Bastian's POV:
We pulled up to Ria’s cabin and one of my men opened the door since I was still holding Ria in my arms.
“Do you need any help at all, Alpha?” he asked.
“If you could just open the front door for me, I think that will be all.”
“Of course, Alpha.”
He opens the door for me, and I rush Ria into her room.
I lay her down on her bed. She quickly shrinks into a fetal position and just stayed there. I left the room and tried to make her something to eat or drink, but she would not take either. I did not know what to do for her. This is not my area of expertise.
I ran my hand through my hair frustrated. I cannot even imagine what that filthy beast did to her.
I decided to start running a bath for her maybe that would help calm her down. But I felt I would need another woman’s help.
Me: Barlow?
Barlow: Alpha, are you back? Did you find Ria?
Me: I did. Can you come over and help me with her?
Barlow: I am on my way.
Me: Thank you.
When Barlow showed up, she asked me, “How is she doing?”
“I cannot say. She will not eat, and she has not had anything to drink since she has been home. I healed all her external wounds but now it is her internal wounds that need to heal, and I just do not know what I can do to make her better. I am not her mate.”
She looked at me and smiled before saying, “You are doing everything that you can possibly think of. Have you reached out to your dad to see if she has any family or a close friend who can come and stay with her?”
“That is a good idea, I will call him now. Thank you, Barlow for your help.”
“Anything for Ria. She is an amazing person, always willing to help someone else.”
“Yeah, she sure does.” After saying that, I went outside to make a phone call to my father.
The phone rings.
“Hello son, were you able to get Ria back?” He asked after answering the phone.
“Hello Father, yes we were able to rescue her, it took everything I had not to kill that guy. How is it that the council has not been able to step in and take his title away?”
“It is a grey area son, we almost had him the last time he did this to her two years ago, but he goes into hiding and has too many people willing to protect him. But do not worry son we will figure something out. So how is Ria doing?”
“I do not know what to do for her, she has yet to eat or drink anything. I don’t think her wolf is doing good either.”
“Son, Ria is a strong woman, and she will get through this, she is going to need a lot of help though. We almost lost her the last time he did this to her. I had hope that with her rejecting him that he would leave her alone, but I guess his obsession for her runs deep.”
“Umm Father… I think it is a little more than that. Did you know that Ria has premonitions?”
“Uh…no, I was not aware of that. So…that might be why Tarech was hell bent on capturing her. But her visions are not consistent, are they?”
“I am not sure, but the reason I was calling, was to see if she had any family that could come and help her? Maybe even a close friend?”
“Yes, I will call her grandmother to see if she can come down, and I will ask the other healers who she is close friends with. Will you be ok with another healer on your land?”
“Yes Father, anything to help her. She tried to warn me about this, but I would not listen, I let my pride and ego get the best of me and she paid the price for it. Can you let me know as soon as you find out?”
“Of course, Son. Hey, and thank you for going and rescuing her.”
“I had to… it was all I could do. If I had just listened...”
“Bastian… Son, do not beat yourself up about this. You went and rescued her, put your life on the line and got her out of there. Not a lot of people would do that. It takes a strong Alpha and a strong person to put someone else’s needs in front of theirs. I will let you know who is coming as soon as I find out.”
“Alright Father, Thank you.”
I look back at the cabin and release a breath that I had not realized I was holding onto.
While walking back into the cabin I hear…
A scream: “Don’t touch me! Leave me alone.”
I move quickly to her room in the cabin, I look to see Barlow on one side of the room with her hands holding her face and I look over to see a half-naked Ria crouched into the corner shivering, just staring at the floor.
“Barlow, what’s going on?” I ask with a concerned tone.
Barlow throws her hands in the air surrendering and says, “I have no clue, one minute she knew who I was, and I told her what we were doing and then she just started freaking out.”
“Crap.”
I slowly make my way to Ria, and I crouch down to the floor before calling her name, “Ria?”
She does not respond.
“Ria? It’s Bastian, can you look at me?”
She slowly lifts her eyes to make eye contact with mine and it takes a moment or two before she recognizes me in front of her.
“Bastian?” She looks at me with confusion in her eyes.
“Yeah Ria, it’s me. Can we try to get you to take a bath?” I ask her in a tone that I would use on a young pup.
She looks around cautiously and then nods her head.
“Ok, I am slowly going to come over to you and pick you up, is that ok?”
She nods again.
I slowly make my way to her not making any sudden moves and gently pick her up off the floor.
“Barlow, can you get the door for me?”
“Yes.” Barlow makes her way to the door and opens it for me.
Ria looks down at the tub filled with water and starts to freak out in my arms and yelling, “Please don’t kill me, please I want to live, I will try to get a premonition, please don’t drown me.”
“Ria, Ria! Look at me.” I tell her.
She squishes her eyes refusing to open them.
I gently put her down on the sink as I slowly start to strip off my clothes leaving my boxers on. While holding onto Ria, I have Barlow help me get the rest of her clothes off except for her bra and underwear.
“Ria, I need you to listen to me, I am going to pick you up again and then together we are getting into the tub.”
She starts up again, “No, please don’t drown me, I swear I will get a premonition. Freya! Help me please!”
“Shh… Ria, it’s Bastian… I got you, everything will be okay. I am here.” I quietly tell her as I slowly climb into the tub with her in my arms and sit down.
I lean against the tub and then I have her lean onto my chest as I wrap my arms around her. At first, she was hyperventilating but after a while I could see her chest rising and falling at a more calming rate.
I slowly start to stroke her hair and tell her that I am right here for her. Shortly after she curls into my arm and starts to cry.
Barlow slowly steps out of the bedroom.
Barlow: I am going to head into the kitchen to make us all something to eat.
Me: Thank you.
“It’s okay Ria, everything will be okay.”
I press my lips to the back of her head as I continue to hold her and let her cry.
We stayed in the bathtub for over an hour.
After a while she looks at her fingers and then shows me like a small pup would and says, “My fingers are all pruney.”
I chuckle lightly and say, “Yes, they are. Do you think we should get out then, the water is cold too?”
She nods her head. She leans forward so that I can get out from behind her. I grab a towel and quickly wrap it around myself and then grab another towel and say, “Alright, can you stand up for me?”
She slowly stands up in the tub and starts to shiver her lip quivering as I quickly wrap the towel around her and help her step out of the tub. I walk her towards the bed and sit her down. Looking around I notice a robe hanging on the closet door and grab it for her to wrap around her to get her warmed up.
I start to rub her arms up and down to get her to start to warm up and she looks at me.
“What?” I asked lightly.
“Thank you.” She quietly says to me.
I look at her for a long while, so many things running through my head. I do not respond, but just smile and continue to rub her to get her warmed up.
“Hey, I am going to go in the bathroom to change, I will be right back.”
She nods her head and continues to hold onto the robe like her life depended on it.
Just as I had finished putting my clothes back on, I heard the front door open and sniffed to smell Jasper my beta walking into the house. I could hear him ask Barlow, “How’s everything going?”
I walked out of the bathroom and went over to Ria and told her to lay down until dinner was ready. Letting her know that I was going to go into the kitchen, and I would be right back.
She nodded her head and then curled up again on the bed.
Jasper was rubbing Barlow’s back when I walked into the kitchen, just as I was about to motion for my Beta to follow me outside for us to talk more privately my phone started to ring.
I walked outside before pulling the phone out of my pocket and notice it is an unknown caller.
I answer.
“Hello, this is Alpha Bastian.”
“Alpha? This is Mandella, Luria’s grandmother.”
“Yes, hello thank you for calling me. Will you be able to come to my pack and help Luria?” I ask.
“In time dear, in time. But first things first dear. I need you to talk to Freya her wolf.”
“I… do not know if I can. That bastard Tarech injected her with wolfsbane, and I think she and Freya are disconnected from each other right now.”
“Bastian, I know you have known Ria for only as short amount of time, but that girl and her wolf have been through some tough stuff. You need to get her wolf up and going so that she can help Luria heal and get her back on her feet.”
“I already healed her external wounds.”
“Thank you for doing that, Bastian. Now we need to focus on her internal wounds, and that is where Freya can help us.”
“Ok? How do I go about this?”
“You need to let your wolf talk to Freya.”
“What? No, no way Rufus my wolf is crazy, he will probably try to take advantage of Ria while she is like this. No, can it be another wolf?”
“Freya is not going to listen to any normal wolf, she needs an Alpha to pull her out of her funk is what I like to call it.” She says with a laugh and then continues. “Now Bastian, you need to get her out into the woods to do something like this. Preferably just the two of you. Once you get Freya to the surface she is going to need to take over for Luria for a little while that is why I say to keep her out in the woods. Freya can be fierce when she is in control. Once she knows that Luria is healing you got to put Freya in her place and pull Luria back into control. I should be there in about a week in a half. Bastian can you do this?”
“Yes Mandella, for her… I can do this.” I tell her.
“Such a nice boy, I am looking forward to meeting you when I get there.”
“Thank you for the call, Mandella. We will see you then.”
I hang up and sigh.
“What did she say?” Jasper asked.
“I have to take Ria out to the far woods to bring Freya to the surface for her to help heal Ria. Once I can tell that Ria is healed then I need to try and pull Ria back into control.”
“Why you?”
“Because her wolf will only listen to an Alpha wolf, Ria’s parents were Alpha/Luna. Her wolf is strong, sometimes my Alpha tone does not even phase Ria.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I guess I am going to go have a talk with my wolf.” I say as I start heading my way out the door once again.
I take a walk into the forest but do not go too far so that I could still hear if Ria gets scared.
Me: Rufus?
Rufus: Yes, Bastian?
Me: I need your help with a situation.
Rufus: Are we going to go back to kill that piece of lo life scum who calls himself an Alpha?
Me: No, as much as I would like to. I need your help with something else.
Rufus: Ok, what is it?
Me: I need your help to call Ria’s wolf Freya out. Ria is in bad shape and Freya is not able to connect with her at the moment, so they are unable to heal together.
Rufus: Really… interesting.
Me: Rufus! This is not the time to think about getting laid. This is serious. Ria and Freya need our help.
Rufus: Fine, I will help.
He says nonchalantly.
Me: Okay we will head out to the deep part of the forest in the morning. Hopefully, this will work.
I walk back into the cabin and nod my head to Jasper to let him know that Rufus agreed with helping Ria. I went straight into the bedroom to check on Ria. She was curled up in a small ball again and I could hear little whimpers coming out of her.
I laid down next to her and asked? “Hey, what are you thinking about?”
“I’m sorry, I’m so very sorry,” she whimpered.
“What are you sorry about?”
“I wasn’t strong enough. I thought I was strong enough to defend myself against him. I should have known that they were from my old pack, I should have waited.”
“Ria no, I am the one who is sorry. I should have answered you when you tried to use the pack-link. I was just so upset about what we had been talking about I let my stubbornness get the best of me.”
She continues to whimper.
“Ria, you did what you thought was right to help protect my pack. I was completely beside myself when I learned that you were taken.”
She sniffled and then said, “So I guess your father filled you in on my story then.”
“He told me about Tarech being your mate and how you rejected him to save your life. That was a very brave thing that you did and now I can understand a little more why you are so guarded with your heart.”
She nodded her head. Her eyes closing for a moment while she yawned.
“So, I got a call from your grandmother.”
“Really? What did she say?”
“She said she will be here in about a week or so to help us get you feeling better.”
She opens her eyes to look at me. “Did she say anything about Freya? I am so scared, she has yet to say anything to me. What if she is gone?”
Before answering her, I took a big whiff and then said, “No, you still smell like a wolf and not just a silly human.”
This made her giggle. It was a nice sound to hear.
“Are you getting hungry at all?”
She shook her head. She began to yawn again.
“I think I just want to rest right now.”
“Ok, we will be just out there if you need anything. I put a glass of water on your bedside table. Please try to drink some.”
“Ok.”
I roll out of her bed and make my way to the door.
“Bastian?”
I turn to look back at her.
“Thank you again, for saving my life.”
All I could do was smile and then say, “Get some rest.”
I head out her bedroom and close the door behind me.
Rufus: You like the girl.
Me: I do not.
Rufus: Liar.
I walk over to the island in the kitchen and pull out one of the stools to sit on it before letting out a long sigh.
Barlow places a large plate of spaghetti in front of me with a couple of pieces of bread.
“Thanks.”
“How is she doing?” Barlow asked as she placed a plate in front of Jasper.
“I think she is doing ok. She says that she has not heard from Freya, and it is stressing her out. But she still smells like a wolf. Her grandmother Mandella said that we need to call Freya out so that she can help heal Ria from the inside.”
“I hope that works. It is hard to see Ria likes this. She is usually so strong.”
“There is a lot of Ria’s pasts that we do not know about. If she feels comfortable enough to talk to you about it, she will. My dad only told me enough so that I understood the situation.”
“I am still a little confused as to why you got involved with rescuing her and not just letting the Alpha council take care of it.” Jasper said before putting a fork full of spaghetti in his mouth.
“JASPER!” Barlow said with a shocked tone.
I let out a growl before answering, “Because she has helped out our pack when we had a disturbance on our land, and she is not even a member.”
“She also rescued my niece when those rogues were on the land, before she really knew any of us.” Barlow chimed in.
“I know, but our Alpha risked his life for a non-pack member. What if something happened to him? We would be without our Alpha; I am not sorry for being protective of our Alpha.”
“I appreciate it Jasper, but I would never have been able to forgive myself if I had not gone myself to rescue her. She tried to warn me about this attack, and I didn’t listen to her.”
“What do you mean she warned you? How did she know that this attack was going to happen?” Jasper asked with an uneasiness in his tone.
“Ria gets premonitions. They are pretty sporadic and cannot happen on command.”
“How did you find out about this?” Jasper asked.
“That first rogue attack that we had when she was here, she grabbed my wrist, and I was pulled into it with her and able to see what she saw.”
“That’s how you knew something was happening before our border patrols alerted us. I was wondering how you knew about it.”
“Do you think this is why he took her? He knew about her premonitions?” Barlow asked.
“Yes, that and…”
“And?”
“Tarech was her true mate. She rejected him, in order to save herself.”
“Oh, my goddess.” Barlow whispered.
“Yeah,” I say as I picked up my plate and went over to the sink to clean my dish before stacking it on the drying rack.
“So now you have a better understanding. When you guys are done you can head back to the pack house. I am going to stay with her tonight and keep an eye on her.”
“Are you sure?” Barlow asked.
“Yeah, I will be fine, besides, Ria and I have to head out into the woods in the morning to help her wolf. Jasper, while I am gone you are in charge for the next few days. I will stay connected through the mind-link and keep you posted on how things are going.”
“Of course, Alpha.”
They cleaned up their dishes and headed out for the night.
I went in and checked on Ria, and she was sound asleep.
I decided to head out back into the woods behind her cabin to get my head clear. I was glad that she was doing better. But there was something else, and I had no idea what it was.
Rufus: That’s called having feelings. You remember those right?
Me: I came out here for some peace and quiet, so buzz off.
Rufus: Nice try, I have been telling you that you should not have turned off your humanity.
Me: I didn’t turn it off. I just didn’t want to feel the pain of losing our mate.
Rufus: I understand, more than you know. But we need to heal soon. It’s getting harder and harder to control our anger. I do not want to become a cold-hearted wolf.
Me: Nor do I.
Rufus: So how would you like to handle things tomorrow?
Me: I am going to leave that up to you. I am allowing you to take over to help get Freya to the surface. She needs a strong Alpha to pull her out.
Rufus: This just got more interesting. I am looking forward to tomorrow.
Me: Rufus, you need to promise me.
Rufus: Promise you what?
Me: That you won’t go crazy.
Rufus: I promise I won’t go crazy, that much.
Me: Rufus?
Rufus: Fine! I promise I won’t go crazy.
Me: Alright, goodnight.
Rufus: Goodnight.
I head back into the cabin and lay down next to Ria. I gently brush her hair behind her ear.
I let out a sigh.
Is Rufus, right? Am I starting to have feelings for Ria? But how can that be. Nobody else has interested me, the way she does. I was easily able to send away those other two healers without thinking twice. How is she able to get past my defensive wall and make me feel again?
I closed my eyes and let myself fall asleep, hoping the answers would come to me but they never did.