Chapter 16
CARINA
Falco told me to get comfortable, but for some reason. I couldn’t stop the racing thoughts in my mind. It felt like I had been
here before.
I sat with my arms crossed, my nails digging into my skin. I also couldn’t stop bouncing my leg, feeling myself grow nervous with each passing second.
“Are we really going to be here all night?” I asked, breaking the silence. I felt breathless even though we hadn’t done anything strenuous, I found it harder to stay calm as the skies became darker.
Falco exhaled, leaning his head back against the seat. His eyes were fixed on the rain streaming down the windshield. “I’m thinking.” he said. “Maybe the signal will ease once the rain stops.”
His words should have soothed me, but it didn’t. If anything, they made my chest tighten.
I glanced out the window, my breath fogging up the glass as I leaned closer. How could the signal ease when the rain showed no signs of calming down?
And then, my head began to hurt.
There were flashes of something in my mind. A memory? Or was it just my imagination? I couldn’t tell. All I knew was that my heart was beginning to race, and my breaths were coming faster.
It felt like my body remembered something my mind didn’t.
“You should know what to do,” I said suddenly, my voice louder than I intended. I turned to Falco. “You’re the Alpha. Why didn’t you check the batteries before we left?”
He turned to me slowly, his eyes narrowing slightly. “How was I supposed to know the battery would die? It was fine earlier today.”
“That’s not an excuse!” I shot back. The words came out before I could stop myself. “You should’ve made sure. You’re supposed to plan for things like this.”
Falco’s grip on the steering wheel tightened, his knuckles pale. “I can’t predict every single thing that might go wrong, Rina. I’m not a mechanic.”
“You didn’t have to be a mechanic,” I snapped.
My chest tightened further, and I glanced back out the window, my pulse hammering in my ears. The darkness outside seemed to close in, and the forest looked…menacing.
“I can’t,” I whispered. “We need to leave this place.”
Falco sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Rina, I’m doing what I can. I have a lot going on right now, okay? Do you think I wanted this to happen? I didn’t plan for us to get stranded in the middle of nowhere.”
“I know,” I said, closing my eyes to ease my mind. “I just want to leave, please. You can do everything, right? Why can’t you do
this?”
He turned toward me fully now, looking frustrated.
“Do you think this is easy for me? Balancing everything–keeping the pack together, trying to please the council—while pretending like I’m not affected at all? Give me a break, Rina. We’ll just be here for a night at maximum. You can’t even do
that?”
1/3
11:41 Mon, 3 Mar M
Chapter 16
His words hit harder than I wanted to admit, Ian my panic refused to senle
It was a familiar scene.
There was a car. It was dark and it was a forest like this. I recalled the feeling of being scolded, and after that, it was cold. Just cold.
You can’t keep me safe, though.” I muttered.
Falco ran a hand through his hair, his jaw tightening further. “If it makes you feel better, I could run back to the park as a wolf. Get help. But that means leaving you here.”
The thought made my stomach drop, but before I could respond, he added, “And we both know how sickly you are. Even if you’re just swept by a cold wind, you get sick. Leaving you alone in the rain would leave you in bed for days. Can you handle
Something snapped inside me. A memory forced its way to the surface,
I saw the people within that memory. My parents…and Natalia. They seemed to be screaming at me. However, I didn’t know what they were saying.
A chill wrapped around me, and my breathing grew shallow.
“Stop,” I weakly said, clutching at my chest as the memory threatened to overwhelm me. I tried to focus, but I found my vision getting blurry.
“Rina?” Falco’s voice cut through the haze, and I looked at him. “What’s happening? Hey, talk to me.”
I couldn’t. My breath hitched, and a wave of dizziness hit me.
“Rina,” he said, finally realizing that something was wrong. He faced me fully, removing his seatbelt and placing his hands on my shoulder.
The edges of my vision darkened, and my hands trembled as I clutched at the seatbelt. “B–bag,” I managed to gasp.
Falco didn’t waste a second. He reached into the back seat, grabbed my bag, and rummaged through. “What am I looking for?” he asked.
“Medicine,” I choked out, my chest rising and falling in rapid, shallow breaths. The car was spinning now. “Red pill.”
He found the bottle, his fingers unscrewing the cap in record time. “Here,” he said, holding out a pill. “Take it.”
I tried, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. My hands were shaking too badly, and my breaths came too fast to even swallow properly. Tears stung my eyes as panic clawed at my throat.
“Rina,” Falco said, his tone softer now. “Stay with me. You need to take this.”
When I didn’t respond, he cursed under his breath, grabbing the water bottle from my bag. Without hesitation, he uncapped it, poured some into his mouth, and placed the pill inside. Before I could process what he was doing, he leaned toward me, his hand cupping my face gently but firmly.
“What-” was all I managed to get out before his lips pressed against mine.
