Page 82 of Fate Awakened

The door opens, and an older woman in nurse's scrubs enters.

“Glad to see you back awake. You gave everyone quite a scare,” she says, her voice full and boisterous.

“Am I allowed to get out of bed?” I ask, hoping for some freedom.

“I think we can make that happen. Just give me a second,” she says, washing her hands quickly and donning some latex gloves. “Now, this is going to feel a little odd coming out. Just relax your muscles and let it go.”

She slides the catheter out in one smooth motion, and I let out a sigh of relief. She detaches a few lines and sets my IV on a rolling stand.

“All set. Anything I can get you? The doctor won’t be back from his dinner for a bit yet. Hungry? I can get you something light?” Her grandmotherly energy is contagious, and I find myself smiling and nodding. She walks off, promising a quick return, and I attempt to stand from the bed.

My legs feel like Jell-O as I work to stabilize myself. After a few minutes, I’m up and putting one foot in front of the other. One lap around the room is enough to have me climbing back into the bed, worn out from the motion.

Okay, Brielle. What do we do now?

I mentally wrestle with the idea that I know that werewolves exist. How that’s possible? I have no clue, but I saw it. I can’t unsee it.

Cain’s tattoo, wolf hearing, pack business.

If it weren’t so unbelievable, I’d laugh at how it was in front of me that whole time, and I never put it together—hiding in plain sight.

I have a million questions, and I take a few minutes to think through them, knowing there would need to be a conversation.

I need to talk to Cain.

My heart still leaps a little at the thought of him. My brain argues with my emotions battling for who should have control. I try to justify my feelings. Give them merit. I process through actions Cain physically did to prove his love for me was real. He cared for me by calming my panic attacks, grounding me when I couldn’t center myself. He rescued me, showing up in the middle of the woods after I left him without a word. He held me in his arms and told me I was it for him after worshiping my body in bed.

All valid tangible moments, but then my stupid overanalyzing brain interrupts my reverie with all the conflicting facts that I know.

Cain’s the wolf from the parking lot. The wolf that helped murder two guys. The wolf from my video. The wolf from my dreams.

Cain showed up at Liv’s party. I’d never seen him around campus before. Then he was everywhere. The coffee cart, the library, class.

Holy shit. Was any of it real?

Cain convinced me to tutor him and to spend every day with him. He was interested in me, flirted with me, and made me feel special.

Cain showed up at my apartment without me ever telling him where it was, and I slept with him.

I’m a fool.

My heart breaks. The reality that I fell for a man who played me from the moment we met, causing my insides to shatter. Before I know it, tears cascade down my cheeks as I silently cry. My body shakes, curling into a ball, letting the emotional rollercoaster of the last three weeks play out in my head. I roll onto my side, hugging my arms around myself as I let every ounce of emotion leak from my body. All of the lies. All of the coincidences that didn’t even give me pause. I gave him my heart, and all he wanted was the video.

I’m no better than Elaine. Chasing a man based on pretty words and vacant promises.

At some point in my breakdown, the nurse returns with the food. I barely register her presence, but I can feel her reading my behavior as I lay there sobbing, unable to stop.

I give myself over to the overwhelming pain I feel, letting it become emptiness and leave me completely numb. An abandoned vessel and a shell of the girl I once was.

Today I fall apart. Tomorrow I’ll pick up the pieces until I find my way back to who I was. Every day after that, I’ll wear these scars like armor and use them to remind me never to let anyone past my walls again.

Cain broke me, but my splintered pieces will become the sharp instruments I use to carve a new path.

Never again.

Chapter 28

Cain

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