorless chuckle leaves his lips. His eyes drift back to me. "Me too, Celestial. More than you can imagine."
"I can." My only friend from my teenage years.
His eyes drift up and down my form. When I look down, I take notice of my camisole I'm wearing. Turning my head, my sweater I was wearing is ripped on the ground. I gently reach for it. Bringing it to my nose, all I can smell is the woods. Mulch and mud. It has both of those things on it, likely from the trip here. My lip wobbles. I bite it as I inhale through my nose. My hand drifts up to my necklace, holding the cold stone between my fingers. I grasp it firmly, thanking the Goddess that it's still here.
"You look good, Celestial." I give him a smile that quickly twitches away. "You found a pack?"
I nod, a shuddering sigh escaping me. "I found my mate." My voice almost breaks. He doesn't say anything and I take that as permission to keep talking. "My um, my Mom. . . She. . . passed. Not long ago."
"I'm so sorry." His eyes find mine. I shake my head.
"And um, I stumbled onto Paramount Pack lands."
"Shit," he mumbles. "That's a big ass pack. I'm surprised they didn't kill you."
I let out a hum of a laugh. "I think they might have. I was hurt. They called their Alpha."
"And he took pity on you?" People tend to give pity to runts. Something about our nature and appearance.
"He's my mate." My words are proud but almost sad. Lycer's eyes are wide now. "He'll find me. I know it." The determination in my voice fills the cell.
"And what happens-"
A door creaks open.
And in walks Christopher and a person who I assume is Malum. Christopher looks a little worse for wear. His clothes, though intact, are wrinkled and smudged in a bit of dirt. His hair has grown longer and also has smudges of dirt going through it. Bags are under his eyes but it doesn't hide the tightness of his jaw that makes his entire face taut.
Beside him is a man in much better appearance. Not a wrinkle to his clothes, the man I can only assume to be Malum stands in a nice pair of slacks and a long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His salt and pepper hair is slicked back. He has an anger both in his shoulders and also his face. I can't quite place it, what makes it so. But it's there, rolling off of him in waves.
"Lycer?" I turn to my old friend and he's stiffened. His eyes dart to me and then he's against the bars, his shoulders tense and his knuckles white over the bars.
"Let. Her. Go," he spits. Christopher chuckles and the man shoots him a glare over his shoulders. The two saunter down the cell block.
"And why would I do that?" Lycer doesn't have a reply.
I inch away from the bars, enough to still see out but so I'm not longer within an arm's reach. I don't know how useful this action will be. Surely, he has the keys to this cell.
The pair stops just outside the cells besides ours, starring us both down. The man, Lycer. Christopher, me. My brows furrow as I stare at him. Once upon a time, we were childhood friends. We played together. Laughed together. My eyes fall to something he holds in his hand. A small vial and a small wrapped package sit in his hand. I recognize the wrapping as a needle from the few times I've been through Zay's office. I push myself further into the wall, my breath hitching.
The man's eyes drift to me, a false smile taking over his face. "Ahh, how rude of me!" The enthusiasm is also false and sets off alarm bells in my head. "We have a new guest!" Christopher snickers and the man shoots him another small glare. "Welcome, Celestial Jacobs, to your new life." The bars on Lycer's cell ever so slightly rattle. A smirk covers the mans face. "My name is Malum, though I'm sure you guessed that." I nod. The smirk leaves his face. "Christopher."
Christopher is quick to walk around him. From his pocket, he retrieves a key. I shake my head several times.
"Leave her alone!" Lycer's demand is ignored, both men turn toward me as Christopher unlocks my cell.
He closes the cell behind him, pocketing the keys and opening the wrapped needle. "Christopher, don't do this." He says nothing, a smirk on his own face. "You don't have to do this." I'm already dizzy from the wolfsbane still in my system. I eye the needle as he fills it. I've always hated needles. When I was little, I went to a doctor's appointment and they took blood the same day I got several shots. I remember crying in my dad's arms.
"Celestial!" Lycer has a panic written on him I've never seen before. My chest moves up and down several times over. Christopher flicks the needle. A spurt of the liquid pops out and onto his finger. He lets out a small hiss as it makes contact with his skin.
"Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?" I glare at Christopher. During all of this, Malum merely watches, a slight tilt to his head.
"You don't have to do this," I repeat.
"And you didn't have to go blabbing your mouth, yet here we are." There's a hiss in his words. There's nowhere further for me to go. For me to hide. He corners me. I eye the spots around him. Before I can even try, he pulls me up by the arm. A yelp leaves my mouth. There's still a slight spin to the world. And then the needle is in my arm. A cry passes my lips as it burns through my veins. And then the world is so much more blurry. My eyelids flutter. Christopher says something, shooting a look over his shoulder. I can't make it out. My arm is still in his grip. Needle and vial still in his hand, he picks up my necklace. He says something, looking me straight in the eye. I have no idea what he's saying. It's all a blur. Everything is a blur. I can barely make out the rattling of bars. I think Lycer is yelling. Dropping the necklace, Christopher shoves me to the ground.
I close my eyes, feeling so very tired. The ground is cold. The cell smells bad and I realize, with my slight bit of consciousness, that the smell is my own vomit from earlier.
Xavier. . .
Goddess, help me.
The pair leaves. I don't know how long they had stood there after Christopher left my cell. Lycer's jaw is tight as he rattles the bars holding him in the small space.
Lycer's here.
For years, all I wanted was him back. And now. . . Now all I want is my mate. My Xavier.