Come to me...

Chapter 22 ~ The beginning of a new life... Part II

Her hearing, he thought as he finally realized which sense she had lost.

***

"I- I can't hear you." Gabriella said after a while of silence with the most scared tone he had ever heard her speak with. Great, now  how am I supposed to explain things to her without her freaking out? He asked himself in frustration.

Gabriella, still trying to put some order back in her thoughts, finally  realized that she couldn't hear the heavy rain outside, nor she had heard Rayne coming in. Also, when she shouted his name, she had only heard her voice in her mind.

Everything made sense, how could she not have noticed it before!

***

After Rayne had gotten back from his daily run, he headed straight to the kitchen where he started boiling vegetables for the infamous soup he always fed his mate. Then, as part of his routine, he intended to go for a quick shower while the soup was slowly cooking.

However, as he got close to the bedroom, he started feeling something different in the air. Gabriella's presence was much stronger. He could feel her system working too hard for being unconscious. Her heart pumped fast enough to make her able to move, to see, to think...

Wait what?  He thought, shocked, as he stopped deadly on his tracks. Move, see, think? 

Realization of what was happening finally kicked in. Rayne didn't waste any time as he sprinted up to his room. Once there, and true to his intuition, he found her in front of the window opposite of him. There she stood, his little mate. She was as glorious and radiant as ever. However, Rayne didn't fail to notice the masochistic stunt she was pulling on herself. What's happening? He asked himself as he saw her slap herself repeatedly.

Rayne had sworn to himself not to let anyone hurt his little mate again, and the rule applied to her as well. He didn't waste any time as he ran to her to stop her from what she was doing. Rayne couldn't  understand the logic behind her actions. Did she realize what she had been turned into? Did she already hate her predicament?  He asked himself as  he brought the hand she was hurting herself with away from her already reddened cheek.

"There you are!" She said merrily as she took him in for an embrace, throwing him completely off guard. What's happening? Why is she so happy, didn't she lose one of her senses? He asked himself as his hands automatically found their way around her small waist.

Not able to stay this clueless for any longer, Rayne thought of using the connection he had with her to dive inside her mind. Now that he had completed half of the mating process, their bond was much stronger, making him able to access to the very private parts of her mind. That way, not only he could communicate with her through mind link, but he could also read her thoughts. Plus, Gabriella was too weak to block him from entering her mind. It would require some practice before she'd be able to do that.

Since Gabriella didn't even know that he could invade her privacy, Rayne thought about taking advantage of the situation while he could. Well, at least until she knew everything she needed to know about her new identity as a vampire. Then he'd stop reading her mind. Unless her thoughts were too entertaining not to spy on.

"Rayne" She said right when he was going to dive into her thoughts. At that moment Rayne felt worthless. How could he take her privacy away from her? But if he didn't do it, he wouldn't be able to solve anything. He was confused as to what he had to do.

And it was driving him mad.

Suddenly, Gabriella spared him the inner dilemma as she finally started asking questions. That way Rayne got some answers without having to do something he'd most likely regret later. For instance, he was sure Gabriella still hadn't realized what she had been turned into, she didn't know anything apart from the fact that she had fangs. Also, he could feel hunger radiating from her, which he was expecting.