Chapter 12: Come on, Girl, Just Breathe!

SEBASTIAN.

I jumped in that river without even thinking twice, placing my pain way behind me as my wolf’s instinct was as strong as it was at the restaurant when I marked Bella as my mate. I ignored all the signals and followed the scream right into the water. The woman that seconds ago was waving in horror no longer was in sight. People were already gathering, attracted by the uproar she had been making. I went deeper into the depths of the stream, looking for the fragile silhouette that earlier was struggling to stay on the surface. I had to find her!

A beam of the sun was piercing the water, unrevealing a perfect porcelain figure underneath. Even underwater, she emanated a natural beauty, hard to explain in words. Her black soft curls that were dancing beneath the water drew my eyes, and then gently caressed the line of her neck and reached just below her shoulders; if goddesses were real, then this little one here was their flawless creation.

As I was approaching her, I grabbed her tiny soft waist, keeping her close to me and pushing the water to reach the surface. Eventually, I did and placed her gently on the grass. She was not moving, not breathing. As I took a closer look at her, I understood the anxiety of my wolf within. It was the second time when I felt restless around this girl, because it was the same one who spilled red wine on my shirt almost a year ago. How come she still lingered there in the deepest corners of my mind?

Never mind that this girl was dying if I didn’t do something. The only hope for her to survive was mouth to mouth breathing. Curious eyes came closer and closer.

“People please, keep your distance,” I almost roared at them and they stepped back. This girl’s face was porcelain white, her full lips purple. I started CPR, ignoring all the mixed feelings inside me. “One, two, three, four, five!” and the first contact with her lips was an iced fire. “One, two, three, four, five!” By the second one I was swearing in my mind. The smoothness of her lips raised my wolf inside in a painful howl. “One, two, three, four, five… come on girl, just breathe!” And the third one made the difference. I was feeling her heart beating faster. She started coughing the water out of her lungs, but she remained in shock.

Something I had never seen before. Her brain had shut down. Her eyes were as wide as if someone was about to pull a gun trigger. She got trapped in her own delirium. Although I saved her, she was lacking in air, struggling in my arms to free herself from something or someone invisible. Starved for air, her heart began a tremendous speed causing her shakes. I tried to pull her closer to warm her a little, but she was in a constant tussle with me. I didn’t want to hurt her, so my grip was not that tight. Although my arms created a barrier around her, I left her enough space to be safe. Each of these seconds flooded in fear on her face and it was like she was having a seizure. I think her heart was going to explode as her eyes, her deep forest green eyes, widened in terror. She was trying to inhale little gasps of air, desperately ordering her brain to function.

And then her skin went again, as pale as winter snow, shaking hard. I tried to keep her warm, but with no warning, she fainted in my arms. Worried faces were all around us, uttering their astonishment. I had to act, and fast. This girl had passed out in my arms, struggling to breathe. I could get her home and cure her with one of my serums. After all, judging by my restlessness, there was no doubt she was one of us.

I motioned for all those people to scatter to let me through. My house wasn’t far from the park. “Ok, people, the show is over. I am going to take this young lady to the hospital!” I shouted so everybody could hear me. Faced with the need to conceal the truth, I had no choice but to come up with a cover-up. Otherwise, what was I going to say? That I was going to take her into my house and heal her with a wonder serum perfect for werewolves? Nonsense! I rushed her home where Mother was already expecting me in the door frame. “Oh my God, Sebastian, what happened? Who is she?” Mother urged, greeting me and ran towards us to help. Just as I felt, I could sense her anxiety and concern towards the young lady from my arms.

I gently placed her on my bed. Since Bella died, nobody, and I mean nobody, crossed the threshold of my room. I still didn’t know the reason I broke that rule with her. The dim light from my chamber fell perfectly over her face. Her curled hair lay long and loose on her shoulders in perfect contrast to her pale face. I just could not take my eyes off her.

“I sensed your distress from a mile away, Sebastian.” My mother’s voice was in a low tone, almost whispering her concern. Her eyes showed a kind of gentle unease and laid her hand lightly on my tensed shoulder and spoke to me in a soft, melodious voice. “Try to stay calm, otherwise we cannot save this girl. And I have a feeling you already knew her…” I muttered the last words in an undertone that only I could hear. I could no longer deny it in front of Mother, so I had to accept that something odd was really happening to me around this girl.

And suddenly, just like that, in a blink of an eye, she opened her spectacular green sapphire orbs, looking puzzled and terrified. She didn’t say a word, just flickering from time to time, trying to adjust to the place she was in. She completely lost me in those fountains, bright and soft at the same time. The fear was no longer there, but I had never seen terror and beauty in a pair of eyes at the same time. My emotions were hard if not impossible to control at this point, so I was focusing on the proper part of the matter, that a girl had an accident and I saved her. The speed with which she recovered still intrigued me, but I got too baffled to even think. But then again, she was one of our kind, so…

I couldn’t help but admire the bright colors The Creator made her of. God painted her in the most perfect way and used to create the ideal materials to embody perfection. Her soft ivory shoulders were now more exposed and her cherry red cheeks were flawless. A marvelous spectacle was unfolding before my very eyes, and I was the first-row spectator. It was definitely an agonizing one as I found myself a motionless rag doll waiting for the next act of the puppeteer.