Eris

Ariella

~Kade~

I could hear shouting. Crying. A voice in my head. I could feel a pressure on my chest. A kiss on my face. A weightlessness. A warmth. I could not see anything, only darkness. But all my senses were buzzing, alert and sensitive. But my eyes wouldn't open, my hands wouldn't move, my body wouldn't respond to my attempts to resurface. I was trapped in my head and my nerve endings.

But then, everything silenced. A silence so deafening that my heart rate picked up as the anxiety built. Was I dying? Was I already dead? Was that all I was to leave behind as a Head Alpha? Dying in the middle of a crisis without an heir? What was wrong with me? Why did my body betray me when I needed it the most? Then the silence became muffled and then loud. It was a ringing silence and then everything cleared. I could feel fabric beneath me, a pounding in my head, and a weight on my chest.

My eyes flickered open. I had to blink a few times to clear my blurred vision. After a moment of staring at the ceiling, I realized I was my room, in my bed. My body felt heavy, like my bones were replaced with lead. After a few moments of breathing I finally pent up the energy to turn my head.

The first thing I saw was Ariella. She sat in a chair beside my bed. She slept bent over onto the bed, her head resting on her crossed arms. Her face was turned toward me, her long lashes casting a shadow from the lamp light on my desk behind her. She was haloed in that lamplight, and her hair looked like it was on fire. I reached out, hesitantly, as if she would disappear like a figment of my imagination, and pushed some of her hair out of her face to stroke her cheek, not really touching her but wanting to. My thumb grazed her full bottom lip and I remembered kissing her. How soft her lips were against mine. How, even though she'd deny it with every breath after, she returned each kiss.

I couldn't get over just how beautiful she was. Her flawless skin, her crimson hair, her full red lips, her rare smile, her piercing blue eyes. Every time I saw her she took my breath away whether she was fuming mad, smirking with mischief, or grinning from ear to ear. While my breath was taken by her beauty my heart soars with simply being with her. Even in this time of urgency, I find solace in her presence, despite her attitude.

The second thing I saw was the paper. It was everywhere: balled up and piled in a mountain where my waste basket used to be, littered across my desk, taped to the walls, pinned to the bulletin board that hung above my desk, everywhere. I saw the edge of a notebook peeking from underneath Ariella's folded arms. I reached out and carefully slipped it from under her. It was open and the page was filled with what looked like notes written in both Russian and English. I glanced back over at my desk to see a book open face down on top of the papers. What the hell was she doing? I slowly put the notebook down on the other side of me to look at Ariella again.

I smoothed the worry line that had begun to form between her eyebrows and she relaxed slightly in her sleep. At the contact a bolt of energy entered me and I started at the unexpected jolt; it helped clear the grogginess my collapsing had caused. Ariella stirred then relaxed again. She shifted again before sluggishly pulling herself out of the uncomfortable position. With her eyes still closed she stretched then groaned, rubbing at her sore neck, wincing with each rub. After rolling her shoulders a few times she finally opened her eyes and looked directly at me. When she saw me she froze, blinking once then squinting her eyes as if she couldn't grasp what she was seeing. Then her eyes widened in realization and, surprisingly, filled with tears.

"Kade?" She rasped. The word was hesitant, as if she were afraid to believe her eyes.

"Miss me?" I rasped, my throat sore, and giving her a grin. She let out a strangled laugh and launched herself at me. I caught her as she landed on top of me and I turned us so that we both lay on our sides. She held me tightly and I held her just as tight.